SPURS NEWS

Lee Young-Pyo insists he has no regrets about staying at Tottenham - and believes winning silverware this season will vindicate his decision.

Source: TeamTalk

The 29-year-old South Korea full-back had the chance to leave White Hart Lane this summer and after deciding to stay found opportunities limited due to the arrival of French youngster Benoit Assou-Ekotto.

However, Assou-Ekotto's dip in form has given Lee a chance.

Lee was brought on at half-time against Arsenal last week and kept his place for the midweek win over Middlesbrough.

Lee said: "Of course this season has been a little bit difficult for me but I certainly do not have any regrets.

"Last summer I had many chances to leave Tottenham but I have never regretted that decision. My choice was to stay here and although I am not always in the team, I am not disappointed that I decided to stay.

"I will just work hard and hope for my place in the side."

Tottenham have only lost twice in 16 matches and are looking for a run of wins which will put them in contention for a Champions League place, which they missed out on to Arsenal last season.

They have won their last eight games at home and face Charlton at White Hart Lane on Saturday.

Lee is determined to improve on last season, adding in the matchday programme: "I think we have a great manager, great players and everyone - including the staff and supporters - are all together working hard for success.

"Last season was good for the club but this season could be even better and I really hope we win a trophy.

"But the most important thing is to do better than last season and achieve more, which I think we can.

"I am confident that we can have a great UEFA Cup campaign and also make the top six in the Premiership, we are good enough.

"And of course we are in the quarter-finals of the Carling Cup. We are strong and we have the players to achieve great things this season."
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Interviewwith Lee Young-Pyo (from Official Site)

It may be almost four years now since Lee Young-Pyo left his homeland of Korea to ply his trade in Europe, but that doesn’t stop him sometimes still missing the way of life in the East Asian country.

But fortunately for Lee – and somewhat surprisingly perhaps – there is a thriving and burgeoning Korean community in the London suburb of New Malden, which apparently now boasts the largest expatriate community of South Koreans in Europe.

Some reports suggest as many as 32,000 of Lee’s compatriots live in the area, with its many top Korean restaurants, supermarkets, travel agents and hairdressers. It is a part of London which Lee obviously visits regularly, but as he explains, the lure of New Malden to the Korean expats is more to do with education than anything else.

“I’ve heard that there are some very good schools in New Malden and Korean parents are very interested in schools and getting the best education for their children,” he said. “I believe that is one of the reasons there is such a big community in the area.

“I’ve been there lots of times, I have many friends living there and I like to go to the restaurants for a nice meal. Koreans can buy almost anything there that we can buy back home, it’s a great place to go when you want something that you miss!”

Material things are not too much of a problem for Lee, instead it’s the people close to him that he misses most – and not being able to get a pizza delivered any time of the night or day !

“Sometimes I do miss Korea but it’s okay because I have my life here now. Obviously I miss my family and friends most of all, but occasionally the food and also just the comfort of my life in Korea. Back home, if I wanted some food at midnight, I could ring the restaurant and they would deliver, almost everything is open 24 hours a day, but it’s a bit different here.”

The 29-year-old was born in the county of Hongcheon in the province of Gangwon and remembers fondly his time growing up as a young lad in the picturesque region of South Korea.

“I lived in a village which was surrounded by mountains and it was a beautiful place to live as a child,” revealed the defender. “I had a great way of life when I was a child growing up and I have great memories of living in the village. I stayed there until I was nine and I remember the fun I used to have with my friends, swimming in the river, catching the fish with our hands, walking through the mountains, everything was great.”

But one thing missing from his list of childhood activities was football. It wasn’t until he left the countryside and moved to Anyang, a city about 20km outside of the capital Seoul, that he first kicked a ball and before long, he was playing for his primary school team.

That was the start of a career which saw him initially catch the eye while at Keonkook University, before signing his first professional contract with Anyang LG Cheetahs in 2000.

It wasn’t long before the European scouts had spotted his talents and the first to offer him a place in the team was PSV Eindhoven, who he joined on loan to being with in January, 2003, making the deal a permanent one that July.

By this time he was a regular for the South Korean national team and was making a name for himself within the game, winning league and cup honours with PSV, but when we came calling in the summer of 2005, he didn’t waste any time making up his mind to swap Eindhoven for London.

Last season was a good one for the full-back, who quickly established himself as a regular in our colours and made 31 appearances for us. But he now finds himself competing with Benoit Assou-Ekotto for the left-back slot and, although he could have moved on in the summer transfer window, Lee is happy to stay here and fight for his place.

“Of course this season has been a little bit difficult for me, but I certainly do not have any regrets,” he continued. “Last summer I had many chances to leave Tottenham but I have never regretted that decision, my choice was to stay here and although I am not in the team, I am not disappointed that I decided to stay at Spurs. I will just work hard and hope to regain my place in the side.”

Lee remains an important part of the squad and has still started seven matches so far this term, in all three competitions we’ve played in, and he is optimistic about the future of the club.

“I think we have a great manager, great players and everyone - including the staff and the supporters – are all together working hard for success. Last season was good for the club but this season could be even better and I really hope we win a trophy. But the most important thing is to do better than last season and achieve more, which I think we can.

“I’m confident that we can have a great UEFA Cup campaign and also make the top six in the Premiership, we are good enough. And of course we are in the quarter-finals of the Carling Cup. We are strong and we have the players to achieve great things this season.”

While Lee enjoyed a good campaign with us last season, his World Cup campaign wasn’t so successful. A first round exit was a huge disappointment for a nation which reached the semi-finals in 2002 – albeit on home soil – although he believes that Korean players will continue to emerge and that more and more will soon be following in his footsteps and featuring in Europe’s top leagues.

“Of course, our country was very disappointed that we didn’t get further in the World Cup, we had two good results in our first matches, when we beat Togo and drew with France but the last match we lost to Switzerland and that meant we didn’t go through. It was hard to take, but we had to accept that was our situation.

“The most important thing for us is that we develop with every World Cup, although one thing which I think could help us is if maybe more Korean players played in Europe.

“The Korean national team has many great players. I know the ability of the European players and I have met many in the Premiership, or in national matches against teams such as France, Argentina, Brazil, England and Spain, but when I compare those top players with the Korean players, I really don’t think there is too much of a gap between their abilities.

“I think if Korean players have a chance, then they should come to Europe and show how good they are. There are many good players in Korean football who would do well in Europe.”