Pre-season previews used to be easy. Analyse the players, add the manager’s likely tactics, stir in a liberal dose of unsubstantiated optimism masquerading as hitherto unfilled potential and there you have it. Swift appraisal of a few rivals, think of a possible final finishing position then go two places higher and pretend you know what you are talking about.

These days, you can’t even work out when the season starts, let alone predict what will happen when it does. The fixture list says it’s this coming Saturday but a more accurate date is when the transfer window closes, because it’s then and only then that Spurs will begin to build a team in earnest. As for the manager, we know more about his inability to handle an aging and vindictive squad minus any support from the club owner than we do about his prospects for our team. Indications are that he gets on with the players and comes over well at press conferences. Frankly not the most solid foundation for this crucial season to come.

So all I feel able to predict with any confidence, and this blog is nothing if not honest with my small but gallant band of readers, is that the opening weeks of the season will be fraught with tension on and off the pitch. Villas Boas has a good number of fine footballers at his disposal and it will be fascinating to see what he does with them. Expect retaining possession as an absolute imperative and demands for more effort to ensure we have ample protection when we lose it. There’s pace throughout the side to plug any gaps and swiftly turn defence into attack. Anticipate counter-attacking and goals from midfield. What the hell, let’s go all the whole hog and add goals from set-pieces too. Eye-witness accounts on the US tour suggest we’ve been practicing but this may be a rumour on a par with sightings of a yeti in Bruce Grove.

However, carelessly we approach the season with only a single striker, one who can’t play on his own up front. Injury and Olympic duty deprive us of the core of our midfield even without filling that Modric-sized hole. Don’t get too close to the edge – last time I looked it goes almost to the earth’s core. Our goalie appears indestructible but can’t go on forever. Then there’s the need for back-up in several positions, notably full-back and striker, as we must rotate during a long and busy season. Our first match is away to Newcastle, settled and ready to develop last season’s success. Harry’s media are waiting to pounce. They sense weakness like hyenas pursuing a wounded wildebeest – a hair out of place in Scott Parker’s immaculate 50s coiffure and Spurs become a Crisis Club, let alone two defeats before August is out.

Earlier this summer I wondered if the purchases of Sigurdsson and Vertonghen signalled a significant policy change, not just in terms of buying players before 23.59.59 on deadline day but also a greater flexibility in our prudent but constraining salary structure. Siggy spurned Liverpool and his managerial mentor, whilst Bale signed without the dreaded protracted and public negotiation period. I even broke my golden rule on TOMM and accepted information about a player signing in advance of an offical announcement. Levy had somehow managed to sort out Abebayor… we’re still waiting.

Whilst Levy and AVB seek long-term value, we must brace ourselves for our traditional early season curtain-raiser – a frantic search for quality players set against a backdrop of ITK-fuelled fan apoplexy. I’m sure that substantial funds are available – Levy must surely be willing to back his new manager to a considerable extent if not quite to the hilt – and the marketplace is tough, but we should be more prepared by now. In Levy’s defence, the men we chase are much in demand. Top-class strikers and central midfielders are in short supply and come at a real premium. No wonder they, their agents and their current employers wait to see if a better offer comes in. Higher salary, higher percentage cut, higher transfer fee. No Champions League for them if they choose N17. Don’t forget it’s often the player and the selling club who wait until the window is about to close rather than Levy playing poker for the sake of it.

That said, for the right player if 10k a week and a few million over the top is the price to pay to pull out a plum, then it’s money well spent as far as I’m concerned. Push the boat out, Dan. Think of the TV money. Luka’s lucre. Think what a difference a few good men will make.

The Bleedin’ Obvious

Last month I was optimistic that AVB represented a good fit with Tottenham Hotspur. He’s ambitious, clear-thinking and will provide that extra touch of organisation that would have given us the edge at the end of last season. But in the end it’s down to players and we have some very good ones, who like our boss are on the up and determined to succeed. Young, with no entrenched ideas or notions above their station, I trust they will be biddable to the gaffer’s ideas.

