The football obituary of Andre Villas-Boas has already been written. Draft copy of his failure is sitting in the laptops of Martin Samuel, Colin Mafham and Harry Redknapp’s pals at The Sun. And now the press wait like coiled cobras, wound-up and venomous, ready to strike.
An affable, rent-a-quote manager is no longer on the end of a journalist’s mobile phone. Instead hacks will have to prise comments from an aloof young coach who at Chelsea responded tetchily in the glare of intense media scrutiny.
Whatever your position on Redknapp’s tenure at Spurs, his carefully-crafted, geezer persona won the club many allies in the media. Tottenham’s failures were often handled with kid gloves in comparison to the ire of the past. The press regard Harry as one of the boys whereas Villas-Boas’ studied approach and cool personality fails to engage. He won’t be buying scribes a round of Sagres anytime soon.
One would hope those Spurs fans who were so agitated by the reign of Redknapp will employ greater patience with Villas-Boas. A glittering career at Porto and progressive coaching methods bode well for a Tottenham side steeped in attacking promise. But the club cannot afford a fifth successive botched transfer window and more senseless deadline day brinkmanship. Daniel Levy authorising the purchase of two new strikers is a prerequisite for another season of Premier League contention.
Star player Gareth Bale’s freshly-penned four-year contract sends a bold message to potential transfer targets and those key players who remain at the club. A new, state-of-the-art training ground with a greater emphasis on emerging talent could mean an immediate integration of Stephen Caulker who thrived at Swansea yet seemed oddly destined for another loan spell under the outgoing Redknapp.
Now all Spurs fans must put aside past petty grievances and unite to back the new regime. And be realistic about our immediate future. A top six place, free-flowing Tottenham football and a serious approach to all cup competitions are par for the upcoming season. Odds are already being taken on Villas-Boas not lasting the campaign. Let’s hope the pre-scripted media obituaries are premature and we end the season AVB positive.
Bem-Vindo ao Spurs, Andre. Não chame os fãs idiotas!
6 comments:
Well said and at last its been said...lets get behind the manager lets see what he can do..the one thing we cant do is put pressure on him before he has already started...give him time let him build lets see us mould a team for the future lets try and win the europa get rid of i dont like chicken badge and if we sign a player that scores from the middle in a seasons time when luka has sat on the bench at real it will be his lose and not ours......
Settle for a top 6 place? You are joking right? If Harry got
6th we'd be up in arms. Top 4 MINIMUM
Cheers, South Upper. The negative media reaction to AVB should polarise Spurs fans. It's a new world. Let's embrace it.
Anonymous, I'd take sixth and an FA Cup now. We face serious competition next season from Man City, Man Utd, Arsenal, Chelsea, Liverpool. AVB needs time. Success may not be immediate. We must be patient.
AVB could well turn out to be a great appointment but of course he does need to be given both time and support from us, the fans. Certainly he won't have the friends that Harry had in the media but likewise he won't have to deal with egos quite as big as Drogba, Terry, Cole and Lampard. The signing of Sigurdsson is a positive step as is Bale penning a new deal. With a couple more astute signings (a CB and a striker) we can hopefully kick on from last season. The squad is packed with talent and let's hope his man management skills are as good as his technical know-how and we can not only push for top 4 but get a cup as well. Challenging for the title is just not realistic and other sides will improve too (Liverpool cannot be as a last year surely?) but we can certainly be in the mix.
Some good points in there, second Anon. Defoe is the only recognised striker left on the books so we need two more. Adebayor, Remy, Dzagoev, Oscar, Vertonghen and Lloris and we're done for this window ;)!
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