Tottenham Hotspur 08/09 season

[barbarez01]

Relegation Looms.

[SpursOnTheRise]

Udinese V Spurs live on Setanta!!!

Dont know why im glad coz im just gonna get up to watch us lose!

[King Ledley]

Club announcement

The Club can announce that Damien Comolli, Sporting Director, Juande Ramos, Head Coach and First Team Coaches, Marcos Alvarez and Gus Poyet, have left the Club, with immediate effect. We wish them well.

Clive Allen, Development Squad Coach, and Alex Inglethorpe, Youth Team Manager, will take charge for Sunday's League match against Bolton.

An announcement will be made on First Team coaching staff in due course.

[King Ledley]

Club announcement


The Club has requested permission to hold discussions with Harry Redknapp and Portsmouth FC has reluctantly agreed.

[King Ledley]

Open letter from the Chairman, Daniel Levy



Dear Supporter,

How quickly things change in football. Our pre-season form, our start to the transfer window and early summer signings had everyone optimistic for the season ahead. The last few days of that window and our poor start to the season has seen all that change. This has been a difficult period for the Club and many questions are being asked and much criticism levelled. I should like to update you on some important developments announced a short while ago, to answer some of your questions and also to outline our thinking as we look to improve our current position going forward.

We have faced many key challenges as we have progressed over the last few seasons and we have had to take important decisions at crucial times - without the wonderful benefit of hindsight and always under full public scrutiny. As such, they have been judgement calls. Some of our decisions and judgements may at times be unpopular with our fans but we always take decisions we believe to be in the best interests of our Club, at the time we make them, and for the right reasons. In many cases, it is simply not possible or practical for all of the factors involved to enter the public domain and I do understand that this can alter or impair the perception of why something has or hasn't been done.

Today, as formally announced by the Club, I have made one such important judgement call and in doing so I have taken some very difficult decisions. Relieving Juande Ramos, our Head Coach, and Juande's assistants, Gus Poyet and Marcos Alvarez, of their posts is not something I have undertaken lightly.

Unfortunately, our record of just three League wins since our memorable Carling Cup victory against Chelsea last February, combined with our extremely poor start to the season, led the Board and I to determine that significant change was necessary as a matter of urgency. We are grateful to Juande, Gus and Marcos for all their hard work - they are incredibly professional, committed individuals and I regret that their time in the Premier League has not gone as well as we had all hoped..

The English Premier League is an unforgiving competition - time was no longer on our side and was a luxury we simply could not afford. We have quite clearly not performed to the best of our ability for many months now and our poor run of form is not something we could allow to continue unchecked.

In appointing Harry Redknapp as our new manager, we are delighted to have secured the services of someone we have long since admired and whose track record and knowledge of all levels of football, including importantly the Premier League, is outstanding. I know Harry is relishing the opportunity of managing a Club he knows well, not least from his son Jamie's time here as a player and Captain, and of re-invigorating and restoring confidence to a squad of highly talented international players. With his great knowledge of the game and his excellent motivational skills, Harry has inspired his teams to consistently over-perform, whilst his preferred attacking style of playing the game sits comfortably with our Club's history, heritage and the type of entertaining football our fans want and expect to see.

We have spent around £175m on new players over the last 3 years. The purchasing of players is a critical aspect of our Club and, given our current position, it is essential that we go into the January transfer window with absolute confidence in the advice being offered to the Board. Following a meeting of the Directors and a full review of our football management structure, I can also inform you that Damien Comolli has left the Club with immediate effect. Damien will not be directly replaced.

In my opinion, and with the benefit that comes with running our Club with and without a Sporting Director in the past seven years, the successful management of a football club is not about structures or job titles. As in most businessess, it's about people: their personal qualities, their knowledge, their experience, their relationships, communication skills, interaction with colleagues, leadership and, of course, their ability.

In Harry, we are also accepting with his appointment that now is the right time for us to move back to a more traditional style of football management at our Club. one which we believe will be capable of initiating our climb back up the Premiership table and to maintaining our challenge in the UEFA, Carling and FA Cup competitions.

