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If Martin Jol Leaves Tottenham For Ajax Then Everybody Wins

Mr. C ponders an opportunity for a clean break.

In the space of 5 weeks, the Tottenham Chairman has gone from hero to zero and why some of us had always had doubts of the man’s credentials it looks like he is finally going to be let off the hook and from the most unlikely of sources.

Nobody was hurt more than Dan Levy when Frank Arnesen defected to Chelsea and quite rightly so took them to the cleaners with a £8m settlement. Martin Jol also felt let down by Arnesen as he had a few weeks previous persuaded him to ignore the overtures of the Ajax job to stay and finish the job…isn’t it kind of ironic that these three clubs could be involved again in a merry go round which will see Henk Ten Cate move on to Chelsea, Jol finally being put out of his misery by taking the Ajax job and Levy will be relieved that he doesn’t have to fork out in excess of £6m to get rid of a man clearly has no faith in.

It is the ultimate win, win situation for all parties, with Jol leaving with dignity and the Spurs board saving a shed load of cash. As Spurs fan I don’t think I would ever be in a position where I would want to thank Chelsea for what in my opinion will be saving Tottenham’s season.

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The Media Circus Is Killing Tottenham, Time To Put An End To It

Mr. C knows who to blame for the chaos at Spurs, and for once its not Martin Jol.

If anything has been learnt from this whole Tottenham debacle apart from the fact I was right all along; it is proof of the constant love that the British Media have for our football club. In a week where Arsenal have been named the second richest club in the world and the fall out of Mourinho’s dismissal; it is Tottenham that continually dominate the back pages.

Can you blame the press for being incapable of ignoring our club? They are only human. But as a fan I’m growing tired of their constant intrusion into our club affairs which is destroying morale and is jeopardising a season that has only just started. We know Jol has his failings but the simple truth is he is the 5th best manager in the league and he would get us into that position if he still remained in the job; but the continual speculation and flat out lies being marched out by the media has created a division at the club that is clearly irreparable and is threatening any chance we had to mount a challenge on the top 4.

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Another Chance For England To Show The World How Not To Play Football

We’d say Mr. C isn’t keen on internationals.

Is there is anything in life that is more depressing than International week?

Why many of you are probably excited in anticipation, looking forward to the night at the pub and busy deciding whether to paint your face or not (Why do people do that?) I will be looking for nearest pair of tweezers and pulling some arse hairs out.

People often find it strange how someone who is so passionate and mad for their own club fails to get hooked into the hysteria that seems to grip the country when England play in games or tournaments but it is simple…England are useless, lack energy, creativity, passion and the players constantly under perform and replicate the form they show for their clubs.

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CaughtOffside Exclusive Part 2: In The Hands Of The Gods Preview

CaughtOffside was invited to a exclusive sneak preview of the upcoming football film In The Hands of the Gods, but unlike Daniel, our man Mr. C found it wasn’t quite his cup of tea.

Having been in the film industry for many years you would think there aren’t many things that would surprise me, but having sat through 106mins of this glorified Nike campaign you must forgive my cynicism when judging this film’s credentials.

On paper we were going to witness the true story of 5 young British freestyle footballer’s journey’ across the Americas to Argentina, in the hope of meeting Diego Maradona; the pioneer of their freestyle art who has always been their hero and inspiration. Unfortunately we ended up receiving a film that was rather disjointed and lacked any real credibility partly due to the shameless plugging of Nike’s products at every opportunity.

“In the hands of the Gods” was set up to pull the heartstrings of filmgoers; 5 lads of differing upbringings who have been bought together by their precocious talent who need the feeling of recognition and achievement that had so far eluded their short lives.

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Arsenal’s Professor Needs To Take Some Responsibility Before Criticising Others

Mr. C wishes Arsene Wenger’s attitude would match his ability.

When I was at school there was this kid Mark who could only be described as a social misfit. His hair was messy, clothes were dreadful and he was far too geeky for his own good. Conversation was dull and he was the butt of most jokes, but one day Mark decided to take drastic action and over the summer and had a makeover.

Hair gel was introduced, cords were replaced and his hi tech boots were replaced by a slick pair of Nikes; in truth it could have been a new kid that had joined the class that day. We all know appearances can be deceiving and why Mark had done his best to shift his nerdy façade with his self improvement; we were always reminded of his geeky past and that always stuck till the day we left school.

Mark was an Arsenal fan which was understandable; I mean have you ever met one with charisma? But I often wonder whether this anecdote is a fair reflection of the struggle Arsenal FC have faced ever since Arsene Wenger took charge; I mean for all the style and flair they now posses, can anyone take them seriously given their past?

