Tottenham Hotspur, the team United love to play. Spooky from the excellent Spurs blog, Dear Mr Levy, has spoken to us about his hopes for the season ahead, including finally getting a result against United.
Scott the Red: Were you happy with your Spurs’ performance last season?
Spooky: Yes and no. Last season all the top tier teams seemed to struggle with consistency. Not matter seemed to really ‘want it’. It was like everyone was playing with barefooted in setting concrete. Taking away all the despondency the Spurs faithful had for our misfiring forwards and Harry’s sometimes questionable tactics, we were only a couple of home wins away from finishing fourth again. Okay, so arguable all the top five clubs can argue they should have/could have been six points better off but Spurs more or less gave it away. We got beaten by ourselves and that’s the most frustrating thing.
STR: If some were lacking the hunger, which players were your most important?
S: No massive shocker here: Luka, Rafa and Bale are the obvious candidates. But I’d add Dawson and Benoit Assou-Ekotto in there too. We have a very very good midfield and a defence that is oozes confidence (okay, not so much when Gomes is going mental between the sticks). Luka made us tick, Rafa galvanised us and Bale pulsated down the flank. Take any on of these players away and we lose something important to the swagger of the side.
STR: Modric is still a Spurs player. I can’t believe it? Other than keeping him, so far, how have Spurs done in the transfer market this summer?
S: What transfer window? There’s a transfer window? Oh yeah. I guess at the time of writing we’ve down very little business where we need to be doing it. Signed a couple of young lads. One of the Ivory Coast Baby Drogba’s and an ex-keepy uppy Barca yoof sensation. Also got us a 56 year old American goalkeeper. That’s it. But to be serious for a second, I expect us to sign a top drawer forward and then the expected domino effect will kick in and players will be shifted on (the deadwood) and perhaps we’ll have time to also sign a CB and perhaps cover for the RW. We’ve got a good squad. We need to improve it to remain competitive.
STR: After sending the country in to a frenzy at times this season, why do you think Bale hasn’t been linked with any move away from the club this summer?
S: Contract. And perhaps he knows that he’s a young lad that needs to prove he can progress and develop and do it all again. Don’t expect anything other than a crazy summer next year when a number of clubs will come knocking. Home and abroad.
STR: Particularly after his performances in the Champions League. What are your aspirations for this season? Getting back in to Europe?
S: I’d like us to win the FA Cup. It’s been so long now it hurts. But top four, to be in there challenging for top four I think has to be just as important if not more simply to fight against any possibility of another monopoly being created. I think the fact we are back at underdog status is probably a good thing because that’s when Harry works his magic best.
STR: How do you rate Redknapp’s ability to take the club forward?
S: I don’t. He’ll be off after this season. Harry has done a great job, he’s done something so many others have failed at so for all his misgivings and annoyances you can’t be too critical. I know many Spurs fans are suggesting he’s lucky. Well if a 4th spot and 5th spot finish is down to luck then go Levy go out and find us another lucky gaffer. Redknapp is all about the self-preservation and his own agenda(s) but it’s helped us. Perhaps he has already ‘moved on’ inside his head (England) but I think his ego wont allow him to fail this season. Imagine the hype he would create for himself if he took us back into the CL? Simply put, this club has to be in a state of stability when passed onto then next coach. CL would mean we might not lose any of our top players. Anything below top four means the next manager will have a lot of money to spend on new players.
STR: Why do you think Harry Redknapp gets away with talking about other clubs’ players on a weekly basis?
S: Because the media love him, innit. When ‘arry does it its cause he wants the world to know about all the top top lads out there and how triffic they all are. The whole issue of tapping up is such a minefield to work through. I think some clubs (Chelsea this summer) go about their business (allegedly) in a far more clandestine way – through agents etc. When managers talk about other clubs players it can be quite ambiguous. A few do it and get away with it. Harry does wind me up when he feels its necessary to provide running commentary on our summer transfer window. You wonder whether he just does it and it has no true effect on anything we are working on – which is why the chairman never shuts him down.
STR: Where do you think you will finish this season?
S: 4th. Why not? Got to believe. Got to wear your heart on your sleeves because otherwise, what’s the point? Where’s the glory with being defeatist? It’s not like we (Spurs) are deluding ourselves. This is not the mid-90s or early 2000s. We can get in amongst it. Everyone appears to be in a state of flux so it’s vital you don’t lose your edge. For us, we need to be more ruthless. One defeat at home all of last season. Turn half those draws into wins and we’ll be laughing.
STR: I genuinely hope you do. Which player do you think will most important in helping you achieve this?
S: Luka, Luka, Luka, Luka, Luka. Up yours Chelsea. This little man has to push on from last season form wise and I have complete faith he will do just that. He’ll accept the fact he signed a gentleman’s agreement with pen and he’ll have to prove to us and everyone else out there he’s worth his valuation. I’m sure he will. Best deep-lying playmaker in the country. Imperative.
STR: How do you rate your chances of holding on to Modric? If he was to leave, where would be your preferred destination?
