Cock sure Martin Jol?

Spurs chairman Daniel Levy had called all his directors and senior management together to see who among them was wise enough to help overcome the terrible debacle they'd gotten the club into.

"My chairman," crowed head coach Martin Jol, putting down his copy of the Evening Standard. "These fine men all pass themselves as wise... but there is one wiser and I will prove it."

Daniel Levy was dubious. "And how will you do that, Martin?" he enquired.

The head coach smiled. "Ask us all to return tomorrow morning and you will see."

The next morning the Tottenham top brass arrived at White Hart Lane, as did Martin Jol, riding backwards into the stadium on a giant cockerel, so that he faced the opposite direction to which the majestic bird was headed.

The cockerel stopped before a perplexed Daniel Levy. Martin Jol spoke. "Everyone gathered here, my chairman. Ask them what they see."

One by one the Spurs men came forward and, each in turn, agreed with the first, that the huge cockerel was facing the right way while the huge Dutchman was facing the wrong way.

"What did I tell you, my chairman?" crowed the Spurs coach. "I have shown who is the wiser."

Daniel Levy was dubious. "And how have you done that, Martin?" he enquired.

Martin Jol smiled. "No one has considered that I, rather than this over-sized bird, might be the one facing the right direction."

Tom Huddlestone - It's Time to Step Up

Tom Huddlestone's (or Thudd as he's affectionately known) Tottenham career has stuttered and started since his hyped arrival from Derby County. He joined on the back of rave reviews, some even going so far as to say he has the vision and poise of Glenn Hoddle (quite how this assumption may have arrived is beyond the realms of idiocy). A potential understudy for Michael Carrick was probably closer to the mark. Carrick was eventually sold to Man Utd and Huddlestone was forced to step up to the plate (HAHA, as if) and fill the accomplished defensive midfielder boots that were left for him. Huddlestone had further competition - Spurs had also acquired Didier Zokora.



A couple of seasons on and not much has changed. Until recently Huddlestone has played a constant (albeit gigantic second fiddle - he's a big lad, fond of a meat pie) to Zokora, but he does offer something different to Didier's forward thinking, headless-chicken esque, opponent's half induced nose bleed suffering style of play. Huddlestone can play football, and when the flow of the game is running in Spurs' favour, he can control the game. However on the back foot and under pressure, as seems the Tottenham way in periods of most games, Huddlestone is lost. He has the turning ability of a battleship and his positional awareness is on par with Robinson's from long range.

Carrick was no whippet, but his ability to read the game and put himself in a position where he could break up an attack with very little movement meant that he was very effective. Huddlestone needs to study Carrick's game and learn from it. If he can replicate then he has a substantial chance in becoming an important player for Spurs. If he remains as ineffectual defensively as he currently is then he'll be another on the never-ending conveyabelt of wasted potential at White Hart Lane.

Last season I went as far as saying that Huddlestone would never make it at Spurs, but his performance at Old Trafford on saturday saw him shine in a new light. He was by no means the best player in a white shirt, but he controlled the midfield and battled well. Lets hope he can pick up this form when he plays Fulham on saturday, the same opposition he made his debut against 42 appearances ago.

Levy: Views from the Board

Where does he go from here? He's managed to alienate his manager, the club's fans, the players and now the press in a week. He's obviously a megalomaniac and his advisers, should he allow any at all, seem lacking as him in the commonsense department. Even if Jol leaves, what manager is likely to want to step into his shoes with a chairman like Levy?

Before the past couple of weeks I thought he'd done a fantastic job with Spurs, but it seems like he's playing with the club like it is his toy (I suppose it is).

Views from the board:

Dwain: Reminds me of ‘Deadly' Doug Ellis. No manager will want to come in under Levy now.

Pilgrim: What he should do is be strong, sack the manager like he wanted and replace him with Ramos.

