it was very interesting to see the NBC poll on who americans will be supporting and seeing Spurs at the top with almost twice the votes of the next best place. So, it seems like its working, if that is the plan. I wonder how much the US market is worth? Obviously the country is HUGE and very populous (?), but how much is th EPL gonna kick off over there is the question?
Not when you consider we've spent about £25mill more on wages since our first season in the CL. You could as easily argue that by changing our wage structure to accomodate our best players that shows ambition. It's all in isolation though and if you look at the bigger picture 1) we're not making big profits 2) there are no dividends 3) the money we have is clearly being reinvested it the club, new training centre, new players, new stadium, etc. The trouble with that last one is that we can't go all out for all 3 at the sametime like fans want, to do that we'd need a billionaire that wants to treat the club as a toy. As a businessmen we really couldn't have hoped for better than Levy and Lewis.
only 313 mill surprisingly. still, that market has got to be conquered soon. One day Americans will finally wake up and realise why football is the most popular sport in the world. Hopefully what Beckham has done recently will cause a knock on affect. NBC's marketing has been incredible, IMO. if only sky could change the sunday kick offs to 5.30pm and 8pm, rather than 1.30pm and 4pm. - That way it'd allow fans on the west coast to watch both games at a more sensible time. - 9.30am and 12pm. Surely that'd help gain more interest? I can't imagine there's too many viewers in California that get up on a Sunday at 5.30am?
They allegedly wanted 25m Euros for Coentrao, but Spurs are offering 15m. That seems more Levy-esque, and would write off the money owing on Modrid. That seems credible.
"Selling Defoe is a crazy idea. He's proven premiership goalscorer. O.k. He most likely won't be first choice anymore, I expect he knows that." He's said he doesn't expect to be the main man up front, and needs somebody else. And with a final WC still possible, QPR ?? Really ??
Does anyone think this indicates that benny could be off?! please log in to view this image please log in to view this image
That would be brilliant. Any way you slice it, it is a special relationship. You discount the possibility that I am a fashion leader. Happened to me...Can the rest of the country be far behind? Yes. Absolutely. No doubt the top clubs have strengthened very significantly in the last few years. It's what you'd expect, with money pouring in at the top of the pyramid, and drying up at the bottom.
That is amazing. I do wonder how financially useful a fanbase is which is (for now) so very fickle that their favourite team is influenced by posters for NBC. But still. I live in Northern California and pretty much the ONLY sport I see being played is soccerball and that's absolutely not just the Mexican community either. Thing is that all the big American sports are pretty much spectator sports with virtually no opportunities to participate. American football is practically impossible to play in the park with five or six mates, baseball is so hard that even organised teams only play softball - a much easier version with a bigger ball and under-arm bowling. Ice hockey - I don't need to explain how few people will find this a game that they can play with a few mates and a bit of, er, ice. Even basketball - you see hoops on streets but actual games? Actual courts? Used to see more basketball being played on the seafront of Brighton. So as far as team sports go there is a massive disconnect between the games people watch and the games people play. Basically Americans like watching sports that they have no ability/opportunity/skill to actually play themselves. It was so weird to me at first that people who loved baseball would never even consider playing it, only it's simplified little sister, softball. The reason football's so massive around the world is how incredibly easy it is to play. I'd play for hours just kicking a ball against a wall on my own. With someone else we've got a load of passing and shooting in. Four or more and you've got a game. Jumpers for goalposts and all that [wipes sentimental tear from eye]. Point is that American kids seem to be realising what the rest of the World has known for a while - kicking a ball around is massive fun and simple and free. If, as this is happening, the most popular team is Spurs then it must be a good thing. Hope it stays that way once the US kids have worked out that we never bloody well win anything!
Roo - I really hope Benny isn't off. I would like him to get another season. I suppose it all depends on the Coentrao deal which could depend on the Bale deal. Which leads me on to the story in the London Evening Standard tonight saying that Real Madrid officials are hoping to finalise a deal for Bale soon so they can parade him next week. I know the story is probably bollocks but whatever I am desperate for him to stay now. It looks like Vertonghen could be fit for Palace and if Bale is still here with Soldado, Chadli, Paulinho, Dembele and Lennon we will have a great team. It really is looking like an exciting squad. Lets please hold into our best player for one more year at least and try and win something for once!
With the amount of changes to the squad this summer I really question the wisdom of selling a player (BAE) who has been very consistent for a long time, causes no bother and is known by his team-mates. What's the point? Are we gonna buy a better left back? That'd take big money. Is it worth it? Danny Rose is surely not the answer. If we're selling fullbacks then surely Walker's a better bet. We'd get serious money for him what with him being both young and English. Plus he's, well, a bit dodgy. Anyway - before we sell our first-choice fullbacks how about we get rid of their sub-standard "competition"?
