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!!!