View from the Lane
By Nick Griffiths
I write this in one of those fit-to-burst states of rage normally associated with witnessing Justin Lee Collins or women in adverts discussing their bowels. Or that AA ad where ten thousand bastard patrolmen descend – SINGING! – on a single woman with broken-down vehicle. AAAAGH. If I were the Hulk I’d have gone fucking green by now.
So I’ve been reading the BBC’s 606 website, for Spurs fans’ comments post-Fulham. Yes, it was a bad draw, yes, Jol taking off Keane was a mistake. But there are idiots there banging on about Jol’s time being up. GET A GRIP! Perspective, perspective, perspective.
It shouldn’t need repeating, yet here it is again: we came fifth in the Premiership in successive seasons; look at those cup runs last year; remember all the clever substitutions Jol’s made – I can’t, cos my memory’s shot, but they were myriad – look at the goals we scored last year; look at the signings…
Compare all that to the reigns of previous managers. I’ve actually forgotten the French bloke’s name. Hoddle: great player, dreadful manager. Pleat: silly run. George Graham: never loved. Christian Gross… Jesus. I DO remember a time, not long ago, when we had Ginger Pele, not only as defensive cover – but as a reserve striker!
Martin Jol currently has the best record for any manager in 20 years at Tottenham, based on the percentage of games won, drawn and lost. (I nicked that off Wikipedia; as previously suggested, I would have a better chance of summing up the kills-to-shot performance of Prince Philip’s grouse-shooting record.)
Plus, he’s a bloody decent bloke. Honest, funny, nose not red. He’s so decent, he was going to beat up Arsene Wenger, but let him off.
I blame the board, for cocking things up royally – having previously admired their faith in the team and in Jol, and their investments. WHAT WERE THEY THINKING? Two games in – bad games, but just the two of them – they were destabilising the set-up, nipping to Spain to chat up Ramos. What was Paul Kemsley’s excuse afterwards, in the News of the World? ‘I liken it to being married to a beautiful woman – it’s wonderful to have a beautiful wife but it can make you insecure and worried that you might lose her.’ Eh? If someone gave him that, in the last round of interviews in The Apprentice, he’d soil himself laughing.
But put it this way: if that Holland job ever goes begging, Jol will be off. And we won’t be laughing. I also blame the press. Did they do the same for Alex Ferguson, despite that team’s potential, when ManU were 19th in the league? It became a game for them. But it’s not for us, the Spurs supporters who chant Jol’s name, desperate to influence opinion.
Here’s today’s Mirror. Spurs/Fulham headline: ‘THE FRYING DUTCHMAN’. Hardly a shock. But check this for Blackburn v Man City: ‘The honeymoon is over… now we’ll see if City’s love affair with boss Sven survives’. Now, I can’t stand Sven, but the bloke’s side had just lost their first league game of the season, 1-0, away at Ewood Park!
Shame on so many people.
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