Leaving the Past Behind (Repost)

[flipsix3]

“Every time Ray, Ryan comes back and we’re scoring for fun, I know it was only two this week but he just adds something to the whole attack. What’s it going to take to get him to sign?”

It was a rhetorical question, Wilkins no more knew the answer than Ed did, but the way things were looking there was little doubt that extending McGavin’s contract would be a huge plus for the club. A two-nil win at Stoke had maintained their seven point cushion and it had been McGavin’s early strike that had been the catalyst. The goal was his twenty-third in the league with only Derby’s Mark Russell eclipsing him – with promotion assured Ed still couldn’t get the Irishman’s signature on a new deal and it was starting to get him down. He’d seen Walther’s scoring form deteriorate, and he’d watched Slabber and Hilton knock in the odd one here and there, but McGavin was consistent beyond reckoning and all that Ed could see was that the player was going to slip through his fingers at the end of the campaign.

-----

With McGavin still in the line-up the following week was a great one for Ed, his side finally appeared to blow away the late season cobwebs as they travelled to face Bristol City, rolling out as three-nil winners with the Irishman getting the ball rolling once more. He was especially pleased, however, to see that it was Walther who knocked in the other two goals – especially pleased because, on the morning of the game, Frank Arnesen had tracked him down to advise that he’d brokered a £7million deal to potentially make the German a permanent signing. As the final whistle had blown the celebrations had started, the fans knew as well as anyone that victory in the game would assure them the title, and the right to return to the Premiership as champions.

Once they arrived back in London Ed had made his excuses, he knew that some of his players would be out partying for a while yet – not too hard as he’d left Wilkins to watch over them – but he wanted to get home and settle down in front of the TV.

He arrived home in optimistic mood and switched on just in time to catch the kick-off of Bordeaux’s appearance in the Coupe de Ligue final on Eurosport. Much like some of Spurs’ recent performances it hadn’t been all comfortable viewing, the first half had seen Bordeaux on top but unable to finish and he’d found himself shouting instructions to the players on more than one occasion. The second half was a different story though, and having just secured the title he cracked a second celebratory beer as he watched his former charges overrun Lille and lift the trophy thanks to goals from Feindouno and Mokoena.

Bordeaux were only one win away from securing Le Championnat for the third successive season too, and even though he’d left to come to Spurs, he couldn’t help feeling that he’d played a small part in that – if for no other reason, then simply for the signing of Mokoena, their top scorer in both league and cups.

[flipsix3]

Arriving back at the ground on Monday morning things had continued to go from good to better for Ed. With the title in the bag Walther hadn’t taken much convincing when it came to signing the transfer deal, and Ed had to admit that Arnesen had done a magnificent job – particularly amid rumours that Roma had been about to swoop. At nineteen years old Walther’s fee may have looked big, but the general feeling was that Spurs had got a bargain and Ed wasn’t about to disagree.

Boosted by the news he’d set about talking to a few other key members of the squad and had been pleased to see that their title win seemed to have given them cause to reconsider their futures over the weekend, within a matter of hours he’d obtained commitment to a new deal for Fülöp and, more importantly, the same from Ryan McGavin. A week ago he’d been sweating on where to look for strikers, now his two deadliest had booked their place in his Premiership squad.

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Ed sat shell-shocked in the dugout, he knew that he ought to go and talk to his lads, but he had no idea what to say…

The day had started in positive mood, he’d used the opportunity to give a couple of youngsters a start including Lennon, fresh from his loan spell at Walsall. Bournemouth hadn’t looked like they would cause too much difficulty for his side but at half time he’d torn a strip or two off the eleven men who had failed to produce a single scoring opportunity in forty-five minutes. Of course he’d expected their energy to be down a little, and in truth he’d probably allowed them a little too much free time over the past week, but all the same he’d demanded more from them at half time, more effort, more chances, and more more more passion!

…now, at full time, he was left wondering just what exactly had happened. The bright spot in the confusion was Lennon, playing a good half-hour behind just eight outfield players the teenage keeper had earned them a point with some heroic work. Quite what had got into the rest of them, though, was beyond him. Laursen’s dismissal was understandable, a second booking for a typically strong challenge, but Ryan McGavin seemed to have lost his head totally. Within minutes of losing Laursen the striker had gone in with both feet on Hreidarsson and then, when booked, had shown the petulance to argue with Paul Taylor until the second card had followed.

Quite how they’d hung on for a draw after that was a mystery, but it had certainly taken the gloss off what had looked destined to be an afternoon of celebration at White Hart Lane. The fans, many with banners and flags marking their title win, had done their best to lift the occasion but it was something of a damp squib in the end and Ed watched as they left and the stadium turned quiet.

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APRIL 2011 SUMMARY

Spurs 0

Swansea 0

Man of the Match: Stewart Downing

Spurs 2 (Mendes 38, pen 69)

Watford 1 (Ball 34)

Man of the Match: David Preece (Watford) [GK]

West Ham 2 (Bent 46, Zamora 49)

Spurs 0

Man of the Match: Stephen Bywater (West Ham) [GK]

Stoke 0

Spurs 2 (McGavin 9, Slabber 76)

Man of the Match: Stewart Downing

News: Warren Cummings (Stoke) sent off 89 mins

Bristol City 0

Spurs 3 (McGavin 28, Walther 59, 74)

Man of the Match: Stewart Downing

Spurs 0

Bournemouth 0

Man of the Match: Simon Lennon

News: Laursen (Spurs) sent off 59 mins, McGavin (Spurs) sent off 61 mins.

League Position: First and Champions with a game to play

[flipsix3]

Bordeaux had retained Le Championnat with games to spare, making it three in a row, and Pau had avoided instant relegation from Division Two - provided they could find a point in their last two games or the teams below them failed to win both of theirs.

