All hail King of the Lane, Sherwood falls on his sword and Why I am relieved Arsenal won the FA Cup…….. Sort of!

It’s been interesting at Spurs this last week. Twenty four hours after an ultimately unfulfilling season concluded, White hart lane was again filled up as supporters turned out to celebrate the career of the peerless Ledley King with a testimonial match featuring some past favourites like David Ginola, Teddy Sheringham, Edgar Davids, Paul Stalteri (really!) current stars like Emmanuel Adebayor, Christian Eriksen and Sandro as well as some players of the future. At the centre of it all was King, still only 33 but cruelly forced to retire from the game at just 31. Watching highlights of King at his pomp, it feels almost tragically unjust that injuries curtailed his career so early. How much would a fit Ledley King be worth now? Coming through the youth ranks and a Spurs man to the end, he emerged at just the right time to give Spurs fans hope after the gut wrenching defection of a certain S Campbell.  In a premier league era that had Rio Ferdinand, Jamie Carragher, Campbell and John Terry as its’ finest defenders, Ledley King was a class above.  Many strikers list King as the toughest defender they faced. It seems almost ridiculous that for the last four years of his career, he hardly trained and yet his performance level never dropped.  Ledley King is the standard by which all future Spurs defenders will be judged. A packed house left Ledley King in no doubt about the affection with which he is held. With the match proceeds going to charitable causes, it was a great night all round. Thanks for the memories King. As Spurs fans sang, “He’s only got one knee, he’s better than John Terry, oh Ledley…..”

Spurs chairman Daniel Levy was conspicuous by his absence from King’s testimonial. The following day, we realised why. He had been sharpening the executioners axe and Tim Sherwood was predictably relieved of his duties as Spurs Manager. I mentioned when Sherwood was appointed in November that as a protégé of media darling and former boss, Harry Redknapp, he would get a far easier ride from the media than his predecessor, Andre Villas Boas received. Sure enough, the media has been wailing about the injustice of it all. How Sherwood has the best win percentage of any Spurs manager in the premier league era. How he was refreshingly honest and so on. Many pundits, still upset that their pal, Harry Redknapp was sacked by Levy two years ago have attacked Levy as some trigger happy executioner who knows nothing about football and hasn’t given managers a chance. I beg to differ. Daniel Levy has moved Spurs forward beyond all recognition since taking over from the Alan Sugar thirteen years ago. In fact I blame every manager that has ever been sacked rather than Daniel Levy.

Tim Sherwood has a lot to say for himself and like his mentor, he is always good for quote. However, he has never managed before and this opportunity has come too soon for him, given where Spurs need to be. For someone who has played for Spurs and been on the coaching staff since 2008, he did not seem to grasp that the most important task of any Spurs manager is to establish an attractive playing identity. Much has been made of the number of signings made last summer and how with the exception of Christian Eriksen, had not really delivered on their potential. But by openly questioning most of them and writing some off as rapidly as he did, he alienated himself. Daniel Levy’s identikit manager is a coach who can improve players on the training ground and be tactically astute during matches. Sherwood’s selections, formations and theatrics on the touchline did not give the impression he could be that and for a man with no managerial achievements, he talked far too much. In the circumstances, he did a decent job and he deserves great credit for getting a lot out of Emmanuel Adebayor as well as giving youngsters Nabil Bentaleb and Harry Kane game time, perhaps too much game time in the case of Bentaleb. 

Having lost out on Louis Van Gaal to Manchester United, it is now between, Frank De Boer of Ajax and Mauricio Pochettino of Southampton. My sense is that Rafa Benitez is not as available as we are led to believe and Carlo Ancellotti’s future may hang on winning the Champions League for Real Madrid this weekend. Ideally, I would prefer Ancellotti, just because of his mightily impressive CV. Failing that, I would prefer Frank De Boer, who is making an impression and whose, footballing education and philosophy is tailor made for Spurs. I have sung the praises of Pochettino before and my feeling is that he has great potential. A concern will be that he has not managed a club with the expectation of Spurs, however if he is as ambitious as I feel he is, he will overcome that easily.  Over to you Mr Levy. Choose well and may the Spurs be with you.

