The press and AVB

It’s not that long ago that you’d struggle to find anything about football in the papers during the summer months let alone Spurs specific information. That’s not quite the case these days where news that Modric likes a bit of tapas or Van der Vaart some bratwurst results in feverish, mostly unsubstantiated speculation.

The apparent chucking by Daniel Levy & Joe Lewis of the ruddy jowled baby out with the polluted bath water has enabled the media to sate some of the football public’s appetite and fill large chunks of the general void with Tottenham related nonsense, first via the guessing game as to who would replace their chum Redknapp and then by only choosing what they want to hear from the first meandering wonderings of Andre Villas-Boas.

The impression being given is that AVB has been ‘slamming’ Chelski and claiming even more credit than John Terry for the silverware collected at the end of the season when in fact he just disagreed with being sacked from his job (who wouldn’t) and paid tribute to Di Matteo for turning things around. But this is something we’re probably going to have to get used to. The hounds sensed a weakness last season, are on to him again and they won’t let go easily.

In the less hyped and frantic times referred to earlier a new manager would’ve been allowed a bit of time and space to begin this job, especially given that it’s likely to involve such a culture change from the previous era but instant success will be demanded by the press and the pressure will be on from the moment we kick off at the Sports Direct Arena if not before.

Despite his tenure at Chelsea, the appointment of Villas-Boas is as much a step into the unknown as putting Harry in charge was the opposite. Notwithstanding Sigurdsson’s fine turn and shot, the reintroduction of, to name but two, Bentley and Jenas to Spurs shirts at Stevenage gave AVB’s first game on the sidelines a slight aura of being a backward step.

There’s a way to go (and hopefully it’ll include the signing of two decent forwards and some proper cover for the right wing and left back positions) before the revolution kicks in properly. Until then, especially if you believe everything you read and results don’t come quickly (and why should they, this team has been displaying close to relegation form since February?), there’s a good chance that we, as supporters, are in for a bit of pain before we can dig out the Mind The Gap merchandise and see what still fits.

By MF

Keep up to date with all the latest Tottenham news and opinion by following SpursWeb’s Facebook, Twitter and Instagram accounts.

Related Topics

Have something to tell us about this article? Let us know