The only guarantee about Sunday is that the atmosphere will be oppressive and largely dominated by endless booing.

The grim expressions of discontent will not just be the reserve of the home side. The Press Gangers will be equally vocal in their appreciation of Defoe and Redschnapps having done the dirty on them aswell.

"I took stick but once the whistle blows... all the outside stuff becomes irrelevant. " This from a man who not only complained to his club, the authorites and his psychiatrist, but actually rang into Radio 4 about it.

A Spurs loss will see toys thrown out of prams, stewards thrown onto the pitch, three rounds of We're going down with the Albion all polished off with angry cries of Levy Out!

A Spurs win however, will instantly fuel lavish dreams. Not just of survival, but of multiple cup glories and a top four finish.

This game then will be a nervy mess. Our transfer activities have been a disaster and I strongly believe that Levy wanted to unveil at least one new name before this game. The Emporer knows how nasty the crowd will get if it goes wrong on Sunday and I wouldn't be suprised if we suddenly hijacked the Kaka bid in order to placate the angry mob. I exagerate, but you know what I mean.

Appiah, I am told, passed his medical, enjoyed his time with us, compromised on his initial personal terms and wished to sign the contract. He told friends he was joining Tottenham. THFC, in a typical high handed approach, put him on hold - in order to buy more time to pursue Sgt Wilson.

Appiah was fed some cobblers about they'd like him to play some more trial games... Appiah has fingers in other pies and I understand has naturally walked away, a bit despondant with the way he was treated.

If the situation is fixable, I do not know. What I do know is the Club so far, have royally bungled it.

Well then, with tweezers at the ready to assist with splinter removal I'm going for a draw. 0- 0 is 10/1 and 1-1 is 6/1. 

Bentley on the right please and if our plan to service Defoe and his lucky assistant up front consists of hoofing the ball in their general direction ...then no matter where you are in the world, if you open a window you will hear my screams. 

HH:Billy, you're a Spurs fan. What happened there, mate? How did you get hooked?

BW:My family are all big spurs fans, and grew up about 300 yards from the ground. My dad even played for spurs when he was younger so there was only ever one team for me.

HH:If I had to push you for your fave all time Tottenham Player?

BW:Gascoigne - without doubt.

HH: Your first /or most memorable Spurs game?

BW:Has to be the 5-1 against Arsenal last year, as me and my agent watched it in an Irish Bar in New York, sitting next to the only 2 gooners out there! We went bananas at every goal that went in - surprised they didnt throw us out. First game was against coventry - we lost so not one to remember really.

HH: You've rubbed shoulders with some of the world's greatest footballers. What a job. But who'd be best to go for pints with?

This may shed some light on the physical condition of our grimacing goalie Gomes not only in previous games but this evening's... I think it's important that we don't just start making daft comparisons with Robinson and ought bring as many facts to bare before our supposed lack of confidence starts to effects his.

This injury sounds terrible.

"In training 2 weeks ago he was knocked out for 12 minutes.

A day later with sore ribs in addition, it was suggested that he might be out for a few weeks."

This from Wkdref a poster on Spurs Odyssey.

As far as his number two is concerned, the news isn't any better. It's Jannsen that has been training with the first team...

"Gomes has been playing for the last 2 weeks not fit because there are even bigger question marks about his stand in."

Ouch.

News just in from several eyes and ears around The Lane this morning now that erstwhile Tottingham Hotspur darling Teddy Sheringham has been spotted... being courted for a position in 'Arry's coaching cartel.

If he were to to oblige and mutter the immortal words, 'Yes 'Arry.' he would join ex Fratton Park man Kevin Bond who joined us yesterday.

The situation as I understand it is that universally unpopular Tim Sherwood is still 'considering' initial overtures from our new band leader, Redschnapps.

"It has been very flattering to be linked with the club," said Sherwood. And we'd be flattered if you said no, Timmy.
 

Difficult to know what to think. Presumably Teddy has been accumulating the required badges. Experience? Only with some great managers and some exotic birds - this won't guarantee he's a great coach, however it would probably edge Sir Les out the frame.

"The Club can announce that Jerry 'The Saint' St. Clair, Sporting Director, Juande Ramos, Head Coach and First Team Coaches, Marcos Alvarez and Gus Poyet, have left the Club, with immediate effect. We wish them well. Max and Patrick will see you into the car park, gentleman."

Chilling but welcome words. Levy acknowledged that we were going down the pan at a rate of knots at the hands of a management team who couldn't command in the transfer market irrespective of vast resources nor communicate with the players.

Redknapp's appointment is genius. Simultaneously daring and sound.

The Football Focus interview with Ramos was revealing. It revealed his English was probably more than sufficient to apply for a mortgage but woefully shy of the mark when it came to speaking to your average twenty something year old footballer.

So well done Levy.

The odds on us going down must have frozen this morning. Hopefully after today's game they will begin to shrink.

The limping towards the window in January may yet turn into a walk. I'm not daft enough to believe we'll be skipping there, but the players must be relieved and any improvement to their mindset at the moment is a godsend.