Saturday was interesting. The FA Cup final was on and the one team I could not bear to see playing in one much less winning the damn thing were the favourites. So when Hull City, featuring former Spurs player, Tom Huddlestone and  Spurs loanee Jake Livermore raced into a two-nil lead, the thought of Arsenal fans trooping dejectedly home empty handed and mentally scared was quite uplifting. However, the team who defeated Spurs on the way to the final had just enough left to take the game away from Hull. So in addition to beating us to the 4^th Champions League spot, they also had the new FA Cup to rub in Spurs faces.  The sight of their fans cavorting with shameless joy through North London grated to be honest. However, in the midst of that scowl was some relief. You see if Hull had won the FA Cup, Spurs would have been classified as England’s third entrant behind Everton and Hull to the Europa league and would have had to play an extra qualifying round. The significance of this is that that qualifier is scheduled for the 31^st of July. Two weeks after the world cup and with little time for a proper pre-season. Due to Hull’s loss, Spurs will enter the Europa league at the last qualifying stage with matches scheduled for late August. This gives Spurs the benefit of having an uninterrupted pre-season and starting the premier league in the best shape possible (although due to the world cup, every club will have some disruption) and could pay dividends later on in what is sure to be another intense season.  So the gooners had inadvertently given Spurs a helping hand for next season. Nice.

‘Supply teacher’ Sherwood finishes class in style.

Two issues had dominated the build up to the last game of a season that has undoubtedly been among the most memorable in the history of the premier league. The inevitable speculation over who would be the next Spurs manager, and whether it is worth qualifying for the Europa league. Some fans, having bought into the idea that the Europa league campaign would jeopardise the chance of a top four or title challenge. I will come back to both issues later. First there was a game of football to enjoy and Spurs players no doubt wanted to end a difficult season on a high.

It turned out that Aston Villa were just the kind of opponents Spurs needed for a day like this. Pacy enough to keep the back four honest, but weak enough in midfield (despite the best efforts of their best player, Fabian Delph) to make Spurs look quite good. Paulinho, showing the kind of form that will please his national coach ahead of the world cup could have had a hat trick instead of the solitary one he scored during a first half in which Spurs played with a freedom that had been absent for much of the campaign. Christian Eriksson, the fans player of the year was as usual at the heart of Spurs best moves and Emmanuel Adebayor, who has had a big impact on Spurs season both when he has played and even when he hasn’t ensured that the famous ‘salute’ celebration will be seen at the lane one more time, scoring the penalty that finished the game as contest before the half time.

The second half had all the intensity of a pre season kick about but was memorable for three moments, all of which reflects rather well on Tim Sherwood. By extending a congratulatory hug to Sandro when he was substituted, he was showed no damage had been done following the twitter spat a few weeks ago. Secondly, with Sherwood, seemingly resigned to his fate, he seemed able to relax and enjoy the occasion and nothing illustrated this more that his invitation to season ticket holder and armchair expert Danny Grimsdale to have his gilet and sit in the dugout. While I have sat in the dugout during a stadium tour and imagined barking orders at players and making all sorts of tactical signs, like a hyperactive orchestra conductor, to experience that during a live competitive match with a full house must have been surreal. Lastly the second half was memorable for the fact that it ended with four players from the youth team on the pitch.

Nabil Bentaleb and Harry Kane have already made an impact on the first team and both have great potential. Seeing Alex Pritchard and Milos Veljkovic gave a glimpse of the future and with Andros Townsend already a first team regular, the footballing future of Spurs appears in good hands. Tim Sherwood deserves some credit for that given his previous role as Academy Director.

Speculation will no doubt turn to Sherwood’s Spurs future. Sherwood has had a lot to say for himself during the six months he has been in charge. This was not the most dignified way to go about auditioning for a big job like Spurs. The stats may say he has the best win percentage of any Spurs manager in the premier league; however, he has not managed for long enough to be judged properly. He has merely shown that given a long time, he may turn out to be decent top flight manager. He did a respectable job in the circumstances, not least in bringing Adebayor back into the team and getting something close to his best out of him.

However, Spurs under Daniel Levy has evolved into a side that expects to fight regularly for the top four positions. This means getting between 75 – 80 points. Saying Spurs should wake up (translation; not a realistic prospect) when Liverpool and Everton, spending less money make it their season’s ambition betrays a lack of belief that was always going to grate with Levy. While no one expects it to be a cake walk, his Keeganesque unravelling when the pressure intensified during the season defining period in March showed that for all his qualities, the Spurs job has come too soon in his career.

In addition to his occasional tactical naivety, he also failed to instil any discernable identity into Spurs play. To this day, I have no sense of what a Spurs team under Sherwood will play like. Proven coaches like Pochettino at Southampton and even Tony Pulis at Crystal Palace have shown a willingness and ability to adapt and create a discernable system based on the players they find at a new club. Given, the outlay on players at Spurs right now, it is likely that Levy will be looking for coaches and tacticians rather than someone to uproot an entire team and bring even new players in.

Sherwood jokingly quipped in his first press conference that if he does well, he would be off to Real Madrid! Right now, there is more chance of him going to Reading. However, if Tim Sherwood is as good a manager as he thinks he is, cream rises to the top as Roberto Martinez and Brendan Rodgers have shown and he will get his chance at the big time again. For now, I can only say, Thanks Tim. It is never dull at Spurs and your antics throughout the season ensured that at least one tradition was maintained in this topsy turvy season.

