Gazza

There's a DVD being released this week, it's the story of - for those Spurs fans of a certain age our last great player.
Gareth Bale may have shone on the pitch in recent years but this man attracted more adulation and genuine love from a White Hart Lane crowd like no one seen before or since.
Arguably the greatest talent to come out of the British Isles since George Best, Gascoigne had the advantage of playing for England. Meaning a place on the world stage eventually beckoned and it was @ Italia '90 that he came of age, with him England's dreaming almost became a reality, close but no cigar. But it was in his failure and resulting tears for souvenirs that Gazzamania was truly launched, scenes reminiscent of a boy band concert at White Hart Lane the following season were witnessed and he was everywhere from chat shows to Top of The Pops.
From the streets of Newcastle - and eventually starring for his boyhood team, he played the game with the same schoolboy enthusiasm throughout his career moving on the Tottenham after being scouted by the legendary Bill Nicholson. He could have gone elsewhere as recent stories reveal but a promise of a house and a car for him and his family* saw Gazza head down south and whisked away from that man Fergie's sweaty grasp.
From then on, we all know how it ended. He took us single handedly (or should that be footed?) to the FA Cup Final of 1991, providing us with tears of both joy and sadness along the journey and helped enable the club that we all love to survive - a movie script ending sacrificing himself so that others may live.
Though his career briefly peaked with a trip North of the Border @ Rangers and proved to be the Scots undoing with that goal @ Euro '96, from then on it was the decline, less appearances for lower teams, eventually lower leagues as well as abroad, someone really should have had a word with him.
It was obvious he was having trouble walking away from playing the sport he loved.
With his demons off the pitch that we couldn't possibly try to go into or solve on this blog, we see him now as a shadow of his former self with a tinge of regret of what might have been, but with hope that he is at last happy in himself that although he can no longer entertain on the pitch he can at least try to off of it as a pundit and storyteller.

*remember this was the pre-Levy years!

Arry for England?

Cast your minds back to start of the year... Everything was looking spot on, challenging the Manchester duo for the title, The Scum and Chelsea were in free fall and England still had FAB! 'Arry was tipped to take the England hot seat after the Euros and Spurs were going to do the double and 'Arry would get the blessing of the mighty Spurs fans has he went on his way to bring the World Cup trophy back to England! Former Lane hero Robbie Keane had just arrived back in the Premiership on loan @ Villa park and all the press wanted to do was ask him about Spurs possibly winning the title!

As 2012 started to unwind, the wheels started to wobble. Spurs played a blinder away to City yet lost to a last minute pen! If only BAE had let that ball run out for a throw and more to the point if the ref had spotted Bad boy Balotelli's stamp on Parker earlier on in the second half! Meanwhile 'Arry was clearing his name in the courts regarding TAX issues.

An unfortunate sequence of events then unfolded in a matter of hours... 'Arry got the all clear from the big wigs in court and then FAB held a meeting @ F.A head quarters and then shortly after a few cups of tea it was decided that England and FAB were no more! Rumors started to circle that 'Arry would walk away from the Lane! With no official approach from the F.A the media served up a storm in a tea cup! All the fans wanted to hear from 'Arry was that he was committed to the club.... what we heard via the press was he had a job to do @ the Lane. Although in fairness, All 'Arry was saying was that "he hasn't been approached!" @ first it didn't seem to cast any negativity around the club.... A 5-0 win against Newcastle pushed Spurs further away from the scum! and gave us are biggest league win since 'Arrys boys stuck 9 past Wigan a few seasons back! The top team in London had a nice ring to it and with shouts of Mind the gap, there wasn't a chance they could catch us!!

Then like a plague disaster struck! We were tipped to put the final nail in the Wenger coffin, with a 2-0 lead within the first 20 mins and new boy Saha on the score sheet it was supposed to be how many can we score! Then before we knew it we were 5-2 down and doom and gloom started to set in! 'Arry called it a blip! But then defeats to a struggling Everton team and a home defeat to Man United followed! Stoke then almost left the Lane with 3 points only a last minute header from VDV sparing our blushes! The media then threw into the mix that talk of the England job had took 'Arry and Tottenhams focus off the task in hand! 'Arry rejected their claims and Spurs then played a blinder against Chelsea @ the Bridge only to be denied by a series of great saves and the wood work! Meanwhile the red half of North London had gone on a mini revival and had leaped frogged us into 3rd!