There will of course be voices of dissent. The whiney whiners who got themselves so worked up that now, even when handed Comolli's head on a silver salver are still hungry. The want Levy out too, bless 'em. Perhaps they might try doing something useful this weekend like supporting Spurs. CLICKY Just a suggestion.

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And lastly well done to all the shameless so called stand up comedians ITK's who apparently all had the info early on last night but were ALL miraculously in the pictures/potholing/paraletic drunk/half way up Mt. Kilimanjaro with a bag over their heads -  Please, just give it up.

The slow but steady influx of foriegn investors in English Premiership Clubs only to gathers momentum. Unless you happen to be a rejected, rotund retailer of course. Speculation that Tottenham would 'eventually' be sold to fabulously wealthy suitor has been doing the rounds for some time.  

The Guardian piece HERE is interesting. And in the words of The Wonder Pet's Ming Ming, I would suggest 'this is serious.'

Pini Zahavi is not your usual football agent and to confuse him as such would be a mistake.

His client list is impressive enough but it is the manner in which he conducts his business that separates him from what is generally acknowledged a pretty down at heel herd.

It was Zahavi was the man who organised Ferdinand to United. He put Defoe in Portsmouth. He brought Dos Santos to The Lane. But those are just a few notable player deals.

He was the man responsible for brokering the aqusitions of Chelsea FC by Abramovich and Portsmouth FC by Gaydamak.

His cultivation of relationships with some of the most improtant football people on the planet are well documented, but it is his constant presence as a vanguard of football business that puts him in a bracket of his own making. 

So who is Pini Zahavi? At times a controversal character. He was a broker for Media Sports Investment, the outfit behind the whole Tevez and Mascherano affair. He was also named in the Stephen's enquiry. But Zahavi would undoutedly argue when you're blazing a trail things happen to you and situations arise. If you want anonmity and peace don't become a king maker.

My conclusion is that if this guy is genuinely involved in any takeover discussions at Tottenham then this is real, this is happening and the as yet unnamed Asian billionaire would be an interesting prospect. I would say sound, but who can predict the future? 

Besides, anyone who described Ken Bates as 'a revolting character' can't be all bad.

At the time of posting there are some awful tales about. My belief is that 'our' man is still okay.

I put this out now at half twelve plus purely out of a wish to avoid being accused of being an ambulance chasing hit whore. I am generally one, you know, but not here.  

If you are a real friend of Paul's and by any mad circumstance you're reading this, email me now and let's kidnap this oaf before its too late. Tell the mad fool what you want. Get him to me.

Hotspur Out.

I had half an idea that this should be entitled, ' A Song For Jenas', however there were one or two major obstacles. One, Jenas rhymes with about as many words as 'orange' and the two most obvious ( to me any way) were nurse and penis. Neither of which lent themselves particularly to what I was trying to achieve.

Games on a school night can be a bind. The other lot dependent upon where they've come from are on the jolly. Half daying it and sipping cold ones since shortly after slipping on their replica shirt. Another half day or whole day off planned ahead of them. Beef Eater doll in a plastic tube for Auntie Doreen it is then.

Many of us have been battling and failing with the fantasy of getting away since lunchtime. Some have managed to get changed out of the suit, many have not and are desperately trying to avoid the allure of a fried onion topped anything in favour of some real food waiting indoors when you eventually get in nearly four hours later then usual.

Make no mistake, JGM's comment in relation to thee Sales Of Goods Act and the muck we were largely served up Monday night rang painfully true. And as has been covered at length the combination of 'Cup Specialist' Ramo's team selection and the woeful performances of a number of players all added up to a (hopefully) very forgettable, inedible evening's footy.

What got my goat was the overwhelming apathy of the home support before the game started. No songs, no nothing. When the players names were being read out the cheers were at best begrudging. Pav got a bit of a roar but generally there was little difference between everyone else's reception and Frazier Doodah's.

I understand we conceded after five minutes.

But what was depressing that the apathy continued and indeed snowballed for the rest of the game. The muffled cheers became jeers and it was then the turn of the mouthy brain dead.

Tottenham were largely hopeless and by the time we had degenerated into inexplicablely stupid back passes to Gomes just about even the most vitriolic had run out of abuse and were heading towards the stairs in a stunned silence.

But before that, Bale was giving it loads. Bentley was clearly up for it and Jenas really got stuck in. Jenas of all people has attracted so much justified criticism in the past. The one time he comes on with the bit between his teeth and he doesn't get so much as a cheer. He has worked hard on his game and if this is how we repay him then why would anyone else bother?

It's so easy to just sit there grumbling that we've sold our bet players, but let's get something straight, are we in or out? It's a two edged sword. No debate. Don't tell me that £60,000 a week and the desire to wear the shirt should overcome all. I agree in principle, but these guys still need our support.

If you actually think sitting there clutching your receipts becoming increasingly outraged as a customer is doing anybody any good you're a fool.

I'm not a robot. I went through all the same emotions as you did. Disbelief, shame, anger, depression and was spotted on several occasions with both hands over my face. And that was just buying a bottle of water and having the cap confiscated.