　

Hammered where it hurts.

Walking towards West Ham’s football ground from Upton Park station with thousands of West Ham fans, I pondered the inescapable feeling that the Upton Park faithful seemed unusually cheerful.  Was it the spring sunshine in East London? Was it the fact that they were more or less safe from relegation? You see from my previous life as a match day steward at among other grounds, Upton Park, West Ham fans have not sounded this cheerful since the days when Paulo Di Canio was serving up G and Ts (that’s genius and tantrums). The locals were supposed to be restless, the fans want Big Sam ‘Allardici’ out, Spurs had ‘form’ and were favourites going into this fixture.  

After a depressing run of results in March where the much coveted prize of Champions League qualification disappeared into the distance, the run-in had offered the chance to put a run together and finish the season on a high. Having stuffed Sunderland 5-1, given West Brom a three goal head start before rallying to salvage a 3-3 draw, seen off Fulham 3-1 and came away from an intimidating Britannia stadium with a 1-0 victory over Stoke. So Spurs understandably went into this match against a West Ham side that had lost their last four matches with confidence.

From the start though, it looked like West Ham wanted it more. Andy Carroll, predictably was giving Michael Dawson and Younes Kaboul a hard time and his team mates were winning the second ball. Giving Stewart Downing a chance to run at the back for by playing a high defensive line when the midfield was not closing down space was organisational folly and while Kaboul tried to be cute with the foul, the red card was inevitable, although the goal that followed was unfortunate as it bounced off Harry Kane. Last week, Mark Hughes Stoke City pushed Spurs hard despite being a man down for a large part of the match. Tim Sherwood’s men, although tried to make a game of it, never gave the impression they could control this game.

Mohammed Diame gave the kind of powerhouse midfield play that Spurs fans hoped to see regularly from Paulinho who was completely overshadowed, even attempting a spectacular bicycle kick that any Brazilian would be proud of. With a release clause of just £3.5 million in his contract, Spurs could do worse than sign him, especially if the big sharks come hunting for the Brazilian with a fat cheque. Hugo Lloris as usual, needed to make too many great saves to keep Spurs in the match for comfort, but while he enjoys being involved in the game and always has a self- congratulatory look after making a save, even he was seriously annoyed by the defending for West Ham’s second goal. The 51st goal conceded, six less than Sunderland.

The outstanding Atletico Madrid coach, Diego Simeone said after masterminding Atletico’s remarkable run to the Champions league final that he was grateful to the players’ mothers for giving birth to players with big balls because of the effort the players put in to repel every Chelsea attack. Emmanuel Adebayor and Paulinho, in the defensive wall set up to block a West Ham free kick seemed desperately keen to protect their own crown jewels, parting like the proverbial Red sea to allow Stewart Downing’s unremarkable free kick to go straight through to the Spurs goal. The match was effectively over despite the players’ game efforts to get a foothold in the game.

Trudging around Upton Park after the match, the spring sunshine a marked contrast from my mood, I looked for a pub to watch Manchester United do their level best to finish below Spurs by losing to Sunderland and offer crumbs of comfort to disgruntled Spurs fans who would have taken finishing above Manchester United at the start of the season. Just not with one third of the premiership as well. Watching the match in the midst of cheerful West Ham fans chatter, it struck me that West Ham fans have rather enjoyed being an irritant to Spurs ambitions in recent years, the dodgy lasagne in 2006 which denied Spurs the chance to finish above Arsenal and qualify for the Champions league. Most fans are still to be convinced of the merits of the Olympic park but they enjoyed giving Spurs a bloody nose over the affair and this season, they have beaten Spurs three times for the first time, having also knocked us out of the league cup.

The end of the season is being played out against the background of continuing speculation on Tim Sherwood’s future and which exotic manager will take over yet another rebuilding job with Frank De Boer the latest flavour of the month. I said in an earlier post that chairman, Daniel Levy needed to get an ‘A’ list manager or an ambitious young coach who will be backed and given time. With the managerial execution at Manchester United and Real Madrid closer than ever to ‘La Decima’ Louis Van Gaal and Carlo Ancelotti are now out of reach. Rafa Benitez is the only other ‘A’ List – ish coach on account of his Champions league win with Liverpool and record at Chelsea and Valencia. So we are left with young ambitious managers. Can Levy unearth the next Diego Simeone, Pep Guardiola or Jürgen Klopp? Managers with a clear footballing philosophy and identity who can do what Tim Sherwood has failed to do despite respectable results and give Spurs an identity that Spurs fans can proudly identify with. We sure hope so.