That’s why I believe that we can look forward to a decent season after a stuttering start. We’ve changed the manager but can build on what we already have rather than undertake time-consuming and expensive team rebuilding. Bale, Walker, Sandro and Kaboul are top quality players with plenty still to come. Parker and Van der Vaart are top quality who despite their success what more. Lennon, Huddlestone and Assou Ekotto will do for me, while Vertonghen and Sigurdsson are good buys. Then we’re back to signings and strikers again.

Livermore is Our Leader?

Begins and ends here. Get it right and everything spins smoothly on its axis. A decent centre midfielder has to tackle hard, get forward into the box to shoot before dropping back to shore up the back four. They must have the touch of an angel to keep possession, the hide of an ox to fend off the elbows-out late challenges. Run all day yet maintain a clear head. Anticipate the danger and be there before it happens. We don’t ask for much.

This is Sandro’s year, when he becomes a world-renowned defensive midfielder. He really does have the lot. Maybe we should be grateful that he was injured for much of last term because it’s prevented clubs from seeing just how could he can be, so no transfer bids. And while we’re talking about injuries, Parker needs a rest. It’s a shame it’s imposed on us but last season his performances tailed away a little, so come March we might be grateful that his season begins in late September.

Meanwhile, with Sandro still playing for Brazil and having never trained with AVB, we have a problem. Hud is a fine player but I suspect he’s too slow for his manager’s liking, especially as he’s still getting match fit after almost a year out. He may well have to adapt or be on his way out. So how about Jenas as our saviour? Give him one job to do in front of the back four rather than expect him to get into the box as well and we might get more from him. Now who would have thought it possible? On his side is the fact that he’s fit and still here.

Livermore was a great success last season and he will look forward to the extra responsibility that will surely be thrust upon him in the next month or so. He works hard, looks for the ball constantly and has feet quick enough to keep the ball circulating. Above all, he will not shirk his duties. I’m so out of touch, I did not realise until today that he could play for England this week. Good luck to him.

The Spine

Kaboul and Vertonghen could develop into an excellent partnership in the centre of our defence. Kaboul was many fans’ player of the season last time around – cut out some impetuous challenges and not get caught going too tight on his marker and he’s ready for the big time. From what little I’ve seen of Vertonghen, he’s fast and can cover well. He’s also burning to play for Spurs.

Also, Dawson will fit alongside both these men, their pace and that of our full-backs making up for the problem he has in that respect. He’s learned to cope with that well but defending is a team responsibility and if he plays, others can work with him. He’s wonderful in the box and a real leader. My only doubt is whether he will be able to come back from two serious leg injuries in a relatively short space of time. Caulker makes four. Gallas if fit is back-up but they may well let him go.

Without becoming a negative team, I wonder if Spurs’ defence may be our making this season. Certainly we will be better organised and less cavalier, with the midfield dropping back more readily than under Harry.

Going into the season with our current goalkeeping line-up is fraught with peril. Friedel was a rock last term, an inspired piece of business from HR. However, he can’t keep that bounce in his legs forever and injuries take longer to heal as you get on a bit (ain’t that the truth!). Cudicini was an able deputy but also has time against him, and goodness knows how Gomes’ fragile mental state has coped with a year of being humiliatingly ignored. Sometimes the new guy means a fresh start but surely for Gomes that has to be at another club.

Goals From Midfield

Bale could be the perfect left-sided player for AVB. Maybe he’ll find a home further forward. I’m not sure how VDV and Siggy will fit together but I’m looking forward to finding out. Certainly we should expect double figures from all of them. Have to, really – no strikers you see. Lennon has worked hard on his game but he’s not an all-rounder and may struggle with extra defensive work.

JD is no all-rounder either and again may suffer if he’s expected to hold up the ball and bring others into the game as well as score a few. Chances will come his way, however, with not only such attacking talents but also BAE and Walker flying forward.

