Calm before the storm
I'm travelling, or will be shortly, so depending on whether I get drunk at the hotel bar and then decide to rant via iphone about our lack of apparent decisiveness with < insert complaint here > or perhaps not I probably won't blog anything of any real consequence until I'm back. There's hardly much newsworthy content doing the rounds at the minute. I guess I could make some up?
Not long to go before the start of the season, slightly longer till the closure of the transfer window. Seems it's shaping up to be a three-tier summer of activity. We got the new coach in early followed by two signings. That was tier one, giving us assurance and confidence. Villas-Boas has supposedly let players know if they have a place in his plans, the ones that don't will be sold (that's if anyone can match Levy's valuation of them). That was tier two, an assessment and clean-up. We all know long term dynamic changes in formation and methodology will come in the course of the season playing out. Villas-Boas has already, on a number of occasions, cited the fact that not too much will change initially. The most important aspect of all of this involves the work done on the training pitch and we won't know the level of impact until we visit Newcastle.
Tier three is where we find ourselves right this second. Ideally, the club will bring in two more players before the start of the season. Adebayor being the most likely one, the other also a forward. Basically nothing has changed from last week and the week before that. Everyone is waiting for something to happen. I've sat back and enjoyed the Olympics, not something I expected to do as I was quite cynical with it all beforehand. Not even sure why I was like that, perhaps the whole Stratford bid clouded my patriotism in the build up to it. I've always been a big fan of track and field, so happy this summer has included a fair amount of distraction. No such entertainment elsewhere. Tabloids, Twitter and ITK twits continue to regurgitate the same rumours with their suggestive cryptic clues. It's not that I'm bored, just anxious to see the season kick start.
As for Luka Modric, the longer the saga drags on the more concerned I become. I've blogged about this before, that there has to be a cut off date with this. If we can only buy certain transfer targets off the back of selling Modric to Madrid then there has to be a point in the summer, in the next couple of weeks where Levy's stance is final; "Bid 'today' or else the player stays". We can't sell him days before the deadline then expect to sign a replacement - unless there's a very definite domino effect waiting to play out. The easiest way to handle all this, as a fan, is to admit we (as fans) know nothing about what is transpiring behind closed doors. All we can do is have faith that the type of players we think we need are the very same type the chairman and coach are targeting. I think we can agree that is definitely the case. Otherwise we're doomed to the indignity of 5th spot :trollface:
In the meantime, I'll be on Twitter thanks to free hotel wi-fi, laughing at allegedly hacked footballer accounts and people generally wetting their panties in anticipation for something, anything.
The Fighting Cock podcast is also back this week, so look out for episode one of season two on Thursday/Friday. I won't be on it, but there's a guaranteed wealth of drunken philosophy that will cater for your listening needs. I have to wait until next week before I rejoin the glory hole of Spurs. Not forgetting the return of the 'Ultras' (to be renamed), following the Spurs youth team on their travels. We took 200 to Charlton last season for a FA Youth Cup game. More of the same this season including the NextGen series, including Barcelona at the Lane (although I'll hazard a guess the Spurs training ground fixtures are behind closed doors) - we'll keep you posted on the details.
Calm before the storm then. I guess we best enjoy it. It's going to go mental once the Kraken is released.
(Kraken is a metaphor and not a £20M striker)
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DML Supa Liga
Fantasy Football and me, do not go hand in hand. Full of confidence on day one, by Christmas I'm out of the race like a much maligned Spurs side of the 1990s. I blame other distractions such as Football Manager but the reality is, I lose focus faster than Harry Redknapp in the midst of flirting with England. However, you lot appear to want this back again, so knock yourselves out:
Code to join the DML Supa Liga is: 195141-56816 (via Fantasy Premier League 2012/13)
May the most obsessed geek win.
