Topspurs end of season review

yiddo

Interesting stuff from Jim Duggan in his end of season review.

May 2008 – Topspurs end of season review

A low key end of the season very much in keeping with the post league cup final sleepwalk. There was not a lot to say about the game – both sides struggled to break into more than a trot on a very hot afternoon where nothing was at stake, however Liverpool offered more endeavour and quality, and by the end Spurs needed the soon to be QPR’s number 1 to keep the score down.

We did n’t know it for sure at the time, but Spurs season ended 2.5 months ago at Wembley with more than a third of the season to go and Spurs still in the UEFA cup. Perhaps then it would have been a good idea to announce next season ticket prices then but the evaporation of the feelgood factor since has seen the greedy men at the club take the unusual step of announcing them after the end of the season. You don’t need to be Fred Housego to work out that this means its going to be a lot of ‘tough love’ and not something they want to front out face to face with a lot of angry fans while they are trying to flog them another three new kits and hooped socks (which would have made Steve Archibald run a mile) on the back of another defeat with the star player about to leave.

Apparently the new prices are due to be announced tomorrow and should you wish to know how your ticket price has sky rocketed over the last few years – click here: http://www.topspurs.com/thfc-seasontickets.htm. I was really hoping I could find a way out of not renewing this season – hoping firstly that Spurs were going to be at West Ham or somewhere or that I’d just do the logical thing and jack it in but it seems I’m stuck with another season of this old cobblers although I have a month to wriggle off the hook.

The prices are going to go up with the perceived level of demand and peoples purchasing power in these days of credit crunches/city bonuses. It will be done on the same basis as virgin price up tickets from London-Manchester to maximize revenue from the resource. It’s the same story with the new stadium which will be designed to the current requirement of masses of executive boxes and corporate areas. Any consultation process with the fans/customers will be more PR than to understand the market as football clubs dictate the agenda.

But rather than be a laggard and complain change, we should not forget, these two principles were both to the fore in 1899/1900 season when WHL opened and the directors were trying to maximise their investment – and every other season since (and at every other club). The problems only come when people misunderstand their relationship to the club - they are outsiders, customers, and are valued in terms of average spend and not length of attendance or perceived emotional attachment.

Some stats for the season - Spurs failed to get a single figure league finish for the first time since the awful Pleat nonsense of 2003/4, which was also the last time Spurs lost more than they won. Spurs had a remarkably similar record as the last time they won a trophy 11-13-14 (46pts) 2008 vs 11-14-13 (47pts) 1999 so maybe that is all we can expect when Spurs win something. And this the point after all – Spurs won the cup so who cares? Maybe, but why do Spurs have to be an either/or – why was the momentum developed from beating Champions League finalist Chelsea dissipated with such a regressive end to the season which most disappointingly has seen a great chance for Euro glory frittered away along with a perceived evaporation of morale. As well as giving Ramos the credit for masterminding the latter stages of the League cup run, Spurs also owe their premier league survival to the Spaniard who oversaw 10 of the 11 league wins. The 12 home wins of the last two seasons under Jol slipped to a miserable 8, the worst since the League cup winning season of 98/99

The argument that the premiership is dull could be borne out by the fact that the 2-0 win against Sunderland in January which took Spurs to 11th place – was the last time Spurs changed league position all season. http://www.topspurs.com/thfc-seasonsprogress0708.htm and another stat which has surely never been done before was Spurs achieving the same result in each match in a month – the four consecutive 1-1s in April

The contention that the league is bent or at least outrageously favours the big teams, a familiar topic on here when I used to give a toss, needs no more explanation than Paul Scholes getting a talking to rather than a second yellow/Red against Wigan. The only really interesting question left is why on earth to people let something as contrived as the EPL rule so much of their lives and drain their real emotion

As the season draws to a close, its worth having a look round a few pages at topspurs.com:

http://www.topspurs.com/thfc-0708-apps.htm - check out the playing stats for this season

http://www.topspurs.com/thfc-league-history.htm - for a history of Spurs league position over the years (since the start of the EPL, Spurs have still lost more games overall than they have won)

http://www.topspurs.com/rosiesseason0708.htm - check out how much it has cost legendary Spurs supporter Mark Rose to follow Spurs and England (and on occasion the Spurs stiffs and yoof) around both the UK and the world this season

http://www.topspurs.com/topspursvoxpop0708.htm - to remember what we were all hoping for at the start of the season & definitely the best way to review a season by comparing what it delivered with what you expected at the start.

http://www.topspurs.com/thfc-matchpredictions0708.htm - while results have not always been too good on the pitch, its been a decent season for making a few quid on match prediction scores, scorers and scorecasts

And if there is one table which shows just how tough its gonna be to get Spurs 4th or better next season (please note this page contains some information which most Spurs fans will find distressing) …

http://www.topspurs.com/thfc-elite.htm

As its an end of season review, I should really be digging out some highs and lows and while the Wembley win and the semi-final win over Arsenal dominate the season, there has not been any other wins which really stand out. The 6-4 against Reading was exciting in a poor football kinda way and when you think 6 of Spurs eleven wins came against three clubs, two of which were relegated it was a bit of a thin season – even before you factor in all the ugliness over Jol’s departure and the dead end to the season from March onwards. Best league game of the season by a country mile was the 4-4 against Chelsea. The biggest low point of the season was the UEFA exit – a real opportunity missed.