However, I should stress that we are not in this current position because of any single factor or any one individual. Human nature often dictates the need to find someone or something to blame, but in these circumstances we need all our energies to be directed instead to supporting the team and improving our League position. Nothing else matters at this time.

That said, and without dwelling too much on last summer, I do also want to take this opportunity to address some of the other concerns you have raised. Many of the questions I have been asked and much of the reasoning for our poor start to the season has centred on our striker options. I do not believe this to be the sole reason, but I do feel it is important to set out the facts once again regarding the sale of two popular and talented strikers: Keane and Berbatov.

Robbie Keane's departure was undoubtedly the shock of the summer. I personally had an excellent relationship with Robbie and he was one player that I always thought would end his career at the Club. I know you all felt the same. I was as disappointed as any of you when he informed me that he wanted to join what he described as his favourite boyhood club. Against this background and despite his obvious professionalism, our coaching staff felt that it would be very difficult to expect Robbie to continue to be such a positive influence in our dressing room when he so clearly wanted to leave us. The decision to sell Robbie was therefore not a financial one, although in such circumstances it was vital for our Club to secure the maximum possible value for a player of Robbie's ability.

The sale of Dimitar was an entirely different matter. Dimitar first intimated to Martin Jol that he wanted to join Manchester United after just on season at our Club - and just 10 days before the end of the summer 2007 transfer window. At that time, the coaching staff's preference was to let Dimitar go and for us to replace him. This was not something I would allow - at any price - as I felt that Dimitar's request was completely unreasonable. From that moment on, we obviously knew we had an issue and we spent many hours over the course of the season that followed trying to persuade Dimitar to stay. I rebuffed a number of approaches from clubs , including Manchester United, this May and again in early July. Despite press stories to the contrary, there was no extended period of negotiation with Manchester United and their July offer of £20m was not increased until they contacted us again in the last few days of the transfer window.

The internal decision to sell Dimitar at the beginning of the window was premised on a suitable replacement being found and on the assumption that Dimitar couldn't be persuaded to change his mind. Under FIFA regulations, if a players signs a contract before his 28th birthday, he has only to serve 3 years of that contract before he can terminate it and join a new club. Whilst some compensation is payable under such circumstances the level of compensation is set by a third party body in accordance with predeteremined factors, and in Dimitar's case would have been but a small fraction of the fee we received from Manchester United. But even this was not the final determining factor in our decision to part company with him. Despite the potential cost to the Club and knowing that our efforts to sign an additional, experienced striker had failed, the final decision on whether or not to sell Dimitar was not a financial decision but a footballing one. It was felt that he had not been a positive influence on the pitch or in the dressing room and that this would continue.

The timing of the actual transfer of Dimitar was completely immaterial and unconnected to our bringing in a replacement for him. We had been aware for a long period that he was likely to leave and our negotiations to get the best fee for him was independent of our work to replace both him (as we did with Pavyluchenko) and Robbie, with experienced strikers.

The ultimate failure - as I have said before - of our dealings in this summer's transfer window was not about the departure of two good strikers, or because we have operated a structure that happens to have had a Sporting Director and a Head Coach, or because our financial parameters are too rigid - after all, let´s not forget that we did bring in much quality to enhance our current squad. Quite simply, we failed because we were not as decisive or as successful in identifying or replacing the two strikers as early as we should have been. Perhaps these insights will help once and for all to de-bunk the myths that have been perpetuated around these transfers.

There is also an inaccurate perception that our Club is run entirely for profit and that football is secondary. Success on the pitch is the sole determinant to the future of the Club and its financial stability, so it would be entirely counter-productive to have anything other than football as our first and foremost priority and it is ridiculous to suggest otherwise. At a time when football clubs are criticised for losing money and for their debt levels, I am surprised that we should be criticised for running our Club on a sound commercial basis and for making a profit. Thank goodness we do make a profit because it has significantly supported the progress we have made over the last seven years and has helped to make us one of Europe's most secure Clubs. I make no apologies for the fact that we reinvest the Club's positive cash flow in both players and infrastructure.

And so back to looking ahead and to redress our current position.