My point? Let's save the armchair general sh*te and the 'I fully expected to do 'em by three goals' grouching for two bob blogs like this and the pub afterwards.

I don't wish to encourage the stadium to admit only brainwashed happy clappers, but the constant grind of listening to ars*holes shouting 'You're sh*t _______' has become tedious. Wind it it in. If not for the players then for the rest of us.

A man next to me with his son turned to his boy and said, "They should be paying us to watch this rubbish." How right he was.

In the next breath he stood to his feet and screamed "Come On You Spurs!" How right he was.

From deep beyond the Scottish border, at a location heavily rumoured to be known to natives as 'Glasgow', is a man some of you may know as Harry Hotspur serial poster, the exiled JamieSpurs. In a moment of uncharacteristic madness he has shared the wealth, folks. And posted somewhere else!!

All gags to one side, he's bowled a good question at Guillem Balague and he's what happened. Nice one, Jamie.

"I've had loads of comments from people asking me about Juande Ramos, with many of you being very critical of the Spurs coach. One reader. JamieSpurs, wrote:

"I'm an increasingly frustrated Tottenham fan. It seems to me that Juande Ramos is struggling to come to terms with the Premier League and he CONSTANTLY changes his starting 11, formation and tactics. We haven't picked the same team in any game we have playes in the league this year."

I can understand Spurs fans frustrations, after all, only a few weeks ago and after a promising looking pre-season, some people had Tottenham down to do a domestic treble - as well as winning the Champions League and World Cup! Isn't it always the way at Spurs, where expectations often get raised so high that the only thing that can happen is that people inevitably end up disappointed.

I think it's far too soon to start making any kind of judgment on Spurs and it's almost impossible to assess a group of players who have only really been together for something like nine or ten days in total. Back in the summer, I spoke with Juande and we discussed how important it was for him to have his squad finalised ahead of pre-season training at the beginning of July. That didn't happen and, only a fortnight ago, Juande had no idea how his side was going to line up: with key players leaving and others yet to join the club.

Only now can the Spurs coach start to put in the hours on the training ground working on tactics and formations. Ahead of the Aston Villa game, with almost his entire squad away on international duty, Juande had just one full session to work with Corluka, Campbell and Pavlyuchenko. To put things in to perspective, while Villa had only four of their starting line-up on International duty over the past week, Juande had more than double that figure missing.

Some may see it as such, but I do not believe that Juande was making excuses when he said today:" It's only just begun and there's still room for us there. We had very little time to prepare - (Vedran) Corluka, (Roman) Pavlyuchenko and (Fraizer) Campbell are new to the club and haven't really had time."

So, in answer to your question JamieSpurs, I think it's wrong to start being critical of Juande's tactics, as preparation is vital, and he has not been able to that yet."

A good few emails in this morning in realtion to THIS from the Telegraph Online.

Sergie Rebrov an employee of THFC for some four years has passed on the benefit of his wisdom to young Roman Pavlyuchenko in relation to what he might expect in N17.

“A lot of dark-skinned people live there,” Rebrov said. “So naturally the crime rate is higher than anywhere  else. It’s not nice to be a robbery victim. So I suggest that Roman doesn’t walk but drives around that area.”

Race is a sensitive issue. More so perhaps since native citizens started blowing up Londoners. The immeadiate and arguably politically correct response to seeing his words is to bark RACIST!!! and demand... well. demand something or other. 

So let's look at what was actually said. No our gut response from speed reading the words. What was actually said.

"A lot of dark skinned people live there."

Not so, the breakdown is actually even across the ethinicities. 48.94% of the borough's population is from black and ethnic minority communities. This is only the 6th highest proportion in London. The top 5 are:

• Brent - 65.4%
• Newham - 63.9%
• Tower Hamlets - 52.4%
• Hackney - 51.6%
• Ealing - 50.1% (Source: 2001 Census).

"The crime rate is higher than anywhere else there."

Not strictly true, but in respect of certain crimes the Borough is Top of the Pops. Haringey currently boasts the highest number of Residential Burglaries and Personal Robberies of its seven surrounding boroughs. I appreciate his original comment had 'so' at the beginning but I am unable to locate statistics that breakdown the ethnicity of offenders. If anyone is able to expand on this with credible cources....

"It's not nice to be a robbery victim"

He's right it isn't and you can decrease the likelihood of being one by moving OUT of Haringey.

1804 Personal Robberies were reported.  This was 6% less (the largest improvement in London) than for the 2005/6 period, but still left Haringey with the highest number of personal robberies compared to its seven neighbouring boroughs for the period 2006/07.

"I suggest Roman drives not walks around that area"

Good call, Sergei. Whilst 'keeping moving' in Haringey doesn't make you immune to the bad people it does significantly reduce your chances of meeting them.

4,457 Motor Vehicle Crimes were reported in 2006/2007 reflecting a drop of 10.7% on the previous period. An improving average and there are now some 45 fewer offences per month.

Thanks to CLICKY