Bilic plays down Tottenham link

[Geez]

Source: BBC

Slaven Bilic has played down speculation linking him to Tottenham, insisting he is focused on his job as coach of the Croatia national team.

The 40-year-old has been mooted as a potential replacement for Juande Ramos if the Spaniard is sacked following Spurs' worst start to a league season.

"I've been linked with many clubs in England and all I can say is that it is flattering," Bilic told BBC Sport.

"But I have my job with Croatia and that's all I'm concentrating on." <!-- E SF -->

Bilic has forged a reputation as one of Europe's most promising coaches after guided his country to two victories over England in qualifying for Euro 2008 and then to the last eight at the finals in Austria and Switzerland last summer.

The former West Ham and Everton defender has reportedly turned down offers to manage the Hammers and Manchester City in the past and told the BBC One's Football Focus in November 2007: "I dream of being a club manager in the Premier League."

Newspaper reports claim sections of the Tottenham dressing room are openly discussing Bilic's name and that the club's two Croatia players, Luka Modric and Vedran Corluka, have been quizzed by team-mates over their countryman's suitability.

Spurs have picked up just two points from their opening eight games and sit bottom of the Premier League, five points adrift of safety.

"The Tottenham crisis has affected them (Modric and Corluka) but they are behind the manager and I can't see a problem with them on the pitch," Bilic told BBC Radio 5 Live.

Like most players at Tottenham their self-confidence is not at it's highest right now, which is understandable.

"It's hard to believe (Tottenham's situation) but a lot of good teams have been in the same position.

"When something goes wrong, and then you get injures, red cards and bad luck, it's frustrating.

"I know the situation they are but I'm sure it is going to get better. It's a massive club and they are going to come back."<!-- E BO -->

[The Original Yiddster]

If Ramos goes and not saying he should for me would like Roy Keane.........wouldnt fancy SB at all

[parj]

if we're being linked with Bilic we may as well be linked with Justin Edinburgh, at least he has club experience!!! No more people who have masterminded victories over England please..... first Modric, Pavlychencko and Corluka, now Bilic....who next Lawrie Sanchez?

[smudger]

if we're being linked with Bilic we may as well be linked with Justin Edinburgh, at least he has club experience!!! No more people who have masterminded victories over England please..... first Modric, Pavlychencko and Corluka, now Bilic....who next Lawrie Sanchez? at least if sanchez come he might bring healy with him proven international record unproven in the prem. In other words typical spurs signing of late. And sanchez has had a good cup run ;-)

[johnny two saints]

Bilic with Venables as a Spurs babysitter?

[ethanedwards]

If Ramos goes and not saying he should for me would like Roy Keane.........wouldnt fancy SB at all
TOY Spot on, the ideal scenario for DL is for Ramos to walk, an approach for RK will take place, overtures may have already have begun. He will insist on total control over players coming and going, Damien Comolli will revert to a role of chief scout. I really hoped it was going to worh for Ramos but its backs against the wall time, and who would you want to lead you, none other than a Celtic warrior,a childhood YID.Roy Keane your club needs you. DL make the call.

[Makkaveli101]

Yeah he was a childhood Spurs fan, I forgot that.

[spursinhk]

Hmm... Sound like he really knows our situation well. He keeps close eyes on his international players. No thanks. We need some one who has managed a club before...

[UncleBuck]

Latest news doing the rounds is that Commolli is going to be given the chop next week and that Ramos has been told to sort his backroom staff out sharpish as they feel he is taking too much on. If we are going to carry on with this DoF then we need to bring in Ramos' DoF from his time at Seville, or at least someone who is fluent in Spanish and English. Oh, that would be Vebables.....Personally I feel that Levy and Commolli need to carry the can for this mess as we should have invested the 20 million from Keane into buying a striker like David Villa or someone of that ilk, not someone who has scored two goals against England in a qualifying campaign.

If we sack Ramos it would cost us a fortune however I do feel that he hasn't done himself any favours since we won the LC.

[JimmyG2]

Dream on people.Comolli might go.Ramos is not going to walk and is unlikely to be sacked.
Bilic,Keane is not going to happen even if Ramos goes.Poyet as interim is more likely.
Why would any manager come to us who has a decent job at the moment.
Calm down,calm down and show some dignity and defiance.
And get behind the team.Now is the time to shake off the reputation we have aquired as 'fickle'. Your team needs you to stay strong.

