Why we all love 'Arry

Fellow yids, this time tomorrow I will be basking in the luke warm temperatures and (apparantely) torrential rain of the Croatian coastline. Most believe that I will be there in the hope that my body, currently resembling a Spurs shirt (white with the mildest touch of yellow), will be transformed into the bronzed hue of the big eared, crisp eating one. However, the true reason for my trip is of far greater importance. During my travels I hope to find myself in a little village outside Zadar, walking up a dusty track to a farmhouse with wooden shutters. With a shaking hand I will knock firmly on the heavy oak door and step back respectfully, head bowed, waiting for a response. Suddenly comes the rasping noise of bolts being drawn and the gentle creak of ancient hinges. From the darkness of the doorway emerges a small, grey haired woman, hunched slightly; the woman who gave us Little Luka. Overwhelmed by emotion, bleary eyed, I will rush forward seizing her in a familial embrace then leaning forward ever so gently I will whisper 'Thank you' and depart.

Whilst the last paragraph has as much truth in it as an 'Arry press conference "Peter Crouch? Never 'eard of 'im. No the chairman's not made an approach. Utter rubbish...garbage", I am indeed going away to Croatia for a week. I promise to return having unearthed numerous footballing gems and wearing the scars of being a victorious England fan, but in the meantime...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1ZcDTl4bYAY

Cracks me up everytime I watch it, and just to make it even better it was live on Sky Sports news. This interview is part of the reason I love 'Arry. He doesn't mess around, he doesn't mince his words (at least not to players) and he's never afraid to express his opinion. With football increasingly filled with perma tanned prima donnas, both on and off the field, its nice to see someone from the old school still doing his thing, and so far, doing it well.

In 'Arry We Trust

Tottenham's Future: In Safe Hands??

Stop press, hold the phone, the delightful carousel that is Tottenham's transfer policy has spun back into action. There we all were, plodding on with our daily lives as expressionless as Phil Brown after his latest Botox injection and then 'Arry stings us with a blinder of a transfer. Tottenham are apparently 'delighted to announce' the signing of some lad called Walker. No, not our shaven headed defensive prodigy but a man old enough to be his father who looks like he woke up on a park bench . I introduce you to Jimmy Walker, the newest addition to Tottenham's young ambitious title challenging squad...(pause for rapturous applause)...erm yeah I thought as much.

Well lets look at his career credentials. 9 years at Walsall and 5 years at the Spammers (with 13 only appearances). Hardly the kind of stuff that makes the earth move. Oh wait I'm forgetting he did have recent first team experience...with Colchester on loan. 'Arry have you been taking your pills properly?

Perhaps in light of Gomes's injury this was just the managerial equivalent of 'double bagging' but this transfer worries me. It seems strange to me that under the financial stewardship of Levy, a man so notoriously tight he makes Alan Sugar look like Father Christmas, we would want to expand our strict wage bill with more goalkeeping cover. No doubt Walker is on a relative pittance of a wage, bumbling along on four figures a week, poor old chap, but his signing serves to highlight a far deeper problem.

Two or three years ago Ben Alnwick was an exciting prospect. Not the type that had Lineker and Hanson bouncing up and down like Zokora on speed, but the type of player who looked talented, solid and with the character to succeed. His form during his Sunderland days was impressive and he even saved a Robbie Keane penalty. One should note this was back in the days before Keane went to play for his boyhood club Celtic...oh sorry I mean Liverpool. Alnwick played well in a poor Sunderland team and was only kept from a consistent place by the rising star of Joe Hart. At the beginning of this season I was not surprised that he was loaned out to Norwich, after all he could not expect much football behind Gomes and Cudicini, and, after all, loans are an important part of any young players development. It has always seemed to me that Alnwick was the obvious replacement to Cudicini when the time came for him to move to a plush retirement pad in Naples. When Gomes was injured, that comfy looking empty seat at the Lane with “Goalkeeping sub” written on it seemed to have a natural successor. Cudicini was (and is) a more than capable deputy for Gomes and the injury was only predicted to be a month long affair. So why wasn't Alnwick recalled?

The simple answer is that neither Alnwick or Button (who has represented England at U-19 and U-20 level) were considered good enough to warm the bench. The panic measure of bringing in cover may have been justified if Gomes's injury had ruled him out for the season but there he was in the dugout, kitted up, for the United game. Alnwick and Button may not set the world alight but if the Academy are not capable of producing players worthy of providing two games worth of cover then I despair. Either that or Cudicini will be on his way in January...

In 'Arry We Trust

Tottenham's Number One?

Am I the only person who is disappointed with yesterdays transfer activity?