The TOPSPURS player of the season award has been dormant for a couple of season but well worth reviving for Robbie Keane who has been head and shoulders above any other candidate this season, both in terms of commitment and skill, and in both good times and bad this season. His 6th season with double figure league goals and the goal at Reading last week meant that it was his highest goals haul in a single season 13, 16, 17, 16, 22 & 23 this season taking his overall stats to P202 sub52 goals107 (see Keano the Spurs legend) but while the Keane who claimed this award in 2003 & 2004 was won it for fantastic skill (in pretty ropey Spurs sides), the mature Keane who lifts this award does so as a fully rounded player who has sacrificed the individual for the collective and is one of the few true icons for kids to look up to.

My memory/interest is not what it was and as I can’t remember many goals beyond the last couple of games, the goal of the season goes to an important one rather than a special one – Woodgate’s ‘header’ against Chelsea - the one the won the cup although the fact I can remember Keane’s late equaliser against Chelsea gives it the nod as the best goal in terms of skill and apologies if I’ve forgotten any better ones from further back or away matches. Fortunately, the season review DVD will be out soon and topspurs hopes to have a couple to give away in a competition.

Much of the interest of the Liverpool game came from it containing the two best strikers in the Premiership and it was a perfect example of why you need more than wonderful talent to be the very best. Berbatov had a couple of moments in the game but for the most part remained an aloof figure going through the motions one last time but Torres on the other hand was a perfect example of harnessing his great skill for the benefit of the team and not just himself. As well as it being a great relief that this disappointing end to the season is finally over, hopefully soon we will be put out of our purgatory over Berbatov and his near 18 month manoeuvring for a move, and Spurs the team can move on just as all teams do when shorn of what they had come to think of as their best player – Rooney at Everton, Henry at Arsenal and even the loss of Gazza in the 1991 final meant others stepped into the void. For all his skill, I look forward to watching a Spurs side next season which is 11 Spurs players and not 10 and a wanna be superstar who is just slumming it.

Others to exit this window will probably include Robinson, YP Lee, Chimbonda and if Spurs can find anyone to buy him, Lennon along with the joke players Spurs lavished all that money on last season Kaboul, Taraabt and the Prince. Of those it will be a bloody shame if the confrontation style of Ramos forces Robbo out as he has given Spurs some great service and although he has had his dips in form and has a few technical issues which stop him being top notch, he is still a good keeper and you wonder how an organisation with £90m turnover can operate for so long without an essential like a goalkeeping coach. Remember Robbo presided over two seasons where Spurs conceded 41 and 38 goals while they did not score any more at the other end, this defensive tightness was the difference between midtable and 5th. Losing Cerny to QPR will also be another blow as it has been very re-assuring to have a keeper of his quality quietly waiting in the wings to cover the main keeper. Obviously, this is also a chance for the club to trade upwards for keepers but equally, its going to be a period of uncertainty as you never know with keepers.

Also on the exit list is Chimbonda who’s only crime seems to have been to be honest about his motivations as a professional, something all fans try to avoid thinking about as they link to old fashioned notions of loyalty to convince themselves there is something more than a producer/customer relationship between them and their club. Chimbonda is a fine player in the very best Spurs traditions with the odd defensive wobble made up for by attacking verve and I’ve yet to be convinced that Hutton (good lad and all that) is that much of a better player, if at all.

What is the difference between Berbatov and Chimbonda? as both are openly looking to better themselves elsewhere but for me its characterised by Chimbonda just getting on with it, being played out of position at left back saw him give the same effort as he did when in his favoured rightback slot. Berbatov first and sometimes only commitment seems to be to himself.

YP Lee was a good squad man who never let Spurs down but as a 90+ capped international, he must be looking for regular full time and again you wonder whether Gilberto is that much of a step forward but then again hopefully he is only going to be cover for the forgotten man Bale. I’d like to be the first to get in the cliché about the return of Bale being one of the best signings of next season as he demonstrated beyond doubt that he is top class and will add so much more to Spurs on the left.

Lennon flatters to deceive and while he is still young enough to improve, its equally quite clear that his is more likely to move to another also ran like Citeh, Villa or Newcastle than to a CL side as he just is n’t top notch. Spurs problem is finding some club to pay over £10m for him. Perhaps that lack of effort in giving Newcastle an all important win for them at WHL may have a dividend.

