Tottenham Hotspur Season 2008/9

[johntheclaret]

I guess with Spurs poor start to the season, they will become very newsworthy before long.

Thanks to the Sporting Life

Jermaine Jenas admits Tottenham boss Juande Ramos is beginning to feel the strain of the club's poor start to the season.
Spurs currently sit rock-bottom of the Premier League table, with just two points taken from their six fixtures so far, their worst start to a league campaign in 53 years.
A 2-0 defeat at Portsmouth on Sunday provided the latest blot on Ramos' copybook, with the away support targeting their Spanish boss with a rowdy chorus of: "You don't know what you're doing."
The noises coming out of White Hart Lane remain positive despite the slump, but Jenas has revealed that the pressure may be beginning to take its toll on Spurs' under-fire coach.
"The manager gets very angry at certain things, but he also has a very level head," the England international told the Evening Standard. The players know that we have not been up to our usual standards. The confidence is never going to be sky-high when you are not winning games, and one or two players are maybe lacking a bit of that confidence."



PS. These topics are hear for newsworthy stories, and not just for a cheap shot. Please keep your bagging to the EPL Discussion Tread.

ta.

[johntheclaret]

RAMOS 3/1 TO LEAVE NEXT

Thanks to SkyBet

Juande Ramos has been cut to 3/1 favourite with Sky Bet to be the next Premier League manager to go following Tottenham's latest poor result at the weekend.

Spurs remain rock bottom of the league after a 2-0 defeat at Portsmouth, during which their fans chanted 'You don't know what you're doing' at Ramos when he replaced lone striker Roman Pavlyuchenko with Darren Bent after 73 minutes.

With just two points on the board from six games, it is clear the fans are losing patience with the Spaniard and a UEFA Cup exit this week at the hands of Wisla Krakow would put him under unbearable pressure.

[devilsadvocate]

PS. These topics are hear for newsworthy stories, and not just for a cheap shot. Please keep your bagging to the EPL Discussion Tread.

ta.

Here, here!!!

[johntheclaret]

Good article on the news today.

thanks to the Mail for this

'Poisonous, greedy' Berbatov abandoned Spurs after they made him a superstar, slams Venables

Former Tottenham manager Terry Venables has laid the blame for the club's dire start to the season squarely at Dimitar Berbatov's door, bemoaning the Bulgarian's 'poisonous presence' at the beginning of the campaign.
Berbatov started the season at White Hart Lane but was clear in his desire to realise a 'dream' move to current club Manchester United.

The ego has landed: Berbatov's summer move to Manchester United was fuelled by cash not ambition, insists Terry Venables
Speculation over Berbatov's future dominated Spurs' early matches as manager Juande Ramos wrestled with whether or not to select the striker, who eventually signed for the Red Devils in a £30million deal.

With two points from six league matches so far Spurs lie bottom of the table and Ramos is under intense pressure. But Venables, who last week turned down the chance to return to top-flight
management with Tottenham's fellow strugglers Newcastle, believes the club's current strife stems from Berbatov.
'Berbatov kept telling us he had "a dream" Well, good for you Dimi. You had a dream with a few extra noughts added to your bank balance," said Venables. 'But did Spurs have a dream too? You got your way but your poisonous presence at the start of the season - the brooding and the reluctance to play - has cost the club that believed in you.'
Venables also believes the Spurs board erred in selling Berbatov's strike partner Robbie Keane to Liverpool before they had a replacement. 'They thought they were going to get Andrei Arshavin,' said Venables. 'This was a massive managerial blunder by Spurs, especially when they had allowed Keane to leave. But letting Berbatov and Keane go without having Arshavin in the bag was a boardroom blunder.'

Pretty fair assessment from Venables. Wonder why he has come out now though. Hmmm maybe a managerial position is about to become available ??

[johntheclaret]

And there is more strife for the troubled club.

Tottenham in trouble over fans' homophobic jibes at their former star Campbell
By NEIL ASHTON

Tottenham's season plunged into further turmoil on Monday night with the FA set
to investigate alleged homophobic chants aimed at Sol Campbell during their 2-0 loss at Portsmouth on Sunday.

Sections of visiting support repeatedly sang abusive songs which Pompey manager Harry Redknapp branded ‘filthy’, one suggesting the former Spurs defender had contracted HIV.
An FA official said: ‘We take these matters seriously and will investigate any alleged case we are made aware of, taking action where necessary.’
Although Hampshire police made a complaint to Soho Square, they did not make arrests.