At the end of a quiet day 'Arry emerged to talk to reporters looking as worn out as King's knee and the only announcement to be made was the signing of Niko Kranjcar. Well I don't know about you lot, but I smell a rat. Kranjcar is talented, professional and hardworking. He will fit in easily into the squad aided by Charlie and Modders and fills a position which has long been a problem. To top it all off we grabbed this Croatian international, premier league proven 'fantastic player and great lad' for £2.5 million. What the hell has happened to our club? Over the past summer we seem to have only made sensible, coherent signings that address real problems and give our squad good all round cover. Whatever happened to those assertions that Ronaldo (at the height of his powers and before becoming clinically obese) would soon be plying his trade at the Lane? The best the press could come up with were some very tenuous links to the Real Madrid subs bench. After a few excited days of frantic keyboard tapping, it was all quiet on the forum front. Not even an enquiry about Messi or the offer of a youth coaching contract to Wenger paid for in weekly instalments of Worthers Originals? Indeed it is quite a strange feeling being a Tottenham fan sitting second in the table and with a hungry, talented, ambitious squad ready for whatever comes.

Instead of grumpily mumbling about the incompetence of a director of football, being overcharged for average players and lacking cover in key positions, the perennial sceptics known as Tottenham fans suddenly find themselves without a purpose in life. I wander the streets unshaven, reeking of special brew stumbling from person to person asking them if we maybe spent too much on Bassong, is Alex Inglethorpe the right man to lead the Academy, was your tea cold at the Birmingham game as well? We find ourselves screaming at the elderly post office clerk about a 1p rise in second class stamps, petitioning the government repeatedly to stop medical testing on guinea pigs and talking about the 'good old days' under Christian Gross with a bleary eyed nostalgia. I awake every morning with a new feeling I have never felt before. A feeling of warmth that I have since had explained to me is called contentedness. Yet just when I thought I would end up a bitter, miserable old man after Tottenham completed their 14th consecutive title, good old 'Arry has thrown us a bone.

Some blogs have misquoted or misunderstood 'Arry but I listened to his interview yesterday with great interest and in no uncertain terms it seems he is interested in bringing James to the Lane. Of course there was the usual statement about how Tottenham already had “two perfectly good goalkeepers” but rather than denying any enquiry had been made with a guttural cry of “utter tosh”, 'Arry instead responded that a deal “was never going to be a possibility”. If the spurs ITK's (and following suit the mainstream press) are to be believed then 'Arry did try to re-sign James and the proposal was quashed by Daniel Levy on the grounds of James's negligible re-sale value. At the Pompey end there was the statement that 'no official bids were made' but questions about the widely reported swap deal involving Cudicini were met with a wall of silence. So it appears that by means of cash or swap, 'Arry did attempt to bring his old charge James to North London. I was relieved to feel the delightful fuzzy feeling of the last few weeks receding.

First of all I should state that I think Cudicini is a very good keeper, and a worthy backup for any team in the Premiership. He was at fault for Birmingham's goal but he cannot just be expected to walk into a team after a lengthy absence and enjoy a Uri Geller-esque telepathic understanding with his back line; plus something tells me you wouldn't want to see what was going on in Hutton's head. I feel he has fitted well into the team and has demonstrated some fantastic reflex saves as well as a decent command of his area. It always surprises me that no-one else has come in for him but their loss is our gain. I personally would not want to swap Cudicini for James and not just because Carlo is 4 years younger. Yet James surely wouldn't be content warming those rather comfy looking benches during a World Cup year, suggesting he would, at the very least, have been rotated with Gomes.

Gomes had his moments last season and I was unfortunate enough to have been at White Hart Lane to witness some of them first hand. There has been the flapping at crosses, his uppercut on Corluka and who remembers this one...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XEz9lgPfSSE

There were those who had written him off by January as talk of various replacements intensified. I myself wondered what had happened to the man who had single handedly knocked us out of the UEFA cup and was hero worshipped by the PSV fans. The press ridiculed him, the so called experts slated him, and the fans cheered sarcastically every time he made a save. Yet somehow, when no-one believed in him and when he was held up as a clown and a joke, he turned himself around and set a club record for clean sheets. James is undoubtedly a good goalkeeper, even at his age and most of the forum debates have verged on whether he is 'better' than Gomes. The truth is, that fans can argue for the rest of the season over who is a better shot stopper/best at coming for crosses etc but that is as pointless as trying to understand Joe Jordan's interviews. The fact of the matter is that Gomes has looked the lowest part of his career in the face and has risen above it. With his cheeky grin and the kind of nose that can smell the future he has become a firm fans favourite, putting in some top quality performances between the sticks. On top of this he has proven he's got guts, something 'Arry promised he would give to the team. If our loveable Brazilian Pinnochio is sold off to make way for James it will be a betrayal of all the hard work and character both he and Tony Parks have shown both on and off the pitch over the past six months. Let's hope January never comes...

In 'Arry We Trust