[Bonjour]

Ramos will be going nowhere, at least until May IMO.

[Coyboy]

I would not be excited about Bilic and it wouldn't happen in my opinion anyway. As for Keane, equally doubtful; I would like him as manager definitely but he wouldn't leave Sunderland. He has said that he wouldn't even leave Sunderland for United yet because he is trying to build something there. Now, if Ferguson retires tomorrow or at the end of the season, Keane may actually take that job but Tottenham, at the bottom of the league and all the politics which the press invents or exaggerates? Can't see it.

If Ramos leaves, which he will soon if things don't get better in my opinion, Poyet will probably take over.

[Chedozie]

We should stick with Ramos, i think most of the problems with our team aren't his fault anyway.

But if we did sack him, Mouriniho is the only replacement, he must be sick of italy by now.

[STEVEMORT]

Go find Jurgen...he got us out the dwang last time..

[LewishamSpur]

<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"><meta name="ProgId" content="Word.Document"><meta name="Generator" content="Microsoft Word 10"><meta name="Originator" content="Microsoft Word 10"><link rel="File-List" href="file:///C:%5CTEMP%5Cmsohtml1%5C01%5Cclip_filelist.xml"><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:WordDocument> <w:View>Normal</w:View> <w:Zoom>0</w:Zoom> <w:Compatibility> <w:BreakWrappedTables/> <w:SnapToGridInCell/> <w:WrapTextWithPunct/> <w:UseAsianBreakRules/> </w:Compatibility> <w:BrowserLevel>MicrosoftInternetExplorer4</w:BrowserLevel> </w:WordDocument> </xml><![endif]--><style> <!-- /* Style Definitions */ p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal {mso-style-parent:""; margin:0cm; margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:12.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-ansi-language:EN-GB;} @page Section1 {size:612.0pt 792.0pt; margin:72.0pt 90.0pt 72.0pt 90.0pt; mso-header-margin:36.0pt; mso-footer-margin:36.0pt; mso-paper-source:0;} div.Section1 {page:Section1;} --> </style><!--[if gte mso 10]> <style> /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0cm; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:10.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman";} </style> <![endif]--> Lets stick by Ramos, but IF, and only IF he goes, I would love Roy Keane if only for the comments he made during the Berba affair "...I'd drive him there myself"! Our players would know where they stood, in no uncertain terms, feel settled and start playing as they can. Anyway Ramos will get us out of this (and here's an atheist praying!)

[mawspurs]

Go find Jurgen...he got us out the dwang last time..

Errr but that was when he was a player. He did OK as manager of Germany but has yet to convince at club level.

[spursfan1991]

Go find Jurgen...he got us out the dwang last time..

Not a bad shout actually but i personally would prefer Billic because we have one of the most talentedt playmakers in the world and i think Bilic would be able to get the best out of him.

[Locotoro]

We need to stick with Ramos for the long haul.

Any decent manager will achieve success given a stable team over a period of time.

Despite what people may think half of the first team have been sold since the back end of last season. Chimbo, Steed, Robinson, Keane, Berbatov. Then we've sold players who made up part of the squad: Tainio, Kaboul.

I think any manager would struggle if the team kept being sold and replaced with players that needed to bed in. I cant believe that people cant see this.

You don't need world class players in every position. Look at Everton, with average players like carsley and hibbert consistently doing well. Villa with effective players like S Petrov and Laursen who can do a good job when it counts.

Why do Arsenal players always struggle when they leave? Flamini cant get a look in, Ljungberg is lost, Henry is no where near his best, Anelka scored 2 in 18 games for Real, Vieira never got back to his best, A Cole looks a shadow of the player...the list goes on ...Overmars, Petit, Pires, Kanu? I can't think of one player who has left the goons and played better than they did whilst there in recent times. Why is that?

These teams stick with the same players/squad for long periods of time, so much so the style of play becomes second nature. They don't sell their top players and half the squad every year. Everton didn't sell Arteta when the vultures came calling, Villa didn't give up Barry to the scousers, so why should we? asking price or no asking price. We dont need the money.

If we want to win, we must have stability, no one ever won the league with foundations made out of quicksand. Despite what people think of Comolli, he has done well to find some good young players and bring them in. What he doesnt do so well in is bringing in the bigger players for 1st team.

