From the Desk of Hotspur1882

Transfer News from the Lane - August 31st 2009

Sun, 30 Aug 2009 19:34:40 -0500

As another season opens so too another transfer window comes slowly to a close. So what drama is in store for Tottenham Hotspur in these final few hours of transfer madness?

The last thing we needed was a Modric injury. If it was any other area of the field we would have had someone very able to fill the role. But no, it just had to be the left of midfield. This will be Harry's priority in the next 30 something hours.

It has got to be Ashley Young, no question. But at what cost? For my money it will involve Hudd and Bentley going up North plus a wad of cash. Will break my heart to see big Tom leave but Bentley (I think) deserves a move to get his career going again. Martin is canny enough to exploit our desire to get Young, more so now than ever, and will be more than happy to take the Spurs pair to Villa.

The danger of course of bringing someone like Young is where does Modric play when he is fit? Who sacrifices their place, if anyone?? A quick fix would be to recall Jamie again. But with respect to Jamie I don't think he is quite ready for regular first team football at the Lane .... yet!

Obviously it is great that a club can have so many great players fighting for starts in a team. But then you always run the risk of having to let someone go. And that is why the Roman may be on his way out.

The speculation concerning Pav's departure is ever increasing. I have no doubt that Harry will do everything to keep the Russian. But, like Bentley, he is not the sort of player that should be relegated to waiting on the wings. Short of any injuries to Defoe, Crouch, or Keane, Pav will not figure much in the starting eleven. So, if he does not go in this transfer window it will likely be adios in January anyway.

So, who is a top quality striker that would be happy enough to play fourth string at Spurs? None other than my favourite rumour of the summer, van Nistlerooy!

Ok, it remains to be seen just how much quality is left in him after such a long injury lay off. But he is close to fitness and what he may not bring to the pitch he certainly will off the field. If Pav does go by Tuesday this will be the man to replace him.

And Van Der Vaart also being linked? As I have said all summer, we have been talking to Real Madrid about something. Though what that something was/is has yet to materialise. Again, for my money it is RvN that will be coming from Real. But if we do fail to capture Young the next best thing could be Ruud's out of favour team mate.

Scott Brown or Aiden McGeady? Harry will want Brown, no question. Despite Harry's rubbishing of reports linking Scott to the club this is something I, and a lot of solid ITK's, were discussing way back in June. If Hudd is used in a part-exchange for Young then we will see the Celtic boy on the back pages holding his new Spurs shirt aloft. And if Jenas also gets his move to Inter Milan sorted out then I would say Brown is a must buy for us.

The other interesting bit of news to come out earlier was that we have agreed a partnership with Internacional of Brazil, which in turn could see midfielder Sandro coming our way. This is NOT official news as far as I know. And I would be a liar if I said I knew anything about Sandro. Though from what I have been reading it could be a good little signing.

So, my final transfer bets for 2009:

In - Young, Nistlerooy, Brown

Out - Huddlestone, Bentley, Pav, Jenas

I guess I did not do badly with my transfer waffling. Chimbonda did go to Blackburn, and Bent made his way to Sunderland, at last (both moves blogged about in June). Wee Zokora also took himself off. The mass exodus never really happened, though there is still time yet.

It has been a strange transfer window for Spurs all in all. Even the ever reliable ITK's were positively in the dark for most of the summer. Well, the last throw of the dice is going to come Tuesday afternoon, let's hope Harry and the board don't crap out!

And I think this will be my final posting on Ole Ole. It has been great sharing with you all. Hopefully will see most of you on Twitter or other forums you may find me lurking on.

COYS!!!!!!

Twitter Ye Not Darren Bent

Sun, 2 Aug 2009 19:44:41 -0500

Poor old Darren Bent, what a week it has been for him! Frustrated at not getting his "dream" move to Sunderland, he posted the following from his Twitter account:

'Do I wanna go Hull City NO. Do I wanna go Stoke NO do I wanna go Sunderland YES so stop f***ing around levy.'

What was more shocking for me than the poor use of punctuation and capitalisation was that this really was Darren Bent.

For a long time I believed that Twitter account "db10thetruth" was in fact "db10thelie". The main reason for this was that anything posted from this account relating to Darren or Spurs only seemed to come AFTER the tabloids had said pretty much the same thing.

And without meaning to sound like a complete snob (or knob) the person twittering from the account didn't seem to be the most intelligent. And I think Darren himself would admit that the above Tweet was probably not the smartest thing he tweeted in his life.

