How do you solve a problem like the British sporting media?

It is often said in some celebrity circles that all publicity is good. Not so if you are a premiership manager under pressure to deliver results, realistic or not. Few managers have got the better of the behemoth that is the British sporting media. This ‘establishment’ take few prisoners. Jose Mourinho had an easy-ish time mainly because, he produced results, but also for possessing the kind of charisma that had the stuffy, old media hacks blushing and drooling like lovesick teenagers over his every utterance as he gleefully filled their column inches. Arsene Wenger won their respect as his revolutionary methods transformed Arsenal, but as soon as he started losing key players and the trophies dried up, the knives were sharpened. Even for a Spurs fan, it was unpleasant to see at times. Indeed, only Sir Alex Ferguson lasted long enough to choose which sections of the media to give his time and thoughts to after surviving the early underwhelming years at Manchester United. So, as much as I understand Andre Villas Boas’s gripe with certain sections of the media, I worry for him in a prolonged face off with the press pack.

And so it was that Manchester united, a club whose recent identity has been shaped by Sir Alex Ferguson pitched up at White Hart Lane, with a manager (David Moyes) who only a few weeks ago after some iffy results was the subject of much commentary about his capacity to successfully succeed Alex Ferguson to face a Tottenham side under growing pressure and whose manager Andre Villas Boas has been subjected to some fairly intense scrutiny in the wake of last week’s humiliating defeat to Manchester city.    

In the circumstances, Tottenham played well in a match where the momentum swung frequently from one side to another, (ironically with less ball possession than an opponent for the first time this season). Overall, it was a good response to a traumatic result last time out. Manchester united played well in stages, especially Wayne Rooney who always looked dangerous. This was a fixture that has historically always been entertaining, if not always profitable from a Tottenham perspective. The players showed some fight, showed that they were united and behind their manager and Vlad Chiriches impressed again. I can see him becoming a crowd favourite before long. They stopped a Manchester united team that had been in recent good form and had enjoyed previous visits rather too much for Tottenham’s taste. As much as Spurs fans would have liked a win, most would have left White hart lane, satisfied with a point. Rot stopped.

The sub plot to this fixture however was more about the scrutiny on the respective managers. More specifically from the point of view of some mainstream sports writers, what the teams’ performances this season say about the competence of the managers. This matters because of the significant capacity of the media to influence public opinion which often impacts judgment. One hopes this influence is overstated but I am not convinced. In the week leading up to this match, a few newspapers had speculated on the future of Andre Villas Boas in the wake of last weeks’ drubbing. Managers from Fabio Capello to Luis Enrique and Michael Laudrup have been linked with the Spurs job. Even Harry Redknapp (bless him) dropped his two pence worth. Any of us could have had AVB's success at Porto - but he was out of his depth at Chelsea and he is the wrong man for Spurs proclaimed Neil Ashton, writing in the Daily Mail with almost palpable indignation as he shredded AVB's record, using of a series of stats and circumstances to buttress his judgement, which to my mind was reached with rather indecent haste. What’s the beauty of being Villas Boas? It’s always someone else’s fault was the considered judgement of Martin Samuel, another Daily mail writer of some considerable standing.

Now, I respect the opinions and previous work of Neil Ashton and especially Martin Samuel, whose work I devoured with great relish during my teenage years. However, I wonder if in their desire to be sensationalist these days, some of their considerations have become well, less considered. Martin Samuel built his entire narrative around the fact that AVB said Spurs players should be ashamed, meaning it was the players fault and potentially creating a division where there needn't be one. He actually said, ‘we should be ashamed’. To my mind, that’s inclusive of AVB himself. Listening to Neil Ashton in the post-match conference trying to justify his interpretation was unedifying for a writer of such standing. Neil Ashton’s piece was actually even worse and totally disingenuous in my opinion. The Portuguese league may not be the strongest in Europe but neither is Scotland’s. The achievements of Neil Lennon, Gordon Strachan and Martin O’Neill at Celtic or Walter Smith and Graham Souness at Rangers are no less significant. When Lyon and Rosenberg totally dominated the French and Norwegian Leagues respectively, the managers still had to build a team and defeat the opposition to win the titles.

AVB's Porto might have dominated the league, but he earned the right to manage Porto by keeping relegation threatened Académica in the top division. It's not everyday one becomes the youngest coach ever to win a European competition as he did in winning the Europa league. Sorry, I don't think any of us could have had that kind of success. Porto made clear what they think of his achievements by inviting him to be guest of honour at their 120^th anniversary celebrations. Even if the league was a walkover, history shows that cup competitions are generally tricky to navigate in any league in the same year and the Europa League, complete with Champions league dropouts is definitely never handed to you on a plate, even with Falcao and Hulk in the team. Criticising a manager after bad results and performances is fair game but a sense of perspective is needed and even if ‘all’ a manager did was win the league in Gibraltar, his previous achievements should not be belittled. It’s beneath respected journalists and comes across as a personal attack, despite Neil's protests to the contrary

Past success is of course no guarantee of future performance and AVB knows this as well as anyone in this business. AVB struggled at Chelsea undoubtedly. However Chelsea is a different animal to Tottenham and he has done better at Spurs. By most measures, he had a successful first season at Spurs, despite losing two of the best players in Luka Modric and Rafael Van der Vaart. I was impressed by how he handled Gareth Bale as well as senior players like William Gallas, Brad Friedel and even Emmanuel Adebayor, who can be a bit high maintenance. This season, despite losing his best player and trying to incorporate 7 new players into a playing style, after a third of season, admittedly Arsenal are out in front (10 points ahead), we are six points of second place and 4 points of third. Yes, we are not firing on all cylinders, but he has not become out of his dept after one horrible result at a Manchester city stronghold where most teams will leave with precious little this season. Knee-jerk, sensationalist reaction is not conducive to long term planning. Last season after a difficult period where spurs were dropping points, AVB showed he could turn things round and had a stronger second half of the season. Severe criticism was expected after a result like last week. Spurs should not lose 6 – 0 to any team these days. However, balance must not be eschewed in the pursuit of sensationalist headlines that would look out of place even in an Arsenal fans magazine.

To AVB, I simply say this, sections of the British press can be quite antagonistic at times. They have got previous and I understand your irritation with some of them this week. I believe most Spurs fans feel that you are a bright young manager, doing a decent job while still developing, with the potential to be very successful in football management. We respect your previous achievements and would love it, really love it if you could do it here. We understand it takes time and some matches can be frustrating. You have rightfully said your piece. Don’t let any attempt at feral journalism upset you anymore, or worse, distract you. Now ignore the media as best as you can and get on with the job of rebuilding our great club. You have earned that right.