White Hart Lane has witnessed many ups and downs during it’s resident club’s long history. But the current rut that Juande Ramos and co. find themselves in, seven games into the Premier League season, represents Tottenham’s lowest trough for around 100 years.
With just two points from seven games, Spurs sit bottom of the Premiership, and are in a worse position than Derby County were at this stage last season. Even Newcastle, who have, to say the least, had a far more turbulent start to the season, have got a win under their belts.
It would be fair to say that the club’s loyal fans have long endured crippling inconsistency and frustratingly frequent false dawns. Yet two fifth place finishes and regular qualification for the UEFA cup under one of the most successful managers in their recent history, makes this latest dip in form even harder to swallow.
The sacking of Martin Jol, now manager of Bundesliga leaders Hamburg, was the first mistake. It was a premature, knee-jerk reaction that ultimately set the club back a few years. Jol’s recent success merely rubs salt into the wound.
The problems at Spurs are numerous, some due to managerial shortcomings, but most due to a poor transfer policy, rash decision-making and, at times, a questionable mental attitude in the dressing room.
It seems the fire-sale of both Dimitar Berbatov and club talisman Robbie Keane have had an extremely adverse affect, not necessarily on capability but certainly on mentality. Every game this season, heads have dropped after conceding, or frustration at being unable to score has crept in.
Ramos, in his enviable wisdom, has identified this as a problem, commenting: “When you don’t score goals it is not easy to win”. The fact that own goals have been the second highest source of goals, behind Darren Bent, is an appalling statistic.
The strikers should not shoulder all the blame for the lack of goals, as the midfield appears weak in possession and the delivery when in good positions is often poor. The departure of Steed Malbranque has been a key factor in this.
There is a sense of sympathy for Ramos though, as he is forced to work with a young team that has struggled to deal with the physicality of the Premiership, particularly Luka Modric and Roman Pavlyuchenko. There is distinct lack of leadership on the pitch with Ledley King frequently out through injury and Keane gone, while Ramos seems to struggle to command the team from the touchline.
The only glimmer of hope for fans, and probably the management, is that these kind of things happen in the cutthroat sink or swim business football has become, and they are temporary. While morale is low and leadership continues to be lacking then nothing will change, but the new players will settle in to their environment eventually and slowly regain their confidence. The key to this is time, although it is limited.
But before Daniel Levy and his board start to panic, like they did with Jol last season, they need to realise that firing Ramos would be the worst possible solution, even if they reinstalled Jol. This would only serve to add to the problems that already exist and any new manager would want to form the team in his own image, much like Ramos has tried to do.
Jol himself has recently commented on Spurs’ lack of “identity”, citing the loss of the English core as a main reason for this. He said in an interview with Sky: “I feel if you work for an English club you need an English identity and I think that worked.” There will be few who question this philosophy, indeed Manchester United and Liverpool can vouch for the benefits of having a core of English players.
Responsibility for this may not rest with Ramos alone as Damien Comolli, Tottenham’s Director of Football, deals with the transfer policy. The Berbatov fiasco aside, it seems highly irrational to employ a strategy which involves selling two seasoned and respected international strikers so near to the end of the deadline without first ensuring that appropriate signings have been made to fill the void.
Twenty-one year old Frazier Campbell, part of the Berbatov deal, does not cut it as a viable replacement for a regular 20-a-season goal scorer and Giovanni dos Santos, only 19, has struggled to settle into the rigours of English football.
Furthermore, the big name signing of Roman Pavlyuchenko has yet to justify the £14m transfer fee.
Ultimately, however, the current problems Tottenham face have been brought about due to persistent failings by the board. Levy again proved himself a shrewd businessman with the £50m he managed to get for Keane and Berbatov, but also showed he is not so astute in his knowledge of football.
Bernie Kingsley, of the Tottenham Supporters’ Trust highlighted a persistent undercurrent of Levy’s tenure in an interview with BBC Sport saying: “The people who run the club are obsessed by making money and they seem to think that volume, in terms of player transfer activity, adds up to quality. It isn’t. Football has become obsessed with money and Tottenham are an arch example of that.”
Indeed, the duration of Levy’s chairmanship has been littered with similar dealings, and this latest crisis may be the final nail in the coffin.
Rumours abound that a mega-rich Asian business man has expressed an interest in the club.
However, these rumours are not necessarily good news because, as Comolli says himself: “We need stability. We don’t need change. We need results.” Never a truer word.