For a want-away striker, it is not a good idea to be so openly dismissive of the two closest rivals for your signature. If for whatever reason Sunderland walked away from the whole thing then he really hasn't endeared himself to the Stoke and Hull faithful. And let's face it, not a lot of clubs have or are going to come in for him.

Now I can understand the frustration he must be feeling at not getting this deal wrapped up and being allowed to get on with his career. It seems that this has now become something of a saga. I even blogged myself that the whole deal should have been wrapped up Wednesday past.

But then surely Niall Quinn has played his part slowing down progress. Spurs have set a value, and obviously Sunderland has not met that valuation.

Steve Bruce has a bit of a cheek in coming out to the press about it as well. Instead of talking to the tabloids he should be talking to the SAFC board and asking them to cough up the funds to sign his man.

One of the things I respect about Levy is that he does not allow himself to be bullied. He came under a lot of criticism last year over the Berbatov sale with his critics stating that he should have closed out the deal a lot quicker. What nonsense; we got a great price for a good player and we were right to hold out for the money we wanted.

And even with the recent Crouch deal, Levy exploited Portsmouth's current financial difficulty and stood fast at the £9 million transfer fee we offered. Levy proved yet again he is not a man to be trifled with and has great business acumen. Something every great club has at the head of its board room table.

And yet Sunderland are persistently trying to negotiate with a man that simply does not do negotiation? Methinks Levy is not, and should not be, to blame for Darren's ongoing woes.

Coming back to the Tweet itself, I doubt that Darren would have made a similar comment to say the News of the World had they called him for a few words. And that is simply the undoing of him in this little episode. He engaged mouth before brain and made comments in the same way he would have done with a few mates down the pub, er, sorry, the Jamba Juice bar (forgot about the alcohol ban).

Everyone, including footballers, have the right to be a part of social networking and contribute. After all, the reason that Twitter is the success it is is because we "mortals" can actually communicate with those in the spotlight.

But those in the spotlight must surely know that whatever they say will be fodder for the press. And frankly Darren should have known better about what is appropriate for a person with his media interest to discuss or mention on a site like Twitter before getting himself an account.

Was the fine entirely justified? Again, he would have never made the comments directly to the press because of fear of penalisation from the club. So, yes, in my opinion it is. And should he have closed his account down? To come back to my earlier comment, I found him to be neither insightful nor interesting anyway on Twitter so it is of little consequence to me personally.

At the time of writing this, @Spooky23 of Dear Mr Levy fame (www.dearmrlevy.com) posted a blog with a very interesting picture that he has kindly allowed me to include here:

Thankfully, for Darren's sake, it looks like someone finally stopped "f***ing around".

Wembley Cup ...... at least the burgers were tasty!

Tue, 28 Jul 2009 16:30:38 -0500

This past weekend saw Spurs compete in the Wembley Cup. Wait, let me rephrase that.

This past weekend saw Celtic compete in the Wembley Cup. Spurs and Barcelona were obvioulsy there just to make the numbers up. I know nothing about Al-Ahly but I dare say they gave it a go.

Now, it wasn't like Spurs put out a side of youngsters with little first team experience. Injuries aside we put out fairly decent teams. But, aside from the likes of Rose, Livermore, and new boy Naughton, did any of the rest of them look like they wanted to be out there?

Ok, it was for all intents and purposes a pre-season friendly, I get that. And as such I shouldn't really be that critical of the performance. But when I have forked out £80+ on tickets for the weekend (not even going to mention flights and hotel costs) I would at least expect something to cheer about.

The hype, the venue, and indeed the Sky coverage certainly suggested we would see a competition instead of what looked like a Sunday league kick-a-bout.

I find it hard to believe that was the best we could do against a fairly weak Barcelona squad on the Friday night. The midfield looked lethargic, the defence gave up space far too easily, and attacking options were very limited. A better side would have punished us for this uninventive and lazy play.

And on Sunday, Celtic proved that point exactly.

Is it fair to judge the Spurs on a pre-season friendly? For the reasons I have already mentioned (cost, venue, Sky, and hype) yes, it most certainly is. Every fan that made the effort to turn up to Wembley and cheer the team on deserved better. Every fan that tuned in at home (or headed down the pub) for both games also deserved a performance.

I think I would honestly feel better about what I witnessed at the weekend if I knew they couldn't (and working hard to fix the problems) instead of wouldn't.

