The North London Power-Shift

I don't think that's accurate. Chelsea prior to the injections of money were West Ham, minus the claret.

 

Actually I have a soft spot for the Hammers as they would be better if they didn't sell every single player they ever have. Just imagine the teams they could have had if they had kept them !

also West Ham won the World Cup for England*

*they didn't but it's the only claim to fame the Hammers have.

 

True in the fairly recent past, but probably not any more. Who have they sold in recent seasons that was of any note?
Demba Ba left on a free and they sold Scott Parker, both in '11/12, but they got relegated again, so they had to.
Prior to that you probably have to go back to Tevez and Mascherano, whose ownership was very debatable, to say the least.

The Lampard, Ferdinand, Defoe, Kaboute, Carrick, etc. side was quite a while ago.
Their academy's still producing some players (Noble, Tomkins), but not to the same standard, in my opinion.

 

Yes, they always liked to call themselves The Academy of Football, but that side seems to have dried up in more recent times. No more Joe Cole, Carrick, Lampard, etc....

 

Been a while since we produced any real superstars but Tomkins and Noble are both very decent first teamers.

Oscar Borg, Reece Burke and Reece Oxford are all tipped as future stars. The whole academy setup is undergoing a massive reshuffle atm. Won't be long 'til we start producing again.

 

To be fair to West Ham, those players like Ferdinand, Carrick, Cole, Lampard etc were supposed to be part of the 'Golden generation' along with Beckham, Gerrard, but they fell short on the international stage. Since then England and English players at the top have been a very rare commodity. England's capitulation in the Brazil world cup was a revealing insight into the state of English football.

I still think the Hammers have got one of the best Academies and they are producing really good English players like Anton Ferdinand, Freddie Sears, Mark Noble, James Tomkins and Jack Collison. They might not be the household names of the previous generation, but that is congruent with the reflection of where English football has been over the last decade.

 

Same as Saints.

 

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And hopefully the moon (Arsenal) will keep moving out of the picture, leaving the sun (Spurs) centre stage. I like it.

 

The analogy is only used for illustrative purposes, it doesn't follow the laws of physics. In the scenario in the picture, the eclipse is permanent

 

Poor old Leicester City getting Kane'd, as I write.

The shift is back on (according to some).

 

Yes, at 2-2 (Spurs v Leicester), the power appears to have slipped back, again.

 

Well, Tricky, I trust that this will be a lesson for you, not to laugh until the fat lady actually starts to sing.


4-3 was an extremely creditable result for the mighty Spurs, with the boy, Kane, getting his first Premier League hat-trick.

Well done to Poch, and the mighty Spurs juggernaut!

 

The shift is definitely back on, again (according to some).

 

I still think it was funny that Leicester levelled just as you were boasting.

Ah I see you got the spurs light commercial vehicle running again

 

I love the way the shift keeps shifting from minute to minute.

I wonder how much longer it will be before we celebrate St totternigham's day ?

 

Well, it's still pretty close, mate.

We're always going to be chasing you, and the expectation is that you ought to finish ahead of us, but I think we're closer to you that you'd admit to being happy with.

 

I think a dodgy pen and lucky OG managed to help you scrape a win over bottom side Leicester, but the superior North London side are a just 1 point behind City (who were basically handed the win today) and just 4 points behind the chavs in 1st. If we can beat the scummy chavs when we play them at home, then who knows, we could be celebrating being League Champions along with St Totteringham's day and a league and cup double