Next Gen update

Just in case there is anyone on this board who still retains some interest in this tournament, Inter Milan beat Marseilles last evening and now feature in the final at Orient's ground this coming Sunday, against Ajax.

Seeing Inter in the final really hits home how shambolic Tottenham can be when it comes to admin matters. This is a side who we absolutely stuffed 7-1 in the group stages and if matters were decided on the playing field, then they should be nowhere near Brisbane Road on Sunday.

I have learned within the past few days that the person responsible for the balls-up surrounding our voluntary exit from this competition, no longer works at WHL, but nevertheless, it will still irritate to see Inter in the final on Sunday.

I am going to the final and will post a report on here at some point during Sunday evening.

 

As long as they didn't repeat the performance against Liverpool, don't know how we got that result, albeit in vain.

 

Thanks for the update, might head down there too if I can. It's only a fiver.

 

Cheers for the update, SC.
Should be a massacre, from all reports.
Ajax are on another level to everyone else.

I hope that we enter it again next season and don't make any off-field balls ups this time.
It's an interesting tournament.

 

If I'm right,didn't we use underage players against Liverpool? In other words try to give them a sporting chance. Seems unfair (at this level) to make such an issue of it. Surely if Pool had any integrity, they would have asked us not to pull out.

 

I think we played a couple of players who were of the right age but not registered, HD.
I don't think that there's been anything official on it yet, though.

 

As if Inter won FFS!!

 

They did indeed, after playing most of the final with 10 men having had a man sent off in the first half. For a side that came into the final with such a good reputation, Ajax were disappointing and never really got going. Inter Milan put in a typical Italian style performance, and although it took penalties to decided the winners, on the day, Inter just about edged it.

Bit of a kick in the teeth for our lads, seeing we had stuffed Inter 7-1 only a few months earlier in the group stages.

 

To be honest, I think it is a source of pride that we beat the Champs 7-1. At this level/age it is not about trophies but developement and the pride our lads can take from the competition is going to help them over the next couple of years.

 

That's a reasonable point HarrysDisciple, and on the playing side, our lads can take a lot of satisfaction from their performances in this competition. I was of course, thinking more of the administration balls up which led to us not getting the opportunity to play Ajax and possibly even Inter again in the final.

And back to the playing side, this competition has seen the likes of Massimo Luongo and Alex Pritchard and a couple of others, flourish and hopefully can push on next season and start making a good career with us.

 

Spurcat, who do scout for? have you links with the actual club?

 

I scout for Spurs, The Boss, and have been doing so since the beginning of last September, and concntrating on looking at goalkeepers of all ages and at all levels. As for links with the club, I liaise in the main with the clubs goalkeeper coaches, the chief scout and Tim Sherwood. I have met with all the first team coaches and Harry, but my links with them are very distant.

 

I will know who to blame if we end up with Gomes jnr!

No that is a great achievement to be a scout for spurs and I expect it takes a certain personality to view a player as a scout as its easy to rate players when you're a fan in the short term but as a scout you must be always looking at players that can progress.

 

Spurcat, is Sherwood the plank we saw on Setanta, he was heavily maligned for his punditry there, what do you make of him so far mate.

 

Haha, yeah he didn't do himself any favours on Setanta did he ?? In fact he seemed to spend most of his time slagging Spurs off. I fell out with him when he once said "Spurs will always be a mid-table side", and I was quite vociferous on the old BBC606 about his appointment to our coaching staff. "jobs for the boys" and all that.

At the time, he was a big golfing partner of Jamie's and when Harry failed to get Jamie involved at Spurs, he turned to Sherwood. In fairness to Sherwood, he is doing a damn good job with the fringe squad and the NextGen squad. He is immensely popular with all at the club, and has now got his coaching badges and has moved from an initial part-time position to a full-time one.

The job he took on, was previously held by Clive Allen, who had an abrasive style of coaching which worked most of the time, but certainly not all of it. Sherwood's approach is more gentle and at the moment seems to be more effective.

 

By the way notsosmartspur, I recently heard that Terry Dixon, our ex-superstar in the making, is turning out for Dartford these days. Knowing your interests in this league, I was wondering of you knew how he's getting on ??

 

I was going to say it doesn't explain the Nexgen series, he's obviously learnt a bit since which is good. Its also good to hear he's liked by all, its another good sign. Yeah, I remember that remark, I was very close to needing a new TV!...I'd still pull him up on it when the time is right!