Transfer News from the Lane - July 27th 2009

Mon, 27 Jul 2009 16:15:29 -0500

Well, I had started off this blog talking about how I expected to wake up in the morning to hear that big Peter Crouch was a Spur. A phone call in and around the third paragraph put an end to that!

So, good business? £9 million (pending medical and personal terms of course) versus the £12 million Portsmouth valued him at is a nice bit of business. He has always had an average/decent goals against games ratio wherever he has played. At 28 he certainly has a few good years in him (looks like we have him on a 5 year contract). And Harry certainly knows what he can bring.

I don't particularly have a problem with Crouch coming to the Lane. I just felt we could have done better. It certainly will give us something different up front. At least we will have someone tall enough to get on the end of a Lennon cross!

We know that as a partnership Crouch and Defoe could work very well. But if Defoe falls foul of injuries then who else do we have that can play off the big man?

We can say with an almost cast iron certainty Bent will be unveiled by Steve Bruce by Wednesday. Pav's future at the club has been 50/50 all summer, though I would say that he will be with us for the start of the season. But starting for us? And Keane has been a shadow of himself since his disaster move to/return from Liverpool.

Crouch's arrival is a clear indicator that Harry intends to reunite the former Portsmouth partnership and have them as his main front line. And if Pav does not get the regular place he craves and Keane struggles to find form (and a place) we could be saying goodbye to both in the January window.

For me I still feel we need that "big" (as in talented) striker that can deliver the goals and that can adapt and play with any of the lads we have. Crouch isn't that player unfortunately but still a good signing. In my opinion though not a great signing. But then if anyone knows, well, Harry for sure knows best!

Vieira, OMG!!! From his own mouth, Harry said that this is a very real prospect. Putting the Arsenal stuff aside he is 33 and not at the same level he was during his last spell in the Premiership.

Patrick is, I feel, one of those players the club are looking towards for the "Davids" effect. Levy has been after Beckham since last November for exactly that reason. And anyone that knows me knows that I have stuck firm on my opinion that we are trying to sign RvN for this same "effect".

Neither of these players will have much effect on the pitch and will probably spend more time on the bench than on the field. It will be their off the pitch effect that Harry and Levy will be looking the return on.

Of all three, the ex-Gooner will be the least effective in this role. Or to put it another way, Vieira will do nothing to raise the profile of the club or the game of any of the players currently with us. Again, all the Arsenal history aside, this will not be a good deal for Spurs but one I am afraid is becoming moe likely each day.

And other news ...... not a lot to tell really. Not many of the ITK's out there have had much to say other than what Harry has told us.

With the arrival of Crouch, Huntelaar may be a distant memory. Martin O'Neill is sure Young is going nowhere. Hopefully that does not stop us throwing a bit of money at them. But with Woody, King, and Dawson all looking like serious doubts for the start of the season, maybe our next signing should be a central defender.

God knows after the weekends exploits we need one!

Transfer News from the Lane - June 28th 2009

Sat, 27 Jun 2009 18:04:01 -0500

So, it has been 3 weeks (almost) since I have posted any transfer news. For the most part I have been busy moving back to Ireland again from Spain.

But the reality is in the past few week we are still no more closer to signing anyone than we were at the start of the transfer window. So, instead of a player by player look, let us take a small look at clubs we have been talking to.

REAL MADRID - Looks like we will sign anyone that they are prepared to off-load. For my money, Ruud will be the most likely to come from Madrid to the Lilywhite side of North London. Today big Sam hinted that he would like to take him to Blackburn. If Rovers are the only other club showing an interest then, with all due respect to Blackburn Rovers, he will be ours. Robben's dad said no way he (Arjen) will play for Spurs; Heinze is well past his best and I doubt Real will let Huntelaar go anytime soon. What we do know for sure is that we have been engaged in discussion with Real Madrid. A small rumour that was being bantered around Madrid when I was leaving was that Woody may be going back to Real. Highly unlikely!

ATHLETICO MADRID - Maxi?? Will not happen if Atheltico have anything to say about it. They have made it very clear they will do whatever it takes to keep him in Spain. And if truth be told the guy seems very happy to be there. Bentley came up as a strong rumour in May for a move there. More recently there was talk they may snatch Zokora from under the noses of Sevilla. I would be somewhat surprised if any deals are struck between us and them, though transfer windows have seen some very strange things happen ..........