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CaughtOffside Exclusive: Get your ‘Kicks for free’ with Game Tribe

GameTribe provided CaughtOffside with an exclusive preview of their upcoming online footy game, and Mr. C was lucky enough to give it a whirl. Exclusive screenshots after the jump.

There comes a time in your life when you have to accept that your dreams of becoming a professional footballer are over. The waist got bigger, cheeks become chubbier and your once great talent is now confined to the back drop of Sunday Leagues and 5 aside pitches across the land.

For all the blood, sweat and occasional leg breaks, I wouldn’t have changed my Sunday League footy for anything but for all my glorious goals and mazy dribbles over the years, I feel I have finally stumbled across something that may have me hanging up my boots once and for all; an MMO game that is highly addictive and ready to take the online game market by storm.

“Kicks” is the latest product to come off the Game Tribe production line. Developed by Entermate, it’s a fast flowing 5 a side MMO game which is FREE to play and will enable people of all ages to play in the comfort of their own PC.

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There’s No Need For Spurs Fans To Panic… Not Yet, Anyway

Believe it or not, Mr. C is calling for calm amongst the (more) rabid Spurs fans.

Vote for CaughtOffside as Best Sports Blog!

I don’t need a weatherman to tell me when it’s raining so I don’t need to pick up a newspaper to know that certain quarters of the media will be over reacting to the Everton result as a sign that the wheels have fallen of the Tottenham Top Four bandwagon - kind of ironic since they were the ones that created it.

They say a week is a long time in football and although it seems all the early season enthusiasm has been shattered for many fans, we have to ask ourselves if we’re really that surprised.

In all the years I have been following Tottenham; we have constantly had a poor start to the season which, in my opinion, has stemmed from having such an uncompetitive pre-season which always leaves us looking flat and completely off the pace once the Premier League season begins.

If anyone thinks a tour of South Africa and playing the likes of Stevenage and Leyton Orient is great preparation then fine; I believe beating poor opposition makes players complacent and believing their own hype, resulting the display against Sunderland where the side looked like they thought they just had to turn up to win.

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Surely Things Can Only Get Better?

Mr. C still isn’t quite sure what Chelsea and Manchester United put together on Sunday.

If it been a boxing match, the ref would have stopped it. Had it been a movie, the critics would have panned it and if it could ever be compared to woman it was an absolute minger; not quite the endorsement that Premier League big wigs would have hoped for this season’s curtain raiser, but a fair reflection of the dog shit that was served up at Wembley Stadium yesterday afternoon.

They say lightning doesn’t strike twice but having had to sit through the same drivel back in May; I was waiting for Bill Murray to pop up because if ever there was such a thing as Groundhog Day, this surely was it.

In hindsight maybe I was asking too much from this game, I mean lets face it both sides are chalk and cheese; Manchester United are the pass-and-move purists while Chelsea adopt the George Graham manual - careful, ponderous and inevitably slow.

One thing that has always amazed me about Chelsea is that given the real quality in their squad why they choose to adopt such tactics; is there any surprise that the technically gifted Ballack and Sheva have both failed at Chelsea.

The game can be best described as cagey; two sides showing far too much respect for each other, you would have thought it was a title decider out there given both sides lack of adventure going forward. Chelsea were obviously struggling without their big man Drogba up front to lump it up to I was hoping it would inspire a different approach from Jose, but its clear his tactical nous is about as limited as Steve Clarke’s personality. I remember a time when the Charity Shield was a free for all; both sides going for the jugular to hell with the consequences. It is clear times have changed and both managers instructing their players to take it easy out there; hardly fair on the supporters who have paid good money to see this showpiece.

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Nobody Likes Spurs, And We Don’t Care

Mr. C takes a moment to respond to Everton fans and other laying into Tottenham a couple days ago.

They say people who live in glass houses shouldn’t throw stones and why I have been highly amused at some of the criticism from my Everton supporting colleague levelled at my beloved Tottenham. I question why Spurs fans are deemed so delusional, especially from clubs whose supporters are so stuck in the past, they may as well get out their rattles and dust off their flat caps.

So much drivel gets written about our club from certain quarters “Spurs are not a big club” blah, blah, blah. Why so much emotion towards a club that isn’t there own?

Is life at their clubs so bad that all they want to talk about is how delusional Tottenham are? What is really eating you up inside? Jealousy perhaps? Your own clubs lack of ambition and spending? Maybe its time you all woke up to the fact that, whether you can love us or hate us, Spurs will always be considered a glamour club in the eyes of the media and footballing world.

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Freund? Bow To The Tottenham Legend That Is Paul “Ollie” Allen!

Mr. C is back to deliver minority report on yet another subject, this time Paul “Ollie” Allen.

There comes a time as a writer when you have to sit back, assess peoples’ view and accept you may have been wrong, and having read the feedback with regards to my Steffen Freund article I’m happy to announce that . . . . this isn’t one of those moments.

