Serious reality check: RANT WARNING

[belondon]

Spurs will rarely dominate a Premiere League game again this season like they did on Sunday against Portsmouth and to come away with just a point, given the current relegation battle is a serious concern to all Spurs fans.

Speaking as a lover of Tottenham, I am constantly looking for signs that the board and the team management understand what awaits the club should we not resolve our problems in the next 10-15 weeks. Looking at the league schedule Spurs have an almighty period coming up as we are due to play nearly all of our fellow strugglers and a failure to turn those matches into maximum points will leave the drop zone waiting on the last day of the season. Let’s not forget that the last three games of the season are against quality opposition, bringing the Spurs season to an end a little earlier than planned as those nine points should be considered nothing more than a bonus.

The January transfer window is half way passed, and to date Spurs has successfully brought one player back from an expensive loan deal to Portsmouth, a player Spurs had once thought they’d outgrown. Spurs have been beaten to one West Ham striker and foolishly chased players who’s clubs have categorically claimed are not for sale at any thing other than silly money.

This dire situation was not made over night, it was not even created this season, this relegation battle is the work of five, six, even ten years of short sightedness, short term-ism and a schizophrenic self-image. Chasing the fifth spot in the premiere league is a worthy goal, but as a club Spurs have tried to build an immense and impressive structure on flawed foundations. Spurs over the years have gone “all-in” when in fact we weren’t even holding a pair of aces, and when we were holding a pair of aces this summer we sold them, when instead, as a real top five club we would have categorically refused point blank and enforced contracts. Our schizophrenic attitude towards club and team management has left us with an unsure transfer policy, unclear objectives and ever changing success criteria and a very real likelihood that we will not be playing Premiere league football in 2010. Are we a top five club, with a strong and deep squad, made up of highly priced stars and an international football manager, or are we a feeder club taking chances on amazing finds in far off countries who will be grateful for a mid table finish and living off of the glory of occasional cup success to impress bigger and better sides.

Tottenham Hotspur, should it not survive this season in the Premiere League, will be a classic case-study in how not to manage a club and how to pay the ultimate price for classic bad management. This season, Tottenham could follow, Blackburn, Leeds, Nottingham Forest and Southampton into football folk law as another team who’s ambitions, strategy and ego all remained unchecked for too long and was never balanced against reality.

Endless manager changes and an erratic transfer policy have left the current manager with barley one player for each position, and without a regular and recognisable spine down the centre of the team. Who are the key players in the starting eleven? The power houses, the experienced players used to guide the youth? Who are the trusted men? Who are those who are able to shout and scream the lesser hearts onwards in times of trouble? It’s easier to see the gifted, the flighty, the specialised, but the workers, the grinders, and the brave are harder to find on the team sheet.
A broken goal keeper, not in his best form and currently unable to perform all his goal keeper duties, is preferred over the number two. A central defender and captain who can only play the occasional game is considered an acceptable first team strategy. As is having five strikers all completing their first season with the team and who have yet to prove themselves in the Premiere League or at the club, and a midfield high on technical skills but low on ball winning ability. Add these problems to how young, unproven and shallow the rest of the squad is and you can understand why Harry Redknapp will not forgive Bent for denying him the much need two extra points a win would have brought. Harry knows that the chance of getting that close to three points again this seasonis slim.

Is the solution to have another massive spending spree, this time, mid season rather than during the summer, surely even Spurs would see that as a risky policy, and one final step in the wrong direction, the fatal acts of a desperate denial – one that could bankrupt a team should relegation occur none-the-less. .

Or is the solution, to chase two or thee key “marquee” signings of big money to boost the overall quality of the team. This seems to be the current approach of the management as they chase a few in favour players such as Downing who’s clubs are only willing to sell at over the market rates and who are unlikely to join a relegation battle even if they were offered.

Or should Spurs, follow a third approach, that is, to accept their current place in the world, that right now they are in a battle of hearts with the bottom half of the Premiere League, not a football competition with the top five clubs. Spurs are a team who have just twelve to sixteen weeks to learn how to battle for a win against teams that have set themselves up for this all season.

Spurs do need to go shopping and in fact should have already bought as each day counts towards settling a team and settling nervous. They need to buy cover for certain key positions where they are exposed as well find new “starting elevens” in key positions where they are lacking (most notably central midfield and centre forward).

But if they are going to look good come the summer then they need to buy the most sensibly priced, no frills, workmen’s overalls, good for getting down and dirty in and even better for a scrap. They for sure, shouldn’t buy their usual over priced, flashy, designer suits which they may soon come to realise they have nowhere to wear them to.
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[Chivalry]

very well written post. my thoughts entirely.

i never have understood this idea that kicking loads of people and buying mass players every summer could be good for the club. and now it goes to show exactly the truth: it aint.

the worst thing EVER that has been done in our illustrious history in my opinion is the sacking of martin jol. the guy bought us from nothing to somthing and kept us there for 3 seasons. he was building a good team with the likes of malbranque and the berb who where happy to be there and play for him, and for the team. we looked like we are going places. yesterday i watched pompy score a goal and my heart sank and was on the edge of tears untill defoe stepped up and poked that goal in because it suddenly dawned on me that i had the "here we go again" feeling. somthing ive been quite thankful i havnt had to endure since the 90's.

i just hope and pray we are there to see next season in the top flight. because i believe given a little time, harry can give this club the TLC it so dearly needs and maybe make us respectable again. commoli has successfully ruined this club for years to come but with harry in charge i believe we might just make it out of this hole were in.