ASTON VILLA - Ashley Young is one player that I think most of us would like to see coming. The reality is, as is the word from the ITK crowd, is that we are negotiating for Bentley and (hopefully not) Hudd to go up to them. Possibly there could be some kind of part exchange on the cards. But with Villa's over estimation of Young's value (compounded by Man City's willingness to pay anything for players) and their under estimation of Bentley and Hudd's, we may just deal for Bentley to get shot of him.

SUNDERLAND - If the price is right and personal terms are agreed Bent WILL be unveiled as a Sunderland player in the next week or two. Given Sunderland's now ever increasing reputation as taking our cast off's, Zokora and Taarabt are also said to be Steve Bruce targets. Possible but not likely.

So really nothing we already dont know (or think we know). For me Scott Brown will come as soon as Tony Mowbray takes stock of things at Parkhead and begins to make his own moves in the market.

Such an underwhelming blog post; I feel positively depressed that I am not talking about anything bigger, better, and definite coming to WHL. Hopefully will have something much more exciting to write about next time. Yes, we may not have any new signings but we will always have hope .......

Transfer News from the Lane - June 8th 2009

Mon, 8 Jun 2009 12:12:37 -0500

Well, let's start with the big story:

RUUD VAN NISTLEROOY: This is as solid as it gets (as the proctologist said to the health food freak). Tweeted a little about it Saturday night; this is possibly our first signing of the summer. So let's look at the facts first of all.

This story is everywhere in Madrid. This in fact is one of the biggest football stories here at the moment, second only to Kaka. And not a word of denial from any party involved, as yet.

And it is no secret that the incoming president at Real Madrid categorically stated that he would need to cut players to build the new "Galacticos". Not sure what Van the Man is commanding in terms of a weekly wage packet (no doubt enough to keep him up on a smoke and a pancake every now and then). But I am sure cutting his wage bill will ease the crazy wages being touted for Kaka and Ronaldo.

I was suprised that the deal is only coming in at £1.25m (initially). But not a single Madrid fan is shocked at this. In fact, as far as I am being told, it is very typical for Real Madrid to sell off players for next to nothing. The last exception to that in their minds was Michael Owen (though I am sure there have been other since ..... maybe). And I would bet that there is some appearance agreement also built in to any deal made.

Here are the problems for Spurs. First of all, the wages. Can we meet his wage demand? Are his wages that ridiculous that the £1.25m being talked about is to subsidise an ongoing financial burden? Will he take a pay cut to come to the Lane? I think when all is said and done the money the guy could potentially bring in to the club will compensate in some regard for whatever we agree as a salary.

And while I am sure he will undergo a pretty rigorous medical before we sign him the guy has not played a competitive game in ages after a lengthy injury. So it would be interesting to see just how much of the old Ruud is still in him.

Rumour mill time! RVN had made the approach to Spurs to come and get him; much like Cisse only without the fanfare. That is the gossip here. And if top Spur Harry Hotspur is right, Ruud is a fan of Spurs so this could make sense. Personally I feel that Harry has earned the reputation of restarting careers and this, to my great pleasure, is what has led Ruud (and Cisse) to put themselves forward.

Kaka is due to announce his future by midnight tonight CET. It is officially confirmed that he has taken a medical in Brazil earlier today. If his future is with Real Madrid I fully expect the next news to be that RVN is now a lilywhite. But I don't believe what Kaka ultimately decides is a deal breaker for us. It will just determine how soon we can unveil Ruud (footie politics and all that).

Maybe this is just the fan in me wanting some big signing to happen of course. But the buzz from London and here in Madrid is that Ruud will be at the Lane very soon. I will be staying up for as long as I can this evening and will Twitter the latest on this.

As far as anyone else coming in, I am not going to comment today as what happens with this one will determine a lot about who is coming next.

So for some outgoing news, here it is:

DIDIER ZOKORA: This was another move I had tweeted about on Saturday night. Today it is more or less official; Sevilla are in talks to sign Zokora. However, greedy wee bastard is pricing himself out of the move. Apparently has made some ludicrous wage and personal demands. So, if Sevilla are that keen this could be a long drawn out one. Hopefully though something will be agreed and closed out in the coming days.

DAVID BENTLEY: Alright Martin O'Neill, lets get some proper money on the table! As far as I am aware we want £10m for him, O'Neill only prepared to part with £7.5m maximum (rumour is he has offered £6m so far). All sorts of talk about swaps and double deals for Hudd, etc. All of these rumours not likely at the moment. And if no one else comes in for Bentley, £7.5m might just seal the deal. But then the Athletico Madrid rumours are still doing the rounds out here ......