Firstly, in Harry, we have secured the services of an excellent Manager of proven Premiership quality. Harry will be working with a squad of quality internationals. We must not forget that this team, without the benefit of three additional players at the time (Pavlyuchenko, Corluka, Campbell), gave a more than creditable performance against the current League leaders. I have spoken to the senior players in recent days and I know the players share our frustration and I know they will dig deep to produce the performances we know they are capable of - they have our full support - and support for the team is absolutely critical at this time.


We have all been subjected to much criticism - myself, the Board, coaching staff and players - having now made what I considered to be necessary, sweeping changes to our football management team, we must re-assert ourselves, regain our focus, and answer our critics in the best way possible - by winning games again.

Secondly, we must prepare ourselves to take advantage of the January transfer window. Harry's experience of the UK and international transfer market will be of critical importance and I shall be looking to Harry for clarity on our priorities. As Chairman, and as previously in our former structure, I must, ultimately, rely on the knowledge and judgement of my technical staff to give me a clear football-based view and recommendation on our transfer targets.

I can assure you that everyone here, from the Board to our most junior staff member, shares the frustration and disappointment of the season so far, but I can also assure you that all of us in every area of the Club are doing what we can to help the players to produce the level of performance and the consistent good results our fans expect and all of us crave.

We have achieved too much over the last seven years - three successive qualifications for Europe, a League Cup win, Training Centre planning permission - and still more to announce - to allow this to be overtaken and thrown away overnight. We have suffered a set back and we have taken strong action.

I have received numerous e-mails and letters from supporters offering advice and suggestions on how the Club should be run and what we should and should not do. I do appreciate the time people take to write to me and when the e-mails or letters are constructive and not abusive, I can assure you that I read as many as I can. And I do take notice of your views. Indeed, I have been heartened by the fact that the over-riding response from our supporters has been one of determination to get behind the team. Too often in difficult times supporters can forget that their support is needed even more than ever. The team will tell you how much of a difference it can make to them on the pitch. White Hart Lane needs to once again become the fortress it was, not so very long ago. With your tremendous support it can.

Finally, I know I am sometimes criticised for appearing too business-focused, too uncommunicative, or simply for not being emotional enough when it concerns our team. The majority of our fans know that it's simply not my way to seek a high profile. I do not crave publicity, neither do I believe it is necessary to do my job. I would prefer our team to make the headlines, for the right reasons. We now have a manager who is a great communicator to players, fans and the media alike and I shall also, personally, look to keep you all informed and your questions answered as we progress through the season.

Your support has never been more important - and we are grateful to so many of you for the messages of support and encouragement the Club has received during this difficult period. Now's the time for all of us to pull together and to get behind Harry and the team.


Yours, Daniel

[Jimmy]

Another spanner in the works just how we like it!

[# 9]

not bad ay, harry barely any time in charge, barely knows the players, yet spurs are beatin bolton at the moment 1-0.

[ramosrules]

About Time

Goals from Roman Pavlyuchenko and Darren Bent gave Tottenham their first win of the season over Bolton in Harry Redknapp's first game in charge.

David Bentley's pin-point cross was met by Pavlyuchenko to give Spurs the lead midway through the first half.

After the break, Bolton midfielder Gavin McCann was sent off for two bookable offences.

Bent wrapped up the victory from the penalty spot after he was fouled by goalkeeper Jussi Jaaskelainen.

The victory was Tottenham's first at home since they beat Redknapp's former employers Portsmouth in March and helped lift the gloom that has engulfed White Hart Lane prior to the 61-year-old's arrival, despite the club remaining bottom of the table.

Redknapp was installed as the club's manager late on Saturday after Ramos was sacked a couple of days shy of his first anniversary at White Hart Lane and he had an immediate impact as he took his place in the home dugout.

With just two points from their previous eight games, Tottenham fans have had little to cheer about of late but Redknapp was given a rapturous reception as he was introduced to the supporters prior to kick-off.

The home supporters had further reason to cheer with the inclusion of Ledley King for the second game running and the Spurs captain finally appears to have put his injury troubles behind him.

The fans' new-found optimism seemed to transmit to the players on the pitch as they produced a consummate performance, but it was not all plain sailing for Spurs.

