I agree, up to a point, however; I have been out on the tiles with footballers, and the amount of women/girls (and boys - and there are a few players who play left footed) that throw themselves at them is astonishing (and these are mid range spurs players - not the Beckhams of the world).
Some families view their daughters as a commodity and encourage their daughters to “nab” a rich man, and being low-lifes aim for footballers (who really are the new rock stars).
I am a 40 year old bloke, with a beer gut, quite obviously not a footballer, but through being associated with these footballers I have had some (jaw droppingly forward and explicit) offers from girls who were no more than 16 (at the very most).
Being a happily married man (and the father of a girl) I found them extremely easy to refuse, however I could see that a person could weaken.
I’m not saying what he did was right - it wasn’t, but I am saying that (IMHO) there was more to it than him being a dirty old man.
Well, any chance I can take to have a go at an associate of the “Blues Brothers” I’ll take. Even if she had have been 16, I’d still think he was a dirty old man. True, it wasn’t predatory, but he should have known better.
as for Damien Duff, it’ll be interesting to see a turnabout in the Chelski support from the sections of them who were calling him a “dirty fenian bastard” last season.
I actually spent an evening last year trying to convince Damien Duff to sign for Celtic.
I was hampered in my attempts by the following factors:
Well we’re off. Charity shield yestersday, as well as the start of the Nationwide and Scottish footy too. (and spurs had a competetive friendly (0-0) with Sporting Lisbon.
As for the Charity Shield; these things don’t prove much, other than that Arsenal are a filthy bunch, and professor Yaffle’s eyesight hasn’t improved (he didn’t see Judas’s attack).
Man Yoo must be praying that Van Nistleroy doesn’t get injured, as they look a bit threadbare in that department
One week to go to Birmingham away* and there is still a yawning gap in our midfield. Come on Glenn, get busy. One Yank does not make a midfield.
*12 o’clock kick off, there’s going to be a lot of them this year.
And it looks like the rest of the squad have been helping Jeffers learn the “Arsenal Way.”
On the plus side at least our penalty taking has improved - we managed to score three whole penalties!. The guys have obviously been practicing - it brought a tear to my eye…
My lot went down 3-1 at home to a Zamora-less, long-ball loving Brighton. We also lost our ninth centre-half of the summer and our only remaining professional striker to injury. The only bright spots were a couple of decent performances among the younger stand-ins, with Danny Hall looking useful in defence and wonderkid Carlos Roca starting to spark some interest on the wing. I still don’t hold out much hope for Tuesday’s result, though.
***FIVE DAYS TO GO !!! *** - I feel like it’s almost Christmas, in a manly, adult kind of way. Of course.
I see Rebrov can’t get into the Fenerbahce first-team and that the poor sod is not happy there, either. Well, there’s a few hundred thousand Spurs fans who aren’t exactly over the moon at spending eleven million, followed by a further million a year for the next three years, watching him whinge.
What’s going on ? He can’t get in the Fenerbahce team, yet he won’t go to Notts Forest because they can only afford £4,000 a week, compared to his £27,000 at Tottenham . . . I don’t know what’s going on in the guy’s head . . . .
Owl – I don’t understand something about the Mabizela deal – what is it ? He played yesterday but there’s nothing anywhere about a medical, how much he cost, how much he’s on and how long the contract is for . . . .any idea what’s afoot ? I still like this guy. A lot.
If you went yesterday, how did Stephen Kelly look (I don’t suppose the Irish connections at the Lane will be enough to tempt Carr to stay at he end of this season . . . but . . . ). ?
Also, I see Chelski – it should be Cheslkov, but never mind – want . . .sit down . . .£49.00 for their home game against us: £49.00 to watch a bunch of mercenary money launderers nancy around the Kings Road. I think not, Matron !
I almost fancy ManU this year. I agree Van Nistleroy looks crucial but I just wonder if losing Beckham might just be the making of this team . . . hmmm, very possibly.
Come on yewwwwwwww Spurs !
Yes we are paying Rebrov (the robdog) £27,000 each and every week. In the time it will take me to write this (three mins) we will have paid him, and his mafia connections, £8.00. Well done David Pleat, always had a good eye for young talent (mainly in Kings Cross)
We’ve got Mabizela on a loan with an option to buy (for about £1m I think). In which case, get the money out! He looked great yesterday - a bit on the short side but bags of aggression, could be another Graham Roberts (“who put henry in the stand?”, we can but hope.)
Stephen Kelly looked hot, relaxed and possibly a world class bench sitter - he didn’t play.
Rohan Ricketts did play, and looked ready to make the step upto the 1st team. It would be nice to get one over on the filth by poaching their youngsters.]
I have a ticket for the annual battle of Fulham Broadway, and indeed £49.00 is a lot, especially as we will be in that shitty away end, with a lovely view of the concrete roof.
If anything, Birmingham are worse - they want £45, to be chased by Zulus.