What he will do is keep Jol because he feels under threat from the fans. If Jol flops then Levy will get blamed, if Jol succeeds then Levy will look like an idiot. Lose-lose situation. It's difficult to know exactly because you don't know what the situation is with Ramos.

Flav: Levy has engineered this problem from himself as well.

You can see Ramos joining at the end of the season, this thing happens all the time.

JUS: He needs to keep a fucking low profile for the rest of the season. Then get ramos in the summer, unless we finish top four. If we manage that, and we won't, nobody will give a rat's cock about any of this.

NayimFrom50Yards: The point is that the press invented the vast majority of last weeks' shit and Levy is, quite understandably, outraged that it should have destabilised the place as much as it did. Levy has always been one for doing his business (tee-hee, I said 'doing his business') behind closed doors, which starves the press of stories and puts their back up against him. I still haven't seen him make an actual wrong move yet apart from banning the Standard itself because I can't see how he's not bringing down a whole accelerated campaign on his own head.

Pilgrim: I suspect the Ramos deal is all tied up for next season. Only doubts I have are because Ramos shot his mouth off about the meeting which suggests he might have just been using it to strengthen his position at Sevilla - with regards to keeping key players and getting a better contract. Alves being priced out the market could confirm this.

A few excerpts from THFCLatest2. You can find a link at the top right of the screen should you feel the need to vent.

CLICK THE IMAGE AT THE TOP OF THIS POST TO LINK DIRECTLY TO THIS THREAD

Dennis Wise gets Spurs Job!

Martin Jol's Blue and White Army

It's been a horrible start to the week. The one before it wasn't great either. Losing to Sunderland was a punch in the face. Losing to Everton perhaps more painful because I sat next to baiting, jubilant, Toffee fans who held nothing back when ripping seven shades of the yellow stuff after each goal went in. The situation probably wasn't helped by the fair bit of goading thrown at them when Gardner equalised, but that's supporting football for you - well, supporting Spurs at least.

Speaking of which, opinion is divided between said Spurs fans over the fate of Martin Jol - a manager who's got the best league record for Spurs since Billy Nich, successive fifth place finishes, and a brilliant right hand wave. Tactically flawed, perpetually picking wrong substitutes and lacking the experience to get us into the top four are all points raised against the Big Man.

Whether you think Jol's got what it takes or not isn't massively important at the moment. The fact that Jol's tools to enable Spurs a successful season are being stripped from him by Daniel Levy and cronies is infinitely more pressing. Don't mistake me, Levy's done a smashing job, but he's handled this situation all wrong leaving Jol and squad under gigantic pressure. How can Jol prepare adequately for the trip to Man Utd when not knowing if he'll be out on his big Dutch arse the following Monday?

What is needed is calm. A statement of unequivocal support for Jol would've been the right thing for Levy to instead of the half-baked vote of confidence released by the Spurs board earlier today:

“We have had two good, progressive seasons with fifth place finishes. I am an ambitious chairman, we are an ambitious club and we want Champions League football at White Hart Lane. We, the Board, owe it to the club and the supporters to constantly assess our position and performance and to ensure that we have the ability to operate and compete at that level.

“We have made a massive investment in the squad and as a result we have the best squad of players this club has had for over 20 years and they are equally hungry for success and silverware. For that we need our management and coaching standards to be of the highest quality such that players can fulfill their potential and we can compete with the best.

“We have discussed all of these expectations with Martin [Jol] and he has confirmed to me today that he feels he is equipped with a squad and a determination to take on that challenge.”

What we have here is a 'get out' - finish fourth, or get out Martin. Thanks for the memories.

I would expect that Jol remains in charge until the end of the season, and, should he achieve qualification for the Champion's League there'll be a fair few humble gentlemen sitting in the West Stand come the beginning of next campaign. That's how, by rights, things should go, but they won't, we all know it. We'll finish 14th or something.

Whatever happens Jol has my support at least (as long as we don't lose the next three games then the fat gimp can do one). I got your back Big Man.