Goalkeeper Heurelho Gomes, whose performances have been called into question since his summer move from PSV Eindhoven, again looked shaky as Bolton put plenty of crosses into the box to test the Brazilian.

The visitors took a while to get a foothold in the game and a couple of speculative efforts from Jamie O'Hara and Jermaine Jenas flew wide, but Spurs soon went in front thanks to Pavlyuchenko's first Premier League goal.

Bentley, who had been very outspoken about his side's poor start to the season, provided a perfect cross from the right that the Russian headed low into corner to send the Spurs fans into a frenzy.

However, If Redknapp was wandering how big a task he was faced with then he was given a gentle reminder as Bolton nearly snatched an equaliser after half an hour.

Some shambolic Spurs defending resulted in Gomes and Ledley King colliding before the ball fell to Kevin Davies whose hooked effort back across goal drifted just wide.

Gomes was again at fault as he came to collect a Bolton cross and fumbled with the ball falling to Johan Elmander whose shot was brilliantly cleared off the line by King.

Not to be outdone, Jaaskelainen fumbled a seemingly innocuous cross at the other end into the path of Tom Huddlestone who fired over from six yards.

Gomes continued to give Spurs cause for concern as the Brazilian looked less than assured every time Bolton hoisted a ball into the box and this appeared to be the visitors' most likely avenue for an equaliser.

But their task was made all the more difficult 10 minutes after the break as McCann was given his marching orders after picking up his second booking for a late tackle on Huddlestone.

Tottenham looked to make their man advantage count and almost immediately went further ahead, but Luka Modric shot straight at Jaaskelainen.

Another hapless punch clear from Gomes fell to Fabrice Muamba whose attempted lob drifted over but it was Spurs who looked the more likely to grab their second.

Substitute Bent, on for Pavlyuchenko, raced onto Modric's through ball but saw his shot saved by Jusskelainan.

However, after Modric saw his shot brilliantly saved by Jaaskelainen, Bent was adjudged to have been hauled down by the Finnish keeper and he coolly slotted home the penalty.

Tottenham continued to threaten, but could not find a third and after J'Lloyd Samuel drilled a late effort wide for Bolton, Modric was again denied by Jaaskelainen.

BBC Sport Player Rater man of the match: Tottenham's Luka Modric on 7.90

[ramosrules]

Spurs are still bottom of the table but a 2-0 win, courtesy of goals from Roman Pavlyuchenko and Darren Bent, gives reasons for optimism.

And King told Sky Sports: "I think the appointment is brilliant - Harry has been there before with teams and produced his magic and I'm very confident he can do it with us.

"It (the win) has been a long time coming but it feels good.

Ledley King hailed the appointment of Harry Redknapp as "brilliant" after Tottenham won their first match of the Premier League season.

"Harry came in and told the players 'you are good players but it's about confidence'. He believes we can get out of it and we responded. You saw a different us today.

"The players seem to have a weight off their shoulders today for some reason. That was more like us.

"We weren't expecting Juande Ramos to go, especially the day before the game.

"We would like to thank him for the work he's done, for winning the (Carling Cup) trophy - and to wish him all the best."

On a personal level, King added: "It felt good to be out there - I would love to play against Arsenal (on Wednesday) but we'll look at the situation and see."

[ramosrules]

Redknapp: I'll call shots on transfers

Harry Redknapp celebrated Tottenham's 2-0 victory over Bolton - then admitted he will have total control over transfers at White Hart Lane.

Spurs chairman Daniel Levy has scrapped the system of sporting director Damien Comolli recruiting players, with the Frenchman dismissed along with head coach Juande Ramos and his assistants.

Redknapp will now draw up his own targets for Levy to negotiate deals for, and he will also bring in Kevin Bond as a coach and assistants, although he has ruled out his son, Jamie, returning to White Hart Lane.

"The chairman will do the deals but I'll pick the players," Redknapp said after taking to the dugout for the 2-0 win over Bolton on his first day at work. "I wouldn't let anyone else buy my players.

"I'm not going to ask him to go and buy Ronaldo for me. There'll be some players out there in January who he'll bring in for us."

