Is it time for a cap on ticket prices

I heard this week that our neighbours are about to charge £100 for tickets. It got me thinking about the true value of going to a football games. I bought the multi match ticket package at the start of the season as I don't have a season ticket yet, but the prices charged for some of the games. Take the West Ham game for instance, £55 for an adult and £26 for a child. I went to the Carling Cup game against Everton last season and it was £25 adult and £5 for a child. It was a great game and I would suggest a higher profile than West Ham yet the price for an adult was less than the child price for this seasons game against West Ham.

I occasionally go to watch Woking play. They play in the Conference South and charge around £13. Now I am not sure the prices for a Wigan game but I would suggest the cost there is around the £20 mark.

It seems to me that ticket prices are completely unregulated thus making football the closest thing to a totally free market. Of course this is not necessarily a good thing as the more popular teams are able to fleece their loyal supporters for an extortionate amount of money.

I know the counter arguments that this allows the clubs to invest in the team, but there is no point in having a great team if loyal supporters can't afford to see them play.

i amongst many thousands of others would rather go to a game than see highlights on TV but there will be a point that we all get priced out of watching the game and only the prawn sandwich brigade will be able to go to games. Imagine the atmosphere then.zzzzzzzzzzzzz

A victory to savour Arsenal 2 Tottenham 3

This season has provided some ups and downs but no better result than to beat Arsenal on their own ground. I would rank this one ahead of beating Inter Milan.

Credit where credit is due, the decision last season to keep Bale at Spurs and bring him in when Assou-Ekottn was injured combined with Levy bringing in Van Der Vaart and Redknapp taking the risk in bringing to Gallas to Spurs have laid the foundation for Tottenham to win these games.

In seasons gone by we would have spent the entire match defending barely challenging Arsenal defence, but this is a different Tottenham. When Defoe came in in the second half we were far more potent and the fact that he won a header to help set up the first just shows we don't need someone at 6" 8 to lead the line up front.

I must also give credit to Younes Kaboul. I have in recent weeks felt he was too clumsy and error prone but I thought he had a good game capped off with the winner.

Things are increasingly looking good for Spurs and a win at one of the so called big 4 was inevitable, although I felt we should have ended it at Old Trafford which we played extremely well. So lets hope the lads savour this deserved victory but remember it is still only three points, it will count for nothing if we don't win our next two at home against Werder Breman and Liverpool. COYS!

Is this the begining of a new era for Spurs

When the Champions League draw came out I was so excited at the prospect of Inter Milan. I have always said to be the best you have to beat the best. I don't want our goal to be to finish fourth, I want this club to be ambitious, to be the best not only in England but in the world.

Daniel Levy to his credit has taken Spurs from being a mid table side in 2000 to a club capable of beating the European Champions. Under Martin Jol we enjoyed two successive 5th places and under Redknapp we have finished 4th and more likely in the top five again this year.

Tottenham must keep building on this position to build the new stadium suitable for our demands and a team capable of competing for the title year in year out. We need kids to be wearing our shirts to provide the next generation of fans.

I was out at my son's training last night and a little boy was practicing on his own, he wanted to be Van Der Vaart, that sums up our aspirations. We will need these children to identify with our players to be our fans of the future just like George Best, Bobby Charlton, Charlie George, Ian Rush, Kenny Dalgleish, Ryan Giggs and David Beckham have in the past.

But on the pitch Spurs need to keep investing, invigorating the team. Our game at Old Trafford for me was the signal of something new. Although we lost the game, there was a certain confidence in the side. Gareth Bale, Van Der Vaart and Modric have given Spurs arguably the best attacking midfield in the Premier League. In Spurs two games against Inter Milan they managed to score six out of the last seven goals scored.

But Spurs are still short of being the best team in this country and Europe and this needs to be addressed. We lack a real potent force up front, if only we had a Et'o or Milito to get on the end of a Modric, Bale, Van Der Vaart move. I also believe that Lennon has become a weak link and doesn't seem to have the confidence of a couple of years ago.

We need also to get the centreback position sorted out, with both King and Woodgate in the side we would have a great defence but with Bassong and Gallas in central defence, I am not so convinced. Don't get me wrong, I think Spurs have a good squad, better than I can ever remember. But I want this squad to be great and like Harry I think just two or three additions we will have the squad that can bring home some trophies.

I do believe now that Spurs are best placed to push on and we already have a squad that will harm any side in Europe, but whether we can do it consistently is another matter.

Is it time for football to take a leaf from the book of cricket

We are once again faced with another poor refereeing decision involving Manchester United. How Nani's goal can ever be considered a legitimate goal is beyond me. If we look at the dive, the handball, the non free kick and the linesman's flag, Clattenberg really let himself down. But it is hardly surprising. The rules in football are extremely rigid when it comes to error.

