Kevin Prince Boateng interview (some Spurs-relevant stuff)

[dcarney75]

Just been having a look at this interesting interview with the Ghetto Prince, who I've been impressed with at the WC so far. Couple of interesting bits about his time with us.

http://www.sabotagetimes.com/football-sport/never-mind-the-ballacks/

Here's the excerpt if you don't fancy reading the whole thing...

How much did you enjoy getting to play regular Premier League football for Portsmouth?
It was very important for me because when I came to Tottenham it didn’t work because I made some mistakes and they didn’t treat me very fair. I took a step back at Portsmouth because it’s a smaller club but it was very good for me. I had the support and trust and belief of the club and my team mates and it was fantastic.


What went wrong at Spurs?
When I came from Hertha Berlin I was playing every game. I didn’t even train sometimes I just though ‘yeah, I’m a big player now’. I took everything easy and didn’t work hard and then I did the same when I got to spurs. I thought they’ve paid £8million for me so of course they’re going to play me. After two weeks Martin Jol told me ‘I didn’t want you’ and that was like a punch in my face. It was the sporting director. So after that I didn’t train hard because i thought you didn’t want me here so you don’t need me. I was just happy to get out of there and so Portsmouth really helped me.

 

[rebrab]

Just been having a look at this interesting interview with the Ghetto Prince, who I've been impressed with at the WC so far. Couple of interesting bits about his time with us.

http://www.sabotagetimes.com/football-sport/never-mind-the-ballacks/

Here's the excerpt if you don't fancy reading the whole thing...

How much did you enjoy getting to play regular Premier League football for Portsmouth?
It was very important for me because when I came to Tottenham it didn’t work because I made some mistakes and they didn’t treat me very fair. I took a step back at Portsmouth because it’s a smaller club but it was very good for me. I had the support and trust and belief of the club and my team mates and it was fantastic.


What went wrong at Spurs?
When I came from Hertha Berlin I was playing every game. I didn’t even train sometimes I just though ‘yeah, I’m a big player now’. I took everything easy and didn’t work hard and then I did the same when I got to spurs. I thought they’ve paid £8million for me so of course they’re going to play me. After two weeks Martin Jol told me ‘I didn’t want you’ and that was like a punch in my face. It was the sporting director. So after that I didn’t train hard because i thought you didn’t want me here so you don’t need me. I was just happy to get out of there and so Portsmouth really helped me.

That's the important part.

 

[dcarney75]

It's certainly one part, and it doesn't reflect well on him, but being told you weren't wanted (if indeed that happened) wouldn't exactly help.

I guess the main thing for him is that he's developed sufficient hindsight to realise that his outlook wasn't right. His WC performances would certainly indicate that he's started to address that side of things. Will be interesting to see what happens next, in terms of seeing whether he's genuinely learnt from his time at Hertha/Spurs, or whether the trajectory of his career will always be at the mercy of his attitude.

 

[mil1lion]

Poor attitude from him really. A good player would've won the manager over and proved him wrong.

 

[brett.spurs]

Backs up what Benoit said that there was a Hierarchy under Jol.

 

[joey55]

I don't think KPB is really the important issue here. Jol should have either resigned or Levy should have sacked Comolli the moment KPB was signed. Individual players aren't important, cohesion within the club is. To have a situation by where the D of F is actively trying to get rid of the coach and signing players he didn't want is totally unacceptable. Whether you support Jol or Comolli is irrelevant, the point is something should have been done prior to the start of the 2007/8 season, not 10 games into it.

 

[dcarney75]

I find it amazing that we're talking about a possible situation where players were being bought despite the manager not wanting them.

I've normally been quite dismissive of the "Comolli buying over Jol's head" stuff, just because I refused to believe that things could have been that much of a piss-up. But if that is what was happening, then it leaves me a bit speechless.

 

[brett.spurs]

Yet some people still want us to get another DoF.

 

[TheQuestforMerlin]

As always communication between Club management is vital for the success of a team. With Redknapp, currently, we thankfully don't have this problem. Commolli should have worked with Jol on signing players they both agreed on (and worked to improve his relationship with Jol), and Jol should not go around telling players signed for him "I didn't want to sign you".

Obviously KPB is a player with ability, and like most players he needed the backing of the management at the club he joins. All it took was to be told you're not wanted, and he stopped putting the required effort into training. So we 'lost out' on developing a good player because of football politics and bad management.

Although it should be added that KPB came to the club with a big ego too, that he didn't need to train. Similar in that respects to Gio last year. He needs to hold himself accountable for his poor time at Spurs (which is suggested with the interview). It all isn't about the management but the player too.

In any case this highlights a very important aspect of why continuity at the management level is so important. KPB has pretty much been a wasted asset for us, and he wasn't the first foreign player brought in that has struggled to 'fit in'. With Redknapp in place, he knows what he wants and what is required (after hearing his Talksport interview) on the training pitch. And the players in our squad know it too, making them responsible for their success at Spurs or not. Sandro won't have Redknapp come up to him and say "I didn't want to sign you".

 

[mil1lion]

Yeah but players joining a club without the managers say so is hardly a new scenario. It's only really new in England.

 

[Bronno]

Yet some people still want us to get another DoF.

Yeah, but a DoF role doesn't necessarily have to include control over transfers, particularly for the senior side. It's just a title after all.

 

[SpunkyBackpack]

Im sorry to say this but the more and more i hear people talk about his time at Spurs the more and more i get the feeling that Martin Jol was a bit of a prick.



