I sat there last week and watched a poor Spurs grab a draw with Villa. They acted as if they had won when they equalised, but they drew. This is not good enough. At the start of the season Levy said ‘I want 4th this year Martin’, Martin said ‘Give me financial backing and I will give it to you’. Levy then went to the bank and withdrew £40,000,000 and gave it to Jol in 3 black suitcases, then said ‘There, now I want a good season’. In simpler terms, Levy wants 4th and Jol was given backing, however has failed to deliver so far.

Ramos was offered the job and Levy was left red faced when the media found out. Jol knows Ramos was offered the job, but my question is, why is he still here? If my manager offered my job to another person behind my back, I would say ‘Feck off you twat, I’m walking!’. The board and the manager need to have a good level of trust, and at the moment, this is non existent at Spurs. They have the best strike force in the league, they just need confidence. Bent, Defoe, Berbatov and Keane are perfect for each other; they are a match made in heaven, but players without confidence is the equivalent of eating cereal without milk.

Spurs saw another disappointing weekend draw to a close as they let in a last minute header against Liverpool. Things aren’t clicking for Spurs, and when things aren’t clicking in football life gets tough. Football can be a cruel game, and for Martin, it is very cruel.

So when will Jol go? Soon. Soon enough? Nope. Fact is, Levy can’t sack Jol because at the moment no manager would want to come to Spurs. Klinsmann would, but is he the right man? Would he know what to do? Probably not. Germany was a big experience, but not enough. He needs club experience first. Would Ramos be good? No. He might have turned Sevilla into a good UEFA cup team but prior to Sevilla he has been sacked/walked out more than the amount of goals Spurs have let in from set pieces this season, and believe me that is a lot. The media have made the most of their 2 year UEFA cup runs and made him out to be something spectacular. Ramos will either be amazing, or crap. I have not decided yet.

Would Scolari come? Maybe. He wants a job in England and Spurs could be that club. The media hate him because they were the reason he turned down the national team job, but if he took Spurs into the top 4 he could change that.

The question is, can Spurs break into the top 4 with anyone or are they a team that will always fall at the last hurdle? A good team needs quality throughout the ranks, at youth level, reserves and first team. A good team needs good back room staff because people behind the scenes are as important as those on the pitch. Spurs may need to keep battling away to getting 4th place for another 5 years or so, however once they break into the top 4, they will be bloody good. The problem is, Spurs are trying to break into the top 4 at a time where the top 4 are strengthening, therefore they are in a predicament. Either two things will happen, Spurs will keep strengthening and others will as well thus they won’t break into the group, or Spurs will keep strengthening and eventually they will break in the top 4. I think the first.

Chelsea broke into the top two when other teams were not strengthening, thus they made life easier for themselves. If they strengthened now, their impact would not have been so big, if much at all. But, one thing Spurs need is a consistent manager. It’s no good Spurs trying to break in the top 4 and sacking their manager for not delivering, they need to get behind their manager. Jol is the right man to take them into the top 4, he just needs time. Arsenal have had 1 manager in 11 years, Spurs have had a ridiculous amount in that time.

 However, Levy is the man who can call the shots and at the moment he is doing it all wrong. Spurs will not break into the top 4 this season or next season, the earliest they will do so is 2011, and that is a long way away. If you don’t think I’m right, then that’s fine, but come 2011 you’ll see I’m right, that’s for certain.

Meanwhile, Khan outclassed his opponent the other night. Khan was quick, powerful and classy. He needs to up the level of his opponents, fighting someone like Thaxton would be good but the chances of Amir losing would be a lot, Frank Warren knows this and will not let him fight Thaxton. Frank is a stubborn bastard, just like Wenger, but Wenger has class and wit, he reminds me of Oscar Wilde. Frank is just a bastard with no class or wit, he reminds me of the tramp I see every morning on the way to the bus. I think that’s enough for now.

Ramin

Posted on October 8th, 2007 | 7 Comments »
Filed under: article, tottenham

Goalkeeper gloves can be very hard to pick out and select if you are a new keeper or you simply just don’t know.  I will outline how to pick out an awesome pair that will serve you well.  When you look at pro Goalkeepers, have you ever asked yourself, Why do their gloves always look so brand new?  Its very simple, professionals use a new pair of gloves every single match they play in.  These gloves then become their practice gloves or I’m sure, like field players trade jerseys, goalkeepers trade gloves.  While most of us are not professionals, we must know how to find our gloves and make them last. 

When selecting gloves always make sure they fit.  Also, a key point to remember is that, every single brand of gloves has a slightly different size.  Try going to a local store and trying on all the different brands of gloves they have.  Most likely it will be the same regardless of the brand, but you never know. 

Now obviously the more expensive a glove, the better quality, texture, and the longer it will last.  But the main thing to remember is that the gloves do not make a keeper do different things.  Dida would play the same in a set of $10 gloves as he would in a set of $100 gloves.  Some obvious choices of good gloves are the following brands: Sells, Sondico, select pairs of Adidas, and many others.  My recommendations are the Adidas Fingertips for practice and a brand of sells for games. 

How Many? 

I have about 4 sets of gloves at a given time, while all my gloves that I have ever worn are ready to play any day of my life because I always keep them up-which I will explain how to next-it is very important to have at least 2 gloves.  Remember 2 for practice, 2 for games.  I start off like this, I buy 2-3 pairs of gloves at a time.  The first set is the one that I want for practice.  With the first set, I wear them to practice, these are my practice gloves.  My game gloves are only worn at games, repeat: only games.  The 3^rd and 4^th set are to sit in a cool, dry place to wait.   

Glove Care: 

I have seen a lot of keepers and experienced adult keepers treat their gloves like toilet paper.  They are very dirty.  Remember, the dirty spots that are on your foam=no more foam.  The foam will come off the gloves.  After practice or games maybe one to two if each competition, wash your gloves.

1. Put your gloves on and run under warm water.

2. First let the water come into the gloves and then start, very gently, caressing the dirty spots off the gloves.

3. With a little, tiny bit of dish soap, wash your gloves like you would your hands.

Let them dry and now you are ready to play.  If you follow these simple steps for glove care they should last you a very long time. 

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Posted on October 5th, 2007 | 16 Comments »
Filed under: Fukushima

Apparently, Owen plays for two clubs; England FC and England national team. Reason to this? All pundits, commentators and the press ever seem to talk about when talking about Owen is England, not Newcastle. Every week Big Sam is asked ‘How is Owen’s chances of recovering for the England matches,’ every week newspaper headlines are ‘Owen On Road To Recovery For England’, if I was Sam, I’d say ‘Feck England we pay his wages!’, then walk off, ring Garth Crooks’ missus and shag her to get revenge for being asked about England every week! 

I feel sorry for Newcastle fans. Over the years they have been let down season after season, but let’s stop being negative. Newcastle are on the way up, it won’t happen quickly, but it will happen. Newcastle will be a top 6 team by 2010. How do I know? Because I’m a fortune teller and today I caressed my crystal ball and I saw ‘

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Posted on October 3rd, 2007 | 232 Comments »
Filed under: England, Newcastle, article