Let us not forget some of the major incidents in the last year: The Lampard goal against Germany, Tevez's goal against Mexico where the referee knew he had made an error but was unable to change his decision, Defoe's goal against Wigan last year when he was a mile offside. Add this to the Ronaldo dive a couple of years ago and the Mendes goal.

Referee's are human and do make mistakes, I accept that, but in other major sports such as tennis, cricket and Rugby, such obvious errors can be rectified and it is about time they were.

Clattenberg's error was on so many levels but let me take an example from cricket. Gomes was under the assumption that he had a free kick so he ignored the presence of Nani. I am reminded of an incident in a test match in the West Indies against Australia. An Australian batsmen was caught off a no-ball and he walked thinking he was out, the West Indies fielders ran him out. Now although the umpire of the day gave the Australian batsmen out, the rule actually state that you cannot run out a batsmen when he is out of his ground if he is under the belief that he is out, it should have been a dead ball.

Maybe football needs to bring in some rule that is similar whereby the ball becomes dead where a player is under the mistaken belief that he had been awarded a free kick. It really is time that fair play becomes a central basis for rule making in football.

Whether it be for or against Spurs or any other team, it is time for football authorities to clamp down on poor refereeing decisions and fall onto the side of common sense putting aside egos and the strict rule of law.

Redknapp Out!

Ok, maybe a little over the top and based on 45 minutes of football. But my god I swear I was looking at at a conference side playing Brazil. The first thing I have to say is how can Redknapp expect Spurs to win a fight against Europes Champions with Hutton and Jenas in the side. Don't get me wrong they are both good players but we needed to come into this game wth the intention  frustrating Inter Milan instead of allowing them to play. Hutton is an attacking full back whose defensive abilities are modest at best and Jenas is not likely to win a battle.

I find it increibly frsutrating that a man of Redknapp's experience fails to grasp the tactics needed to beat the best. Generally Spurs are harder to beat nowadays but we don't score goals with the regularity that we should, we fail to beat the lower rankedteams and away from home fail to make it hard for the better teams to break us down.

Something has to changed quickly.

What do Wenger, Allardyce and Cotterill all have in common with each other?

I was driving back from White Hart Lane on Saturday and there was the usual discussion on the events of the day and slowly winning and losing managers gave their assessment on the evnts of the day. Mick McCarthy felt Wolves threw the points away at Spurs (not hard to disagree with him there). But what struck me was the amount of complaining about the referees.

I am hardly the type of person who doesn't complain about referees but then again I am not a football manager. Coterill complained about how good Portsmouth were and the decision that went against them, Allardyce, well he complained about everything, and Wenger complained by not commenting.

Now I was not happy about the referees performance at White Hart Lane, I thought Wolves were lucky to have finished with ten men after some very rough treatment on Bale, but i didn't hear Redknapp complaining.

It certainly takes the gloss off of a win when you hear the opposing manger complaining about this decision and that and frankly it is disrespectful. These referees good or bad have a difficult job to do and with all the diving and time wasting that goes on coupled with the jeering from the crowd every time they get a decision against them, it makes it impossible to do their jobs and keep everyone happy.

I don't know if the FA can do anything to better protect the integrity of referees but I hope this will be looked into sooner rather than later.

And so the transfer window closes - and I am relieved!

So the end of another transfer window. I am pleased disappointed and non plussed all at the same time. The outgoings players were irrelevant with the biggest name going being Taraabt. I was disappointed that he could match his big head with some great performances with us. I am sure he will eventually be successful, but I ma not sure at what level. I fully expect to see him in the Premier League with QPR next season so no doubt will score against us.

Dervitte also left us without making any impact. The only game I remember seeing him in was the Wembley Cup last season against Celtic and based on that performance, he wont be missed.

Our other departures were Jimmy Walker, Sam Cox and Lee Butcher, I wish them all well.

I will be keeping an eye on our players that have gone out on loan. John Obika, Ryan Mason, Andros Townsend, John Bostock, Dean Parrett, David Button and Oscar Jansen.

There are a number of players I was surprised didn't leave, I put this down to in their first place injuries and the second lack of finance. Players such as Keane, Jenas, O'Hara and Bentley whom I thought would be surplus to requirements. I am not sure we are as good as we could be up front but I have no issue with the rest of the squad.

I am very excited by the quality of players coming in.

Van Der Vaart

He must be one of our best signings in recent years. An attacking midfielder with an eye for a pass. he will give us that something special we could have done with against Wigan. Imagine having Bale, Modric, Van Der Vaart and Lennon in the same side, a prospect I find mouth watering.

 William Gallas

Ok lets forget who he has played for, he comes with a bagful of experience and is a class defender. he will a more than adequate support with King, Dawson and Bassong. Hopefully this will mean no more Corluka in central defence.