Redknapp could bring up to two assistants to White Hart Lane, and he added: "There are a couple of ex-Tottenham people who I think have great futures in the game. I would like to talk to them about coming here."

Victory over Bolton capped a dramatic day at Spurs where Redknapp was signed at a cost of £5million in compensation to Portsmouth.

Levy admitted that he had previously targeted Redknapp, with a deal close to being struck when Martin Jol went two months without a league win.

"I could have come here maybe 18 months ago, in all honesty," said Redknapp. "I nearly came here, it was a long story but things happened.

"I nearly went to Newcastle and people said I didn't want to take on the challenge of a big club. I felt that once this happened (with Spurs again), I would have regretted it for the rest of my life."

Reserve-team coach Clive Allen picked the team that defeated Bolton courtesy of goals from Roman Pavlyuchenko and a Darren Bent penalty. It did not lift Spurs off the foot of the table but confidence appeared to be returning.

Redknapp met the team in the morning and was on the bench to make substitutions, and he received a huge ovation when he stood up in the technical area.

"We don't have time for me to sit in the stands," he added. "We had to get on with it.

"The record was eight games, two points, so you're in trouble. Anything else (apart from survival) is a bonus. The priority has to be league points."

Bolton boss Gary Megson had to endure abusive chants from his own supporters towards the end of the defeat.

"Everyone is giving it their best shot, frustrations come out and they've chosen to react in the way they have done," Megson said.

"The players, myself and everyone in that dressing room have an opinion but that is where it will stay."

Megson also had Gavin McCann sent off for two bookings, the second on Tom Huddlestone.

"I don't think it was fair," Megson said. "I'm not too far away from it and I didn't see too much contact. I heard the scream and the two didn't go together.

"With the penalty the contact is hardly anything."

Aside from those flashpoints, the focus was totally on Redknapp, whose contract is thought to be over three years.

It has been viewed as his final job, although Redknapp joked: "I've said that too many times before!"

[TDGv2]

Bring Defoe home, Harry.

[King Ledley]

What a win. What a feeling. Gomes was terrible though.

[LFTWNG11]

What a win. What a feeling. Gomes was terrible though.

haha I can only imagine the relief buddy... if not just for teh fact that the Joke thread will now slowly disappear!!!

Usually i would say sacking the manager and all that would make for an even tougher run, but with 'onest 'Arry I think Spuds will be fine, especially if he gets to target the players. By next season you should be back in the UEFA Cup places where you belong... NOTHING MORE, NOTHING LESS.

[delfino_1936]

Bring Defoe home, Harry.

Harry aint at West Ham yet ;)

Usually i would say sacking the manager and all that would make for an even tougher run, but with 'onest 'Arry I think Spuds will be fine, especially if he gets to target the players. By next season you should be back in the UEFA Cup places where you belong... NOTHING MORE, NOTHING LESS.

agree i've said all along that they won't get relegated, but i just wanted to have as much fun as i could at these cunts expense

[SPURS18]

Fuck me two massive games coming up scum away on Wednesday morning and Liverpool home on Saturday we need to keep building on results hopefully we dont get too confident .

[pires7]

Bring Defoe home, Harry.

Harry aint at West Ham yet ;)

Usually i would say sacking the manager and all that would make for an even tougher run, but with 'onest 'Arry I think Spuds will be fine, especially if he gets to target the players. By next season you should be back in the UEFA Cup places where you belong... NOTHING MORE, NOTHING LESS.

agree i've said all along that they won't get relegated, but i just wanted to have as much fun as i could at these champagne expense

Guess what Delfino, I said at the start of the season in that famous PM, Spurs would have 5 points from 10games and if Arsenal do the business at home. I got it spot on

[delfino_1936]

Bring Defoe home, Harry.

Harry aint at West Ham yet ;)

Usually i would say sacking the manager and all that would make for an even tougher run, but with 'onest 'Arry I think Spuds will be fine, especially if he gets to target the players. By next season you should be back in the UEFA Cup places where you belong... NOTHING MORE, NOTHING LESS.

agree i've said all along that they won't get relegated, but i just wanted to have as much fun as i could at these champagne expense

Guess what Delfino, I said at the start of the season in that famous PM, Spurs would have 5 points from 10games and if Arsenal do the business at home. I got it spot on

i'll post that for the world to see if we win this wk. MSN NOW

[ramosrules]

shiraz me two massive games coming up scum away on Wednesday morning and Liverpool home on Saturday we need to keep building on results hopefully we dont get too confident .

