Decent interview. Seems a decent auld skin. Was gonna be a sports journo until Sir bobby turned him and now he's here in the prem. Certainly more composed than many make out.
The look of affection on his face when he was speaking about Sir Bobby Robson spoke volumes, I think. Basically credited him for changing his life, which seems a fair assessment. The guy had all the experience in the world and still took time to listen to a kid that was a fan of the side his was managing. Great credit to him.
Another unconnected story on FF, but also with a Spurs tinge to it. Top of the Conference Premier Newport County's Euromillions owner in comparison with 3rd in the table Forest Green Rovers' progressive environmentalist. The Welsh side's manager? Justin Edinburgh.
Bobby is a legend alright, I always watched his sides, was a keeper and Shilton was my idol way back then. The team he had was the best since the winning team in 66 but the competition was fierce then too with cracking national sides and it still took the hand of god and was it then a peno miss for pierce against the Germans? AVB would do well to emulate in his own style of course, all rivalry aside he seems a man with a plan and reminds me in ways of Rafa in his approach and possibly man management but he's young and can master that also and yes I could be wrong
He came across very well. As others said when he arrived, he seems a lot more humble than when he arrived at Chelsea, and it showed when he was talking about Sir Bobby in the interview that he has become more open with the press (although I'm not sure why they prefixed the piece saying he rarely gives interviews, as there's plenty of them on our site!)
Robson was that rarest of all things in football, a Gentleman. He was also a damn fine manager, and a pretty useful player, in his day. I remember seeing him playing for Fulham when I was a kid.
"He was also a damn fine manager" That he got the very best out of Gazza at international level speaks volumes for the man. Never too overbearing, just the right level of control.
To be fair nobody is particularly good at "humble" over there. Maybe he was just giving them what he thought they wanted. He comes across as considered, humble and intelligent to me and I am loving the way he celebrates every goal we score. Levy might just have found us a diamond...
AVB did come across well, looking forward to seeing his views on the Chelsea match in part 2 this weekend. The only thing that bothers me are the stories of him not getting on with so many people - Freund, Sherwood, Hudd, Mourinho. As Hudd is getting some game time, hopefully that bit was exaggerated, but an ability to get on with people around him is vital. It could be that Sherwood and Freund are to blame (and Mourinho I would imagine is very difficult to get on with), but his treatment of Alex and Anelka at Chelsea means there is a question mark for me. On the pitch, loving it so far. My worries are off the pitch, which in time could affect on the pitch.
For me Bobby was the last of the great England managers,we've had not so good since. Yes,AVB seems to be getting PR right and not shouting his mouth off which is fatal. My concern is the future if he's successful for us ie who's going to come in for him? There'll be no end of more successful clubs than Spurs wanting his signature. He could take Man U as Ferguson is aging and so too Wenger. I can't see him taking anybody else in England other than maybe City. Of course there are the big names in Europe too. It's good to have a young manager so whilst I want Spurs to win things it will mean adios AVB.
Bobby was just a man loved by all in the football world. So humble. Someone that really does deserve the word legend and idol. I see where you're coming from here SD. It's been no secret that AVB hasn't got along with certain people, both in his Chelsea and Spurs days. I've made no secret of my disappointment of the treatment of Daws, even if Daws isn't the best we have in his position, the loyalty and commitment he's shown to us deserves far more respect than being shafted to a side. We always talk of players with no loyalty yet one of the players who's worn his heart on his sleeve for us is treated with so much disregard. That being said I don't believe ALL of the behind the scenes stuff is true. I don't believe there's been any fallouts between AVB and Fruend & Sherwood and like SD has said, Hudd's been getting quite a bit of game time - which would suggest he's in the plans of the manager and hopefully AVB has realised he's far too good to loan out. Some of it is surely just the media trying to stir things up and make a story to fill the gaps. Overall, with Dawson aside, there seems to be a good harmony amongst the players and AVB. Walker has already said on his twitter page to not believe the rumours and the players always give a high five/ handshake to AVB when being subbed or the final whistle has blown, the body language doesn't suggest they have any sort of grudge or that there's been a fallout.
My only player concern is Lloris as we have had a bit of sabre rattling already. Yes you are right Sexy but Chelsea took him on very quickly after he started for Porto and others could try the same if after only one season he wins for us.
Completely forgot about Lloris. I'll be extremely surprised if he's not the number 1 come the end of the month though. Far too good to be sitting on the bench, the first month can be forgiven for a bedding in period. Now, he just needs the game time to get up to scratch with everything and prove what a fantastic keeper he is.
I thought that the talk about Dawson was fairly misleading. It seemed to me that Villas-Boas just let him know that he was pretty far down the pecking order and that he'd understand if he wanted to leave, so we'd accommodate it. Dawson didn't want to go, preferring to fight for his place, which I'm sure we're all very happy that he's done, so the deal with QPR came to nothing. For once we appear to have a lot of competition for places in a lot of positions and I'm happy to see that continue. Several players have already mentioned that they're glad to see people being picked on merit and it seems that you only keep your place if you deserve to. Friedel could argue that he didn't deserve to be dropped and he'd have a point, but I think that the Lloris situation requires a little bit of extra handling, as our American stopper won't be around forever.