Best of the Rest

Spurs’ policy of loaning out young players is paying dividends. Caulker returns a seasoned pro at Premier League and Olympic level. Kane has promise, perhaps better as coming from deep not the 40s centre forward he resembles. However, otherwise it’s hard to see the young men stepping into battle just yet. I was impressed with Tom Carroll and we should see him in the Europa League. Naughton and Rose will offer much-needed back-up at full-back where Benny and Walker were played into the ground last time but Rose still can’t find a position that truly suits him and in places the cover is as thin as the hair on my head.

I can’t see a future here for Bentley, Bassong or Dos Santos.

TOMM

Refreshed after the break, I’ve paid frankly no attention to the friendlies but I’m looking forward to the new season as always. And as always, my hopes for the season are that we are contenders. That big teams worry about playing us. That we have a real go at every competition, including the Europa League. It’s essential that we reinforce that spine with strikers and a centre midfielder as a priority, or else it will all go to waste. You want a number? You do? OK then – 5th.

More of the same from me this coming season – impassioned, reasoned debate about all aspects of the club and reflections on every match. I’ll also begin a series looking back at some of the significant moments and turning points in our recent history plus some profiles on players who served the club well but do not get the attention they deserve, true Unsung Heroes.

Look forward to your company.

Well no one expected this. Just when you think there’s nothing left at Spurs to surprise, we begin pre-season training with signings in the bag and more to come. The man whose transfer window brinkmanship is both loathed and envied in equal measure by his fellow chairmen has bought Vertonghen and Sigurdsson, lined up Adebayor and above all enabled Bale to stay, at least for a while. Rumour has it we’re actively in the market for several other promising players. Already I’m growing nostalgic for the White Hart Lane fax machine, glowing red-hot at one minute to midnight on deadline day as the chairman frantically unblocks another paperjam. Has Daniel Levy changed his buying policy and if so, why?

Although at first sight this business appears to mark a radically different direction, there are distinct signs of consistency rather than change at work. The new boys possess the value that Levy prizes above all: if all goes well they have their best years ahead of them, Spurs represents a step up and their fees were reasonable as presumably are their salaries. It’s not about being cheap and never has been. For these reasons Levy rightly sees value in these investments, an acceptable risk in the most uncertain market of all.

Also, Levy’s best work with contracts lately has been to tie our good players to long-term deals contracts. Over the past 18 months, Lennon, Huddlestone, Walker, Modric, Sandro and Livermore have all signed up, which gives them a reward for services rendered, is a statement of intent that we are to keep our best players and it protects their price if they are sold. Win-win, just the way Levy likes it. Bale is merely the next in line.

Then there’s the new manager effect. Levy has a decidedly mixed record when it comes to picking the new guy but when they arrive, he backs them with cash. Villas-Boas appears to be happy that his boss is being so responsive. Again, nothing new here.

What particularly interests me is why these players signed, because they must have turned down other offers. Of course it’s welcome to White Hart Lane, the world famous home of Tottenham Hotspur, with a reputation for playing good football. And for a small ground, low wages, no trophies and the Europa League. Let’s not kid ourselves: the newcomers are saying all the right things but they must have had a sweet deal. I have no problem with that, by the way. Not being critical, just reminding ourselves that N17 may be the ultimate attractive destination for us, not necessarily for anyone else.

Which begs the crucial question, has Levy shredded the hitherto sacred wage structure, the self-imposed salary cap of £70k a week? If so, it’s the most fundamental change of heart this century.

It’s likely that although the limit has been religiously adhered to over the past few years and contributed to our financial security, some players received substantial bonuses in order to either sign or keep them, for example lump sum signing on payments and/or “loyalty” bonuses after a year or so.

A couple of rumours from informed sources suggest Modric and now Bale earn 6 figure salaries. I doubt our own Siggy Stardust gets that but it’s probable we paid more than Liverpool were offering. He turned them down and the chance to work with Rodgers, the manager who developed his career enormously. Liverpool would have been favourites to beat us for his signature. No longer. Reports suggest Manu’s salary is apparently not a problem. That’s Manu accepting a pay cut of 100k a week. Just like that. I find that hard to believe. I suspect Levy has found something to bridge at least part of the gap. Either that or the lure of Sir Les as striker coach is impossible to resist. 

