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And so they came to my adopted home town. New York. The Big Apple. Except, they are actually staying and playing in New Jersey, the real home of the quaintly named “New York Red Bulls". However one looks at it though, it is great to have my team pay a visit, albeit with a depleted squad and in pre-season mode.

For me, it was a day of work and I left my midtown office at around 6pm to travel to the Red Bulls brand new stadium in Harrison, NJ. I travelled downtown to the site to the site of the former Twin Towers to pick up the PATH train. They had moved the entrance since I was last there, but there was no problem in getting to the Harrison stop. However, even at the entrance to the PATH train, I observed a strange phenomenon that would get stranger as the night wore on.

For no apparent reason, I observed that there were several beings dressed in the garb of mutant race. Red shirts, maroon shirts, even a gold one, all festooned with a militaristic symbol. Many with the name “Henry” on the back. Why were they here? Why were they going to the game. A quick check confirmed that no team representing them were playing. I found it all bemusing. I doubt that they will all show up, week in week out, to see the Bulls. Maybe it had something to do with Spurs’ presence. I don’t think Spurs fans would have taken the same tack if the roles were reversed.

Arriving in Harrison, one has the impression that the stadium has been dropped in a bit of a war zone. The station isn’t really set up for crowds and I expect that there will be improvements in the years to come. However, the stadium itself is excellent.

I was to be joined inside by my wife and twin 13 year old sons. This was a landmark of sorts---the last Spurs game my wife attended was circa 1990 at home to Aston Villa when we were roundly defeated. I had a season ticket then and had borrowed my cousin’s ticket to take my then girlfriend. In her quaint way she advised that my team “sucks the big one” and read a book in the second half. Yes, it was the start of beautiful relationship. The ticket holders around me were shocked and tried to dissuade me from ever seeing her again. But, l’amour….

Anyway, in the stadium I passed the time chatting to some American Spurs fans from Philadelphia who were fairly knowledgeable. My wife and kids arrived with 5 minutes to spare and it was game on.

Given the patched up nature of our defense and the presence of Keane as a lone striker, it was little surprise that we were not at our best. Indeed, I think we lived up to most fans expectations. Bale appears to have picked up where he left off last season, being our most potent threat on the wing. Luka was neat and tidy in midfield. Hutton appeared to be pining for the Stadium of Light and was completely roasted for the goal. And Robbie…..well I know there are some that believe he can do no wrong, but his display was flat out poor. No spark. No pace. No sign that he is at a level we need. When in good positions he made MLS defenders look like Baresi in his pomp. Yes he scored—from a yard out---but this cannot disguise the paucity of his play.

Second half we saw the return of the polarizer. I was not expecting Taarabt, but there he was. However, I saw nothing to suggest that his game has developed to make him a contender. Underwhelmed by the Kyles too. Harry will have seen very little to change the content of his first team and squad. And Danny Rose also played.

Right at the end of the game, Hutton got into a shouting match with, you've guessed it, some gooners who had no right to be there. I guess that is why they came.....

A long trek home to the northern suburb of Westchester, getting back at 12:15 a.m. ensued. Today brings a return to the Manhattan for an autograph session (Bale and Kaboul) and Ossie later in Brooklyn. I will report on both later.

We have been this way before. It is deja vu, familiar territory. My sad tale from 1987 involved missing the League Cup semi-final, second leg, and then the replay. It was just bad luck. I had been at Highbury for the first leg, when I had commented that we might rue a Clive Allen miss. But, before the second leg, I had jetted to warmer climes for a two week break. In pre-internet days, the best I could was to phone home at full-time to get the result. Scores level—call back in half an hour my mum said. [I should point out that my mother is football's Switzerland---my father supports the other North London team and my late grandfather, her father, was Spurs]. The second call was met with news of the replay. A few days on, I called for the result of the replay and, after some confusion, heard the bad news. Riding down in the hotel elevator, I was joined by a married couple. The wife asked her downcast husband if the news he had recently received had been a “joke”, to which he responded “He wouldn't joke about something like that!” It was clear we had made the same call and heard the same news. We exchanged a nod and tried to move on. So did Spurs in 1987, and we all know how that turned out.

