Alan’s Diary And The Folly Of Tim Sherwood At Tottenham

Emmanuel Adebayor and Tim Sherwood [Photo: Alan Hill]Alan’s 2013-14 Season Diary no 33

Saturday 21 December 

Andros Townsend joins Zabaletta on the Christmas injury list along with, Aguerro, Robin Van Persie.  Gerrard and Sturridge already out for Liverpool. It is so unfortunate that so many players get injured at this time of year, giving them up to a month’s winter break. Then there are the others who commit out of character fouls and indiscretions (Paulinho and Wilshere) that result in them getting Christmas off too. Wes Brown had his last red card rescinded but he made a good job of today’s one.

Along with millions of others, I have just been thrilled by watching another world class performance by Luis Suarez on TV to supplement the privilege I had of seeing him do the same to Spurs in the flesh last Sunday. It follows him signing a new contract with Liverpool for £10 million doubling his wages. He is now making all the right noises about winning trophies with Liverpool which is the opposite of what he was saying a few short months ago. Brendan Rodgers, bless him appears to have fallen for it hook, line and sinker and sounds like AVB when Bale did the same thing. Those of us who have been knocking around a while know that all this really does is guarantee Liverpool a massive, probably world record fee when he decides to leave after all. It would be interesting to see what happens Arsenal offer them £110 million plus £1.00 in January.

Folly of Tim Sherwood

I have just read that Tim Sherwood has never completed his coaching badges, so is not officially qualified to manage Spurs. I was initially comfortable with the idea of him being given the chance to take us through to the end of season, particularly since we didn’t seem to have a succession plan in place, despite me saying when everything was rosy back in September that one was essential. Terry Venables has just said as much in his Saturday Sun article.

However, failing to take his qualifications proves Sherwood’s judgement is not up to the mark. He expects Spurs’ owners to back him as a special case to continue to manage whilst he takes the qualifications. The club should not be put in that position. He should have done it in advance. The rules on this issue were settled long ago when players like Gareth Southgate were in a similar position. Tim ceased playing years ago and has been watching managers come and go every 18 months. One of the qualities essential to having ambitions to managing a top club is to have the judgement to realise you need to pass the relevant qualifications in advance. Not doing so poses a big question mark over your ability to prioritise.

Also although he has only been in the job a few days he has appeared at press conferences saying he can’t sleep for more than two hours at a time. Unshaven, his dark sunken eyes like p*ssholes in the winter snow, he looks like it is making him ill. He has displayed a sense of humour in his interviews but for me has blown his chance already.

Sunday 22 December 

Tottenham score three goals from open play to win a 5 goal thriller. That’s my sort of headline. When was the last time you saw that? Tim Sherwood gets the result he craved. We didn’t look the calm, level headed team in total control of the game that we did until the last half dozen games under AVB but at least it wasn’t a problem staying awake watching it. It’s the first time in 21 games that we have scored more than two goals in a league game. We are up to equal 6th, two points clear of Man United.

The team still shows little sign of bonding and blending together because there was another 6 changes from the last game. Still those two goals from Adebayor may mean we can get a decent price for him in January and spend on a striker who delivers for more than a maximum of 6 games a season or when he wants a new contract.

Southampton’s Lallana looked like the ideal solution for the player we need to feed our strikers. Despite being given yet another start Lamela wasted his chance, repeatedly running into defenders and losing the ball having failed to lay it off to a player in space. He was substituted, looking more like a £6 million squad player than a £30 million record signing. It all looks too much for the lad.

Another 3 points will give us a happier Christmas than I was anticipating.

• Which reminds me – Merry Christmas everybody.

Happy Christmas from Alan

[Photo: Alan Hill]