Although the cap was always controversial, one sound reason for keeping it has now disappeared. Give more to one or two new signings and this could unbalance the whole salary structure, causing resentment and friction in an otherwise settled squad. However, all the players likely to be at the top of the scale have now gone, bar Luka who is on his way. Keane departed long ago, King is about to retire, Pienaar to be sold. That leaves Defoe possibly but otherwise no one gets that much as far as I can gather. As ever, happy to stand corrected. The new guys are being handsomely rewarded no doubt, it’s just that everyone can move up without substantially altering the equilibrium that has underpinned excellent morale and team spirit or skewing the total budget.

Whilst there are elements of continuity in Levy’s transfer policy, his stance has shifted slightly but significantly. Learning from experience, he feels he has more budget flexibility and so can move earlier to tie up a deal without becoming a pushover as the prolonged Vertonghan deal shows. Despite the costs of the new stadium, the Premier League is awash with dosh from the new TV deal and anyway, we’re still not paying stupid money. These are good quality footballers, good value in the today’s market. In passing, it shows how far apart he and Redknapp were over transfers.

In other news, the new kit has been welcomed by most but not by me, because we play in white shirts and navy blue shorts. Not a lot to ask. Nevertheless, many have seen Under Armour’s responsiveness with fans plus a butch photoshopped team photo and 30 minutes of AVB in front of a microphone as evidence of good times to come. As for me, the mood feels fine but I’d prefer something more substantial than PR. Meanwhile, the complaints continue because it remains nigh on impossible to give Spurs money as tickets for the first game of the season go on sale to cries of frustration as the cruel mocking purple line returns to fans’ lives. Some things never change.

And so it goes. Managers come and go but the club goes on. At times like this, you realise it’s all froth and foment that will soon subside. Maybe it’s because I’m getting on a bit now. I’m keen to see what he does and think it’s a good choice, although not without risk. It’s just that I’ve seen so many come and go that the thrill has gone. In the grand scheme of things, here’s another guy. Let’s wait until he gets on with it. When the players get the ball down on the White Hart Lane pitch and pass it. When the noise echoes around the venerable rusty stands that have seen it all before and billows up into the night along with condensing breath from the mouths of the 36,000. When white shirts and navy blue shorts take the field. That’s the club. Not the new man in a raincoat. Not even the man front row centre in the West Stand Upper, even though when the history of this decade is written it will be christened the Levy Era. Not the manager but the chairman’s time. White shirts, navy blue shorts and us. We were there before him and will be there long after he goes.

We would do well to remember that context when the season begins, for the club, our club, will be under intense pressure to succeed. And to think journalists call Tottenham fans fickle, accuse us of easily turning on the team. The tabloid media are not so much sharpening their knives, they’re arming the flame-throwers, polishing the bed of nails and shouldering bazookas, all with their sights keenly focussed on Spurs. They’ve decided that AVB is not the man for us. He comes with several disadvantages. He’s foreign and an intellectual who has never played the game at any level. Any one of those reasons would be sufficient but all three? He doesn’t help himself by being a bit cocky, as well as having a wider vocabulary than many of those who thrust mics in his face. Most TV pundits lack the emotional intelligence to perceive what a threat he is to them, or rather to their smug self-satisfied absence of analysis. They played it and that’s all we the viewers and listeners need to know in order to realise they are RIGHT. Then a guy comes along with other credentials. Fluke. Lucky. Got the breaks. Doesn’t deserve it. Can’t say it openly but you know what they are thinking. Out of his depth. Won’t research or find out what happened at Porto. As the season goes on, listen to how many times the word ‘Porto’ will be followed by ‘but’.

Above all, he’s not Harry Redknapp. Media darling, friend to all, can do no wrong. Sacked by Tottenham Hotspur, the ultimate sin, for which in the eyes of the tabloid media there is no possible absolution. But this isn’t about AVB or any manager. It’s our club they are having a go at. It’s hard to see what will please them; if Spurs won the World Cup it would be down to the players not the manager. We must get behind everyone at the club, more than ever before. Close ranks, they shall not pass. AVB is one of us now. We were there before and we’ll be there after he and the journos have gone.