Fast forward to yesterday and the type of result that we all feared. We suddenly look to be on the downswing just when it matters most. We have struggled all season when teams set up to defend and sneak a goal. The absence of Lennon a critical loss in games like that. Dominating but looking vulnerable to the counter was the order of the day. A rub of the green and it could have been so different. But when luck played a hand, it was Dawson that slipped.

So where do we go from here? The smart money would be on catastrophic collapse. Games against the top three, players in various states of injury and Palacious suspended. A corrosive cocktail while Manchester City are on the up. And yet.....

I had a little taste of what Harry has to battle with. After yesterday's game, I had to get my twin sons ready for their U-14 game a few hours later, where I perform the role of coach. Our big game was seeking to avenge a 3-1 defeat from last October. But one son had taken the Spurs loss particularly badly. The pitch and Alan Wiley were disparaged and his head was down. I reached back to quote from Eddie Bailey's remark in the Glory Game after a semi-final loss. “Worse things happen at sea” I said. My son was non-plussed. I moved on to stress that his team needed him and that he wouldn't just be letting himself down if he didn't snap out of it. After all, this was a big game.

It clearly helps for motivation that it's Arsenal next up. But we all know that it is a big ask. Depending on fitness, it may be our reserves against their reserves. Kaboul in for Palacious cannot fill anyone with confidence. But we can only hope that the luck that we have had at times this season, but which has deserted us recently, will return. That through force of will we can bring ourselves back on track. It can be done. It must be done. And now is the time to do it.

And, in case Harry wants to use it, I can report that I borrowed part of my half-time team talk to my U-14 kids from Samuel L. Jackson's “Coach Carter”. With us in the lead, I noted that the last game was our opponents “time”. We were a half away from victory and now it was “our time.” I hope that Harry can persuade Spurs that Wednesday is “our time” and that we can run out victorious. And the result of my boys' game? A 10-2 thrashing of their opponents!

COYS!!

In my last blog entry, I queried whether we would get a new manager who would engage in some Harry Redknapp style wheeling and dealing in the January window. Of course, we went one better and signed Harry himself! And in the initial glow of his arrival, it appeared that he could do no wrong. However, the gloss is gone now and instead of the positive comments that Harry made initially, he has now gone very negative. Harsh truth as the reality of our squad has dawned on him or just an attempt to maintain his Teflon status?

At this point, I cannot find too much to criticize regarding the accuracy of his recent statements. It has been clear to the majority of fans that our recruitment policy was poor under Comolli and others. Failing to sign the round peg to fit in the round hole of defensive midfield or left wing always seemed inexplicable when we would sign another flair player. Simply put, the Berbatov-Keane  partnership, and the goals it generated, covered over a multitude of sins. Without them, we are forced to rely on team play rather than individual brilliance---our goals for tally is indicative of the problem.

Looking at our squad, Harry has now had a chance to see who gets going when it is tough. It is not encouraging. After a goal scoring period, Bent has shrunken from view. Defoe’s return has probably shorn him of what little confidence remained and any decent offer would probably see him heading for the exit. Logically, Harry was talking about Huddlestone when he referred to players sulking at Burnley. While he is still young, there remain major question marks about him making it at the highest level.

While I have agreed with much that Harry has uttered recently, I am concerned that he has chosen to air our dirty linen in public. Apart from trying to insulate Harry from blame, it is difficult to see his purpose in pointedly criticizing his players in the media. While it may have been apparent that Bent missed an easy chance or that Harry would rather played a crippled Gomes than a fit Cesar, saying so to the press is hardly going to improve the chance that they will perform if called upon. Moreover, it belies his initial comments on taking over. It reminds me somewhat of Terry Venables’ statement on taking over that we wouldn’t play the offside trap, which looked somewhat suspect when we had defenders charging forward with arms raised in our first game and he then signed Terry Fenwick. El Tel is, of course, another media darling.