Sitting in his office there’d been a brief moment of longing for Ed, to be back in France and joining in the celebrations that would undoubtedly take place at both clubs in the coming weeks. It was strange, he’d always felt like he was waiting to get back to England, yet now he was here he missed his old life. Maybe it was the naturally cynical approach of the English fans and press, after the Bournemouth result there’d been some pretty unsavoury stuff said in certain quarters and it left something of a bitter taste in his mouth. Now he would have to try and mastermind something special for the last game of the season, as a reward for the faithful Spurs travelling contingent.

With Laursen and McGavin suspended, and Dawson out with a training injury, Ed didn’t need to shuffle too much to give some of the lesser lights a start for the trip to Burnley. Against mid-table opposition he was after a good send-off for both the fans and those players leaving the club, and two first-half goals from Adam Hilton got the ball rolling nicely. Burnley pulled one back after the break but the players really were in party mood by then, Downing was showboating for the Spurs fans and playing the ball around for fun whilst Mendes strung together passes at will, but it was Jamie Slabber who came off the bench to set up Simon Davies for the easiest of finishes to wrap it all up.

Ed had always found finishing the season, particularly a successful one, away from home to be something of an anti-climax. There were maybe a thousand travelling fans who stayed behind for as long as the authorities would allow to applaud their side, and particularly Downing and Calum Davenport, but soon enough they’d gone and the Spurs players were left to quietly get changed and make their way home.

[flipsix3]

With the play-offs holding little interest for his side Ed had arranged for them to get together on the day before, the intention was to send off the players that were leaving and generally have a social occasion before they all went their separate ways for a few weeks holiday. With the Premiership having gone down to the wire they sat around with food and drink to watch Chelsea’s match against a surprisingly strong Sheffield Wednesday.

The Blues were second in the table to Man United, but only on goal difference, and if both slipped up then a win for Liverpool could see them nick it. News of an early goal at Old Trafford meant that the title looked to be going that way, and despite an equaliser from Bolton United were four-one up before Chelsea finally found a chink in Wednesday’s armour, Saviola getting his first goal for his new side in the dying minutes.

United’s margin saw them take the title away from London for the first time in five seasons, a hat-trick of Arsenal wins had been hard for the Spurs players to take but there had been a general feeling among his players that they’d wanted to see Chelsea retain it this season.

With the game done and dusted the televisions were switched off and Daniel Levy called for quiet so that he could say a few words. He started off congratulating Ed and then the players, there were warm words for Downing and Davenport, and for Missada Saytaifa who’d quietly carried on performing for the Reserves. Frank Arnesen joined him to briefly offer a vision of their first season back in the Premiership, and then a few bottles of bubbly had been cracked open… yet it all still felt very artificial to Ed.

Nonsense, he told himself, you’re just adjusting to being back over here still, and this is big business for these guys, you need to look at it on a personal level and let them worry about that side of things.

He tried, he sat in the corner for a moment and considered what they’d achieved and where they were going, he did it imagining himself as the twenty-something who’d made his name here as a player, and he allowed himself a smile.

[flipsix3]

MAY 2011 SUMMARY

Burnley 1 (Hanley 65)

Spurs 3 (Hilton 37, 43, Davies 88)

Man of the Match: Pedro Mendes

| Pos   | Team           |       | Pld   | Won   | Drn   | Lst   | For   | Ag    | G.D.  | Pts   | 
| -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 1st   | Tottenham      |       | 46    | 28    | 12    | 6     | 83    | 36    | +47   | 96    | 
| -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 2nd   | Coventry       |       | 46    | 25    | 12    | 9     | 71    | 33    | +38   | 87    | 
| -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 3rd   | Portsmouth     |       | 46    | 23    | 13    | 10    | 60    | 29    | +31   | 82    | 
| -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 4th   | Watford        |       | 46    | 23    | 13    | 10    | 50    | 28    | +22   | 82    | 
| -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 5th   | Norwich        |       | 46    | 20    | 13    | 13    | 62    | 54    | +8    | 73    | 
| -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 6th   | Cardiff        |       | 46    | 19    | 13    | 14    | 59    | 43    | +16   | 70    | 
| -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 7th   | Stoke          |       | 46    | 20    | 9     | 17    | 62    | 51    | +11   | 69    | 
| -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 8th   | West Ham       |       | 46    | 17    | 18    | 11    | 52    | 44    | +8    | 69    | 
| -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 9th   | Derby          |       | 46    | 18    | 15    | 13    | 68    | 68    | 0     | 69    | 
| -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 10th  | Q.P.R.         |       | 46    | 16    | 17    | 13    | 62    | 54    | +8    | 65    | 
| -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 11th  | Bristol C      |       | 46    | 18    | 11    | 17    | 64    | 58    | +6    | 65    | 
| -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 12th  | Plymouth       |       | 46    | 15    | 18    | 13    | 53    | 46    | +7    | 63    | 
| -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 13th  | Burnley        |       | 46    | 17    | 8     | 21    | 51    | 62    | -11   | 59    | 
| -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 14th  | Wigan          |       | 46    | 13    | 17    | 16    | 33    | 37    | -4    | 56    | 
| -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 15th  | Hull           |       | 46    | 13    | 16    | 17    | 48    | 49    | -1    | 55    | 
| -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 16th  | Brighton       |       | 46    | 14    | 11    | 21    | 43    | 58    | -15   | 53    | 
| -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 17th  | Leeds          |       | 46    | 11    | 19    | 16    | 50    | 61    | -11   | 52    | 
| -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 18th  | Reading        |       | 46    | 10    | 21    | 15    | 45    | 52    | -7    | 51    | 
| -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 19th  | Crystal Palace |       | 46    | 10    | 18    | 18    | 32    | 49    | -17   | 48    | 
| -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 20th  | Bournemouth    |       | 46    | 11    | 14    | 21    | 40    | 68    | -28   | 47    | 
| -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 21st  | Swindon        |       | 46    | 11    | 13    | 22    | 37    | 69    | -32   | 46    | 
| -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 22nd  | Swansea        |       | 46    | 11    | 12    | 23    | 48    | 76    | -28   | 45    | 
| -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 23rd  | Nottm Forest   |       | 46    | 6     | 24    | 16    | 35    | 53    | -18   | 42    | 
| -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 24th  | Bristol Rovers |       | 46    | 10    | 9     | 27    | 45    | 75    | -30   | 39    | 
| -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|

