We can always remember him for that wembley winner..... He'll always have a home at the lane.

Massive blow.

Woodie was a class act.

Sounds like career over to me, massive shame, great player, hope he proves me wrong.

He can be put back in the squad, in the 25 senior nominees, in January so its not the end of the line yet.

Can someone direct me to where it says that we can revisit the 25 man squad in January? A couple of people have mentioned it and I can't find it.

The last time this came up, it turned out that someone had confused this with the fact that we can add an unlimited number of players who were under 21 on 1 Jan 2010 - the rule is worded confusingly.

so, is he near

I can't point you to anything, but in UEFA you can make upto 5 changes to your squad after the January window. It would seem that you could do the same in the league. At least it makes sense that you could, but considering the FA, one shouldn't presume they thought anything through.

I don't know the # of roster changes that could be made though.

And I would assume that the hard U21 date is made so that you can plan for a 20 year old becoming 21 and no worry about suddenly needing to sell for that reason alone in January.

I have to admit it was a long time coming. When we first signed him we all knew the risk the club was taking due to the constant injury problems that had affected him at Newcastle, Madrid and Boro. Yet for a season and a half he seemed to be doing OK while providing Spurs with some memorable performances ending in his winning goal at the CC final.
Vey classy, experienced defender who we shall sadly miss. I wish you the very best Woody for whatever the future has in store for you.

David.

I read it in the Guardian article on Woodgate this morning and it's usually reliable although not on football matters.
They may have made the same error that you refer to and misread the regulations. Although Harry seems to be under the same impression

Harry " We'll see how we go in January" refering to being unable to register him if he doesnt train before the start of the season.

Guardian 'Clubs can only make changes to the list in January during the winter transfer window'

This may refer to newly signed players only but could include existing players who were not fit in August. It makes sense so its probably not correct.

No, nowhere near, nowhere. Not even kicking a ball yet, nowhere near!

I think the reason I didn't see it is because it doesn't say "1 January", it says "transfer window" and I was scanning for a date. This is from the BBC website article on Woodgate's injury situation:

It does make sense that one can change the squad of 25 in the transfer window - otherwise no one could buy or sell anyone over 21.

The other interesting bit is that one can't replace players from the squad of 25 who are loaned to Football League clubs, although one can reinstate them in the squad when their loans come to an end and they return.

So any players over 21 who might be loaned out ought to have that confirmed before 1 September, so they can be excluded from the squad of 25 in favour of someone else.

25 man squad rules

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/football/eng_prem/8858634.stm

I've just had a look at the first team squad listed on the official site. It seems that we have three No. 39's. Jonathon Woodgate, Adam Smith and Calum Buthcher, so it looks as if poor Woody is on the brink. Really sad. In his pomp he was one of the best centre backs I have ever seen.

On the '25 man squad' subject, I counted 35 players presently named as our first teamers. I don't know much about individual players ages but I think that 10 are under 21. That leaves 25, of whom 12 are foreign and 13 home grown. Sandro is not yet in the list and is 21 although whether he counts as an 'under 21' depends on his birthday. My guess is that he wont be included until after the January transfer window.

I didn't write this list myself, but I've tweaked it and it looks pretty complete to me (Woodgate has been omitted):

Non-home-grown players in 25 man squad (max 17):

Gomes, Cudicini, Bassong, Assou-Ekotto, Palacios, Pavlychenko, Corluka, Modric, Kranjcar, Hutton, Kaboul (11 players)

Home-grown players (min of 8) in 25 man squad:

Alnwick, King, Dawson, Huddlestone, Jenas, Lennon, Bentley, Defoe, Crouch, Keane, O'Hara (11 players)

Under 21 on January 1st 2010 & therefore on the B list (unlimited numbers, in addition to 25 man squad):

Bale, Giovani, Naughton, Walker, Button, Sandro, Taraabt, Livermore, Bostock, Parrett, Butcher, Caulker, Mason, Obika, Smith (15 players)

That's 38 players in total.


The 25 man squad is just not an issue for Tottenham this season. Harry will have to choose a list, but it won't dictate our buying and selling policy, because we have more than enough home-grown players and few enough over-25 players that we have plenty of space to sign a few more over-25, non-home-grown players and still fit everyone into the squad:

• If we sell no one, we could buy 3 over-25, non-home-grown players.
• If, for instance, we were to sell Alnwick, Jenas and O'Hara, we could buy 6 over-25, non-home-grown players.

It's just not a problem for us. Not this season, anyway.

Sandro was born on 15 March 1989, so he was under 21 on 1 Jan 2010.

[Edited because there's only one Sandro, not two.]

Thanks for that David. I did hint that I had touble with players ages but I was a long way out!

I won't take up space by quoting it all again but just to nail the differences twix your list and the one on the Spurs web site:

You include Bostock, Parrett and Caulker, who are not presently on the Spurs First Team list, and you also put Sandro in twice, so if we take that away from your 38 it gives a 'your list' total of 34. However Dervite is still on the Spurs list so if we add him to your list (or take him off the Spurs one) both lists are equal.

Obviously the lists are likely to change as ins and outs happen, but it is good to see the flexibility, as you point out, that Harry has in sourcing any new talent.