Watching the Burnley game, one could not but help but be struck by the number of assistants that have been amassed in such a short time. What are they all doing? Bond, Jordan, Allen and, on a part time basis, Ferdinand and Sherwood. It really looks like a “jobs for the boys” scenario. It certainly would be nice to hear that they are all focused on discreet roles that are so intense and specific that we need all of them. However, I fear that we may be regressing back to the British model of training as an extreme reaction to the austerity of the Ramos regime. The players (except for those that are publicly criticized) may be happier and better fed, but will they be fit in the last 15 minutes?

With the much vaunted Director of Football approach discarded, and yet another squad overhaul in progress, the question is whether Harry can find the players to bring balance to our squad. For the time being, there does not seem to be any sign of the bargain loans and cheap signings that helped Pompey out. At this point, I fear that the excuses are being readied and publicized (“only two points when I got here…..a chimpanzee must have assembled this squad”) which cannot be a good sign.

Ultimately, we are caught up in another transitional season. Let’s just hope that Harry can stiffen the backbone of the side and that we’ll be wild about him, in a good way, at the end of the season.

I’ve previously made my admiration for D. Berbatov clear. I have been less enamored by our other star forwards, R. Keane and J. Defoe—they are both good players but not great (in the same way that D. Beckham is a good player). However, losing all three strikers without replacement, leaving only the yet to be proven in a white shirt D. Bent, can only give rise to consternation. And if we do sign someone, what are the odds that he will be Rebrov-like having hit paydirt with Berbatov?

The doom and gloom merchants will, no doubt, have a field day, but, after my initial shock, I can see a possible chink of light. How many remember what happened to England in the lead up to and beginning of the 1986 World Cup? A team set up to operate centered on Bryan Robson and Ray Wilkins was ripped asunder by the former’s injury and latter’s sending off. But changes forced on Bobby Robson transformed a team heading for an early flight home into a contender. Sometimes adversity, and luck, can lead to finding just the right mixture for success.

Over the last couple of seasons, I’ve felt that Spurs were almost forced to play 4-4-2 because of their abundance of strikers who could not be dropped. With Berbatov a sure starter, there was no way that both of Defoe and Keane would not start so we could play 4-5-1. As a result, our less than stellar midfield would find itself outmanned against teams not playing with two out and out strikers. This included not only the Boltons of this world but also Chelsea (with Drogba), Manchester United (without a genuine target man and Rooney and Tevez dropping into midfield) and Liverpool (Torres up front with Kuyt playing wide right). Even the other North London team played the midfield heavy formation on occasions. Relieved of the obligation to play two strikers, Ramos is freed to play one and pack the midfield. Or play one down the centre with two fast wingers. In other words, since he doesn’t have to make the system fit the players that must play, he can be more flexible. Whether deliberately with the departure of Berbatov and Keane (or one of them) in mind, it seems to me that we have bought so far with a 4-3-3 or 4-5-1 in mind. From current personnel, how about Hutton-King-Woodgate-Bale, Jenas-Modric-Zokora, Lennon-Bent Dos Santos or Hutton-King-Woodgate-Bale, Lennon-Jenas-Modric-Zokora-Dos Santos, Bent? In theory, neither line-up looks too shabby. I’ll acknowledge that it has players untried in the Premiership, but I have confidence that Modric will come good. And what an incentive for Darren Bent, a player used to playing as a sole striker but who never had the opportunity to do so last year. I’ll also accept that our defense may owe much to the miracles of modern medicine. But (and I know it’s a big but) if they are all present, I could see us being an equivalent of Manchester City at the start of last year, especially as the expectation will be much lower.

I’ll reserve judgment until the first five games of the new season are in the books, but hope that the applicable cliché will be something along the lines of “it’s always darkest before the dawn.”

COYS!!!

