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.”
Redcrap did not shame us, he shamed himself. I am still not sure about AVB. I really hope he suceeds and will wait and see. I’m afraid I have difficulty forgetting his embaressing interviews during the last few months at Chelski.
The reason ‘Arry shamed himself rather than the club is because he was never really part of it. I don’t begrudge his realism and ultimately he was right to be wary of Levy but we’ll never know what would’ve happened if he genuinely committed himself to Spurs.
AVB has endeared himself to me (and by the sounds a lot of others) by simply referring to us as one.
Agree there’s a long way to go and he needs to keep this up after a few poor performances though.
THFC is a business.
The chairman exudes professionalism and clearly expects his charges to perform similarly in the execution of their (well paid) duties.
AVB did that in admirable fashion this afternoon. Indeed, I was reminded of Keith Burkinshaw.
The chairmans ambition is matched by that of AVB.
Im excited by our prospects for next season.
It’s funny but he does have something of KB’s quiet work ethic and inner belief about him. They are very different people in terms of personality but you can tell that both of them knew exactly what they wanted and called a Spear & Jackson garden implement exactly as it stood against the wall.
Sorry for the repost, but what was the name of the Twitter journo, mentioned on here a couple of blogs back, with Spurs updates? Anyone remember? Can’t find the link… :(
What sort of updates where you after mate? Was it just general stuff? @TomCStandard is good stuff :-)
Someone posted to say that this chap was rarely wrong about Spurs rumours…
I’ll have to scour back through it all… Tom Collomosse is a good one… liked this other fella, tho… cheers, H
I came on here this morning looking for that exact post!! Eventually found it and added him on Twitter earlier.
The man you are looking for is Greg Stobart = @gstobart
Hope that helps!
Alspur mate guilty as charged it was me lol.
Greg stobart @gstobart.
It’s true he is rarely wrong
Thank you both very much – top work & much appreciated!! H – one to add to your list… ;)
The future’s bright, the future’s Lilywhite…
:-D :-D :-D :-D
Im sooooooo excited about what is happening at our club..A couple more signings to come too… loving it COYS