Will the real David Bentley please stand up

Once upon a time the skin headed, tattooed ex-cons we all refer to lovingly as the Yid army were reduced to excited giggling children with the news that we had brought 'Beckham's successor' to the Lane. Cheeky grin, perfectly coiffured and with the initials 'DB', this was fate surely? £15 million of the Levy children's inheritance, one year on, and what do we have? The kind of expensive bench warmer that allows Shevchenko to sleep at night. To make things worse, hours after posing for pictures looking like he had taken fashion advice from El Hadj Diouf, we are informed he decided to wrap his Porsche 911 around a lamp post and was promptly arrested for drink driving. One can only assume that Redknapp's already ruddy complexion reached colours previously unknown to man when news of the event reached him. Yet even before this unfortunate incident the Bentley fan club was hardly trumpeting record numbers of attendees. 'He's arrogant', 'He doesn't give a sh*t about the club', 'Redknapp could get up and down the wing quicker than him', were some of the more polite comments made about dear old David over the past season. By the end of reading this stream of vitriol I almost expected Mr Bentley senior to pop up and admit he was an accident.

I'm as guilty as anyone for jumping on the bandwagon. I remember spraying spittle all over the bloke and his child in front every time he gave the ball away. I remember cheering sarcastically when he was subbed off along with 30,000 odd other fans. I remember using the phrase 'I hope he never pulls on the shirt again' as I tore up my ticket...oh no wait...that was about Bent. But now, after much soul searching, I have a confession to make; I think we should give Bentley another chance.

Forgetting his off the field antics Bentley is by no means the complete football player. For one, he is slow. Compared to our revived pocket rocket Bentley looks like he is slowly fossilizing out on the right flank. He always tries to do too much, every pass has to be a killer ball. Yes yes David we all saw the goal against Ar5ena1 but lets be honest, it was probably a cross anyway. On top of that he doesn't get stuck in, rarely tracks back and doesn't want to head the ball in case it jeopardises his Brylcream sponsorship. All fair criticisms but none of them worthy of exiling the guy from the team permanently. He lacks pace but this is probably because he has never needed it. Blackburn Bentley passed around players and had the kind of off the ball movement and vision that left defenders metaphorically nutmegged. Yes he tries too hard but surely this is understandable. Bentley comes from an entire family of spurs fans and carries the enormous burden of his price tag. He was brought up with the same story we all were, that Tottenham play beautiful,slick passing football, and this shows up in his game. He perhaps doesn't get stuck in as much as he should but then nor did Count Berbula at United until the press and fans got on his back.

There is no doubt Bentley has problems and many have said he has fallen in with his old gang from his days with the scum. After the drink driving incident the statement on the spurs website mentioned the 'personal and professional wake up call' it had given DB. Originally I scoffed but now I'm not so sure. Rumours from ITK's about Bentley being the first on the training field and the last off are becoming too persistent to be ignored. Then there was the Doncaster game, creating three of the five goals and banging the fourth one in himself. Bentley is a confidence player, pure and simple. He needs an arm round his shoulder, a run in the team and for the fans to be singing his name. A few games will enable him to get back his swagger and to build up an understanding with Corluka in the same way Lennon has. That said, Lennon is untouchable at the moment and it is difficult to see where Bentley could fit in. Perhaps shifting Lennon over the the left and bringing Modric in to play in front of Palacios...who knows?

Call me a romantic but there is nothing better than the villain becoming the hero, the return of a prodigal son. He looks hungry to get on the pitch and prove himself, the same kind of hunger that seems to be spurring Defoe on. If Bentley gets his chance, I'll be cheering him on from the terraces. If, that is, he gets his chance...

One last roll of the dice..?

In 'Arry We Trust