Stipe Pletikosa

Another good signing, he comes to us on a season long loan from Spartak Moscow and will be the fourth Croatian at Spurs. he will provide cover for Gomes and no doubt will push Gomes all the way for a first team place.

Sandro

A young Brazilian midfielder who may take some time to adjust to live in and football in Engalnd. He has been a professional for just two years and has just broken through to the Brazilian National team. I am excited by the prospect of this energetic deep lying midfielder and hopefully challenging Huddlestone and Palacios for a first team place.

Overall we have brought in some quality into our squad which is slightly bigger than last season. I would have liked us to sign a new striker but maybe something may happen in January. I expect some more loan departures with players such as Naughton, Walker and Rose probably surplus at the moment but I hope will all have big futures at Spurs.  I haven't seen our twenty five man squad I assume we have 26 who are over 21 so Woodgate surely will be the one to miss out.

All in all an unnatural amount of stability for Spurs this year. I am relieved.

Tottenham V Wigan - A tale of two Tottenham's

It was always going to be difficult to match the atmosphere and euphoria of Wednesday night. But Wigan had just been defated by a total of ten goals in two games. I am always trepadatious when facing a team that has just been heavily defeated, particularly where their last visit to White Hart Lane resulted in a thumping. So I was naturally catious and in fact I would have been hapy to win 1-0.

My apprehensions were much the same as a large proportion of the crowd. That obvioulsy had filtered to the players. I must say it was the quietest I had heard a Tottenham crowd. No doubt the experience of Stoke and Wolves from last year was playing on everyone's minds.

There is always two Tottenhams. The one that plays with energy and vigour and great creativity and a Tottenham that goes through the motions and is starved of any idea how to make a break through. Unfortunatly against Wigan it was the latter.

The match started out in a lethargic fashion for Tottenham, failing to control the match. Wigan crowded Tottenham out for long periods of the game. But it was some very sloppy passing by Palacios and Huddlestone that gave Wigan their opportunites. I felt our tactics were again wrong in this game. We desperately need someone to play in the hole behind the front two. When Crouch is playing, the ball keeps getting pumped up to him. The point is we more often than not lose the ball because the rebound goes into the area between the midfield and our forwards. If we played another player in that position it means we can at least compete for the ball, and will also help support an attack.

Another point is I don't see the point in playing both Huddlestone and Palacios against a team like Wigan. I find Huddlestone to be quite frustrating. Huddlestone had opportunites to get forward in the build up play but didn't. He had a chance of a one-two with Lennon but stayed back. I hope this isn't an instruction as we lack goals from midfield.

I may be wrong, but most teams either play 4-5-1 or 4-3-3, but we still play 4-4-2, or more to the point 4-2-2-2. There must be a reason why we strugglw to break down teams that set out to defend. If Tottenham are going to continue with 4-4-2 I would suggest we play at a far higher temp  than we did against. The performance was simply not good enough for our aspirations.

Tottenham v Young Boys - A slow start but a great finish.

So there I was headed out for my first ever Champions League game. I live about 60 miles from White Hart Lane and I usually leave about three hours before kick off with the hope of getting to my parking spot about an hour before the game, enough time to get my son some food and have a good read through the programme. Unfortunately heavy rain and a painfully slow M25 meant I missed kick off for the first time ever.

I hate people who turn up late and here I was making a whole row of fans stand up, including a man on crutches, to get to my seat, I really hate to inconvenience people. I am far too polite at times. Very Kindly, Spurs had provided everybody with flags, although mine was upside down, it was much appreciated. Even at my age I don't mind waving the odd flag.

No sooner had I taken my seat Tottenham took the lead. The atmosphere in the ground really took off. Even in the Paxton end  there was singing aplenty. The Young Boys fans sang "You only sing when you're winning", I thought this strange as we were winning from the 4th minute. Of course the Spurs fans were singing, "we're all going on a European tour", again a little strange as we would have been regardless of the result!

I was very impressed with the Young Boys support, they didn't stop singing all night. Less impressed I was with the football their team played. Much of their play consisted of spoiling, blocking and late lunges. They were not the same team that played Spurs the week before.

It is strange to say, but I didn't think Spurs played all that well. A better side would have scored a few against Spurs. Dawson, Corluka and Palacios were sloppy all night. Bale and Lennon were well marked for most of the game, although Bale played a part in the goals, he wasn't given much space all night.

I don't think we have our tactics right, especially when we play two deep/defensive midfielders and two strikers who like to sit on the shoulders of the last line of defence, there is a massive whole in midfield which means we concede easy possession. Maybe we would have set up differently had Modric or Dos Santos been fully fit.

However I digress, it was a good result for Spurs and the crowd enjoyed it. So we now have Inter Milan, Werder Breman and FC Twente to look forward to. More nights of crawling down the High Road through Edmonton and waiting a good 40 minutes to get back out of the car park and crawling back up the High Road to the North Circular.