[Havocc]

Excellent post and I agree completely

Getting rid of Martin Jol was a bad mistake, all that Ramos did was win a cup and sell all of our best (or fighting) players, Defoe, Taino, Steed, Chimbonda, Keane, Berbatove

Now Harry is in and trying, in a market were its impossible to buy players, especially with Citeh hovering over every deal to hijack it.........

[loyal thfc belfast]

a very well thought out and written post mate, and sadly true, darren bents disgracefull miss yesterday summed up the last 4 or 5 seasons for me, so close yet so far, we are in danger of doing a "leeds" but i personally think we have enough about us this season to stay up. our transfer policy is a bit of a joke really, we seem to buy players that the media link us with, not players we need like the type you mentioned ie midfield , defence, leftsided and we've needed them for a few seasons now, i dont think harry is a man who will give up easilly and i think once he gets his squad in place we'll be ok, then and only then can we push on (a. villa is a good example). so coys. thfc4life.

[grunt the postie]

a well written post there is no more to add

[kevfball63]

Crikey belondon , thats long winded but to the point . Whichever way you look at it , unless you're part of the main set up , its easy to sit and criticise . We have spent more than the scum every year for the last ten years - yet still they have better records to show for it . Frank Arnesene was poached by the chelski - and i think that was a major turning point for us . But commoli lasted two years on the strength of the success Arnesene brought us. We weren't in cups and still had 2 consecutive 5th place finishes , so there was no spending power element . Chelski have wasted their money in my opinion in bringing in Arnesene , because they buy big price players , not small price players , that turn into big prospects like we did . I think they were out to disable us before we got too big . We need to look at what Arnesene did and learn from it .

[thfcire]

well done mate you have summed up my whole feelings about this season and the damage that has been caused to your great club over the last year and i must add although we have played well in some games under harry when we have been bad we have been as bad as any spurs side i can remember and i have been a spurs fan since the womb and was at the earily 80s cup games at the age of 7 so i have a long memory yes there were some bad times in the 90s and even then i never believed we would get relagated but i have a real sense of dread this season as all the teams around us have the battling spirit that we greatily lack and we all know that can matter in the end it can be the difference between 1 point and 3 and im afraid its 3s we need to lift the gloom that we see our self in but this is what being a spurs fan is all about in the past we have excepted defeat in the past as long as teams played the spurs way and with effort something lacking in the current team although yesterday i seen abit more fight and i thought we should have won the game comfortabily in the end but thats the whole point this season WE DIDNT its backs to the wall time TIME TO FIGHT TIME TO BE BRAVE TIME TO GIVE THEIR LIVES FOR THE JERSEY TIME TO SAY WE ARE SPURS AND THIS JUST ISNT GOOD ENOUGH lets just hope this team realize this before it really is to late COYS

[thfcire]

hate to dissagree with you about arnsone kev he ripped apart our whole scouting system from the inside although he was good at spotting talant in europe he almost totally ignored the system that was in place regarding britain and ireland something we had quiet a good record of bringing players through he also got rid of some key members of staff who voiced a different opinion to his which i guess is up to him because he was in charge but we are talking people with over 10 years and in some cases 20 years to a club they dearily loved and then he fooked off to chelski at the drop of a hat sorry about this kev but it is something i feel strongily about as i have knowledge of it first hand and its not very often we disagree

[Tottenham Sean]

Good post
I agree with most things you said.
As for Bents miss, i can undersatnd harry's frustration,but to say what he did in A newspaper,is wrong.
As was pointed out we are in a relegation battle, and did we really need the Manger undermining Players confidence?! To be honest, i am genuinlly scared about the drop.I just cant see us being cosistant enough to string enough wins together to pull clear.The first season i started going to WHL was 76/77 and we all know what happened that year! I dont want to go through that again.
As has been proved with Forest.Leeds,QPR and West Ham you can be good(or half decent) and still go down.
Sorry to sound so pesimistic, but it's how i feel
I hope and pray i am wrong

[Seajay]

Great post, I agree with what you're saying.

[Pitseleh]

frightening the sh1t out of me at the moment, spurs. we are a club in turmoil, and for me a relegation battle is not about how good your players are. its about how they play as a team. i still dont think we will go down. the signs arent good, but have you checked out any middlesborough, newcastle, even blackburn forums a while back ? they all say the same thing. we need to pull our socks up and grind out 2 wins in our next two EPL games. COYS

[P UNIT 1980]

It wasnt the sacking of Jol that ruined us or even the appointment of Ramos.

It was the continued employment of Camoli. Levy is to blame I am affraid. It is a catastrophic error in my opinion and one of the only ones (again in my opinion) that he has made.

[yid4eva]

well put...couldn't agree more

[Essex Spurs]

It wasnt the sacking of Jol that ruined us or even the appointment of Ramos.

It was the continued employment of Camoli. Levy is to blame I am affraid. It is a catastrophic error in my opinion and one of the only ones (again in my opinion) that he has made.

My opinion too buddy.

[belondon]

Jeez... I dont know where that came from, I sat down just to say, our squad set up is making us look like a joke, the King/Gomes situation especially.

But, Thanks for taking the time to read it.

sorry to put you all through such a loooong post.

COYS.