Pretty sure its Thursday morning, 6am start fox 2.

How terrible was Gomes? that would have to be one of the worst displays of goalkeeping from crosses ive ever seen, the commentaters were having a laugh and he kept doing it again and again.
Modric was fantastic I thought BAE had a really good game at left back. We looked a lot better when Bent came on, although they were down to ten men, his running off Modric was great, better than the shite that we have seen so far this season.

[SpursOnTheRise]

Yeh Modric was awesome, Bentley was average which is still a step up. BAE i thought was pretty shakey and was getting caught up a fair bit but he did the job.

Gomes on the other hand had the worst performance goals that i have ever seen!!

[King Ledley]

What a win. What a feeling. Gomes was terrible though.

haha I can only imagine the relief buddy... if not just for teh fact that the Joke thread will now slowly disappear!!!

DW mate ill keep bumping it so it's here forever

[King Ledley]

Harry: Chance I couldn't turn down



Harry Redknapp has admitted that he simply ‘couldn't turn down' the opportunity to manage Tottenham.

The club announced Harry's appointment this morning following the departure of Juande Ramos and his coaching team.

One of the most respected figures in the game, Harry joins us after guiding Portsmouth to one of the most successful periods in their history, lifting the FA Cup last season and finishing eighth in the Premier League.

"I've gone from being in the comfort zone at Portsmouth, the club is seventh in the Premier League and into another big challenge, a real pressure-cooker situation for the rest of the season but this was a chance that I couldn't turn down," he said.

"Tottenham is a big, big club and this is a big opportunity for me. I thought let's give it a go before it was too late. I could have gone to Newcastle before, didn't take that job and many people said ‘he hasn't got the ambition' but this is a chance for me and let's see how it goes.

"It was difficult to leave Portsmouth, for sure. If I hadn't been at such a good club and enjoying my life so much, it would have been easy (to move).

Harry now has the task of turning around our fortunes and our much-publicised poor start to the league campaign with no wins and two draws from our opening eight games.

Harry insisted that is all he's concentrating on now. "The league is the only priority now," he said. "We can talk about trying to win cups but we have to stay in the Premier League and improve our position.

"There are some good players at the club who haven't done as well as they should have done so we have to get them playing to their maximum and if we do that, we'll be okay.

Finally, on leaving Pompey, Harry said: "Peter Storrie is a very close friend and I am grateful to him for the way he has dealt with this. I leave Portsmouth in good shape, they've some fantastic players at the moment and there is no reason for them not to have another great season."

[King Ledley]

Harry gets cracking



Harry Redknapp insisted that he wanted to 'get cracking straight away' as we marked his first day in charge with our first league victory of the campaign against Bolton on Sunday.

Development coach Clive Allen selected the team to take on Bolton but Harry drove straight to the team hotel first thing Sunday morning to meet the players and was heavily involved throughout the day, taking his place alongside Clive on the touchline.

His arrival certainly lifted the club and the players responded in fine style as goals from Roman Pavlyuchenko after 17 minutes and Darren Bent's penalty after 75 minutes secured a much-needed 2-0 win in the Barclays Premier League.

Harry reflected: "I met the players at the hotel, had a chat with them at about half past 11, came in with them on the coach, went into the dressing room and got cracking straight away.

"I only joined the club on Saturday night, so Clive put the team together, it was fine and I said 'great, let's go with that'.

"I could have sat in the stand and watched the game but there was no point in that, we haven't got time. I needed to get cracking so I got into it straight away.

"My first priority here is to stay in the Premier League. The record was two points from eight games and we're in trouble, no queston. The priority is points and getting up that league table and it was a great start for us."

[King Ledley]

Academy in Qatar



The Tottenham Hotspur Academy flew out to the Middle East today to team up with the ASPIRE Sports Academy in Qatar for a series of matches against ASPIRE's football academy.

