this is all so crazy. stupidest decision ever. not only did he sack a coach who finished 4th twice (not long ago a holy grail) but he had no plan in place whatsoever about who he wants.
be a miracle if spurs finish with more points next season.
― ooooiiiioooooooooooooooaaaaaaaaoooooh un - bi - leevable! (LocalGarda), Thursday, 21 June 2012 12:39 (eleven years ago) link
i don't particulary believe this story. there are no quotes, and i think it came from the guardian who the day before wrote a story claiming levy was about to offer avb the job. really baffled by the "journalism" that occurs in football (this kind of stuff rarely happens in the states)
― mizzell, Thursday, 21 June 2012 13:05 (eleven years ago) link
i dunno. leagues are tricky things to predict in june. arry and me and levy and matt would not have credited that fourth would be a bad season last year if you`d asked a twelvemonth ago. but it was. sackable bad? maybe not so, but then arry wasnt sacked for finishing fourth. he wasn`t even sacked for failing to qualify for the cl. he himself made it difficult for levy to agree an extension. he himself went public with the matter- levy`s form here is zero tolerance. he himself has refused to acknowledge his own input into a catastrophic five months for the club.
i don`t think levy had a manager in waiting because i don`t think levy planned this.
i don`t think avb is entitled to the preference he`s seeking, and i still think he`ll be spurs manager this weekend.
― irrational angst that makes me innocuously thingy (darraghmac), Thursday, 21 June 2012 13:14 (eleven years ago) link
yeah i tend to believe the theory levy had a long game succession planned for next summer but arry must have provoked him to snap during that meeting. arry would have been a nightmare all season without the new contract anyway and most likely it wouldve affected the team
this summer rather than next to begin the rebuilding job seems a good call to me, it's already on the cusp; backline needs reshaping, modders possibly off, decision out on adebayor. could have had another season of same again but overhaul would after that would be more traumatic probably
avb is a neurotic basket case but if he really is anything more than a nothing manager, a clown for all to see, then this is the right job for the lad
― r|t|c, Thursday, 21 June 2012 13:59 (eleven years ago) link
I don't care if he's arrogant and thinks he should be a clear first choice, he's probably right, but if he or his agent are behind a media-led power-play to force Levy's hand that's nagl.
Still hope he gets it.
― Temporarily Famous In The Czech Republic (ShariVari), Thursday, 21 June 2012 14:01 (eleven years ago) link
Tottenham's squad is probably much better suited to an AVB overhaul than Chelsea's anyway, if you overlook the obvious problems in central defence. By and large he didn't have the personnel to match his tactics at Chelsea, especially in midfield, although it's worrying he didn't seem to realise that.
― Matt DC, Thursday, 21 June 2012 14:06 (eleven years ago) link
avb is long past the point of any gl, wasnt he turning his nose up at valencia earlier this summer
he is a big big gamble for spurs but then the risk of going down in flames with him has to be better than solid 6ths with moyesy
― r|t|c, Thursday, 21 June 2012 14:11 (eleven years ago) link
http://i.imgur.com/jdUHG.png
― Number None, Wednesday, 27 June 2012 17:28 (eleven years ago) link
"I won't stop here"
is that a Northern way of saying he's leaving?
― you can't stream a pancake (onimo), Wednesday, 27 June 2012 18:00 (eleven years ago) link
Previous contenders for Tottenham's Greatest Right-Back include Steve Perryman playing out of position so it's an easy position to make your own.
― Matt DC, Wednesday, 27 June 2012 18:10 (eleven years ago) link
What about the Scottish Cafu?!
― you can't stream a pancake (onimo), Wednesday, 27 June 2012 18:21 (eleven years ago) link
can a moderator please fix the title
― reflexing cozen stail (cozen), Wednesday, 27 June 2012 18:22 (eleven years ago) link
blanchflower decent iirc
― Ну, там твое место, там сабе будь! (darraghmac), Wednesday, 27 June 2012 20:55 (eleven years ago) link
JONNY’S DELIGHT AS SPURS AND COLDPLAY HIT NEW YORK!
Jonny Buckland would love to spend a few more afternoons at White Hart Lane.
His problem is that work tends to get in the way – one of the no doubt few downsides of being guitarist in the biggest pop band in the world.
Jonny plays lead guitar for Coldplay, who have now sold more than 50 million albums worldwide.
The band really needs no further introduction and it was a happy coincidence for Jonny that they are playing sold-out gigs in New York as part of their worldwide tour just as his beloved Spurs rolled into the Big Apple.
“I’ve been a Spurs fan all my life,” he said ahead of the Barclays New York Cup win against New York Red Bulls.
“I was born in London and the first match I ever watched on TV was the FA Cup Final (against QPR) in 1982. It all started there, and never stopped.
“I don’t get to White Hart Lane as often as I’d like.
“We tend to be away quite a lot, so I haven’t been for about a year.