[flipsix3]

With his side destined for the Premiership there was a lot of interest surrounding the teams that they’d be facing, and much of the talk around the club was of those teams already there. After losing their Premiership crown at the last hurdle there were those that doubted Chelsea would recover in time for their Champion’s League final, but the Blues clearly rattled Inter and a Fernando Torres brace saw them lift the trophy despite having Wayne Bridge sent off twenty-seven minutes into the match.

Arsenal’s FA Cup triumph, their fourth in five seasons, was less than popular at White Hart Lane with a number of long-term Spurs players vowing to end the run next season one way or another. Ed wasn’t going to get drawn into that conversation just yet though.

What he did secretly have half an eye on was the European qualifiers, with the so-called ‘big four’ entered into the Champions League there were UEFA Cup slots for; Southampton, Villa and Sheffield Wednesday. Add in Newcastle and Manchester City and that was nine teams, and Ed was sure that he had the makings of a squad that could get right into that sort of scrap within one or two seasons.

His ambitions had taken a slight knock when the transfer funds for the coming season were announced though, with money already allocated to the Walther signing, and a potential big-name deal in the pipeline, a total of £20million was unlikely to go very far – and what was doubly annoying was that the Walther deal had been agreed based on this season’s funds – of which at least £25million had gone unspent and had disappeared into the books.

One thing I hate about the way that business has taken over this game, he thought to himself as he roughed out some figures, you try and be thrifty and it ends up getting ‘redirected’ into the profit margins.

[flipsix3]

“Look Matt, it was always going to be a tough decision for me and I wouldn’t be at all surprised if you got upset with me over it”

………

“No, not at all, it’s not like that, when I made a move for you I wasn’t sure that I’d be able to get this other guy. Now I know I can and I have to be honest with you.”

………

“No I’m not saying that, what I’m saying is that Mike will be first choice but he’s not going to start every game. Matt, my scouts told me good things about you and you can be sure I’m not going to let your talents go to waste – I just don’t want you to be under any illusions is all”

He wasn’t really sure how Matt Richards had taken it all in the end, he’d sounded okay but Ed knew that only time would tell. Once he’d decided to train his side to play without wingers his mind had immediately switched to one man, but he’d been far from sure of succeeding in his efforts – two weeks he’d been negotiating, but on July first Mike Zonneveld would be arriving to start training with his new club.

Ed took a piece of paper and roughed out some names…

Fülöp; Neervoort – Dawson – Gardner; Zonneveld – Ifil; Davies – Barton – Mendes; Walther – McGavin

…as a starting line-up it looked pretty strong provided Davies could adapt to coming inside a little more than he was accustomed to. With some decent backup, of which he had a fair bit, he was confident that they could adapt to the new look well. What he needed to do was flesh out the supporting roles a little, and probably cut loose a bit of the deadwood.

That was the one part of the job he really hated, he remembered the look on his friend Micky’s face when Huddersfield had chosen to let him go after a couple of seasons, and it was a look that still haunted him now on the odd occasion. There was no easy way to tell someone that they weren’t good enough for you.

[flipsix3]

June 26th 2011 was a date that Ed would remember for the rest of his life, and hopefully not find himself living to regret. It had seemed like just another closed-season day with paperwork, paperwork, and more paperwork. He’d made a couple of phone calls, and agreed to two proposed friendly ties for the pre-season spell, when his phone rang again – he reached across and hit the speaker button.

“Yes?”

*Mister Allen, I have a gentleman from the Football Association on the line*

“Okay, put him through” Ed responded, it was probably something to do with the new fixture list, or the matches to be moved for television coverage. “Hello”

*Edgar, good morning, Gary Mills here, how are you?*

“I’m… I’m fine Mister Mills, and you?” he knew the name, everyone knew Mills’ name, he’d been chief executive of the FA for three years now.

*Yes I’m well, are you okay to talk for a couple of minutes?*

“Of course” Ed replied, and was amused to find himself tidying his desk as if the teacher had just walked into the classroom. He put the open files to one side and picked up the handset.

“What can I do for you?”

………

“Of course I have, Adams has got them working well, top of the group and a game in hand if I recall?”

………

“Well I’m very flattered, obviously, I mean working alongside Micky would be a - ”

Mills cut in and Ed tried to take in what he was saying but there were suddenly a thousand voices in his head, had he heard the man right?

“I’m sorry, you mean manage the team? Take over from Adams?”

………

“I… I don’t know what to say sir, I’m really very flattered but I just don’t think it’s a job that I could do right now. I hope that you understand, and that you won’t rule me out again in the future, it’s just not the right time”

………

“Thank you, I’d appreciate that, the last thing I need is the press jumping on this”

………

“No no, thank you, and good luck with finding the right man”

As soon as he hung the phone up he wondered if he’d made a massive mistake, maybe he should have taken some time to think it over? He needed a drink and he needed it now, leaving a message with his PA he made for the players lounge in the hope that there might be someone around. Had he really just turned down the England job?