The trip is part of the Academy's ongoing strategy that focuses on exposing players to different footballing cultures.

Tottenham Hotspur Academy Director John McDermott outlined the importance of giving players this opportunity:

"It's essential for player development to ensure that our players experience different conditions and playing styles.

"Preparing, playing and then recovering from a game played against a Qatar based team will be a vastly different process than anything they would have experienced here in the UK. International trips are physically and mentally intense and fatigue will be a huge factor, all of which will be beneficial to development."

ASPIRE's head football coach, Michael Browne added, "We are very much looking forward to hosting Tottenham Hotspur. They are one of the most established teams in England with a long and successful history. They have some excellent staff working in their youth department and we are looking forward to playing against their young sides."

Tottenham Hotspur's U-17 and U-15 teams will compete against ASPIRE throughout the five day visit.

ASPIRE is Qatar's leading Sports Academy and aims to discover the best young sporting talent from across the region.

[ramosrules]

Good on Clive for putting the team together on sunday, great to see modric with a free role, he is a player that does it very well, not only does he gets forward at every opportunity when we have the ball or to put pressure on thier defence but also has the determination to get back help out when needed.
I think Clives big season was my first as a Tottenham fan, close to 50 goals in one season.....what a player.

[King Ledley]

Must say Modric impressed

[King Ledley]

As the lads who played a full shift in Sunday's win against Bolton went through a warm down, the new boss put the rest of the squad through their paces with various football drills and a short-sided game.

[ramosrules]

Is that KPB at the back with the gold boots on? looks like the fringe players have been brought back into the squad and while i think Arry will be loving players like Modric, Lennon and Gio im sure he would have a soft spot for someone like KPB or Ghaly, they would both get well stuck in, if Ghaly didn't pull that shit (which he did apologise for after the game) i think he would have had a look this season because up until now we have looked toothless and i can remember him kicking the shit out of Chelsea a couple of years ago, plus he had his teeth knocked out against Arry's team last year? or was it the year before and played on....so you cant question his commitment. Stalteri would also be back in the fold, while i think hes pretty bad, when Hutton was injured and Gunther wasn't picked why would you play Zokora over a proper right back?

Whats your thoughts on Arry boys?
hes always done well in the market, hes usually done well with the teams he has (bar Southampton). Hopefully he can spend the cash as well as he has spent in the past.
I think he will get us mid table this year and improve from there. Pity we haven't got an easier draw in the cup, maybe will Pool beating Chelsea they might concentrate onthe league and rest Torres and Gerrard

[ramosrules]

I forgot about Rocha, hes also back and with maybe King and Woodgate out injured, Dawson suspended it could be just his time come the scum on thurs morn.

[SPURS18]

Is that KPB at the back with the gold boots on? looks like the fringe players have been brought back into the squad and while i think Arry will be loving players like Modric, Lennon and Gio im sure he would have a soft spot for someone like KPB or Ghaly, they would both get well stuck in, if Ghaly didn't pull that cabernet (which he did apologise for after the game) i think he would have had a look this season because up until now we have looked toothless and i can remember him kicking the cabernet out of Chelsea a couple of years ago, plus he had his teeth knocked out against Arry's team last year? or was it the year before and played on....so you cant question his commitment. Stalteri would also be back in the fold, while i think hes pretty bad, when Hutton was injured and Gunther wasn't picked why would you play Zokora over a proper right back?

Whats your thoughts on Arry boys?
hes always done well in the market, hes usually done well with the teams he has (bar Southampton). Hopefully he can spend the cash as well as he has spent in the past.
I think he will get us mid table this year and improve from there. Pity we haven't got an easier draw in the cup, maybe will Pool beating Chelsea they might concentrate onthe league and rest Torres and Gerrard

lets not get to carried away we need to get out of relegation first and with Scum and Liverpool the next two games we might just find our selves in a deeper hole

[ramosrules]

The next two games are penned in as losses, whether we win lose or draw any of the next two games we wont be in a deeper hole, i think we will get something out of one of them, probably prefer the pool one at the mo though cause its at home, wonder what type of reception robbie will get. If he scores i wonder if he will do the defoe thing and not celebrate.