There does n’t seem to be much leeway with Ramos where players associated with the old regime are being removed in favour of the new & this may also spell the end for good squad players like Tainio, Dawson and even the tireless Malbranque, and like Lennon, you’d imagine Spurs have valuations on both Jenas and Zokora if the right offer came in. Remember it was only a few months ago people trying to find something good to say about Ramos, painted Jenas as a reformed player and England’s saviour when all along it was just another one of his good runs of form which has subsequently dipped just as it has all through his Spurs career. Jenas in many ways is Spurs – talented but inconsistent, waiting for the day when he finally fulfils his promise but will always remain fringe England with better players in his position playing for CL sides. Particularly disappointing has been Huddlestone who I think has a lot of potential to be a special player but for his skill and promise, needs to convert it into a special season next year to avoid becoming another mid premiership also ran. His England call up is almost the definition of contrary and again, has Ramos diet really changed him for the better?

As mentioned on here plenty of times ad nauseum, Ramos seems to be presiding over the complete overhaul of the Spurs squad – a squad which was good enough to land seen the first silverware for nearly 10 years seems to be broken up on the back of two 5th place finishes. To me this seems like a major contradiction. If Spurs have been good enough for two 5th place finishes and beating an elite side in a major final after a few years of sustained progress, it would seem to make more sense to develop what is already there and cherry pick selective improvements and I’m sure Ramos or any Spurs coach role under a chairman Levy and DoF Comolli was to improve the players already at the club and the new ones introduced by the DoF. This is the whole basis of the Spurs DoF system, a dogma which Spurs have followed for over 10 years with various levels of intensity but it seems this has been unofficially discarded.

If Spurs have moved on, its not altogether a bad thing in some ways as the last transfer window saw Spurs bring in three champions league experienced players from various nationalities all of whom were virtually certain to be strong squad players at the very least. This marks a giant leap forward from the cult of “young” players and/or British players and worst of all, players from relegated clubs.

Spurs are not short of money but cannot afford another summer like last season full of crap speculative buys for big money – they really need to nail it this summer. Spurs need to replace Berbatov with a top champions league quality striker and another one to replace Defoe to give Ramos four options and given the level of cull elsewhere in the squad, all new comers need to be champions league experienced quality where their footballing CV is mentioned exclusively over their age or nationality. Given the amount of upset players Ramos has created, there are likely to be plenty of comings and goings this summer as the squad gets an overhaul rather than a makeover and while this offers Spurs a great opportunity to go upwards, it also represents a bifurcation point whereby the relatively successful squad of the middle of the decade is overhauled and like any investments, they can go up or down.

I have serious doubts about Ramos on what I have seen of him at Spurs, but equally, he got it right in a couple of important games and comes with a fantastic reputation. I am looking forward to Spurs starting again next season with Ramos having a full pre-season with Spurs – both in terms of training and pressing home his high standing with the Spurs hierarchy to sign more of the players he wants. For me this makes obvious sense – let the manager select the players he wants but the visionaries at Spurs have persisted with the square peg of the director of football dogma for so long that it will be a full 180 degree u-turn to abandon this system. I’d also like to see Ramos establish a good pattern of play (which rarely convinced under Jol), to a similar sort of points haul and league finish that the Dutchman managed.

The good news is that Spurs start next season on level points with all the other teams and have a well regarded manager with a big wedge of dough to spend on new players. Surely it will all be different once the new season starts but there must be a nagging doubt that it will take more than a snap of his fingers to get Spurs back on the path again. If Spurs start well with a lot of exciting signings, Spurs should be able to get 62-68 points and whatever league position that produces in 2009 which funnily enough is round about where Spurs finished 2007 and 2006 although I suppose the intention is to break the 70 points barrier which given history is a possible rather than probable. Should Spurs start 1-1-4 as they have done in the previous two seasons, with the side on the opening day containing more than half debutants and characterised by the lethargy which has set in towards the end of this season, there will be some long faces all around

Anyway, that’s all for next season. All that remains for this season is to thank all the topspurs columnists both regulars and guests for their fantastic contributions over the past season which has seen topspurs nominated for the best football website Football Fanzine awards nominees & of course pass on my thanks for all the feedback and continued patronage of topspurs, I hope its still adds a bit of fun to the Tottenham experience.

I won’t be on over the summer and am again making a point of being OoTK when it comes to all the Spurs gossip but will pop up now and again for the major issues which hopefully will be some final plans about a new stadium and a few major confirmed signings.

Have a good summer, jim

seanson

Duggan is spot on when he says "Spurs are not short of money but cannot afford another summer like last season full of crap speculative buys for big money – they really need to nail it this summer. ".

Wasting £16 million on Bent and £5 on Boatang didn't exactly set Spurs up with a good defense last season.