You know, I was sure I saw Kelly’s name on a team sheet somewhere . . .obviously losing my travel card in all this heat. Yep, yep, the South African captain; It’s odd you should mention Roberts . . .I’ve been thinking (well, hoping) similar things . . . wishful thinking but players like he might be that are the rarest of footballing commodities; a catalyst. Like him gallons.
And, given his heritage, I imagine he’ll be a tad bemused by Birmingham’s Zulu’s . .
Ricketts is one of (what seems to be) several kids all maturing in nice time and looking of genuine potential. I’m not Glenda’s biggest fan but I suspect one of his strengths might be with kids; if memory serves, he did a job on the Chelski youth players a long time back.
In terms of squad quality and depth, I’m an awful lot happier than I was 12 months ago. But then we are £20 million poorer . . . bottom half in November and the Messiah gets it in the neck.
Yep, but I bet it cost about $15.00 to watch – and that’s for a family of six, three dogs, caravan parking, and two weeks in Skegness thrown in.
He was a competent manager at Chelsea, Southampton and Swindon, and his England record is the best since Greenwood (unbelievably this is true).
Southampton are still reaping the benefits of his management.
So; yes, I think he can do the business (which isn’t to say that there aren’t any better managers out there). THis year is truly make or break for Glenn.
I detect the hand of Pleat (anti-christ) in the signings, and feel that there is the option of sacking GH (which will cost us £1m) and giving the, highly promising, platform at WHL to someone else. This is the boards bottom-covering stance.
You may be interested to know that Souness, Van Gaal and O’neil all knocked us back at the end of last season.
In any case; one of the reasons that we have done sod-all in the premiership is we keep sacking managers. Shreeves; Shreeves/Clemence; Vegetables; The badger; Ossie; Gross; The Gooner; etc .
In every case the incoming manager was stuck with a huge squad of players he didn’t want, which means that the churning of players has been ridiculous.
It is time to give someone the time and room to build a team that they want. Remember Fergie? We’d have sacked him.
Look at Gross; we sacked him. He seems to be doing pretty well.
Well, yes. Many have “detected the hand of Pleat”, but that’s another story . . . .
Yep, sure I agree he’s “competent”, and probably more than competent in certain sets of circumstances and with certain types of players. But I do believe people have ‘skill sets’ and I’m far from convinced Glenda has, in the full context, the right skills for Tottenham at this point.
It’s not a perfect analogy, but would you put that Easyjet Stavros character in charge of BA ? No, ‘course not.
I absolutely agree the Curb Crawler has been a major influence in the signings. I can imagine his office stacked high with detailed data files on just about every professional player in the world. I also think he loves that role and, fwiw, I love him in that role. I suppose whoever is in that particular role also acts as the bridge between managers.
That role is essential. Arsenal aren’t where they are because of gate receipts, it’s because the £50 million windfall from the sale of Overmars, Petit and Anelka oiled the wheels for a long while. That’s a nice lump. With that Wanker can buy and then subsidise the wage bill of his Johnny Frenchie mercenaries.
Fwiw, I think the Spurs policy on signings is shrewd; it’s about making medium term business investments as much as the player. Most Premiership sides tend to write off 25% per season of each purchased players cost – Spurs shouldn’t have to do that, given the age of those coming in, and assuming they negotiate those all important ‘contract extensions’ when appropriate (Kanoute aside). In other words, there’s value (at the highest level of the game) in most of the newer signings well after their contracts with Spurs could end. Bottom line: We should get our money back on most of ‘em, imho…
What a bunch of charlies those managers look ! What have any of them done since, besides Gross who’s done what he’s done at a very different club, in a different football/social culture with different aspirations and financing ?
offstage sounds of a large argumentative man pulling up a soapbox
If GH gets hounded out of this job than we might as well admit that there isn’t anyone on the face of the globe who can do the job.
Since the beginning of the Premierhip/sky money, we have change managers once every eighteen months. Why? Because results were poor. Well there’s a suprise.
Each manager has spent the first year trying to get rid of the previous bloke’s shite (and what weapons grade shite they were; Dozell; Fox; sinton; nielsen; scott; tramazzani; berti etc). Then we sack them and the door starts revolving again.
Let’s give at least one manager a chance to build a team. After all we really do have nothing to lose.
Also I think that the presence of DP is an almost entirely negative presence. He undermines GH at all available opportunities to his pals in the media and doesn’t seem to have a defined role at the club. I can think of no other team where the manager has to work in this way.
And whilst you may not want Stelios to run BA, his brother does own 10% of THFC, god knows why. Nice bloke though.
Hoddle(On Phone): Hello?! Can You hear me David?! You need to ask for a delayed kickoff. I SAID ASK FOR A DELA… Don’t start with that “If I were manager” shit again - just do it! And stop laughing!
Keane: Boss! Boss! The Donkey bit Darren!
Hoddle: Ah shit. Did you here that David? We’ve just lost Anderton for the rest of the season.