Campbell has been abused by Spurs fans since he switched to rivals Arsenal in 2001, but it is understood he was shocked by the depth of ill-feeling. Pompey have yet to make a complaint but chief executive Peter Storrie is considering the club’s position. The FA can charge Spurs only if Storrie complains and they were privately urging him to take decisive action.

A Spurs official said: ‘We don’t condone racist, homophobic or obscene chanting
and have clamped down at our stadium.’

[devilsadvocate]

It's pretty crude what gets sung to Sol Campbell about being Judas and having HIV.

There's no doubt he's a Judas of the lowest order and what he did is probably the MOST disgraceful act ever committed by a footballer IMO, but I won't ever be singing about him having HIV or hanging from a tree. Apparently he's had some phsycological problems from the abuse dished out by fans, which in some ways surprises me after the stunt he pulled. Did he expect Spurs fans to wish him well?

And where Spurs say they're clamping down on it, when I was at the Lane a couple of weeks ago and the Adebayor elephant song got belted out, not even one steward batted an eyelid. It seems they are powerless to chuck out 4 bays of fans in 1 hit.

[Pidge]

Spurs are doing bad due to their poor recruiting. Why would they buy Steven Bywater?

[devilsadvocate]

Spurs are doing bad due to their poor recruiting. Why would they buy Steven Bywater?

They didn't buy Bywater.
It's no so much poor recruiting as selling our best players and poor team selection & tactics. Ramos was renowned as being an anti-tactician in Spain where he guided Seville to the Spanish equivalent of the FA Cup, regularly beat Real Madrid and Barca, won 2 EUFA Cups and achieved qualification for the Champions League. This approach is clearly not working in England.

[Pidge]

Spurs are doing bad due to their poor recruiting. Why would they buy Steven Bywater?

They didn't buy Bywater.
It's no so much poor recruiting as selling our best players and poor team selection & tactics. Ramos was renowned as being an anti-tactician in Spain where he guided Seville to the Spanish equivalent of the FA Cup, regularly beat Real Madrid and Barca, won 2 EUFA Cups and achieved qualification for the Champions League. This approach is clearly not working in England.

I agree. Managing in the premierleague is the hardest job in football

[johntheclaret]

Following on from stories that Ramos is just a couple or four games from the sack:

Thanks to Sky, and thanks to the Sun for their contribution

Tottenham Hotspur have dismissed reports that Mark Hughes has been sounded out to replace Juande Ramos as manager.

According to a newspaper report in The Sun on Friday morning, Spurs officials were alleged to have contacted Manchester City boss Hughes' advisors regarding an offer to take over at White Hart Lane.

But Spurs have issued a statement to reject the rumours and have stressed that no offer has been made to former Wales coach Hughes. "The club largely refrains from making statements of this nature unless absolutely necessary in order to set the record straight in light of wholly inaccurate reporting," read the statement on the club's official website. An article on the back page of this morning's Sun newspaper reports that the club has made an offer to Mark Hughes to take over as manager during the forthcoming international break. This story is completely untrue and without foundation and the matter is being discussed with the publication."

Speculation has surfaced regarding Ramos' future in North London following Spurs' disappointing start to the season. Though Ramos has taken the club into the group phase of the Uefa Cup, Spurs are bottom of the Premier League table after failing to win in their opening six games.

Skysports.com, meanwhile, understands Hughes has no intention of leaving cash-rich City, just months after joining the club from Blackburn Rovers.

[devilsadvocate]

OH


MY


GOD

[devilsadvocate]

There's no doubt he's a Judas of the lowest order and what he did is probably the MOST disgraceful act ever committed by a footballer IMO,

Footballers forcing it onto unwilling ladies in hotel rooms.
Footballers and officials involved in match fixing.........

The list could go on.
What Sol did was get the best terms for himself out of his short career.
He gave Spurs excellent service over a number of years, unlike Berbatov.
You would've done the same DA.

At least he never got pictured in an oppositions shirt before he had signed with Arsenal.

Think of West Ham and the guvnor.

When I said disgraceful act by a footballer, I should have clarified in terms of on field, or against his club. I know your first 2 points are far worse, but I'm talking in a football sense. Any human can get involved in the first 2.

You're right. Sol got the best for HIM. He came through Spurs academy, professed his love for the club over and over and over again and said his contract would sort itself out at the end of the year. He was obviously tapped up by Arsenal prior to this and told not to sign a new contract. When he shifted to the Arse, he was personally paid a monster fee, which if he had signed a contract at Spurs, would have gone to the club to allow us to buy a replacement. The fee was somewhere in the vacinity of £12-£15m which in those days was BIG, BIG money. IMO Sol STOLE that cash from Tottenham. All the years of development, banging on about how you love the club, then run away with the slut from down the road and nothing is received in compensation.