*dons hard hat and hides behind a rock*

 

[guate]

I openly admit I'm a Martin Jol fan, always have been and always will be, as the guy's a class act. However no manager, in any job in the world, will accept kindly an employee being imposed on them by someone within the organization that is supposedly there to work "hand in hand" with them for the future of the company, even more so if the employee in question is a lazy arsed git. I have no problem with what Jol said to Boateng whatsoever, he had the right to, particularly as we were all led to believe at the time that there was a comittee where Levy, Jol and Commolli decided between them the transfer targets for the club.
Jol was given the responsibility to manager/coach the squad but not given the players he wanted.....what sort of club/company works like that, only a cockeyed one in my opinion.
Levy has since learnt from his cockups and fortunately we now have 'Arry to guide him in those areas (particularly transfers) where he's still naive and so far it's worked out well. However Spurs being Spurs I wonder how long it'll take before Levy's nose becomes out of joint as 'Arry's name becomes synonomous with success and his (Levy's) as the money man.

 

[Damian99]

I have no problem with what Jol said to Boateng whatsoever, he had the right to, particularly as we were all led to believe at the time that there was a comittee where Levy, Jol and Commolli decided between them the transfer targets for the club.

Jol had the right? Bollocks, it wasn't Boatengs fault either was it? Thats bad man management in my book. Jol didnt want him but the club signed him, he didnt have to play him unless he warranted a start.

But to tell a player you didn't want them finishes any chance of it every working out, before its started.

Did Jol want Carrick?

 

[AngerManagement]

Im sorry to say this but the more and more i hear people talk about his time at Spurs the more and more i get the feeling that Martin Jol was a bit of a prick.



*dons hard hat and hides behind a rock*

He refused to let Sean Davis have time off after the birth of his daughter (who was born with many complications and they feared she might not make it) when he did so anyway Jol told him he would never play for Spurs again and blanked him until he was moved on to Pompey

 

[talkshowhost86]

Jol had the right? Bollocks, it wasn't Boatengs fault either was it? Thats bad man management in my book. Jol didnt want him but the club signed him, he didnt have to play him unless he warranted a start.

But to tell a player you didn't want them finishes any chance of it every working out, before its started.

Did Jol want Carrick?

Pretty sure he was happy with Carrick. When Jol came in he built the team around Carrick after Santini hadn't played him at all.

Any player who comes to club and admits that he's a big time Charlie who expects to start and won't try hard isn't likely to succeed.

If Jol said what he said then that's pretty daft but I suspect that 1) he didn't and 2) even if he did it didn't make a great deal of difference to a player who has admitted he didn't want to try.

 

[AngerManagement]

Pretty sure he was happy with Carrick. When Jol came in he built the team around Carrick after Santini hadn't played him at all.

Any player who comes to club and admits that he's a big time Charlie who expects to start and won't try hard isn't likely to succeed.

If Jol said what he said then that's pretty daft but I suspect that 1) he didn't and 2) even if he did it didn't make a great deal of difference to a player who has admitted he didn't want to try.

Yea, Santiti was not playing Carrick, as soon as Jol came in he brought Carrick on whilst we were trailing Charlton. Carrick turned the game (although we still lost) and from then on our entire season was pretty much built around Carrick.

So although Jol wouldn't have been the guy choosing Carrick (when signed) he certainly saw something in him and wanted him to be part of our team.

 

[hybridsoldier]

Yeah ties in with what Benny said, Martin Jol was not perfect - he was a good coach and cared alot about the club and did a fantastic job but he was never the coach to win anything or get us into the CL

Im sure this was Jol's bitterness at the Sporting Director situation but in the end it was his demise.

Harry actually said he though Boateng had talent and DIDN'T want to sell him, the deal was done over his head.

I respect Boateng for showing his talents now and he looks a very good player, would I take him over Kranjar, Modric, Wilson, Huddleston, Lennon, Bentley, Dos Santos, Bale? Nope. But best of luck to him.

Interestingly I also love his passion for Ghana, I just hope he isn't "injured" when Ghana play in some of the not so safe parts of Africa like Congo, Angola and Rwanda

 

[guate]

Damian99...have you ever had someone placed under your management that a) you didn't want and b) was a self confessed lazy git (I didn't even train sometimes)?
I have and they were shown the door very quickly......and yes it was Boateng's fault for believing he was a big time player who didn't need to knuckle down and train everyday with the rest of the players.
Regarding Carrick, yes I'm sure Jol wanted him as he decided to build the team around him until our chairman got greedy and sold him off to Man Ure.

 

[TheQuestforMerlin]

Damian99...have you ever had someone placed under your management that a) you didn't want and b) was a self confessed lazy git (I didn't even train sometimes)?
I have and they were shown the door very quickly......and yes it was Boateng's fault for believing he was a big time player who didn't need to knuckle down and train everyday with the rest of the players.
Regarding Carrick, yes I'm sure Jol wanted him as he decided to build the team around him until our chairman got greedy and sold him off to Man Ure.

So lets say you have someone placed under your management that you didn't want and was lazy. What do you do?

a) Tell him "you don't want him"
b) Try and get the best out of him (see if you can turn him around, if not so be it)

What does following route 'a' do and what does following route 'b' do? From my perspective one is something a good manager does, the other isn't. A good manager gets the best he can out of his players, and you definitely won't get the best out of any player following option 'a'.

Of course the options are not mutually exclusive, but telling a player you don't want them is a self fulfilling policy, telling them to train harder, work harder etc isn't. Redknapp has followed this path seemingly with Gio. He always talks about his skill, but lack of discipline with missed training etc.

With KPB as well, we can see he has bucked up his ideas with Portsmouth and the results were also plain to see for Ghana. The ability to work hard is within him and if he had the confidence of Jol at Spurs maybe he could have been more useful to us (and to Jol and Ramos team's as well). Although I do agree, I wouldn't currently take him over any of our current midfielders.