These are the glory days back again, where we should always be. I only hope my son appreciates the moment like I do.

Parker to Spurs for Keane plus £5million

There is a report going around today that West Ham would be interested in selling Scott Parker to Tottenham for Robbie Keane plus £5million. By my reckoning that would make Parker worth about £13 million. I wouldn't for one moment think this is going to happen but if it did, I would say what the hell! When we can get Diarra for £8.5 million, why waste it on Parker, who is injury prone and not getting any younger. Of course I could be made to eat my words, it remains to be seen.

Now don't get me wrong, I think Keane has nowhere to go at Spurs and any pending new forward would put him even further down the pecking order, but there are better options for us to follow. I think most Spurs fans appreciate we are still not quite there when it comes to our goal scoring options. We have five very good forwards but what we need is a forward who can dominate and conjure something from nothing. Where is our Torres, Rooney or Drogba. A player I always liked and is still only 28 is Saviola. I always thought he was a class act. Of course a decade ago we could have signed E'to who was at Real Mallorca, I think he was on loan from Real Madrid. Glenn Hoddle wanted to sign him but David Pleat blocked the move. We could have had him for £11 million which would have been a major deal for us then on the back of the money we spent on Rebrov, it doesn't seem that much now.

We have been linked with Huntelaar for the last year but we have always struggled to bring in these sorts of players. At the moment we are a second tier European club. Real Madrid, Barcelona, Inter Milan, AC Milan, Bayern Munich, Juventus, Manchester United and Chelsea are going to be the preferred destinations of players like Huntelaar, we cant offer the wages and the prestige. It makes it harder for Tottenham, we see our club as the part of the elite, but we will not be there until we regularly compete in the Champions league and get through to the semi finals. That doesn't mean we shouldn't try though but we really do need to keep our feet on the ground.

We currently have Huddlestone, Palacios, Sandro and Jenas in central midfield and can also call on Modric to play there as well as Livermore who was on the bench yesterday. Jenas at the moment appears to be the weak link and I ma sure if the right offer came in he would go. I personally favour bringing back Carrick if he were available but I would not be too disappointed if it was Diarra to come in.

I think that with Giovani's rise in from and hopefully improvement in his attitude, it is only a metter of time that Keane will be sold and the money used to more than likely bolster our central midfield with possibly Jenas being sold as well. I can't see Daniel Levy sanctioning this move, it doesn't represent good business. Lets wait and see.

William Gallas moves to Tottenham - a new trend?

With what seems the almost certain signing of William Gallas this weekend, i was trying to remember the last time an Arsenal player crossed the divide to the Lillywhites. The most recent was in 2002 in the diminutive figure of Rohan Ricketts, although he had at the time only played once for arsenal and in fact only managed thirty six appearances for Spurs, the most notable occasion scoring a cracking goal in a 2-1 win over Leeds.

The next most recent player to move from Arsenal was David Jenkins who was part of a swap deal for Jimmy Robertson in 1968. David Jenkins was not a regular though and only featured in 17 games for Spurs.

Before Jenkins was Laurie Brown who came to Tottenham in 1964. His first match was against Arsenal in which Spurs won 3-1.

The only other notable player was Jimmy Brain who moved to Spurs in 1931 and made 47 appearances scoring ten goals.

There have also been a number going the other way. The first was George Hunt in 1937 who played 21 times for Arsenal scoring 3 goals.

Freddie Cox moved from Spurs in 1949 playing 94 times and scoring 16 times for Arsenal.

As mentioned before Jimmy Robertson moved to Arsenal in 1968 playing 46 times and scoring 7 goals.

Relegation cost Spurs 3 players in 1977. Steve Walford who who featured in 98 games for Arsenal, Willie Young who played 237 games and the most notable and most lamentable loss was Pat Jennings our legendary goalkeeper who went on to play another 327 times for the Arsenal.

I have left the worse to last and frankly cannot mention his name. The man who captained Spurs to a league cup triumph in 1999 and who said he would not sign for Arsenal, went on to move to the Gooners in 2001 playing a total of 207 games.

Of course in our current squad we have David Bentley, Jamie O'Hara and Anton Blackwood who have at least trained and in David Bentley's case played for Arsenal. Not to mention former managers George Graham and Terry Neill who have been in charge of both clubs.

So along with William Gallas we are also being linked with Alexander Hleb and last season we attempted to sign Patrick Viera and a few years ago we were allegedly trying to sign Silvain Wiltord. This begs the question, do our clubs take a more pragmatic view of transfers these days, and there are no longer any no go's? Only time will tell.

Waiting for the merry go round to begin

With the impending deal of James Milner going to Manchester City, maybe we shall at least see some transfer activity. Keane, Jenas and Bentley have all been linked with moves to Aston Villa, so it may only be a metter of time before at least one of them leaves. I would of said that bentley is the obvious choice as he is the closest player to match Milner, but as he is injured at the moment and Villa have Young and Downing, this may not happen.