[flipsix3]

Go on resign from spurs and go back to pau - you know Ed wants to.

KUTGW

Hehe, I don't think Ed's quite ready for that... yet

[flipsix3]

When the signing of Walther was officially announced to the public the reaction was huge, Ed sensed that many had read the media reports as mere speculation but when he followed the obligatory press conference up with an impromptu unveiling in front of the stadium the crowds had packed in.

All over the fan-based websites there were posts of euphoria form Spurs fans, and disbelief from many followers of the Red Devils who couldn’t believe the price that Walther had fetched. At twenty years of age the German was already seen as something of a wonderkid, something like a young Michael Owen but with the hard battling attitude of Alan Shearer.

The furore surrounding Walther’s arrival almost overshadowed the introduction of the other new faces that took place over the following few days – and he hoped that it might return him to favour with those who’d questioned the sale of Morris mid-way through the season.

Mike Zonnneveld caused a stir of his own, with many fans turning up in shirts already bearing the Dutchman’s name, but Matt Richards slipped in almost beneath the radar. Ed had found other targets too, a scouting trip to the former eastern bloc had uncovered Pavol Kovacik as a young midfielder to watch and when news came that MSK Zilina had released the teenager, Ed had made a successful bid to sign him to the reserves.

There was one last deal in the pipeline too, with the effective loss of some of his funds Ed had been forced to withdraw a bid for Sochaux’s highly rated Jérémy Ménez because of the astronomical compensation that would have been due – but the forward’s name was firmly on his watch list for the coming months. Instead he’d turned to a tip from Michael Dawson, who let him know that Nottingham Forest were looking likely to offload Joos van Barneveld. Ed had actually seen the Dutchman play a couple of times, and was sure that he could fill a spot on the bench for the right price. When Forest’s new boss, Richie Money, had set the bar at little more than ninety-thousand Ed had snapped his hand off and was now waiting on contract talks.

[flipsix3]

From the day that Van Barneveld signed, to the day that he took his side to face Grimsby in their first pre-season game, every morning Ed awoke and looked in the mirror and asked himself if he shouldn’t have taken the England job. Dave Jones had been appointed in the end, doubling up with his position at Sheffield Wednesday, and Ed found himself wondering if he couldn’t have done that – it seemed that most international managers were fulfilling duel roles these days, but he’d never been a fan of the concept.

Only the return to action had finally taken his mind off it, the new formation was put to the test at Blundell Park and Ed was keen to see how it would work – certainly the coaches had seemed happy enough with the results in their practice matches. They were without Walther for the trip, a training ground injury ruling the German out for a week or two, so Adam Hilton celebrated the signing of a new contract with a start alongside McGavin.

At first his side had looked unconvincing, as if still trying to get to grips with the new approach, but once Ifil’s deflected shot found the net they seemed to wake up. Two for McGavin, a goal each for Barton and Davies, and a five goal win was theirs. He wasn’t getting carried away though, at times they’d looked pretty ordinary in midfield against a side two leagues below them, and the defence got caught out more than once, but he put that down to ring rust.

To offset the great result there had to be a downer though, and the news that Adam Hilton’s second-half injury was in fact a broken toe was not welcome at all – two months on the sidelines and Ed was immediately looking to see if he could add depth to the strikeforce.

There was an improvement in performance when VfB Stuttgart came to London, playing against opposition more closely matched to their own level Spurs carved out a one-all draw in front of a disappointingly small pre-season crowd. Again he’d had some concerns with the midfield but things were slowly starting to gel it seemed, and with match fitness returning his side had looked the better over ninety minutes.

[flipsix3]

After a 4-day gap in updates…

aargh - don't let this die flippers! I want more! Cracking story, makes coming to work worthwhile!

No end in sight just yet, just have to cope with my laziness on posting (and the fact I'm away from home lots)

Off on holiday for a week so I'm going to post a few updates to keep you going...

[flipsix3]

“God dammit!! You stupid son of a – “

The mug that usually sat on his desk flew across the room and smashed against the wall, the pens it held scattering across the floor. Ed slumped back in his chair and closed his eyes, rubbing his temples as he counted to ten. Calm down, now! You don’t need to get into this sort of state.

Except he did, he couldn’t believe how stupid he’d been and this outlet made him feel better – moreover he couldn’t believe that someone who supposedly held Spurs in such high regard would turn his back so readily, and by taking it out on crockery he would certainly avoid a potential ABH charge.

Okay so get it out of your system, but do it here, or go and kick some balls, just don’t take this mood out in public, you know what happened last time. You know what happened to Cat– He cut himself short, he was not going down that path!

He’d been desperate to re-sign Anthony Gardner, after such a period of uncertainty he’d even been willing to write a small release clause into the defender’s contract – after all, if he was looking to sign a new deal, he surely wouldn’t be ready to invoke it for at least a season would he? But that’s where he’d been wrong, when Middlesbrough came in with a bid to match the requirements of the clause Gardner had been off like a scolded cat – Ed had tried a new contract offer, Gardner had turned it down claiming that he deserved better wages, but if the press were to be believed he’d now agreed to join Boro at a significantly lower rate of weekly pay.

Obviously he never really wanted to stay, just calm it down and worry about those who are still here…

…and about stuffing goals past him when we play them, he added as an afterthought.

He walked across the office and cleared up his mess, dropping the pieces of broken mug into the bin. Once he’d calmed down a little he pulled out his scouting files, whilst they could survive without Gardner it would be better to add a little depth and he’d already been considering a move for Roma’s Gianfranco Romito – he went over the defender’s history once more before ringing Arnesen to see what could be done.

Of course if the new formation didn’t work out this might prove to be a blessing in disguise, with Gardner gone it would be easier to fit the defence back into a flat four, then all he’d need would be someone to replace Downing on the left.

