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A lot has happened in
the three months that have elapsed since I last wrote an editorial.
A new part of the
season, new management and new players. It is like a new
start. Martin Jol seems a determined man who will try and achieve
success at Tottenham with a nod to the tradition of playing entertaining
football, but with the realistic approach that it will not be possible
to do that all the time. Managers are judged on results and this
is what he will be trying to achieve. The romanticism is there and
that comes from hearing about Spurs when he was a boy back in Holland
and from playing against the highly successful THFC of the
Hoddle/Perryman/Ardiles era in the 1980s. But there is a gritty
down-to-earth understanding of what needs to be done and also about how
he will go about getting the success we all want.
He's a big bloke to
start off with. So nobody is going to take liberties with him, but
he also has a way about him that appears to be focused on the goal he is
trying to reach and with that comes an attitude that will not allow
anyone who gets in his way stay there for long. Yesterday's
shipping out of Taricco comes only days after Clive Allen appeared
exasperated with his performance in the Reserves. I do not think
we will miss the defender. He did give 100%, but sometimes that
crossed the line of acceptable behaviour and we will always be aware of
his getting sent off in successive matches against Chelsea and Man U
(the second being harsh) and the antics he got up to in the match
against Chelsea at home last season. It's a shame, as if he had
concentrated on his football, he could have been a very good
player. It will be interesting to see how the Spammers take to
him, as they hated him in a Lilywhite shirt !!
The recall of
Davenport from West Ham also indicates that Jol will be willing to give
people a chance in the team. With Naybet having had a dodgy period
in defence, Richards having serious problems with his balance, with the
possibility of a brain tumour to add to that and Gardner being injured
with his foot not getting any better, it leaves an opening for someone
like Calum to step in and stake a claim to a regular place in the
team. From all reports, there has hardly been a game where
Davenport hasn't shone for the Championship side, but now he has to take
that form and replicate it in the Premier League. I am sure he
will be able to do that, but like all youngsters making the step up, we
must not expect too much too soon.
I think that it would
only need a small improvement in our defence to win a few games.
The fact that we became the first team to score four past Arsenal in
three years says something and there was some Spurs involvement in all
of the goals they scored. Shut a few of them out and we are likely
to win more than we lose. The same defenders are there ... and
maybe some better to come in (Davenport and Ifil) ... so nothing is
impossible.
The key to the "continental"
management structure working is having people in post who
a) get on together
b) know their roles
and
c) can communicate with each other.
In Arnesen and Jol, I
think we have people who can make the system work for Tottenham.
The big criticism of the way Daniel Levy is trying to run the club comes
from the fact that it has never worked in England and that you wouldn't
catch most managers dead in a set-up like ours. Well, the fact
that former Leicester City manager Micky Adams said on Sky TV recently
that it could work if you have two people in post who trust each other,
might suggest otherwise. Now, I know you will say, "what did
Leicester City ever win" and "I see Craig Levein has got rid
of Harry Bassett as Director fo Football", but this only goes to
reinforce the fact that no British manager is willing to give it a go in
the long term. Already, Levy's structure has showed just why it is
in force, with Jol stepping seamlessly into Santini's job. It may
be that next time we change Head Coach (and I hope it is not very soon)
that someone has to come in from outside, but the man in charge is Frank
Arnesen and there will be no mass movement of players following the
manager around, as Frank makes those decisions.
The mere fact that we
have lost a "manager" so soon in the last two seasons does
nothing for consistency and continuity. We need stability and
therefore, one would hope that Martin Jol gets a fair crack of the whip
in his job. It is not the constant chopping and changing of
players that causes the club to be transitional, but that of those in
charge.
I failed to see why
Daniel Levy was tainted after the Santini resignation. OK, he
perhaps should have known the extent of the "personal
problems" that Jacques had, but the suddenness of his departure
took everyone by surprise. If he had a problem with Arnesen,
surely, the man Santini should have took it up with was Levy. But
it appears that he engineered his way out by another reason. Maybe
he felt that he would not fit into the system like he thought he
would. Strange then that Jol knows exactly what is expected of him
(and what was expected of Santini before him). At least we didn't
have nine months of purgatory before a new man in charge was named this
season.
Of course, all this
came on the back of the loss of Sir Bill Nicholson. I felt it has
been a poor reflection on his place in football history that he has not
been extended the respect that others such as Brian Clough and Emlyn
Hughes have had, in terms of black armbands and minute's silences.
However, perhaps that is fitting with Bill never one to blow his own
trumpet or able to see what all the fuss about his achievements
was. The fact that he took great pride in them nonetheless and
most of all he was proud that he had done them with Tottenham Hotspur.
That sort of spirit
should make us all humble in remembrance of the great man.
He made Tottenham
Hotspur.
So, whenever you feel
that things can't go back to the way they were in Sir Bill's day.
Keep the faith.
MY EYES HAVE SEEN THE GLORY OF THE CUPS AT WHITE HART LANE
MY EYES HAVE SEEN THE GLORY OF THE CUPS AT WHITE HART LANE
MY EYES HAVE SEEN THE GLORY OF THE CUPS AT WHITE HART LANE
AND THE SPURS GO MARCHING ON.
BRUCE
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