DARREN BENT: If Ruud move finalises, that will be Bent gone for sure. Sunderland look to be the keener of all clubs taking an interest. Everton possibly a dark horse though, as far as I am aware, Bent has not talked to another club as yet.

CHRIS GUNTER: A lot of poeple concerned that he might move on a permenant basis. This I do not think will happen. I do believe that he will go for a season long loan. And Harry is a fan of this kid. He just feels he needs that extra mile before breaking in to regular first time football. Almost sure he will remain on the books at WHL through to next summer unless he pushes hard for a move away.

One final thing, I have to give massive shout to @mikeyallen5 over at Twitter. This guy has contributed a lot to these blogs and I have yet to question anything this awesome Yid has sent my way. Fingers crossed that some of it finally comes to fruition.

Catch you all later in the week!

@Hotspur_1882

Transfer News from the Lane - June 3rd 2009

Wed, 3 Jun 2009 02:43:43 -0500

Transfer news gets hotter and hotter every day, doesn't it? Barry to Man City, Kaka almost gone to Real Madrid. Unfortunatley (or fortunately) for us we seem to be still locked in a speculation quagmire.

So, to see what we can expect to see in the future as confirmed deals, read on.

I have had it confirmed in e-mail this morning that Spurs HAVE been talking to Blackburn this week, which gives us three possible transfer points to consider:

PAUL ROBINSON: Press are having a field day running this one. I think there are two reasons why this is a tabloid favourite right now. One, Harry has already brought back a number of former players, and two, the press still seem intent on labelling Gomes "a flop". Either way these reasons just show typical gutter press ignorance. For me this could be a possible deal simply because Harry wants to build depth in all areas. And healthy competition for the number 1 shirt will do no one any harm. It will also be interesting to see, if Paul does come back, if the Harry magic will work with him in the same way as it did with Gomes.

PASCAL CHIMBONDA: This was the most curious of all the returns to the Lane last season. He really didn't figure much at all in Harry's plans when he returned, my feeling was this was a panic buy on Harry's part. By all accounts Blackburn have expressed an interest. Could be a possible exchange for Robbo on the table.

ROQUE SANTA CRUZ: 100% will not be in a Blackburn shirt next season. Question is who is going to shell out the big bucks for him? While I wish beyond all wishes that he is the reason we are talking to Blackburn I feel we have to off load one of our front men first before we can move for him. I do not see the board sanctioning what may be a 20m plus signing with four highly paid strikers already at the club.

And so for the rest of the transfer gossip:

KENWYNE JONES: Very similar situation as Santa Cruz; will leave Stadium of Light, will command 20m fee, and board will be reluctant to bring in a fifth striker for that kind of money without off-loading one first. For me, Jones will be a fall back if we cannot acquire Cruz but is a player that we have enquired about on a few occasions since Harry arrived.

DJIBRIL CISSÉ: This is one I am upgrading, with great reluctance, from the ludicrous to quite possible. Cissé has gone from stating he has "done a deal with us" to "I would love to play for Spurs". When you have a player crying out to come get me and other options are not looking good, you can only ignore the cry for so long. At best though, despite his wet dreams for playing at the Lane, he would take the place of Frasier Campbell as 5th string when there is absolutley no one else available. And if Harry does want to add a fifth striker with some degree of reputation then this move might be more palatable to the money men. Certainly it would mean more cash to splash in other areas.

DARREN BENT: Rumours are now rife that Steve Bruce has signalled an intent to bring Bent to the Stadium of Light once he is confirmed as manager. Apparently he will have a healthy transfer kitty to work with. But realistically he will probably go for around 8m-10m. Still, creates an opening for Santa Cruz. Or indeed gives us something to work with if we want to take want-away Jones to WHL. One way or another, Bent will be the most likely of our forwards to bid a fond farewell this summer.

SCOTT BROWN: As stated on Monday, before a deal goes ahead for Scott the Celtic board will await the appointment of their new manager, which is now between Tony Adams and Roberto Martinez (though I still feel Mark McGhee is a dark horse to take it and Martinez will take Wigan post). But now a potential spanner in the works is the sale of Gareth Barry. Martin O'Neill is a very vocal admirer of Brown's and I have no doubt he will now pursue him.