Keane on the other hand needs to move on. He is clearly not happy and the Tottenham faithful, I know the irony, have not taken him back to their hearts after his move to Liverpool. Would we miss him? I don't think so. Currently our quartet of Defoe, Crouch, Pavyluchencko and Dos Santos looks capable of leading the line.

So lets assume we get about £8 million for Keane. One other player who could go is Jamie O'hara. Right up until he left on loan to go to Portsmouth, I thought he was a useful squad player with alot of heart to boot. But frankly his comments around the cup semi lead me to believe he is not a club man but a very selfish individual. Again O'Hara is injured which may inhibit our ability to move him on but I feel this move is inevitable. A move to Villa, Everton or Newcastle looks most likely. I think it would be likely to get around £5 million for O'hara.

Another player who is surplus to requirements is Hutton. We have a large number of players capable of playing right back including: Corluka, Kaboul, Walker, Naughton. The question is where would he go. It was expected he would return to Sunderland, however that seems to have gone cold. Maybe Newcastle, Brimingham or Stoke could be possible destinations. I would expect Hutton to go for between £3-5 million.

So who would we bring in as replacements. In my opinion the positions that need strengthening are left back, I see Bale as playing in a more advanced position and while I think Assou-Ekotto is a good left back, he was a weak link at times last season. My personal choice would be Benefica's Coentrao, who has been linked with Chelsea this week. I was very impressed with his performance on Lennon last week and would be a fine addition to our squad.

The next position I have concerns over is centre back. When all players are fit we are very strong but with King missing more than he plays and Woodgates likely absence for an extended period leaves us with Dawson and Bassong. Corluka has played there but I am not convinced about him, Walker is also an alternative but is still inexperienced. We should be looking at someone still relatively young but with some experience, my choice would be Ryan Shawcross of Stoke.

Central midfield is still not quite there. We have signed Sandro but I believe it will take him a good year before we start to see him up to premier League pace. With only Huddlestone, Jenas and Palacios there i am concerned we don't have someone capable of stringing passes together. I would go for an old boy in Micheal Carrick. he has struggled at Manchester United but would be a good additon to our squad and give us more depth.

Ideally we could use a quality goalscorer but i don't think we have the money at the present time, if a loan opportunity came for someone like Huntelaar we should grab it but this seems unlikely. This should be an intersting three weeks.

In defence of the 25 man squad

At the end of August all Premier League squads will have to be trimmed to 25 players born before January 1st 1989. Arsene Wenger made some comments last week along the lines of it wasn't helpful. Personally I don't know what his beef is and Arsenal shouldn't have a problem filling the quota as most of their players seem to be brought up through the ranks anyway.

I am not concerned about that lot from south of the Thames though. But in the context of the Premier League and English football in general I think this should be a great benefit. Of course you can't limit the number of EU players in your squad due to labour laws, but the prinipal will surely be to bring on more English talent.

Now clubs like Arsenal, Chelsea, Manchester United and hopefully Spurs will be even further encourage to scout the world and bring in 15-17 year olds into their academies and thus qualify them as home grown players by the time they are 21 so I don't think it will really be too much of a burden.

These rules will make it hard for the likes of Chelsea and Manchester City to stockpile players, because they wont be able to have 30 man squads if they are all over 21. It will give the younger players a shot at getting the odd game. When you consider that 18 players are named in a squad each match it only takes a few injuries and/or suspensions then you will need to name some youngsters. So for Spurs the likes of Walker, Rose, Bostock, Parrett, Townsend and Livermore may get a look in.

Looking at Tottenham's squad we have by lucky chance exactly 25 players who are classifed as over 21, 12 of whom are home grown. ( I am not sure about Keane because of his time with Inter Milan.) When you consider that Bale, Walker, Rose, Dos Santos and Sandro are amongst the group under 21, we have quite a healthy squad.

The upshot of these rule changes will probably mean every loan contract will include a right to recall clause, thus enabling the parent club to enhance their squad when they are short of players while giving their youngsters some game time at lower division clubs.

Any transfer dealing will need to be made with the squad make up in mind. But for Spurs this is not a real problem as we could still sell four home grown players to still have the right mix in our squad. Let us just hope the national side will reap the benefit in a few years time.

Who would you choose to make our squad of 25?

Maybe this is why we aren't signing anyone. We currently have 48 professionals on our books. Under new Premier league rules, the first team squad needs to be trimmed to 25 by the end of the transfer window of which at least 8 players must have been trained in England or Wales prior to their 21st birthday. Well we wont have a problem as far as having the requisite number who have been trained in England or Wales, but try getting the squad down to 25 is not that easy. So the 48 are below.