I'd keep Walker over BAE every day of the week. Walker is prone to mistakes but when he makes mistakes he's very good at rescuing the situation with his power / pace and offers us alot going forward. He had a bad season last year but the year before that I remember reading an article about kids in Brazil that had Walker on their shirt. People are very quick to drop a player after one bad season. He's still young and has massive potential and was widely considered one of the best RBs in the 2011/2012 season. Ekotto has always been decent at crossing but very average in terms of pace, power and heading. He also messes around far too much, fancy turns in his own area etc. I love Benny as a person and think he's an okay player but if you compare him to other areas of our squad, the rest of them are now in another league. What I'm trying to say is although we all love Benny, he is a decent player but ask yourself if any of the other top 8 teams would be interested in him? Doubt it. I'd actually rather he was our backup LB than Rose but I don't think Benny or Rose would be happy with that.
Some good news on the transfer front is that Capoue looks 'almost done' .... I know, I know IF it happens I will feel so much better about our chances, and just hope he can fill in at CB v Palace IF we need him, which I suspect we will. It looks to be a close call on Jan, still no news on Daws, so I assume that's bad news. JV and this guy might be good enough for us v Palace, we'll see, etc. PS I most certainly don't love BAE. He frustrates the hell out of me, and while he's not a bad LB, he's not up to the level of Baines, Cole, Evra, Clichy etc. If we're to challenge for the title, as some hope, that's the sort of level we're looking for across the board. Why so many Spurs fans rate/have rated BAE so highly has always been a mystery to me, but each to their own, etc. I like 'no-nonsense' defenders like Daws, so I guess it's a matter of taste to some extent.
My issue with daws is his ability to play the high line, he puts his body on the line but he's so slow... He needs not to be first choice anymore shame as I do really like him!
Get this lads, it's laughable. Surely the most laughable rumor of the summer. I refuse to believe it's true. Tottenham could be set for a shock move for free agent Carlton Cole, 29, after the former West Ham striker was reported to have featured in a behind-closed-doors friendly for Andre Villas-Boas's side. Metro Best of luck for the season fellas
Could be worse, could be signing Alti-couldnt-hit-a-barn-dore for £6m Been training with us a couple weeks so it's not really a surprise and is pretty old news. Happy to have him around the squad, whenever I've seen him in interviews seems a genuinely nice bloke and his experience will do the youngsters good. I also think he is a pretty decent squad player for free. Would rather Kane went on loan to a lesser prem team and got some game time and have Cole as a last-resort striker behind Soldado, Defoe and Ade. He is a beast of a centre forward on his day and if he can keep injury free he would score goals off the bench if our other strikers were injured
All about opinions. I think Daws plays the high line very well indeed, and is better at it than BAE or JV, probably Walker too. Our results were much improved when Daws came back into the team after AVB's/the club's foolish decision to drop him/sell him. My maths may be wrong, but I did some checking on last season. Before Daws returned our results over the season would have got us about 58 points or so, when Daws returned, in the games he started we averaged over 2 pts per game and would have ended up on 80 pts over a full season if extrapolated. Comfortable CL, maybe even title challengers certainly runners-up territory. Of course this marked improvement wasn't just down to Daws, but he was a key part of it. I think AVB wanted to ditch Daws cos he was 'too slow' for the high line, how wrong was he, big-time and that decision to freeze Daws was one one of the key mistakes in us failing to get CL. To think that at times he preferred Gallas to Daws makes me want to cry and scream on so many levels.
Cole didn't play for us today, it was just a silly twitter/meeja rumour, that unfortunately some people fell for. Soldado got three, can't remember the others, but Cole didn't play for us, according to people who were actually there, not being given the run around by Twitter and the rest of the 'meeja'. Far more importantly, neither Kaboul or Sandro featured, so all those who've had them in their 'first XI' all summer, despite both being long-term injured might finally start waking up and smelling the proverbial coffee. The chances of them starting v Palace get more remote by the day, IMHO. Edit PS other goals apparently came from Lennon, Siggy x3, Townsend x2, Kane x2. I think the score was 12-0
If Dawson could pass I'd be much more tolerant of him. He seems to think he has the passing range of Alonso but in fact he has the passing range of a blind, one legged palacios, wastes the ball almost every time he does well winning it back. Love the bloke and a decent defender but both Verts and Kaboul are better in the air, stronger, faster and better going forward. Dawson is more intelligent with the way he runs the back 4 but that's more experience / time spent with the current squad which Kaboul and Verts will pick up over time. Oh and Dawson is the single best "shot blocker" I have ever seen. Worth mentioning I don't want Dawson sold and think him and Kaboul are virtually on par (Kaboul in my eyes very slightly better but not by much) where as Vertonghen is in another league all together from those 2. If we could stop Dawson just smashing the ball into the other team's keeper's arm I'd prefer him to Kaboul.
Hi Jamspurs, fair enough, as I say it's all about opinions, and we disagree massively on this. I think Daws is way better in the air than Jan (when both are fit, etc) so we are completely opposed on that one. I also think Daws is better in the air than Kaboul. I have no problem with Daws' passing and while you're welcome to your comments on his passing, I actually find them disrespectful to our captain and leader. But you're entitled to your opinion, etc. To me a fit Daws is currently our best defender (in Prem conditions, abroad I'd vote for Jan), but as none of our CBs are fit ATM, it's all a bit academic in one way. Whoever can actually tie their boots together and 'run about a bit' will get to play v Palace. Unfortunately none of them may be up to the task.