[flipsix3]

With Gardner gone Ed had started with a back line of Neervoort, Dawson, and the aging Laursen to face a visiting FC Bayern, and all three had performed well. They may have been reigning German champions but they couldn’t find a way past Fülöp, and Joey Barton’s early goal had been enough to seal the win on the day.

Things were starting to look better with the formation, the midfield was tightening up in places and the defence were starting to find their collective feet. With Walther due to return to action for the trip to his homeland Ed was happy that they could certainly give the new look a go for the first few games of the season at least.

There was still a question of squad depth, an offer had been made to Romito when the news had been received that his contract talks had stalled, and Ed had also decided to try and emulate last year’s success by taking one of Manchester United’s hot young strikers in on loan – although surely they’d be wise to the possibilities this time around?

He was left waiting on both potential targets as his side flew out and played Oberhausen in the final pre-season game of the summer. By now the squad was working together well and Ed was particularly happy to see how quickly Zonneveld had adapted to his new role, but they’d had to settle for a goalless draw on German soil in the end. There would need to be some minor adjustments and he sat down with the coaching staff to discuss these, but he’d seen enough to be confident in sticking to his guns for now.

Flying back they arrived at Heathrow to the news that two new faces would be joining them in the next few days, Romito had been released by Roma – a fact that Ed found remarkable – and had opted for Spurs over a handful of other top-flight teams from around Europe, and United’s Mark Booth had decided to ‘do a Walther’ and join the Londoners for the season. Hopefully the final pieces of the puzzle were in place.

[flipsix3]

The summer had passed him by so fast that he’d barely had the chance to see what was going on elsewhere, he’d not even been to see his parents during the break – though he had made the odd phone call, and it had been Dad who had sparked his interest with his opinion on Huddersfield’s forays into the transfer market.

Ed could sympathise, the Terriers had made just one signing – although from their results the season before that one might prove enough to push them into the playoff spots. He’d been prompted to see what other transfers had gone on, of course the national press had kept everybody well informed of the big name deals; Xabi Alonso to Arsenal, David Bentley to Chelsea, Anelka’s arrival at Old Trafford – they were all newsworthy but he was more interested in overseas deals.

When he saw that Bordeaux had used the Zonneveld money to sign Adriano he almost fell of his chair, but on closer reading it turned out that this Adriano was a fullback – and a direct replacement for the Dutchman. Other than that Cartier hadn’t made any notable signings and it looked like they’d be going after a fourth title with pretty much the same squad. Whilst he could see them achieving strong results he was disappointed to note that Pau had made no moves in the market with the exception of a backup goalkeeper, and he found himself wondering if they were going to stand any better chance of survival than they had a season before.

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Arsenal’s walk-over in the Community Shield seemed to fire his lads up somewhat – though he’d never been a fan of Man United the only thing to do, when employed by Spurs, was to back them and the three-one defeat was hard to stomach for the hardcore Wenger-haters around him. United had tried to do it the physical way, resulting in seven bookings as the Gunners remained calm and cruised throughout the match, and for a while Ed had been genuinely worried about the season ahead as he watched the pace and flair that the top sides played with.

The season was only a week away now, and Ed found himself wondering again whether he should have taken the England job – indeed whether he should have thrown himself into it full-time – but he knew that it was just the pre-season nerves playing mind games with him.

[flipsix3]

Would you really have passed up this for the chance to manage England for a dozen or so games a year? Ed knew the answer to his own question without even thinking about it.

Okay so a Saturday afternoon in Southampton was hardly the most glamorous way to kick-start his Premiership career, but it was a scorching hot day and the Sky TV cameras were in town – meaning an early kick-off. With his side engaged in the first action of the new season he knew that everyone’s attention would be focussed on them, the recipe was perfect for a great day.

Martin Jol had led Southampton to a strong seventh place finish in the previous season and they were the clear favourites as the game kicked off, but there was no fear in the eyes of any of Ed’s players and he’d made it clear to them that as far as he was concerned they were capable of taking on anyone except the top four or five sides in the country.

Spurs’ self belief was what made the game such a great spectacle, and though they started by sitting back a little they soon got more adventurous. Thirteen minutes in and Laursen’s long throw found Walther in the box, the German was beaten to the ball by Mikkel Bischoff but the play was halted by a shrill whistle – Ed held his breath as Matthew Wilson had a quick word with Bischoff and then pointed to the spot. Joey Barton had taken over Downing’s role as team captain, and he handed the ball to Zonneveld – a regular spot-kick taker at Bordeaux – to handle the pressure. For Ed it was a huge moment, the Dutchman was standing over the ball with the chance to score the first goal of the Premiership season… on his debut. It was almost too much to watch, and when Paul Harrison went the right way and parried Zonneveld’s kick he turned away in disappointment only to hear the cheers of the travelling support. McGavin was being mobbed by his team-mates and it was clear that the Irishman had fought through the scrum for the rebound and fired it home.

He tried to remain calm as the first half played out, resisting the urge to change his game plan and sit deep. The viewers at home would be getting a real treat as both sides continued to create chances and find weaknesses in defences that were still a little out of practice, and at half time Spurs’ lead was the perfect scoreline to set up a second half battle.

The team talk was brief, but to the point, with Ed spending most of the fifteen minutes concentrating on McGavin – the striker had been the subject of a crunching tackle from Danny Higginbotham and it became clear that he wasn’t going to feature any further. Mark Booth was warmed up and took the pitch for the second half.

Jol had clearly made his feelings known during the interval and Southampton came out of the blocks hard, but Ed had anticipated and urged caution for the first ten minutes or so – it worked, and the game soon settled into an even battle again. Another spell of pressure should really have seen the Saints level but Fülöp’s acrobatics, and a goal-line clearance from Dawson, kept Ed’s men in front going into the dying moments.