S: He won’t be sold. Not a chance. Levy has stated what he has stated unequivocally. This is not a ‘Berbatov’ scenario. Modric signed a six year contract. If he did leave I would hope it’s for a team abroad. Not comfortable with seeing him play for anyone in England. If we fail to finish top 4 – then it all goes to shit. And sadly he’ll end up at Chelsea. He’s settled in London. Wont move up north. Then again, he was settled at Spurs until this summer so you never know. Would prefer him at United than at Chelsea but would hate for him to join either side.
STR: I was sure we were going to land him this summer. Turns out he would rather be a rent boy, even if you did let him leave. Gutted. Anyway, which two current United players would you most want at your club?
S: Vidic because we need a top class centre-back. Tricky for the second choice. Mainly because I’d like to, want to say Berbatov. Go one then, I’d take Dimi too. £15M for the pair do?
STR: Who will finish in the top 4? Who will go down?
S: United, Chelsea, Arsenal, Spurs. Down? Norwich, Wigan and Newcastle.
STR: Anything else you want to tell us?
S: I really do hope we dick you this season. You lot are the only hoodoo left to break. Although would equally love to take six points off City.
STR: Stick to just taking points off the blues for us eh? Cheers mate. All the best for the season.
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David Levy deserves credit for rebuilding spurs.
Dont like him ,after seeing him falsely accuse Fergie for tapping up Berba.
And taking a bribe from livers not to report thier actual tapping up of keane.
Harry came in and cleared the cliques that ruined the previous managers.
Harry’s spurs is an unpredictable team but the best they have had in years.
They are a top six side , have no doubts about it. Retaining Modric is key to them,lose him and they lose trust.
After saying what they have ,they now need to keep thier word.
Luckily for us our game against them in a tough fixture list this season is at Old Trafford.
Levy is a cunt and so is that crook of a manager he has at his club
Spot on about Modric. Idiocy to cell to a direct rival. Still hope that the bitters keep buying and overpaying, it is the beginning of the end for them as there is no outlet for them. Can’t sell there best player (tevez) because of his wages. Inter milan and Sneijder is the same, club brings in players on insane wages and there is no resale.
Expect Spurs will be in the hunt for top 4. Expect them to take points from all the top teams. Wish them luck vs all our rivals. Still can’t stand their manager, always talking crap and tappin up, never charged.
OFF TOPIC. Have the Sheild on the tube. My look starts minute 92:30. Commentator, “an here is a chance for City to win it” Then the magic. Thank you Manchester United!!!! Thank you Nani!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Thank you Vincent Kompany, the new John Terry!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Dave … “Luckily for us our game against them in a tough fixture list this season is at Old Trafford.” I didn’t get that, or maybe I misunderstood. But don’t we play them both home and away this season, or have the PL introduced special rules just for us and spurs?
will this be the last thread. is there a limit to the amount of threads per day. who knows.
he’s scott the red, he does what he wants.
Just to let you in on the secret-Dave Malaysia is actually Rodney. Must be from his comment-so knowledgeable. Tried to find David Levy on Google but not listed. LMAO,
Great insider knowledge about Spurs and thgeir conversation with the Premier League and FA over Berbatov and Liverpool. Rodders-you haven’t been a naughty boy and hacked Daniel’s voice messages I hope!Just to let Dave in on a secret.”Luckily for us our game against them in a tough fixture list this season is at Old Trafford.” The Premier League are yet again insisting that United and Spurs meet TWICE9home and away this year. Becoming a bit of a habit.
Dave … it’s OK, I figured out you meant this month, not this season, lol. Cheers mate!
My ondolences that all the decent United fans have the likes of the erudite CedarsDevil to embarrass them . What a charmer and an example to any kids reading the blogs. Hope he ‘s not a father!!!
Something to ponder on :
— ROMANCE MATHEMATICS
Smart man + smart woman = romance
Smart man + dumb woman = affair
Dumb man + smart woman = marriage
Dumb man + dumb woman = pregnancy
______________________________
OFFICE ARITHMETIC
Smart boss + smart employee = profit
Smart boss + dumb employee = production
Dumb boss + smart employee = promotion
Dumb boss + dumb employee = overtime
_____________________________
SHOPPING MATH
A man will pay $20 for a $10 item he needs.
A woman will pay $10 for a $20 item that she doesn’t need.
_____________________________
GENERAL EQUATIONS & STATISTICS
A woman worries about the future until she gets a husband.
A man never worries about the future until he gets a wife.
A successful man is one who makes more money than his wife can
spend.
A successful woman is one who can find such a man.
_____________________________
HAPPINESS
To be happy with a man, you must understand him a lot and love
him a little.
To be happy with a woman, you must love her a lot and not try to
understand her at all.
______________________________
LONGEVITY
Married men live longer than single men do, but married men are
a lot more willing to die.
______________________________
PROPENSITY TO CHANGE
A woman marries a man expecting he will change, but he doesn’t.
A man marries a woman expecting that she won’t change, and she
does.