Goalkeepers


1. Gomes   2. Cudiccini 3. Alnwick 4. Button 5. Jansson 6. Ranieri

Defenders

7. Hutton 8. Bale 9. Walker 10. Naughton 11. King 12. Bassong 13. Essou-ekotto
14. Dawson 15. Woodgate 16. Corluka 17. Kaboul 18. Butcher 19. Smith 20. Blackwood
21. Butcher 22. Byrne 23. Caulker

Central midfielders
24. Livermore 25. Jenas 26. Sandro 27. O’Hara 28. Huddlestone 29. Palacios 30. Parrett
31. Carroll 32. Nicholson 33. M’Poku

Attacking midfielders
34. Townsend 35. Modric 36. Kranjcar 37. Lennon 38. Bentley 39. Dos Santos 40. Taarabt
41. Mason 42. Rose 43. Bostock

Strikers
44. Keane 45. Defoe 46. Pavyluchenko 47. Crouch 48. Obika

A number of these players are quite easy to eliminate, however when you get down to around 32 players it starts getting tough. Players like Townsend who has looked very good will most likely miss out. Long term injury victim, Woodgate could miss out as he is not even training at the moment, so who is to day he will be playing before the end of December when the squad can be changed. The advantage of the new rules is that players who were under 21 on the 1st January in the year the season commences are able to be part of the squad in addition to the 25. So Townsend and Taarabt can be viwed as additional players.
Ultimately I left out O'Hara who I believe will be leaving anyway, Kyle Naughton who I don't think has done enough and the final player to leave out was Taraabt. It was a choice of 1 of Dos Santos, Rose and Taarabt. This will probably lead to Taraabt leaving but I hope not as I believe he will be a fine player, but he isn't just yet. The one inclusion to this squad was Kyle Walker. He has done quite well on the tour of the US and fully deserves his chance. So my squad would be:

Goalkeepers


1. Gomes 2. Cudiccini 3. Alnwick

Defenders

4. Bale 5. Walker 6. King 7. Bassong 8. Essou-ekotto 9. Dawson 10. Corluka 11. Kaboul

Central midfielders
12. Jenas 13. Sandro 14. Huddlestone 15. Palacios

Attacking midfielders

16. Modric17. Kranjcar 18. Lennon 19. Bentley 20. Dos Santos 21. Rose

Strikers

22. Keane 23. Defoe 24. Pavyluchenko 25. Crouch

Of course there may be some coming and goings with Keane, Jenas, Bentley and Dos Santos potentially going, however this is how I see it form where it stands at the moment.

The Finishing Line Is In Sight.

Tottenham are now in a position that a month ago I didn't think we would be. It is now possible to see how many points we are going to need. Anything from 68 to 75 points looks likely. The mamimum points that Spurs can get is 79 points, though very unlikely given our run in. Manchester City can get 77 points, Liverpool and Aston Villa 72. We are now at the point where every game that any side fails to win drops down the possible end of season points

So if we annalyse the games left and put games into two categories that is the games against other top 8 sides, and the games against teams from outside of the top 8. So lets say for instance that all the games against top 8 sides end in a draw and all the other games result in beating the teams outside the top 8, then the final points may look like this:

Tottenham 71
Liverpool   70
Manchester City 69
Aston Villa 68

I think we can just about rule out Aston Villa at this stage, so looking at the crucial matches that could well decide the 4th spot. For Spurs, well every game but the most important being Manchester City as a loss there I think would end our chances. On the other side a win at Sunderland followed by anything more than 4 points in the games against Arsenal, Chelsea, Manchester United and Manchester City would probably secure fourth spot.

Liverpool have a lot to defend and a failure to win any game will see it unlikely thay will get to 4th,their only big game is against Chelsea.

Manchester City have games to come against Spurs, Manchester United, Aston Villa and Arsenal and will probably have to win two of them depending of course if they win against Spurs, a loss to Spurs may end Manchester City's hope.

Nothing is certain at the moment, but I can say that if Tottenham manage to win five out of their last seven, then Champions league football will be at White Hart Lane next season.

Its time to end private ownerhsip in football clubs.

It seems to me that these are very worrying times for football clubs in general. Currently Portsmouth, Cardiff, Southend and Notts County are the subject of Winding Up orders courtesy of HMRC. Even though I am quite sure that they will all survive it will only be a matter of time before a club goes to the wall. We see teams such as Manchester United and Liverpool with in excess of One Billion Pounds of debt between them. This situation simply cannot continue. Football does not belong to the clubs with their fly by night chairmen. It belongs to the players that give their whole heart to the game and to the fans who brave the elements through thick and thin to follow their clubs.

I am not saying that investment from private individuals is a bad thing. Chelsea were in a very bad way before Abramovich stepped in and who knows what would have happened to them if that money didn't surface. But on the counter side, look at Peter Riddsdale. His wayward spending cost Leeds their Premier league status and almost their future and look what is happening to Cardiff.