It had already been a great match for the Spurs fans, but a late counter saw their chance for more – Jol had gambled and pushed five men forward, now Davies was running at two defenders with three players in support, his cross-field pass found Mendes in space and the ball flew into the roof of the net from the edge of the area. There was no time for a response form Southampton, and when the whistle blew Spurs were top of the Premiership… for a few hours at least.

[flipsix3]

Ed was waiting by the sideline as the Newcastle squad ran out onto the White Hart Lane pitch, Antonio Rio Mavuba caught his eye and broke ranks for a moment.

“Monsieur Allen”

“Don’t be daft Tony, it’s Ed okay?”

“It’s good to see you Ed, you’re happy to be back in England?”

“Yeah, I am. How about you? How have you settled in?”

“Oh comme-ci, comme ça, you know how it is in a foreign country, the football is good but I’m not sure if Newcastle is the right city for me”

Ed said nothing, but made a mental note to keep an eye on his former Bordeaux man, if it was just the north-east that was a problem then maybe there was an opportunity in the making.

“Well I’m sure it’ll work out, good luck today – you’re going to need it” He gave Mavuba a wink and a pat on the shoulder.

He knew that it was his side who could use the luck, the Toon army lined up with two players he’d been tracking for some time, Robben and Van Persie, he’d had his eye on both at Bordeaux and had even tried to take Van Persie to Spurs last season. Much of Newcastle’s setup was focussed on pace and he’d warned his back line to be ready for them…

…clearly they hadn’t listened, six minutes in Robben charged through the rain and swung in a ball from the byline – Laursen had sat deeper than his two colleagues but still couldn’t get to the ball before Benjamin Lauth headed it at Fülöp, the keeper reacted brilliantly but his parry fell straight to Van Persie to side foot home.

“That’s what I was talking about!” he yelled from the technical area, urging his defensive trio to work as a unit, “either all push up, or all sit deep”

The Spurs fans seemed to take it in their stride, they were a side tipped for the drop after all, but they weren’t left considering defeat for long, thirteen minutes and Zonneveld played a one-two off the Newcastle fullback before chipping the ball into the box for McGavin, the Irishman steadied himself and curled one across the front of Shay Given and into the top corner.

Twenty-six minutes and Barton’s cleverly disguised pass put Davies through, he side-stepped the inexperienced Dominique Garnier and slid the ball past Given to put Spurs in front. Thirty-two minutes and a Mendes corner caused havoc in the Newcastle area, Laursen’s shot blocked, McGavin on the rebound seeing Given parry, and Walther on hand to fire it home. At forty-five minutes the Ref blew for half-time and Ed watched his side jog off with a three-one advantage.

“Much better, now you three are working together we’ve got them on the ropes,” he couldn’t believe he was saying it, with half of the game to go there would always be danger but he really didn’t see any way back for George Burley’s side.

The second half was less inspirational, the teams slogging out a midfield battle in the persistent rain, but the Spurs fans certainly didn’t care. They sang all the way to the full-time whistle, Van Persie was a constant threat and was given a justified round of applause when he was withdrawn before the end, but it was for their own side that they reserved the biggest roar of the afternoon when the final whistle blew.

Ed watched the Newcastle players leave the pitch, one or two had their heads down already – Mavuba included. He made sure that his own lads saw this, and made a point of telling them that he never wanted to see that reaction to a defeat from them, it could only lead to them dwelling on things. “When the whistle blows and we’ve lost, then it’s over and we move on, remember that if nothing else” he told them.

[flipsix3]

Great start to your Premiership campaign.

Keep up the good work

Great start - tell Ed to stay away from the England job he won't like it.

I still think he'd be happier back at Pau.

Just wanted to say, it was this story that inspired me to start writing my own.

Congrats on 20,000 views, flipsix, really shows you've kept the story alive and well-told. KUTGW!

…and what a story it is/was!! flipsix3 July 2008

Well done on reaching 20000 views. Your story encouraged my first attempt - Strictly Come Dancing.

I will never come close to your story abilities but hope to create some interest in mine all inspired by yours.

Mark

Cheers guys, appreciate it. 20,000 views, really!? Cool. Truly amazing

...and the best of luck with your own tales

[flipsix3]

“First dropped points of the season then Ed, but happy with a draw?”

“I’m sorry Peter, not right now.” Ed brushed past the man from the BBC and went looking for his Physio staff, pushing into the room he tracked down Geoff Scott. “Geoff, what’s the news?”

“Not good Ed, Michael’s fine, Dirk’s torn his hamstring, eight weeks – maybe ten, we'll no more by mid-week”

It had been a frustrating afternoon, for the first half Sheffield Wednesday had been in control but had rarely threatened, when McGavin put Spurs ahead early in the second he’d sensed the chance for a third win. That Wednesday equalised soon after wasn’t the biggest of blows, to lose Dawson and Walther had been serious though, and it looked like Walther was going to miss a good chunk of the early season now.

Taking a minute to gather his thoughts, he stepped back into the corridor and sought out the waiting correspondent.

“Sorry about that Peter, minor crisis”

“No problem, give me a second,” the presenter turned to his technician, “We ready?”

Ed had never been a great fan of doing the television thing, and in France he’d managed to avoid it as often as he could – citing his weakness with the language until the final year or so of his tenure. Even in the Championship he’d managed to keep most encounters to brief sound-bites, with the odd exception when the title had been secured. But he was in the Premiership now, probably the most widely broadcast league in the world, and the sound-bites were replaced by three or four minute interviews for each of several television companies – that had been bad enough in France when he could keep his camera time to a minimum, but he was public property now and he’d just have to get used to it.