And a look now at the very unlikely:

STEWART DOWNING: That old chestnut! An average left winger forever linked to us. Thankfully he has ruled himself out of the running for a Spurs place as he wants Champions League football. Besiktas and Rangers would make him look like a superstar instead of the over rated over inflated bag of wind he is.

TOM HUDDLESTONE: Bolton looking to close an 8m deal? Not a chance! While he has not been the most consistent of players on his day he is quality. Bags of potential there to be something great and I would be surprised, shocked even, if Harry let him go.

JAMIE O'HARA: Just like Huddlestone, he has the potential to be something very special. So while Fulham may be making all sorts of attempts to sign him Harry will keep him. And as for Jamie himself, you only need to look at his devestation at missing the penalty in the Carling Cup final to realise he is fully committed to the club.

Need to wrap it up for now, more later in the week.

Diego Milito - A Clarification on my Post from Yesterday

Tue, 2 Jun 2009 03:51:30 -0500

Wow,

Seems that my post yesterday regarding Milito possibly coming to Spurs and Jenas possibly being part of any deal seems to have caused quite a stir. Not least for the reason that many have cited; that Milito has already been signed, sealed, and delivered to Inter.

As anyone following me on Twitter will know, I have been tweeting about this for ages. Some of the details around this which I had shared had later been confirmed by the press. What was confirmed, officially, was:

Milito's agent was in London discussing a possible move to the Premiership
Inter were still favourites to sign him
Harry Redknapp was in Italy after this meeting

What had not been confirmed officially but I had been told by "dependable" sources were:

Condition for further talks with Spurs (and Man City) and Milito was Europa Cup qualification
With Inter as favourites for Milito's signature, Jenas was going to be dealt to Inter if they gave up their pursuit of Milito

Both of these later points came in tandem with the confirmed points above. Therefore, given the reliability of said confirmed points I had no reason to question anything that had not been officially disclosed.

So, back to the original point, why run with this transfer news/rumour if Milito has already signed for Inter?

Let's be very clear on this; at the time of writing the post yesterday Milito had not signed for Inter Milan though a deal has been formally agreed with Genoa for a move in the summer. This deal though is turning a bit messy as it involves multiple signings between Genoa and Inter. There are a number of factors that could turn the whole thing sour.

At the time of writing my transfer post neither Genoa or Inter had released any official statement other than a deal had been agreed, nothing more. Many media outlets and forums have gone off on various tangents. I was even able to see four different interpretations of the same Mourinho interview about this deal.

I am not nieve though. I am sure that Milito will, eventually, be unveiled to the world as an Inter player. But I did say quite clearly that Inter were favourites to sign him and that Jenas was a strategy that Harry was quite prepared to use to get Milito to WHL. How effective that strategy is/was is for better people than me to decide. And with us missing out on Europa Cup qualification it will be a tough sell to eventually get him to the Lane if Inter deal does collapse.

I hope that has made clear why I included this news in my post. As I have said many times on many different forums, I cannot abide speculative news about Spurs and transfers and will never be a part of that. And I will never put my name to any comment unless it has some degree of truth to it.

But an agreement is not a deal, and a deal is not done until the "i"'s are dotted and the "t"'s are crossed (will reflect on Arsenal's first attempt to sign Arshavin as an example).

And certainly I will never attach a player freshly contracted and signed to another team with a move to Spurs; that would just be mental!

Transfer News from the Lane - June 1st 2009

Mon, 1 Jun 2009 09:34:38 -0500

For anyone that follows me on Twitter you will know that I will from time to time post a little bit of transfer news that I may come across. Others that have seen me posting to one forum or another over the years will know that anything I do go in to any depth about is pretty solid.

So over the summer months I will be featuring all the Spurs transfer news and gossip that comes my way as well is rubbishing the, well, rubbish, that the tabloids love to spew about Spurs from their back pages.

Please do not ask me for sources. In my experience citing direct sources only leads to one of three things a) being told I am full of shit, b) getting said sources an undue and unwanted amount of attention, and c) if news doesn't come to fruition everyone is full of crap which leads to a certain level of nastiness; wouldn't put anyone else in that position unless they postively state they want to.

So with all that in mind, let us look at the "solid" transfer buzz:

DIEGO MILITO: I have been Tweeting quite a bit on this one for ages. It is no secret now that both Spurs and Man City talked to the players agent some weeks ago about signing. It was my understanding that before talk would progress it was the players intention to see if either club could make Europa Cup qualification. That of course did not happen for both, leaving Inter Milan as the favourites to sign him. However, Harry's ace up the sleeve is .......