There is barely a club outside of the Premier League that has not suffered at least administration over the last 15 years or so. Luton, Chester, Bournemouth, Crystal Palace, Southampton, Darlington, Rotherham, the list goes on as to clubs who have been or are currently threatened with their immediate survival.

Of course there is a bright side. Football fans have always been the driving force behind the game and Teams such as Accrington and Aldershot have resurfaced after bankruptcy and regained their football league status. Just look at AFC Wimbledon, a club that was created following Wimbledon's move to Milton Keynes. In less than a decade they have moved from the bottom ring in the football pyramid to be just one promotion away from the Football League. We may even say the same thing of FC United of Manchester, a club formed by unhappy Manchester United fans.

It is only the fans who have the game in their best interests and it is time for a shift in emphasis on who runs football. The playboys or the people. I believe that the Football League and the Football Association and the Premier League should get together and thrash this problem out. I would propose that every club must appoint a Supporters Trust which should maintain a minimum of 25% ownership of the club and who retain the power to veto any major financial proposal. Any prospective owner should also have to place a bond with the Football League of at least 10% of their share in the value in the club. Clubs should also place on bond every three months a sum of money that is estimated to be 1/4 of their liability to HMRC.

These moves may be drastic and may slow down investment in football clubs, but if it is for the long term sustainability of football, then it is a positive move to keep football where it belongs, with you, the fan.

Lets just give Man City 4th spot now

Well Spurs have yet again failed to get a result against an inferior team. Even worse Spurs have again failed to score. How we scored nine is beyond me. I would say that we hae little chance of getting Champions League football now unless we go on some amazing run with some favourble results. It is no longer in our hands.

Harry Redknapp must reverse this situation imediately and should also be looking to securing some new talent up front and in central midfield in the summer to address our current problems.

My appologies for being negative, but not happy tonight. COYS!!!

So what happened to our strong squad?

It didn't seem that long ago that our bench consisted of: Cudiccini, Bentley, Hutton, Bassong, Jenas, Keane, Pavyluchenko. That equates to around £65 million of talent. Along came a couple of injuries and the January transfer window and last night it was: Alnwick, Modric, Palacios, Rose, Dervitte, Parrett, Fredericks.

I had to look up Fredericks as I have never heard of him and I found he is a 17 year old winger who joined our academy last year. So much for having a big squad.

During January we saw Hutton, Keane, Naughton and Dos Santos go out on loan, with only Kaboul and Gudjohnsen coming in. To add to our problems is the continuing absence of Woodagte with also Lennon, Assou Ekotto and Pavyluchenko out injured with the latter more than likely heading back to Moscow before their season starts in March.

So from our previous strength in depth we currently have at the moment we have 3 strikers, 3 central midfielders, 2 left sided midfileders and 1 rightsided midfielder, 1 left back, 1 right backs, 3 central defenders and 1 goal keeper that we can feel confident about calling upon. It seems we are vulnerable to injury at th moment, which is a bit of a worry.

On the positive side it may men getting a look at some players who would not normally feature. The likes of Walker, Rose, Parrett, Bostock and Obika may find themselves getting into first team contention. I am sure that Harry Redknapp has a good idea of the capabilities of this squad but he too must be concerned about the current depth in numbers.

Keane to Celtic, Hutton to Sunderland, Naughton to Middlesborough

It looks like our business is just about concluded for the day and no real big suprises. Of course the major news was Robbie Keane off to Celtic on loan.

This was something very lilkely to happen after the Gudjohnsen deal as they are like for like players. I am a bit concerned though that we have sent both our back up right backs out on loan. Maybe the thought is that Kaboul can fill in there in case of injury.

Alan Hutton has completed his loan moved to Sunderland in what I hope will give him more first team football and may mean we get a decent fee when he is more than likely sold in the summer. Kyle Naughton is off to Middlesborough for again I hope plenty of first team experience and he shoud come back and push Corluka for his place next season.

In the last week we have also brought back Younes Kaboul, I think this is a good move. We have been fighting along with only three centre back this season and we certainly need greater depth in defence. Kaboul has also played in midefield so he may be an alternative to playing Palacios there when he needs a rest or is injured, banned etc.

I am somewhat disappointed that Giovanni Dos Santos has again gone out on loan, I would have liked to see him get a decent run in the first team but injuries put paid to that.

A word of good luck also to Troy Archibald-Henville who has left on a permanent deal to Exeter. He came though our academy system and had been on loan at Exeter.

It seems now that both Pavyluchenko and Bentley are with us until the end of the season, I only hope they will both grasp this opportunity and show Spurs fans why we paid collectively nearly £30 million for their services.

Now lets look forward to Wednesday and hopefully a good performance and win against Leeds. COYS!!!