Let him stay as chief of scouting. Ramos is a good manager who will bring us through this period and we will be stronger because of it. We need to sign players who will be effective not just pretty. Players that will fit the systems not think of systems to fit the players. Right now our luck is down and Ramos has been dealt a succession of bad hands.

He managed players that were not his team for the back end of the season, then when he got his team and asked for another FW he got one and had two sold. When we get the result we deserve, or even the win that we dont deserve, you will see a change in the dynamics of play. Confidence will come back and Spurs will start to do well again.

Until then we must be patient otherwise we risk a new manager coming in and the clearing out process starting again, buying new players, bedding in, giving him a preseason, then our best two players being sold on the last day of the transfer window.

[SpurSince57]

Unfortunately, that argument only holds water if you believe that it was Levy and Comolli that decided the squad needed to be dismantled.

[Coyboy]

Well written but there are a lot of holes in that argument.

1. Yes there has been multiple changes but Ramos wanted this, as SS57 says, so he has to take responsibility for it. He would not have wanted Berbatov and Keane sold but Steed, Tainio and Chimbonda were not wanted.

2. No you don't need class players in every position, I take your point though Carseley no longer plays for Everton. Therefore it is up to the manager to get the best out of limited players. Ramos squeezed all he could out of his players at Seville but here has showed little signs of doing that.

3. Everton never had a serious off for Arteta as far as I know. Villa were going to sell Barry if the offer had been met. It wasn't and Alonso, a superior player anyway IMO, stayed.

4. We sold Keane and Berbatov because they were disruptive. This is not conducive to team spirit and certainly isn't conducive to stability.

5. I am all for stability, when stability and success can be insured. I passionately disagreed, still do always will, with the decision to remove Jol. But saying let's stick with Ramos because he is here is kind of like saying to the Zimbabweans stick with Mugabe because you need stability. If the manager is the problem, the manager has to go. And three league wins since February with a whole array of players, formations, tactics and changes points to his culpability.

[Locotoro]

i understand your points, and they are fair.

I am a Spurs fan, whether it be Ramos, Jol or Dick van Dyke in charge of the team, whether we be owned by Levy or a Russian Oligarth. I just wanted to see Spurs winning, and then winning in style (style comes second to results).

Every manager that comes along seems to have a great start then struggles to take the team forward. I think if we took the place of Everton and did what they did (finish 4th and end up in a relegation dogfight the following season) Moyes would have been sacked immediately. Instead, they stayed with him and I think they have improved.
Villa after a couple of seasons with O'niell are starting to pull away from us.
Man city didnt recently come into money. They spent well with Thaksin Shinawatra. But they sacked, Pearce and then Sven after buying a whole new squad and now they will have to spend more for Hughes.

Point is clubs that stick with the managers are relatively successful in the long term. Clubs that dont arn't

Just look at one of our most derided managers of recent times, Gerry Francis. Laugh if you want but I dont think we finished outside the top 10 with him. Gross wasnt given a chance, not even half a season if i remember, Jol sacked after 6 league games of a new season, Hoddle, Santini, the list goes on.

The board are responsible for this ridiculous circus not the manager

[Coyboy]

You are fundamentally right, that's why we should have stuck with Jol. Last season I said Ramos should have until the end of this season. Trouble is I, and no one esle, envisaged that we would be bottom and Ramos' record is appalling. We should have signed more and possibly better players in the summer but Ramos wanted them and with this squad we should be in mid table minimum.

The Moyes example is sound and this time three years ago they were bottom. But he had that record of 4th behind him and Jol had that record of two 5ths, what does Ramos have? Three great wins in the Carling Cup. If Levy is sure, 100% sure, that Ramos will resurrect us then ok but I am not convinced he is and I think he is the cause not the solution to our woes.

You are right about Gerry Francis too. Even gagenlov cannot blame Levy for that, or Gross.

[octavian]

I'm not for changing the manager at this moment,but would like to see Levy a long distance from WHL,the incompetent bufoon has failed miserably whenever a major decision has needed to be made.If we do get shot of Ramos then my choice would be Strachan.His path through the management ranks is somewhat similar to O'neill,and he has done enough time at the coalface to be ready to take on the real challenge at Spurs.