JERMAINE JENAS: Again, no big secret about Mourinho's interest in JJ. But Harry was in Italy on the Sunday after our game at Everton and a deal, in principal, is in place between Spurs and Inter. That deal being if JJ does go across to the Italian champs then Inter will relenquish their interest in Diego Milito, such is the confidence that Inter are the only obstacle in our way.

DAVID BECKHAM: I reported this one back in November 2008 on BBC 606 and other forums, to a tirade of ridicule for my trouble. And in fairness at the time I did not entirely believe it but knew the sources were some what reliable. The reasons for Beckham coming have not changed from then to now. Levy wants Beckham so as to raise the global profile of the club. Redknapp, who was thought to be interested when he was at Portsmouth, sees him as a great mentor for Lennon. With Bentley (see below) almost surely on his way out this could be a more realistic prospect come October.

DAVID BENTLEY: Think it is fair to say no shocks here, the lad is on his way this summer. Early news suggests Martin O'Neill will take him to Villa but could be anyone of a few top 8 clubs that will sign him. I doubt he will command anywhere near the fee we paid but the club will not stand in his way of a move.

SCOTT BROWN: First of all, massive thank you to top Spurs man @mikeyallen5 on Twitter for initially bringing this one to my attention. This is definately much more than rumour as confirmed by those "in the know" from both Celtic and Spurs. Harry had agreed a deal in principal with Celtic in March/early April. In fact some at Parkhead believe that Strachan was terminating his contract regardless if he won the SPL title or not because Brown, and others, were being dealt to other clubs without his consultation and consent. Anyway, the deal is on hold pending a new manager at Celtic FC. The CFC board fear that a departure of stars like Brown (voted SPL Player's Player of the Year as well as receiving a host of other awards this season) will cause problems in finding the right manager for them.

And now for the usual old nonsense:

CISSE: The only one even mentioning a move to Spurs is Cisse himself. To my knowledge no one at the club has spoken to him or his agent about signing. It makes not an ounce of sense to bring him in either. Put this one in the "wishful thinking from a below average player" folder.

HARRY REDKNAPP: The potential new owner of Portsmouth has said he wants Harry back. This is 100% accurate, he has said this and wants him to return. What is also 100% accurate is that Harry has no interest in going back. Done.

TOTTENHAM HOTSPUR FOOTBALL CLUB: If we take every single comment from every single tabloid, with the exception of Keane and Palacios, the whole squad is being sold in the summer. Again, I hate rumour and speculation, but I do feel the following will leave, aside from those already mentioned, based on nothing but my gut and buzz from the Lane: Bent and Zokora. There is nothing else to suggest for a second Harry will off-load anyone else other than popular opinion about who is going.

So that is it for now. I am on the Twitter @Hotspur_1882 if you want to discuss this or any other transfer talk.

Oh, just again to reiterate the point I have made that I will only state as fact anything that I believe is credible and from reliable sources. I broke the Ancelotti/Chelsea news on Twitter some weeks ago. Again, when I announced this it was met with the derision that such news is usually greeted by (who is full of it now Tim Lovejoy!!!).

Adios mi amigos, more transfer news later in the week.

Bentley; Did We Get the Showroom Model or a Cut-and-Shut Job?

Sun, 17 May 2009 13:55:26 -0500

Poor David Bentley; where did it all go wrong for the lad? Is he really that bad? Or is he just an unfortunate victim of circumstance? Let's take a look at the evidence.

David strutted in to WHL from Blackburn with a price tag worth £17m and a reputation for being a touch arrogant. Question marks over his no-show for England U21 duty solidified that opinion, as well as after signing a long term contract with Blackburn he stated that he wanted a move to "a bigger club". Oh and apparently could play a bit of football too!

Ok, to say he could play a bit of football is a bit of an understatement. He was a regular in the Blackburn side that claimed 6th and 7th spot in successive seasons before his move to Spurs. He was even named fan's Player of the Year for 2006/07. He also had a very nice assist record at Rovers and bagged a few goals along the way. So yeah, he could definitely play!

And for sure he had his admirers. Steve McLaren said that Bentley had "the potential to be the new Beckham", though not entirely sure if that had more to do with his football career or potential for selling hair care products. And he was also a target for many clubs before he landed at our door.