Victor Moses should be on his way to White Hart Lane.

News today from Selhurst Park, with the unfortunate appointment of Adminstrators to Crystal Palace, is that Victor Moses will not be allowed to play tonight as they want to protect their asset. No doubt he will be sold before the transfer window closes on Monday.

It is times like these that you can feel some sympathy for particularly young players. I am sure the boy wants to play. I am hoping this will turn into a plus for Spurs. Harry Redknapp has watched him play recently in a friendly that was played between the sides and Tottenham scouts would have seen him on numerous occasions.

From what I have seen and what I have heard he does look a very good player and some very big clubs have shown an interest and even with our self imposed transfer embargo, we can't let this one go the same way we allowed Ashley Young to move to Villa when I am sure he would have been happy to come to Spurs.

The myth of the six pointer

It amuses me year after year the way the media hype up the six pointer. Why a Manchester United v Chelsea is more important than Manchester United v Burnley is beyond me. Now before we all jump and down, let me explain.

Every season, every club will set their target for the season. Whether it be to win the title, champions league, Europa league or avoiding relegation, there is a target. Of course each club needs to attain a certain number of points to get there. Yes it is true that if you beat a competitor for that position it is three points more for you and three points less for them. But apart from those at the end of the table, I don't think it is vital to achieving your target.

Last season, Manchester United failed to win a game against the top 4 but still won the title mostly because they got maximum points against the bottom 10. Spurs this season against the sides I expect would be bottom 10 have got 26 points out of a possible 36. This is the crucial statistic that is the difference between success and failure. Had Spurs go the maximum ala Manchester United, then Spurs would lead the Premier League. For any side, it is the failure to win against those sides who you would identify as the teams you should beat that make victory in other games vital.

Of course when you get to the bottom end that real six pointers take place. It would be in gaining the magical 40 point mark that games like hull v portsmouth, or wolves v burnley are important. In that case a match between the bottom 2 is more important than games between the top 2.

Time for a rethink?

I am like many Tottenham fans, when we win I think we can take on the world and when we lose I feel like we are staring into the abyss. This season has been very typical for us, although a little more success than we have had in recent years. We started the season with four straight wins and when we went ahead early against Manchester United, I am sure I wasn't alone, in thinking of great things. Of course it went badly for us in that game and subsequent games against Chelsea and Arsenal ended in disappointment.

I have felt we have stuttered through much of this season, the 9-1 win against Wigan contrasted by the 1-0 loss to Wolves. We played probably our best football of the season in the second half against Aston Villa and threw away opportunities against Everton in the league and Manchester United in the Carling Cup.

In my opinion we should have at least another ten points this season and should be in a position to challenge for the title. The only consistency for Tottenham has been inconsistency.

I think Harry Redknapp has been excellent for Spurs since his appointment, but he still made some errors which I hope he will learn from. Looking at last nights game, his starting line up was the wrong choice. A midfield of Rose, Modric, Jenas and Kranjcar was never going to win many tackles. I can understand what he is trying to do, but we need a tackling midfielder regardless of who we are playing. I would have played O'Hara instead of Jenas, as we would need Palacios fit for Tuesday against Fulham.

Another point from last night is that Pavlyuchenko was far more effective than Crouch. I would like to see Pav start against Fulham with Keane. I thought they showed signs of linking up well together, though Keane needs to be more aware of the runs that Bale is making.

It would be interesting to see Lennon and Rose in the same side as this would give us much more options to attack from. I don't think we have an ideal position for both Modric and Kranjcar as neither is a natural left sided player and neither is strong enough to hold down a central midfielder role, however I wouldn't want to see them missing from our side, it is a quandary.

Our defence has been our strength this season, this is despite having King and Woodgate being unfit for most of the season. Michael Dawson has lead well from the back, although he is a different type of defender than King, his no nonsense approach has got us out of trouble on more than the odd occasion. Dawson's distribution is a slight concern but every side needs a player of his strength. Bassong has been a worry of late. His poor tackle at Liverpool giving them a penalty and he was very indecisive last night making a number of errors.

My main concern at the moment is our inability to break down teams who set out to defend. We need craft and guile which we seem to be lacking when Lennon is not playing. Robbie Keane is playing poorly which may be a result of lack of confidence, he is still a quality player who I expect has many years to come in the top flight and I certainly hope it will be at Spurs. I am never sure of Defoe, he is a great striker, but he needs the ball put in the right areas and ultimately a good partner who can draw defenders away from him. Again I  would say that Keane and Pavlyuchenko are better options than Crouch.

I think going into the last sixteen games if the season players such as Keane, Jenas, Crouch, Bentley and Giovani have a future. I hope they do as they are all good players but need to capture some consistent form.


I do believe that Harry Redknapp needs to rethink which players will do he job to get better consistency from Spurs.