I agree Sol gave excellent service to Spurs. Berbatov never professed his love for Spurs. He gave good service, but had a shocking attitude at the end. He left, said he enjoyed his time and we got £30m for him. Massive difference IMO.

As for me doing the same, NOT A CHANCE IN HELL. It's called having morals. Something that Sol, Ince and many, many others were obviously not taught growing up.

[smithy]

There's no doubt he's a Judas of the lowest order and what he did is probably the MOST disgraceful act ever committed by a footballer IMO,

Footballers forcing it onto unwilling ladies in hotel rooms.
Footballers and officials involved in match fixing.........

The list could go on.
What Sol did was get the best terms for himself out of his short career.
He gave Spurs excellent service over a number of years, unlike Berbatov.
You would've done the same DA.

At least he never got pictured in an oppositions shirt before he had signed with Arsenal.

Think of West Ham and the guvnor.

[devilsadvocate]

What Sol did was get the best terms for himself out of his short career.
He gave Spurs excellent service over a number of years, unlike Berbatov.
You would've done the same DA.

Not sure how my reply ended up before your post, but play on .

Thinking about it further, you guys could have had the same situation not long back with Stevie G. Now, it wouldn't have been quite the same, but imagine for a while he'd come out all season kissing the badge, receiving adoration from the Kop, talking up Liverpool left right and centre and how he loves the club, blah, blah , blah, THEN turns about over summer and says he's going to Everton or Man U for free. How would you feel about him?

Stevie G could have left for a LOT more coin. But he has some morals and stayed. And yes, I'm sure he gets plenty more coin than he used to, but no doubt Roman would have chucked him a heck of a lot more Rubles to head to the Chavs.

Not everyone is a money grabbing club slut purely after personal accolades. Scumball is a bad bloke who should have had a good bloody think about things before doing what he did. As for Berbatov, I don't hold anything against him except for his behavior at the end of his time at Spurs. Plus he actually has a heart judging by his generous charity support and family background.

[johntheclaret]

You a phsycic DA. now you're answering questions before they've been asked. Thought you'd use your powers for this weeks tipping comp.

Seriously, I can see both sides of this argument. Glen Little was worth £1.5m (small feed in relation to EPL, but still, 3 years ago was big $$ for the Clarets. He was a nobody from Glentoran and became a fans favourite at Burnley. We / he turned down offers for £1.5m for him only for him to leave at the end of his contrat to go to Reading.

Well thanks a lot Little. But know deserves what Sol Campbell has had to endure for all those years. It's time to move on I reckon. Berbatov has caused more damage to Spurs than Campbell ever will. just look at their position on the ladder today.

[devilsadvocate]

Doesn't it make you angry though? You see these blokes in the opposition strip and it makes your blood boil.

The reason I don't really blame Berba for the circus at the end of the transfer period is Daniel Levy's love of a business deal. He just had to hold out for his extra coin, but in the process has put us in our current predicament. If we'd sold Berba in June, bought someone decent like Et'o or Arse man (even though I still don't really rate him), morale at the lane would have been far higher. We all knew Berba was gone. Should have just got it done regardless of the fee.

At the moment, I cant help but wonder why the hell we sold Jermaine Defoe. Great player, crowd favourite, loved playing at Spurs and we ship him on.

I wonder if Klinsmann and Teddy could pull the cockeral on for a few games and save us from the drop again? Free agents

oh, and there's talk of bringing back Edgar Davids. Great player in his day, but lets get serious! Might as well dig up Bill Nic.

[McAlmanac]

Martin Jol has Hamburg top of the Bundesliga.

[devilsadvocate]

Martin Jol has Hamburg top of the Bundesliga.

That is a point not lost on me.
I'm still disappointed about not only losing Jol, but the way he was treated.
99% of Spurs fans loved Jol. The song sung loudest and most often by Spurs fans was 'I love Martin Jol, Martin Jol loves me.....'
Can't see him coming back any time soon, but he still talks about his love for Spurs, so there's a small, smal glimmer of hope sometime in the future.

Personally, I couldn't blame him for not wanting to come back after what Comolli and Levy did to him.

[devilsadvocate]

And further to that, some idiots are talking about Jurgen Klinsmann. What's he done at Bayern with all that talent?

Klinsmann was a great player. Great player does not translate to great manager.

SAF was a rubbish player. As was Martin Jol.

[JK]

According to the Bayern fans Jurgen wouldn't cost you much