themanwhofellasleep
z-list internet celebrity
- Dec 14, 2006
- 690
- 0
We're currently in a relegation battle, and if we do go down, we'll deserve it.
We can have no excuses. We are a rich club. Of the clubs outside the top 4, we've spent the most money in recent years. We pay big wages. We've been in Europe the last three seasons and can attract the top players. We're based in London so we can attract the kind of players who won't move north of Watford. In short, we're very, very lucky – there are teams in the Premiership with a quarter of out budget and no glamorous history to lure in superstars. They have to rely on the bargain bin and players who have plied their trade in lower divisions. We are bottom of the league because we got greedy and ambitious.
Perhaps our biggest sin is that the club cannot tell style from substance. They see a player, believe the hype and lick their lips. And in this, the fans are as guilty as the board. As Hull proved today, there are hundreds of players out there capable of doing a good job for the team. These players may not be Brazilian or Croatian. They may not be the hot new up-and-coming starlet, but they are not mugs. But we don't buy those type of players anymore. When was the last time we bought a reasonably-priced young player who wasn't overhyped? Maybe Gunter, who is one of our better performers. No, we shop only at Harrods. Never mind whether the player has premiership experience or whether he's willing to graft for the team, is he glamorous? Is he the latest wunderkind to have a youtube compilations of his goals? Over the transfer window, we could have bought the likes of Marlon King or Emile Heskey or Chopra or any number of decent strikers. But the fans would have been in uproar! “Where's the ambition?” they would whine. “We're never going to break the top four like that!” So the club spends £14m on Pavyluchenko instead. We got what we deserved.
It's the same with our managers. We had Martin Jol, a man who was not glamorous, who didn't boast a history in Spain or Italy, but who was good at his job. Yet, after two consecutive 5th place finishes, the club decided that he wasn't the messiah to lead us into the promised land of the Champions League, so he was replaced by a man with a better reputation. Never mind that we poached him off another club – we can just send out another press release demanding respect. So what if he doesn't speak much English - he's a tactical genius!
In another thread, someone was asking who would replace Ramos if he leaves? Megson, they sneered? But they shouldn't sneer. There's nothing wrong with Gary Megson. On a very limited budget, he pulled Bolton away from relegation, despite having his best striker (Anelka) sold from under his nose. But the issue isn't whether Megson or Phil Brown or Allardyce or Hodgson are good managers – it's whether they are glamour managers. If Megson were an Italian or a Frenchman, or smoked Gauloises on the touchline, we might consider him. But an ordinary Englishman who has managed West Brom? How terribly gauche...
There are loads of managers out there who could do a decent job at Spurs, if the board didn't constantly undermine them or demand a top 4 finish. But that wasn't good enough for us, was it? Never mind whether we can beat Middlesboro, shouldn't the mighty Spurs be beating Arsenal and Chelsea? Don't we deserve to be in the Champions League? No. We don't.
Two seasons ago the club had nearly all the ingredients for unprecedented success. But we got greedy and we have no-one to blame but ourselves.
We can have no excuses. We are a rich club. Of the clubs outside the top 4, we've spent the most money in recent years. We pay big wages. We've been in Europe the last three seasons and can attract the top players. We're based in London so we can attract the kind of players who won't move north of Watford. In short, we're very, very lucky – there are teams in the Premiership with a quarter of out budget and no glamorous history to lure in superstars. They have to rely on the bargain bin and players who have plied their trade in lower divisions. We are bottom of the league because we got greedy and ambitious.
Perhaps our biggest sin is that the club cannot tell style from substance. They see a player, believe the hype and lick their lips. And in this, the fans are as guilty as the board. As Hull proved today, there are hundreds of players out there capable of doing a good job for the team. These players may not be Brazilian or Croatian. They may not be the hot new up-and-coming starlet, but they are not mugs. But we don't buy those type of players anymore. When was the last time we bought a reasonably-priced young player who wasn't overhyped? Maybe Gunter, who is one of our better performers. No, we shop only at Harrods. Never mind whether the player has premiership experience or whether he's willing to graft for the team, is he glamorous? Is he the latest wunderkind to have a youtube compilations of his goals? Over the transfer window, we could have bought the likes of Marlon King or Emile Heskey or Chopra or any number of decent strikers. But the fans would have been in uproar! “Where's the ambition?” they would whine. “We're never going to break the top four like that!” So the club spends £14m on Pavyluchenko instead. We got what we deserved.
It's the same with our managers. We had Martin Jol, a man who was not glamorous, who didn't boast a history in Spain or Italy, but who was good at his job. Yet, after two consecutive 5th place finishes, the club decided that he wasn't the messiah to lead us into the promised land of the Champions League, so he was replaced by a man with a better reputation. Never mind that we poached him off another club – we can just send out another press release demanding respect. So what if he doesn't speak much English - he's a tactical genius!
In another thread, someone was asking who would replace Ramos if he leaves? Megson, they sneered? But they shouldn't sneer. There's nothing wrong with Gary Megson. On a very limited budget, he pulled Bolton away from relegation, despite having his best striker (Anelka) sold from under his nose. But the issue isn't whether Megson or Phil Brown or Allardyce or Hodgson are good managers – it's whether they are glamour managers. If Megson were an Italian or a Frenchman, or smoked Gauloises on the touchline, we might consider him. But an ordinary Englishman who has managed West Brom? How terribly gauche...
There are loads of managers out there who could do a decent job at Spurs, if the board didn't constantly undermine them or demand a top 4 finish. But that wasn't good enough for us, was it? Never mind whether we can beat Middlesboro, shouldn't the mighty Spurs be beating Arsenal and Chelsea? Don't we deserve to be in the Champions League? No. We don't.
Two seasons ago the club had nearly all the ingredients for unprecedented success. But we got greedy and we have no-one to blame but ourselves.