------

Three games into the season and a healthy third place, of course it was early days and there were teams with a game in hand, but already the Spurs fans were making the most of it and mocking their Arsenal counterparts who were some way adrift in the table. The Board were as happy as the fans, and morale on the training ground was high, but Ed knew that their first true test was about to come.

[flipsix3]

Program notes, Ed liked them a lot more than TV interviews but he still couldn’t really say that they were his favourite job in the world. He sat back and read form the computer screen once again, trying to find ways to improve what he’d written for the tenth time.

It’s a good time to be a Spurs fan, behind the scenes we’re working to secure our Premiership status for the long term and to take the club onwards and upwards to where we rightfully belong. It’s going to be a tough journey though, but if you – the fans – get behind us then we know we can get there. Today’s match is the fourth of the season so hopefully you’ve all had a chance to see the new guys in action, and we hope that you’ll be giving Mike Zonneveld, Franco, Joos and Matty Richards the same backing that you gave the rest of us last season.

Like I said, we face a tough journey and no game will be tougher than today’s, with Dirk injured and the terms of our loan agreement meaning that we can’t play Mark Booth against United, we’re unfortunately not going to be at full strength. We were hoping to have Mike Dawson back but it’s going to be a late fitness test for him – more news on the day. United haven’t finished outside the top three since the 2004/05 season and we don’t expect them to do us any favours, love them or loathe them there’s no doubting their quality, but rest assured we’re up for the fight.

A good result today and we’ll be in an even stronger position than we already are but let’s not get carried away just yet, it’s a long season and a lot can happen. Carry on giving us your support and we’ll carry on striving for those all important forty-odd points.

Until next time

Ed Allen

He wasn’t really happy with it, it seemed to just repeat itself, but it really was too early in the season to get into anything more just yet, all he wanted was for the fans to get behind his side until they settled to the pace of Premiership life once more.

The picture for the Man United game was a little more grim than he was suggesting too, with Walther and Booth ruled out he was left with Hilton supporting McGavin up front – and Hilton had only resumed full training on the Thursday morning. Michael Dawson passed the late fitness test but he’d need to be carefully watched, and Ed was prepared to bring in Laursen once the pace of the game dropped a little.

-----

The game featured one of the greatest goals Ed had ever had the pleasure of seeing ‘in the flesh’ so to speak. With fifteen minutes on the clock the United captain, Wayne Rooney, had slotted his one hundredth league goal in a sparkling career. Rooney had picked the ball up forty yards out and left Neervoort trailing, the Dutchman closed the ground just as Rooney unleashed a shot from fully twenty-five yards. It wasn’t the distance that impressed Ed, it was the way that Rooney struck the ball with the outside of his left foot, firing it across the area and curling it past Fülöp and inside the far post.

Unfortunately for the travelling United fans their idol’s goal was only the equaliser, Spurs had stung the visitors early on when McGavin had cut in from out wide, nutmegged Ferdinand, and fired a low shot at Stenild – the keeper had reacted well but could only block the ball into the path of a somewhat surprised Adam Hilton.

The goal had come early and Ed had anticipated the reaction, Rooney’s goal came as no surprise but after that he’d watched Dawson rally a determined defence to keep the champions at bay and recorded their second draw, taking them onto eight points from four games.

[flipsix3]

AUGUST 2011 SUMMARY

Southampton 0

Spurs 2 (McGavin 13, Mendes 89)

Man of the Match: Pedro Mendes

News: Zonneveld (Spurs) missed pen 13 (rebound for McGavin goal)

Spurs 3 (McGavin 13, Davies 26, Walther 32)

Newcastle 1 (Van Persie 6)

Man of the Match: Mike Zonneveld

Sheff Wed 1 (Murray 58)

Spurs 1 (McGavin 53)

Man of the Match: Matt Evans (Sheff) [GK]

Spurs 1 (Hilton 5)

Man Utd 1 (Rooney 15)

Man of the Match: Mike Zonneveld

League Position: 4th

[flipsix3]

Good to see an update, still enjoying the story a lot as well.

Just love this story.

Cheers guys …

[flipsix3]

It had been a risk to play Dawson against United, and whilst he’d been in great form he aggravated his shoulder injury meaning another week on the sidelines. Whilst the defender was recovering, his team-mates were picking up accolades – Zonneveld and Mendes were named first and second in the ‘Player of the Month’ awards and Walther, for the part he’d played, was tagged as the young player to watch. Having arrived in the Premiership just a few weeks ago Ed was aware that his side were really starting to turn heads, and he knew that it was a double-edged sword – the ego boost would do their confidence the world of good, but the pressure that came with it might have an impact too.

By the time their trip to Fulham was over even more people were mentioning their name, and those that were claiming that it was just a fluke start to the campaign were making nervous glances at the table. Ed, meanwhile, was already wondering what the chances of repeating last season’s coup were because what he had seen in ninety minutes made Mark Booth his new number one target. Of course there was the fact that Booth had only just signed for United, and the chances of them letting a player go without him ever featuring in their side were nil, but the quality he had shown was something that Ed couldn’t ignore.

Mark Kerr had given Fulham the lead, but it lasted just five minutes before Booth reacted well to a poor block by Donker and slotted the equaliser. The striker had turned twenty just two months previously, but he looked many years wiser as he ran the game for Spurs and made Ryan McGavin look ordinary – no mean feat in Ed’s eyes. If his first goal had been simple, his second was far from it, well into the second half Zonneveld found Booth wide in the area and the youngster emulated Rooney’s goal of the week before – firing across the keeper with the outside of his left boot and curling it in, only from a significantly tighter angle.