So much was written in the responses that he gave 100% every game and would run through brick walls for the club, but correct me if I’m wrong; how does that ever elevate a player to Legend status? I could give you a dozen players who have given just as much commitment over the years; the only difference is most of them knew how to play.

Over the last 20 years, I have been blessed in seeing some of the most precocious talents ply their trade at White Hart Lane. Hoddle, Ardilles, Waddle, Lineker, Gascoigne, Klinsmann, Ginola and now Berbatov; some of the world’s best players, and while success has been at a premium, it says a lot about our history and traditions that we are still able to attract these top players to the club.

I guess it’s because of my appreciation of the players mentioned that I find it so hard to accept chaff like Steffen Freund and Ramon Vega.

Whilst I appreciate the Freund-ettes will never fully understand my loathing of one of their heroes, I feel it is only right to highlight a player who, in my eyes, was everything the German wasn’t, and in my view the most underrated player I have ever seen in a Spurs shirt. He didn’t need to pump his fists to the crowd; his ability got him respect.

Stuart Pearce once described this player as one of the hardest opponents he ever faced, while Gazza stated he was one of the best players he played with at Tottenham; high praise indeed. But anyone who followed Tottenham, home and away, in the late 80s and early 90s would appreciate their sentiments when it comes to assessing the contribution of Paul “Ollie” Allen.

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Steffen Freund: The Man, The Myth, The Tottenham Legend

With Jamie Carragher at the front of the news, Mr. C looks back at the credentials of Spurs’ own grafting hero.

When Jurgen Klinsmann was asked in January 1999 what he made of Tottenham’s new import from Borussia Dortmund that he could respond with was: “He has a big heart”…not quite the endorsement most Spurs fans were hoping for but you have to hand it to our former striker, he got it spot on.

Steffen Freund gave absolutely everything on the pitch in terms of blood, sweat and tears, the problem was he was simply awful having no ability no ability to pass a football, shoot straight and tackle. He actually gave every person in the stadium the belief that they could still make it as a professional footballer, you would be hard pressed to find a worse midfielder to don our famous white shirt in the last 20 years.

I had the misfortune of being at Old Trafford a couple of years ago when word got round that our not-so-German enforcer was in the crowd. Spurs fans flocked round him like flies at a picnic and while it was nice to see an ex-player making an effort to watch a former club, I failed to see how he deserved such adulation from the fans. Would Ramon Vega or a Goran Bunjecevic have got the same treatment? They were just as useless.

I appreciate at this point a few Spurs fans will be spitting blood, but at the same time these are probably the same fans who have been content with mediocrity for far too long. To those fans: What did Freund ever do to deserve such praise? Was it the fact that he pumped his arms at fans at every given opportunity?

You see, in my book players earn respect on the pitch. Did you ever see Gary Mabbutt, Glenn Hoddle or Ledley King playing up to the fans? They didn’t need too kiss the badge or pump their fists, their ability got them respect.

You mention the name Freund to most Spurs fans and many will splutter the word ‘legend’. You mention the name Stephen Carr and you will get a response so colourful that I dare not relay it. It is this attitude I don’t get and merely serves to confirm why I get so wound up when I see inconsistencies in the treatment certain ex-players get when returning to the Lane.

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Spurs, Everton, Aston Villa And Friends Can’t Let Their Fans Down This Time

Mr. C is hoping this this is the year that the Premiership gets back to the good ol’ days.

When Sir Alan Sugar bought Jurgen Klinsmann to Tottenham in the summer of 1994, few could have foreseen the impact the signing would make to the English game. The floodgates were now open and in the forthcoming years we would witness some of the biggest names in world football clamouring to be involved in what I personally consider the best and most exciting league on the planet.

There were many cynics at the time who deemed that the Premiership was fast becoming the graveyard for high-profile players looking for a last big pay day and while you can certainly find the odd example like George Weah, you can hardly claim the likes of Klinsmann, Zola, Vialli, Desailly or Gullit didn’t bring something to the English game.

They galvanised their team-mates and made them better players; look what Klinsmann did in turning Teddy Sheringham from an above average striker to a seasoned international!

Their presence bought credibility back to a league which had fallen way behind Serie A and La Liga in the wake of Heysel and it needed a kiss of life to regenerate an English game which was fast becoming stale and judging by the falling attendances was hardly living up to Sky’s claim that they were investing in the best league in the world.

Much has been documented over the years about the influx of foreign players to the English game and the impact they have had in certain quarters. Don’t get me wrong. I am not one of those people who advocate the Arsenal approach of fielding 11 foreigners on a Saturday but at the same time I don’t go with those people that think that their presence in the game is the reason that the national side is struggling.