_____________________________
DISCUSSION TECHNIQUE
A woman has the last word in any argument.
Anything a man says after that is the beginning of a new
argument.
_____________________________
HOW TO STOP PEOPLE FROM BUGGING YOU ABOUT GETTING MARRIED
Old aunts used to come up to me at weddings, poking me in the
ribs and cackling, telling me, “You’re next.” They stopped after I
started doing the same thing to them at funerals.
@Statesideaussie: Tough start to the season dude! Careful navigation required.
Enjoyed that, when you worked out the typos.
Arry Redknapp is a fucking wheeler dealer. He’s del boy with a high blood pressure.
Fuck off he says while mooning the tax man.
Portsmouth was an illegal immigrant heaven for the African man.
Levy that tight jew/Zionist will squeeze balls to drain clubs of cash. Bale is overrated as heaven, wouldn’t last 4 weeks of pre season with a top club. Modders is a promising cunt, little rat will have his rodent partner cheesed on by Jon Telly.
The Fly … are you trying to insinurate the blog would be more effective if he spaced them out more evenly, instead of posting in clumps? lol
We’ll see if looney Levy sticks to his guns and not sell Modric.
I feel he could still end up at Chelsea.
If he does sell him, after stating he wouldn’t, he’ll look like a fool.
Who knows, Fergie might kidnap the sullen Croatian, like he done with Berba!
Good and fair blog, cedar you need to calm down, otherwise we might not give you your customary 4 or six points. Spurs to get third Ar5ena1 and Chelski to struggle to meet expectations and end up 5th and 6th respectively, scousers forth and city 2nd, cant see past you guys winning it again. Charity shield performance sent out a big, big message to the rest of the premier and scored a big psycological statement.
COYS
Arry is gone next year after preaching loyalty, for the England job or prison for tax evasion!
“want to say Berbatov.”
Like I was saying – aaaargh ! – this scenario ain’t dead yet.
Dimmy plus ca$h for Modric seems not completely unlikely. I guess that Darron Gibson would be considered, too – as a “make weight”. AND, I was surprised to see that TheSpursGuy never mentioned Sandro – a real dark horse
The intriguing thing about Modric is his relatively low wages – from what I’ve read, he’s on “only” 45,000 per week. (Luka really needs to speak with Nasri’s agent; he is supposedly going to get 165,000 weekly from ManShitty’s oil/gas reserves).
WillieRedNut @ 20:02: “Who knows, Fergie might kidnap the sullen Croatian, like he done with Berba! ”
Amazing – we’re in partial agreement !
“it’s not for sale” is the oldest negotiating tactic in the book, for sellers trying to drive the price up. Almost as old as the tacic used by buyers who want to drive the price down: “We’re not interested anymore.” I’ll believe that Spurs won’t sell Modric, and that we won’t buy Sneijder, when the transfer window closes and they’re still at their current clubs.
@Dave, I knew almost all of them but hadn’t heard the last one. I read that and choked on my coffee. That is just brilliant.
Stateside @ 20:20, Yeah, I agree. However, I still feel that if Sneijder joins with Inter for training, then we can call it a day. I just don’t think it will have a chance of happening after that. As that would affect Inter and our starts to the season as well. I don’t think Sir Alex will want that after what happened with Berbatov.
IF – and I’ve only seen reports/rumours – Inter are able to off-load Samuel Eto’o and his huge contract to Russia (with love ?) then they’ll have freed-up some funds to try and lower the age of their team (Zanetti is as old as SirRyanGiggs while Lucio must be 33/34 and Milito is an “old” 31/32 because of constant injuries). In that case, selling WeeWesley is both less urgent and also counter-productive since it would cost them a lot to find a like-for-like replacement and he has been the pivot of their team so he’s a player that has to be replaced.
Taking those points into consideration, I’d think that the question of “supply” has just gotten more difficult as Inter will be more likely to stick by their quoted selling price.
On the “demand” side of the equation, WeeWesley’s fantastic wages – he supposedly trousers more than TheWayneBoy and he pays lower taxes in Italy – seem to be the proverbial immovable object and it’s not clear that SAF/UTD/Manchester is an “irresistable force”.
SO, that makes Modric a more enticing object-of-affection since he’s younger, his wages are much, much, much lower, and he’s got EPL-experience.
Beyond these musings, we have no clue about what’s going on behind the scenes although it’s very, very, very hard not to speculate, eh ?
‘arry is a total cunt and i hate his fucking guts
my contribution to this thread
A total cunt is a nice thing, though.
Just a bristle, to wet my whistle.
ok fair enough.’arry is a gonorrhea infested cunt and i hate his fucking guts.
be no wetting the whistle now
some classy fans who it seems have gone and got themselves a laptop in the august sales midweek!
Mrs arry might.
riggers of football matches should be shot, like the vermin they are.
Or sold them for a profit.
I actually quite like spurs. Their CL run was way exciting! Was hoping for an upset against real, but it wasn’t meant to be.
What is your point. We got screwed on the money part of that deal.
riggers of football matches should be shot, like the vermin they are.