“This is the second time I’ve seen the team in the USA, I actually came to this stadium (Red Bull Arena) two years ago.
“The season before last I got to a few Champions League matches, managed to get to see the game against Inter, and that was probably the best game I’ve ever seen.”
Exciting news from White Hart Lane there. Glad they emailed me about it.
― Matt DC, Friday, 3 August 2012 14:55 (eleven years ago) link
Looks like Spurs might only be getting one new striker before the end of the transfer window. Kane's being promoted to the first team. Haven't seen a great deal of him but he hasn't been enormously impressive on the occasions i've watched him.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2012/aug/17/tottenham-hotspur-harry-kane?newsfeed=true
― Temporarily Famous In The Czech Republic (ShariVari), Saturday, 18 August 2012 11:48 (eleven years ago) link
like that from AVB and I like Kane, good first touch and always knows where the goal is. problem with Kane, like so many Spurs players is his best position doesn't seem to fit in to a 4-3-3. he's better playing off a striker in the hole. i hope Andros Townsend gets minutes this year too, he could be great on the left of a front 3, pacy direct with a good right footed shot.
― mizzell, Saturday, 18 August 2012 15:05 (eleven years ago) link
Modric deal has been formally agreed. Spurs will now have some kind of cooperative partnership with Real although the details are vague.
Might be able to start buying people now.
― Temporarily Famous In The Czech Republic (ShariVari), Monday, 27 August 2012 08:49 (eleven years ago) link
Willen looks more likely to go ahead than Damiao I think? In that Willen is being left out of the Shaktar squad and they appear willing to sell whereas I'm seeing no evidence that either Internacional or Damiao have much interest in Spurs right now.
― Matt DC, Monday, 27 August 2012 11:12 (eleven years ago) link
I think that's true but i can't imagine Levy has endeared himself to them by offering £11.8m for a player they value at north of £20m. Will be interesting to see how his negotiating skills fare with Rinat Akhmetov.
There's talk of a keeper, another midfielder (possibly Moutinho) and a striker (possibly Remy) being brought in but i'm not sure how realistic it is to expect £60m - £70m worth of players to be signed in the next four days.
― Temporarily Famous In The Czech Republic (ShariVari), Monday, 27 August 2012 11:22 (eleven years ago) link
Rennes have confirmed a bid for M'Vila.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/19367435
― Temporarily Famous In The Czech Republic (ShariVari), Monday, 27 August 2012 12:21 (eleven years ago) link
can't see moutinho being possible if the price quoted is anywhere near accurate. willian isn't what spurs need the most. dembele seems the best option to me, if he likes playing in central midfield as he did last season.
― mizzell, Monday, 27 August 2012 13:50 (eleven years ago) link
some stats on dembelehttp://news.5minstokickoff.com/index.php/moussa-dembele-still-totes-awesome/
― mizzell, Monday, 27 August 2012 13:53 (eleven years ago) link
dembele would be great at spurs yes.
― pandemic, Monday, 27 August 2012 14:02 (eleven years ago) link
modric deal includes a partnership with real, which will probably be even more useless than the partnership with internacional, considering it couldn't even lead to getting sahin on loan.
― mizzell, Monday, 27 August 2012 15:44 (eleven years ago) link
Sahin's loan fees were pretty high, i think. Liverpool are meant to be paying something like £5m for the season, plus 100% of his salary. Might have made sense to just get someone in permanently.
― Temporarily Famous In The Czech Republic (ShariVari), Monday, 27 August 2012 15:52 (eleven years ago) link
yeah but if a partnership with the club can't get us a better deal in that case, what is it gonna do in the future?
― mizzell, Monday, 27 August 2012 16:01 (eleven years ago) link
£13m bid for Lloris supposedly accepted. Not sure if he wants to come. I find it impossible to get excited about signing a goalkeeper, and that seems like a lot of money.
― mizzell, Tuesday, 28 August 2012 14:42 (eleven years ago) link
more keepers than strikers at spurs these days
― pandemic, Tuesday, 28 August 2012 14:44 (eleven years ago) link
mean old avb is going to ruin friedel's consecutive appearances run.
― tubular, mondo, gnabry (Merdeyeux), Tuesday, 28 August 2012 15:12 (eleven years ago) link
Friedel's been great but you get the feeling his form could suddenly go at any moment and never come back, and Lloris has years in him.
Did Fulham start off basically playing Dembele upfront? This was possibly pre-Jol.
― Matt DC, Tuesday, 28 August 2012 16:15 (eleven years ago) link
yeah he was more of a second striker attacking mid until January or so when he started playing in the central midfield
― mizzell, Tuesday, 28 August 2012 16:19 (eleven years ago) link
bit of talk about esteban granero now. could be good...