As a fan, there will always be certain players that stir strong emotions, either positive or negative. John Pratt was always the player that I couldn’t stand as a kid. My recollection, which may be apocryphal, is of one particular gem; Pratt’s fifty yard back pass that let an Arsenal player in on goal. Pratt could do no right in my eyes, even though I’d accept that he must have done something to justify his appearance on the team sheet. When I heard that he had been appointed as a coach, I knew that we were in for a bad run.

As a kid, I sat behind a supporter who my family later discovered was a toastmaster. He utilized his loud voice to berate his personal bete noire, Martin Chivers. According to my grandfather, so loud was this guy’s voice that Chivers would look up when he screamed at him.

At the other extreme, there are players who just appeal strongly to a fan and can do no wrong. I confess to having a soft spot for Nico Claesen. While all around were fawning over Clive Allen (imagine what a certain Bulgarian would do if supported by a midfield including Hoddle and Waddle), I preferred Claesen and still feel that he was hard done by. Which brings me to Mr. Berbatov.

I’ve been waiting for the right moment to post a rebuttal to all the naysayers. I confess, Berba can do no wrong in my eyes. He can sulk and moan and be all manner of negative body language, it makes no difference to me. He is class. He is special. Although he is a different type of player, he brings to mind Jimmy Greaves in one respect. Players would moan about Greaves’ lack of workrate. Nicholson would meet this comment with a response along the lines of “you score 37 goals next season and you can do less tracking back!”

One of the bane's of modern life is the "spinmeister", those PR people hired to defuse every crisis and portray their masters in the most positive light. It seems to me that we have been treated to a front row seat of spinning the news, Spurs style, this week and it is ugly.

When our brave lads on the Board got their hand caught in the Ramos cookie jar, their first reaction appears to have been to play ostrich. Yes, Ms. Cullen may have advised, always best to hide behind the "we do not respond to speculation" line. However, that approach did nothing to quell the firestorm erupting in the press, so plan B appears to have been, brazen it out. Here we see spinning at its purest. Pick something that is a true half truth to obscure the whole truth: We have never officially offered Jol's job to anyone. Based on later events, this disclosure appears likely to have omitted certain pertinent information: Yes, we have sounded out a potential successor, flying club officials to indirectly meet with him and to see if we could get an agreement in principle.

The brazen approach was undone by Ramos' disclosure, making Spurs' spin look disingenuous. Never mind, there is always the indignation response: of course we are always looking to improve, its top 4 or bust (for the coach). However, that fell like a lead balloon as it made Mr. Levy look ungrateful--two top 5 finishes not enough for you Daniel? Suddenly, there was a backlash, players, including ones that had left Spurs, supporting Jol, managers supporting Jol, fans supporting Jol. With the winner in the P.R. battle sorted, there was only one place for the Board to go--join the support Jol bandwagon.

So now we have the Levy-Kemsley version that puts them 100% behind Jol (with a slightly blunted knife no doubt). The whole Ramos thing was not because they were going to replace him, heaven no. Instead, because Jol is so wonderful, Kemsley was concerned that Jol's loyalties might lie elsewhere. Ramos was just a contingency plan if Jol left. The board (except Sir Keith) love him oodles and there is no pressure to finish top 4. Got that?

Is it just me or has the more Spurs' P.R. done their work, the worst this has become for them? It is like the animal in a trap that gets more entangled the worse it struggles. I'm going to guess that the truth is in the statements that have been made, hidden by the spin. However, I'll be damned if I can discern exactly what it is. Instead, I think that the Board has lost all credibility. No one will believe anything they say because we all know that they engage in this shell game. It would be naive to think that they didn't spin the news at all, but to have it's scope demonstrated so publicly is especially harmful. Ultimately, if the steps taken were so innocuous, why hide behind the spin? Heads should roll, swords should be fallen upon, purely based on incompetence. It will be interesting to see who is sacrificed when the furor dies down--it won't be anyone important though.

The only plus I see from this whole sorry mess is that those with nothing but the best interest of the team at heart, you and me, have played a part in reminding the plc that we do have a say. Sometimes, democracy works, sort of. We have our dysfunctional Spurs back and maybe only the fans can save it.