A 3-1 win over Swansea then followed, and the players and fans a like all believed we were right back on track! Even Lawro predicted maximum points from our Easter schedule! A boring 0-0 draw away to Sunderland Failed to dampen our top 4 hopes, after all the scum had to play City! By tea time yesterday the scum had beaten City and today's game against Norwich became a must win! Norwich @ the Lane! What could go wrong? 'Arry shuffled his pack and made a few changes, 90 odd minutes later Spurs had lost their 3rd home game this season! (last season we only lost one @ home) Meanwhile the surprise package of the season in Newcastle had won their game and found themselves only out the top 4 on goal difference!

So for all the highs we've had this season has 'Arry been a victim of his own success? After all every team hits a blip! Look @ City! So with our league form looking more like relegation standard than champions league standard, can the lads regain their form for the remainder of the season and put some breathing space between ourselves and the chasing pack? But more importantly can the lads regain their early season form for the weekends FA cup semi final tie against Chelsea?

Now Although a top four finish would be great, a trophy in my view would be better! Look@ the scum, they ain't won a bean since 2006! And how we love to rub that into their scummy little brains! Don't they know it! How great would it be if we brought the FA cup back to North London! After all... the history books don't care who finished 2nd, 3rd or 4th! Can anyone without going on a stats site name the teams that finished 2nd ,3rd or 4th in 1999 or 2003? What i can tell ya is that the Champions league didn't do Leeds any favors!

History books care about winners! And a bonus to that is a cracking day out @ Wembley! COYS

In an ideal world!

A cracking performance by the mighty Spurs yesterday, fast moving - slick football, pass and move, the way it should be! Not bad considering two of our most influential players were missing! VDV watching on from the stands as he celebrated his 29th birthday! With Saha making his home debut it was written in the script that the talented Frenchman would find the net against one of his former clubs! So with a 10 point gap between us and the scum the possibility of us finishing above them is looking more a reality with every match played!
Now the only concern is that all this talk of 'Arry and England could knock us for six! If the players or the manger take their eyes off the ball we could end up going on a winless run like we did @ this stage last season! It would be great for both the FA & 'Arry to decide what the plan is regarding the vacant position and then that will allow us to concentrate on finishing as high as we can and hopefully we can bring back the FA cup for the first time in 21 Years!
Now if 'Arry decides to move on, we can't sit about and moan, after all every Englishman would love to represent their country! But who would be the ideal man to replace him? Under 'Arry the likes of Dawson, Kaboul and BAE have gone from average squad players to world beaters! Somthing the likes of Jol & Ramos failed to recognise during their time @ the Lane! Calls for the special one to take the reins have been heard from Everyman and his dog! The problem is we can't afford to pay the wages to attract the players he would want! Plus the way he plays football isn't gravy! Under 'Arry we have been playing some wonderful stuff! So who else is there? Well Poyet has worked wonders down in Brighton got them playing some cracking footie but he is relatively unproven in the top flight and only he knows how Levy treated him when he was part of the coaching staff during the Ramos period!
Other managers mentioned in the same breath as Spurs include Moyes, Capello, Hiddink and Benitez. Although Rafa didn't really do that well @ Inter! He did work wonders for Liverpool!

So in an ideal world what would be the best outcome? Simple 'Arry to stay with us and maybe do a bit of freelancing on the side for the country in the shape of The Euros! COYS!

A Sunday classic @ The Cottage

Our Sunday league run continues this weekend with a trip along the Thames to The Cottage. I'm sure in the old days we used to play on Saturdays too!

In our recent league meetings against The Cottagers, it's fair to say they haven't lit the world alight. But with the added spice of Big Martin Jol coming up against us, its got the making of a classic written all over it! 

BMJ is an iconic figure to most Spurs fans. From touch line fighting against the scum, to some fantastic league results, Jol helped turn the club around giving us the platform for what we see in front of us now. Every Spurs fan agrees the way ENIC treated BMJ was dreadful! Without reflecting on to much negativity before the game, would any Spurs fan begrudge Martin Jol walking away with a cheeky win against his old employers?