If you gave me the England side of 1994 against the current national side, I know who I would put my money on. The foreign players have raised the standard of English players to a higher level.

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Newcastle Should Take A Page From Tottenham’s Book

Mr. C continues his Premiership roundup and, with Spurs, Everton and Chelsea out of the way he moves onto the stripey North.

Sleeping giant, like world class, are terms used too often and too cheaply in modern football. Few clubs or players are deserving of such a title, but supporters throw it out left and right in the hope of convincing others, and themselves, that it’s true.

Over the years I have heard fans of Birmingham City, Manchester City, West Ham and their likes bemoan that their team’s potential hasn’t been utilised. But the stark reality is that none of these sides, despite any success they may have, would ever be able to eclipse their more illustrious rivals.

Newcastle United for me epitomise the phrase sleeping giant - a club with a tremendously loyal fan base who haven’t had a domestic pot to cheer about in over 50 years and yet still turn up, year in year out, in the hope that this appalling statistic will come to an end.

With a new owner in place, I wonder if it’s time for Newcastle fans to stop caring about who wears the No.9 shirt and finally prepare to be treated to the sustained period of success that their support so dearly deserves.

It was August 1993 that I first visited St James Park. I was one of 500-plus Spurs fans who had that fearful walk past The Strawberry pub and was practically pushed through the temporary turnstile into the tiny away terrace in the Gallowgate End by police who saw the locals getting restless at the sight of a few brash Cockneys strutting past.

As I looked around the terrace on what was a blistering opening day of the season, the usual enthusiasm seem to be replaced with a sense of fear. You couldn’t blame us - Newcastle had steamrolled every team in sight winning what was the old Second Division and on the last day of the season had stuck seven goals past Leicester.

On every radio station, former players and pundits expected Spurs to be lambs to the slaughter up on Tyneside that afternoon in their first game back in the big time. But they gave Newcastle a lesson in what was a very one-sided game. Manager Kevin Keegan graciously said just as much and we Spurs fans left the ground thrilled with the performance of the man dubbed the new Glenn Hoddle - Jason Dozzell. Who would have guessed that Newcastle would have finished third that season and we would end up fighting relegation?

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Chelsea Feuding At The Top Puts The Club’s Future In Doubt

Mr. C is sad to see Chelsea’s future jeopardised by two of football’s most talented men who just can’t seem to get along.

When Manchester United were crowned Champions back in May I, like many others, hailed it as a great day for the both the Premiership and football in general as Abramovich’s billions and Chelsea were halted in their tracks. It gave all non-blue fans belief that the Chelsea machine was stoppable, hope that was much needed as more and more clubs are becoming the plaything of the rich and shameless.

Two cups would be a successful season for most clubs, but Chelsea’s spending has raised the stakes for what the football world - and many of their own fans - will see as success. The stark reality is that severe cracks are starting to appear behind the scenes at the club that could jeopardise its future.

I was invited Chelsea vs Blackburn a while ago and it was a bit of a corporate event. The late Peter Osgood was the host in our box and it was fascinating hearing his stories and views on football.

Being a Tottenham fan I didn’t give two hoots about the game so spent most of the time asking Ossie about various things and what his thoughts were on former Spurs Director of Football Frank Arnesen. The general feedback was that he didn’t know what the Dane was still doing at Chelsea given that Jose had such a disliking of the man and resented his role at the club. It was this conversation that stuck in my mind when the press eventually reported that there was indeed a bit of a backroom power struggle.

Jose Mourinho is a very talented manager and it’s hard to argue that he knows what he’s doing. But I wonder if he is engulfed in so much of his own hype and ego that he is damaging the long term future of Chelsea by feuding with one of the most respected men in his position in all of world football.

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Forget Spurs, Everton Is The Premiership’s Fallen Giant

Mr. C takes a break for talking about how Spurs are annoying him to why Everton are even worse.

Having been a Tottenham fan for just over 20 years I would know more than most what it is like to be in the shadow of your local rivals. Only picking up 2 trophies in the last 16 years is evidence of what a lean spell we are going through and although while this tally might please the likes of Newcastle and West Ham it is appalling for a club of our history and stature.

Over the last few months I have been highly critical of Tottenham in what I see as an underachievement and have been slaughtered by some, praised by others. In some ways I do accept that I may have been harsh, it made me reflect on the state of our club compare to others and it got me thinking.

Growing up Everton was one of the considered top 5 alongside with us, Arsenal, Liverpool and Man Utd. They were challenging for trophies and rather fortunately piped us to the title back in 1987 where we were forced to concede it - victims of a crippling fixture pile up.

They say that a year is a long time but 20 years is even longer and since that epic title challenge, what happened to Everton?

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