― r|t|c, Tuesday, 28 August 2012 16:27 (eleven years ago) link
what the fuck are you cunts going to do with dempsey
― Nilmar Honorato da Silva, Friday, 31 August 2012 22:43 (eleven years ago) link
this is just another bit of spousal abuse between alpha levy and beta boas
― Nilmar Honorato da Silva, Friday, 31 August 2012 22:44 (eleven years ago) link
He can play on the right of a 4231. Better scoring threat than Lennon.
― boxall, Friday, 31 August 2012 22:45 (eleven years ago) link
Midfield from sandro parker livermore bale lennon sigurdsson dempsey dembele huddlestone bentley jenas
― darraghback (darraghmac), Friday, 31 August 2012 22:47 (eleven years ago) link
tends to play off the left ie bale's position
not got the speed or game stretching capacity of lil aaron
― Nilmar Honorato da Silva, Friday, 31 August 2012 22:47 (eleven years ago) link
Demsey will be useful cf cover tbfh
xp Two true statements, neither really contradict my two though.
― boxall, Friday, 31 August 2012 22:48 (eleven years ago) link
i like dempsey but he just doesn't look like an avb player
― Nilmar Honorato da Silva, Friday, 31 August 2012 22:49 (eleven years ago) link
deems otm but even though he seems to be potentially a useful cover cf, has he ever actually played there
― Nilmar Honorato da Silva, Friday, 31 August 2012 22:51 (eleven years ago) link
Idk has he but ito getting onto aerial ball i'd have fewer concerns than adebayor tbh
― darraghback (darraghmac), Friday, 31 August 2012 22:56 (eleven years ago) link
long nightmare over: http://soccernet.espn.go.com/news/story/_/id/1153053/spurs-midfielder-bentley-joins-rostov-on-loan?cc=5901
Rostov have Pletikosa as well, and Florent Sinama Pongolle.
― boxall, Thursday, 6 September 2012 20:50 (eleven years ago) link
Ha! Levy must have been hitting all the +007 numbers in his phone book.
― Temporarily Famous In The Czech Republic (ShariVari), Thursday, 6 September 2012 21:00 (eleven years ago) link
bond, kevin bond
― r|t|c, Thursday, 6 September 2012 21:22 (eleven years ago) link
Dempsey wouldn't get into our first XI (I dunno unless he displaces Sigurdsson) but I can see him playing virtually every game for us. Better to have one effective guy who can play in four different positions than sign two or three mediocre squad players.
Areas where he's especially necessary - cover/competition on the right. Lennon is usually injured for about a quarter of a season.
Wouldn't want him as CF on his own. But when Adebayor is injured, Demspey should allow Defoe to function better in the team because he can provide some more height, presence and link play further up the pitch.
― Matt DC, Friday, 7 September 2012 09:10 (eleven years ago) link
in a 4-3-3 i think dempsey offers more than lennon on the right, basically what jonathan wilson says here what he doesn't say and what i am interested in is whether defoe could be effective playing wide in that system.also i probably missed it on the pl thread cause i was away, but dembele's goal v norwich was class.
― mizzell, Friday, 7 September 2012 14:49 (eleven years ago) link
LIVERMORE FOR ENGLAND
― Number None, Monday, 10 September 2012 14:06 (eleven years ago) link
Perhaps the best insight into how Levy operates as the clock ticks down can be found in the recently released autobiography of former Crystal Palace chairman Simon Jordan – although admittedly the stories within are probably to be taken with lashings of salt.
Back in 2004 Palace had just won promotion to the Premier League under the management of Iain Dowie and academy product Wayne Routledge had been one of the team’s stars on the right hand side of midfield. He’d caught the eye of Spurs and at lunchtime on deadline day Levy contacted Jordan with an offer for the player in the region of £1m. Jordan laughed that off but says he was then contacted at regular intervals for the rest of the afternoon by Levy and people acting on his behalf increasing the offer in increments so small they barely covered the cost of the fax paper they were sent on.
Eventually, at 11pm that night, the bidding had increased to £1.2m and Jordan lost his temper, saying the whole thing was going nowhere fast and in any case even if Spurs did make a serious offer for the player there was now only one hour to go until the deadline and it would be impossible to get Routledge to White Hart Lane, have a deal agreed and complete a medical in time. It was at this point that Levy admitted that Routledge – a contracted Palace player who hadn’t been given permission to speak to Spurs or had a bid accepted for his services – was sitting in a hotel round the corner from Tottenham’s ground with his agent Paul Stretford with everything in place ready to sign.
a heartwarming anecdote from the ever-brill loft for words' match preview which i recommend to anyone
― r|t|c, Friday, 21 September 2012 09:45 (eleven years ago) link
Couldn't care less about Routledge but any opportunity to punk Simon Jordan should be enthusiastically taken.
Reckon this happens quite a lot tbh. When Man United signed Berbatov, Fergie basically picked him up at the airport and handcuffed himself to him.
― Matt DC, Friday, 21 September 2012 09:47 (eleven years ago) link