Me? I haven’t changed. Different guy, same expectations. I’d like good football that wins something. I really want to win something. But above all, I want us to be contenders. I want to challenge in the league and cups, to have a real go at Europe. For teams to be afraid when the fixture against THFC comes around. To take on the big sides. Let’s have a real go at it, and if we fail, so be it. It’s what I said last year, and the one before, and the one before that.

Villas Boas and Spurs should fit like a Saville Row suit. We have some cracking young players who still have something to learn as opposed to the entrenched attitudes he encountered at Chelsea. There he took them on with the absolute conviction of a true believer, whereas a more varied approach that bulldozed through some issues but went the long way round for others might have paid better dividends. He would be well advised to learn from that, but one key difference then and now is that Levy will back him if he sticks to the plan. Abramovich asked AVB to change the team but pulled the rug out from under him when he tried to follow orders.

At Spurs there is a plan. Money is available for the right players, players with value for whom the club is a step up. AVB can identify with that because that’s who he is. That’s the precise reason why Spurs are so attractive to him. He positively burns with ambition and Spurs is the place where three players, the right players, will turn a good team into something special. He may look like the book-carrying guys who turn up unwanted on your doorstep, all scrubbed faces and sinister kindness, but AVB is a man with a mission, zealous like only a convert who has seen the light can be. He’s an evangelist for coaching and his style of play who will find redemption only through his team. Unlike Redknapp, whose reputation remains untarnished if his sides falter, Villas Boas must prove himself through the team he manages. He has no medals or past glories to fall back on. All he has is the future.

I can’t claim to know much about what he did at Porto. However, I get the sense that above all, he made the players believe in him and his methods, and that when they did, they not only became better individuals, their whole became more than the sum of their parts. Sounds promising. His first act as Spurs boss was to examine the training pitches. I like that.

Can’t lay claim to a detailed understanding of his tactical approach either. I don’t pay that much attention to Chelsea. But from what I saw against us in particular, seeing teams in the flesh is the best way of understanding them for me – he has a system and fits the players into it rather than creating a formation that suits the squad at his disposal. His sides are a very active and busy 4-3-3, compressing space when they don’t have the ball and pressing the opposition. This means a high defensive line, and we have quick defenders to suit that. Vertonghen will help here; surely he’s about due his testimonial, feels like he’s been with us for so long. With the ball, movement and creativity are encouraged. Again, we have that precious commodity, pace, throughout and his system allows for considerable flexibility, adapting to circumstances and to opponents’ different styles without the need for radical changes.

So the signs are good. We can retain our attacking inclinations whilst adding shape and organisation that was missing at crucial moments last season, especially at the back. Any Spurs manager has inherited problems that in some cases have been handed down through the generations like an ugly unwanted family heirloom. I said in a recent blog that, at the risk of sounding crass, our main problem last season was that the midfield did not drop back and cover enough. Too often we had too many players drifting back when they should have been hammering hell for leather to get behind the ball. That and keep the ball, AVB will sort that out. The other problem is that teams have sussed us out. Everton, QPR, Norwich, Villa all massed ranks behind the ball and Redknapp wasn’t cute enough to find a way round it. Our propensity to concede early meant it was uphill all the way.

In the end, it comes down to the players so AVB needs to pick some good ones. You may have spotted that we could do with a striker or three.  Levy has already achieved one of the transfer coups of the summer in signing Bale to a long term contract, which sent out a message of intent that we are worth joining, that there is continuity despite the change in manager. I’m resigned to losing my lovely Luka, my one and only, my soulmate…perhaps we’ll meet again someday. I don’t blame him, much. Just so he knows I’m heartbroken…

So it goes. We move on. Fulfil Sandro’s potential and I’ll have a new guy to cuddle up to. he’s fabulous – get him to play, Andre.

 

Can’t wait for the start of the new season, but then nothing changes, even after all these years. Even though I’m getting on a bit now.