Most Spurs fans at the time David signed agreed it was good business. If truth be told though we expected great things back then and Bentley was, what we thought, a nice fit to answering the Spurs enigma that is a top 4 finish. Sure, there were the few Yids that couldn't get over his Arsenal past. And others didn't like the "arrogant" reputation that he had been saddled with. But on the whole it was a satisfying purchase for most looking forward to the return of the "Glory, Glory Days", in season 2008/09.

In the word's of Catherine Tate's Nan Taylor, "What a f*cking disappointment!"

But I don't level that quote (entirely) at Bentley. For the most part there were no shining stars on show for us in our first few months of this season. Modric was only a shadow of the player he is now. Gomes was flapping like a new born chick at anything that resembled a cross. Midfield couldn't string two passes together, forwards needed GPS to find the target, and the defence thought marking was to go in with two footed tackles against the opposition. And Ramos, together with his inability to grasp the English language, had lost his ability to manage the team.

My criticism of Bentley in that dark period of the season was the "arrogance" factor. His body language just screamed, "What the hell have I come to, I deserve to play with better!!" And for all intents and purposes he was right. But instead of rising above it he sank like an ill fated cruise liner in 1912. At times you could see what a £17m signing could deliver. But on the whole it just was not good enough.

Then the WHL revolution began; Ramos out, Harry in. Was this the turning point for Spurs and, more importantly, Bentley's Tottenham Hotspur career?

The moment that will, more than any other, put a smile on a Lilywhite face when talking about David Bentley is THAT 43 yard volley against Arsenal. And it was by no means a fluke, not by any stretch of the most vivid of imaginations. It was the perfect shot; David knew exactly where the goal was and what he needed to do to put the ball in the back of the net. A world class goal that showed what Bentley could do and bring to the team.

So what happened next?

Our starter for 10; we began playing as a focused unit instead of a collection of individuals with no direction. But for one reason or another David just could not find his place in Harry's army. His crossing and free kicks which had earned him his reputation at Rovers found their way, more often than not, into the stands instead of the box. While the rest of the team began turning in to the shining stars we anticipated, he was a dying one on the verge of imploding in to a black hole filled with zero impact and zero confidence.

What Harry also set his mind to was undoing all the wrongs of the Ramos regime. Out went the Director of Football and coaching staff. And perhaps even the ball boys came under the guillotine. And this undoing even extended to bringing back talent that Ramos (or perhaps the board) had previously relinquished. And it was becoming clear that Harry did not see David as an essential part of the club's future. No doubt this was a contributor to Mr. Bentley's growing lack of spirit on the field.

And the final death knell came this season from the rise and rise of Aaron Lennon. Lennon has just gone from strength to strength this season and it is clear that Harry is building a team that hones the talents that Aaron possesses.

Comparing Lennon to Bentley is comparing night to day; Lennon has the pace down the right to create opportunities and cause defences problems, Bentley is a dead ball specialist who can swing in a decent cross and place a good free kick. But with the likes of Modric, Huddlestone, Bale, etc, all having the ability to deliver from dead ball situations or from the flanks, Bentley's talents are surplus to requirements.

And for me this is why Bentley finds himself languishing in the reserve team. Even when Lennon is not fit there is just no room on match day for Bentley because he does not have anything to offer that is not already on show.

I read during the week that David Bentley is rated among the top 20 worst signings in Premier League history. That for me is a totally unjustified comment and very, very harsh when you consider all the factors.

Bentley is a victim of a) a manager who bought and played him without a clue how to utilise him effectively, and b) another manager who does not see him in his long term plans.

The later is all too common when a manager comes in half way through a season to take over a struggling team. It doesn't matter about reputation, transfer fee paid, or the price of tea in China; if you don't fit in with the managers plan then that's that.

There is no doubt in my mind that David Bentley can, and most likely will, shine at another Premier League side. Fulham, Everton, and Aston Villa play the style of football that would suit him down to the ground. Or maybe even we will see him in La Liga next season, where it is rumored Athletico Madrid would like to acquire him. I don't buy the "fact" that since he came to Spurs he suddenly turned in to a dire player.

In summing up; I do believe that when we bought Bentley he was the showroom model that we expected. But along the way he has taken some knocks, had a couple of not so careful owners, and been left out on the driveway far too long. With new, and much improved, models catching the eye there is just no room left in the garage for him at N17.

But with a new owner, a bit of spit and polish and hard work, he will be as good as new again and will find the drive to thrive as a top-of-the-range player again. For his sake I hope he realises that reputation alone does not make one better than everything else on show.