Good afternoon.
You don’t get a second chance to make a first impression. I frequently opt for a Hawaiin shirt and perhaps few balloon animals, just as a simple ice breaker. Andrea Villas Boas’ first encounter as our head honcho with the press this afternoon was to his and indeed, our credit both classy and considered.
All the propaganda and disinformation doing the rounds courtesy of Arry’s hyena hack pals will now subside.
Boas is clearly an intelligent and polished communicator who instead of skirting the issue of his previous role at Second Hand Fridge (which was bound to proliferate) he addressed it head on and quite rightly without the need to blush.
Yes of course we got a good few new broom platitudes, but vitally he spoke of ambition and above all spoke respectfully and exuded professionalism. He is interested in winning competitions and titles.
The last bloke shamed us all by failing to touch on any of these qualities in his tenure. There is talk of a ‘high line’ there already are reports from players emerging that reflect the ‘buzz’ the new gaffer has brought with him
A ball has yet to be kicked in anger, but I have a confession to make.
He had me at ‘we’.
The salient quotes below courtesy of the BBC. His SSN interview is here.
“The dimensions of the club speaks for itself and it’s a massive, massive opportunity for me and I’m extremely privileged to have been given that opportunity.
“It’s fantastic to come to a club with such high ambitions for the future and I want to respond to the trust that the chairman has put in me with success and hopefully I can repay that trust.”
“There have been a couple of discussions with clubs. I think that a couple of them were even made public but I was always willing to wait for the right opportunity at the right time.
“For me after the Chelsea step it was important to choose somewhere where I was surrounded by the right commitment and the right people and I think I found it and I’m extremely privileged to be here.”
“The interest that we have from various different clubs [for Modric] shows the importance of the player and what he’s done for Tottenham.
“Ongoing discussions will continue with these clubs until we reach an agreement which is acceptable for each party.”
“[Ade] Adebayor is another player who was important for last season and it will be a lie if I say we are not looking for a striker and Ade is part of that list.”
What About Carroll then? “It’s not fair of me to comment on that. I’m not sure of Liverpool’s intentions on Andy Carroll but it’s certainly not a player we are looking for.”
You’d like to bring him here? “No, no, no.”
“I think it’s excellent for Chelsea to have won a trophy they have desired for so many years and there were so many ambitions towards winning it.”
And adds: “I’m just grateful that I was able to work there and in some way put it on the road to that.”
“We just have to continue with the quality work that Harry [Redknapp] left us. To lose what Harry left us is a mistake so we’ll have to try to build from that and put Tottenham on road for titles.”
Not just a dog, but a repulsive, thick dog:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/teams/chelsea/9395243/John-Terry-racism-trial-Chelsea-captain-only-too-pleased-to-follow-orders-in-courtroom-gaff.html#
Credit where it’s due, that is comedy gold.
http://sportwitness.ning.com/forum/topics/spanish-press-say-tottenham-to-pay-buy-out-clause-for-atletico-st
OK, this was just posted on a Spurs page on Facebook.
http://www.facebook.com/#!/groups/75319800569/
Probably BS but it’s nice to dream:
Just been forwarded this document at work. Make of it what you will – just passing it on! These are the words of an Arsenal fan too:
For those of you that are interested and have been wondering where the spuds have been getting their money from read on… for those of you who are not interested skip this post!!
I am currently on holiday in Mauritius staying at the Le Saint Geran and today i met Nico Van Ditmar, a director at The Tavistock Group which is owned by spuds “sugar daddy” Joe Lewis.
http://www.tavistock.com/
A piece came on the BBC World News about AVB and how he plans to take the spuds forward and we started talking footy. He started by telling me how he is a big spurs fan to which i retorted that i am a gooner, his next words were “Oh, we’ll soon be overtaking you guys in a big way” I asked him what he meant and he said “Lets just say that the gloves are off!!”
Apparently, the one and only reason spurs de-listed themselves from the stock market recently was so that the The Tavistock Group i.e Joe Lewis, was able to pump funds and liquidity into spurs in a big way (non disclosure). They are just about to open a 67acre £45 million world class training facility in Enfield, this is the reason they have been able to attract AVB, Vertonghan and stole Sigurrdsen from Liverpool. They did not borrow any money to fund this build and it is considered that it will be one of the best if not the best facility at any football club in the world.
Bale is now on £105,000 per week and spurs are willing to pay Ade £140,000 to prise him away from City. City want £7 million but spuds only willing to pay £5 million.
Worst still, Modric (currently on £105,000pw) will not leave for less than 40 million euro’s and Real Madrid are his preferred option. Real are trying to dilute the transfer fee with Carvalho but spuds stance is that they want 40 million euro’s and will negotiate for Carvalho separately as he is one of AVB’s targets anyway. Modric is contracted until 2016 so spuds hold the upper hand in negotiations, if he leaves they WILL replace him with Moutinho who spuds think is a better player anyway, captained Portugal at 20 yrs old and more aggressive.
Hugo Lloris has chosen spurs over us, personal terms agreed but transfer fee is stumbling block, Lyon want 20 million euro’s spuds have offered 15 million, this Nico fella assured me he will be a spuds player by July 15th.
Their new stadium build is at a cost of £450 million but they will only have to borrow £180 million!!!! Big daddy Joe is funding the rest!! To make things even worst AVB has been given a transfer kitty of £100 million to spend which must also include wages. This was the one and only reason Redknapp was sacked, it was decided that between Daniel Levy and Joe Lewis that Redknapp could not be trusted to take spuds forward in the way that they want given the commitment in funds the board are now making.
So there you have it maybe not from the horses mouth but definitely from near the arsehole area!! I asked him he if he could shed any light on Kronke and all he said was “He’s a very conservative fellow and keeps himself to himself so i can’t tell you much about him” He carried on by explaining that Lewis is a massive spurs fan and has always been spurs “petty cash” tin when they’ve needed it and that “you could not have a better owner of tottenham hostpur football club than Joe lewis”
Apologies if some of the transfer info is old hat as I’ve not been able to keep up with things and please don’t shoot the messenger!!
It does beg the question what the f*ck is going on at Arsenal though doesn’t it?
.
Truthiness aside, I agree than Moutinho is better than Modric (and a year younger) but the AVB wants to bring carvalho in bit leaves me cold and puzzled.
I think it’s probably to allow Gallas go to West Ham.
Nico was quite happy to tell you all this sensitive info even though it will cost him his Directorship. It’s doubtful he will ever be trusted again, and all to a casual acquaintance in a Hotel Bar. What some guys will do for sex !
I am of course addressing this to the Arsenal fan and not Seattle, wouldn’t want to offend anyone.
we cool :daumen:
I see that we’ve been linked with Adrian from Atletico Madrid. He’s scored well in the Europa League but not in the league – does anyone have any background on him ?