The win meant that Spurs were one of only five unbeaten teams in the league, and the others were; United, Arsenal, Liverpool, and Chelsea. Ed told his players to enjoy it, the chances of it lasting were slim to say the least and to be in such hallowed company after two seasons in a lower division was something special.

[flipsix3]

nice to see you writing flip-love your stories and has inspired me to start another-ta

Just caught up with you again, after my long absence. Still as entertaining a read as ever. KUTGW

Thanks guys, and apologies for the infrequent updates again. Lots on the go, and looking at moving house shortly - don't seem to spend much time at home at the moment!

[flipsix3]

The latest of his scouting reports had been in for a week now, and Ed had come up with a shortlist of three young Scandinavians that he considered worthy of immediate action. With the new tactical approach seemingly successful he was keen to find some backup for Ifil on the right side, whilst James Wright could fill the role he was more of a traditional fullback and still only nineteen – to be fair to him he’d established himself as a regular in the England Under-21 setup, and Ed was sure that he’d become a fixture in the future, but for now he had his eye on Icelandic international Brynjar Hermansson as a January signing. Hermansson was not much older than Wright himself, but reports from his scouts were positive and the ability to play on either side of the park was the bonus that convinced Ed to make his move.

He’d negotiated a deal with the semi-professional club where Hermansson was plying his trade, and had just fired off a contract offer the youngster.

Also on his list of targets was HJK’s Timo Sipola, a Finnish striker with an impressive record in his native league, but so far he’d been unable to tempt his man – who refused to discuss anything other than a role as a regular starter at Spurs. He was considering making another call to Sipola’s agent when there was a knock at his office door.

“Come in” he called, not looking up from the files on the desk in front of him.

“Well well well, if it’s not the man upsetting the apple cart. You’re going to have to watch yourself you know, they’ll be gunning for you”

He knew the voice before the first few words were uttered, and the broad smile that would be attached to it.

“Mr Lineker, I wondered how long it would take for you to turn up down here,” he smiled and extended a hand as his former team-mate strode into the room. “So how’s life at the Beeb suiting you? Seems like you’re a regular Des Lynam these days, what with the footie, and the golf, I’m surprised you’re prepared to slum it with the likes of me” he winked.

He’d always been pleased for Lineker’s success in the media, for some reason he’d never seen him as the sort of man to go into coaching and the television work had come naturally from the start – now, by fifty-one years of age, he’d become the main man in the BBC’s sports team and had earned a reputation as the face that brought middle aged women to their audience. He’d certainly come a long way from the son of a market trader in Leicester.

They chatted for an hour or more, wandering through the corridors of White Hart Lane and reminiscing days gone by and the pranks that the likes of Gazza used to get up to. Gary was particularly keen to congratulate him, not only on the form that Spurs were showing, but on the legacies that he’d left at his former clubs – though he’d seen the odd bit in the press here and there, Ed had really never considered his reputation which – according to Lineker – was soaring ever higher.

“Well I can’t really say that Bordeaux’s current form is much for me to be proud of.” Ed responded, he’d been keeping an eye on his former side who had found only one league win in their opening six games to slide into thirteenth in the table.

“But what you did was build a squad for them to take forward,” Lineker countered, “they carried on and took the title last season, if the new man chooses not to use them to their best then it’s hardly your fault. You’re a big man in this world now Ed, I’m almost surprised they’ve not offered you the England job yet!” The comment was clearly made only half in jest, Ed had nearly choked on his coffee, but just about managed to retain his composure.

[flipsix3]

still excellent stuff as always flip, makes for a classic read everytime Spurs for the Champions League...and if the England team is anything like as bad as Saturday then take the job next time they come calling

Cheers Sherm

[flipsix3]

Manchester United’s unbeaten run ended at Liverpool, mid-way through September, and that left just four sides with a big zero in the ‘lost’ column of the league table. With their league form in mind Ed put together a side for the Carling Cup that included James Wright, Matt Richards, and Tommy Rose in defence - and saw 16-year-old Steve Baker among those on the bench. He didn’t expect Preston to be a walkover, but at the same time they were toward the bottom end of the League One table and in desperate need of some league form – with any luck they wouldn’t be looking to waste too much effort on the Cup.

“So how are you settling in then Mike?” Ed sat alongside his Dutch wingback on the bench.

“A lot better than I thought I might,” he responded, “I’m really enjoying it and they’re a great team to work with”

Ed was pleased to hear Zonneveld speak in such terms about his team-mates, but the fact was that the Dutchman was almost in a different class entirely. He’d grown used to his performances at Bordeaux, in a side that arguably had a lot more established talent, but his Opta ratings since arriving in England were huge and he was leaving many bigger name stars in his wake.

“Well keep it up, we’ve got a great chance for more points this weekend, and look at it this way – we’re a damn sight better placed than Bordeaux!”

It was maybe not the most tactful of comments that he could make, he was disappointed for his former side as much as Zonneveld was, but they both had one just one team in mind now. They sat and enjoyed watching Spurs’ dominance, but Ed knew that there would be controversy at the end of it all – he just didn’t realise how much.

At the end of the game Mike Newell had almost had to be restrained as he tore into Ed and his strikers with a bitter tirade, making it clear that he felt the Premiership ‘poseurs’ went to ground far too easily. For one of the penalties Ed thought he might actually have a point, McGavin had looked a little too keen to go over, but the foul on Hilton had been blatant. Whilst he might have conceded that two penalties were harsh, the resulting win – from a Mendes’ hat-trick – was no less than they deserved against a side who only drew a single save from Simon Lennon in the entire match. He made a point of publicly defending his players whilst trying to play down Newell’s sensationalist tactics.

-----

The draw for the third round would see them travelling to Wolverhampton, and the same Premiership opponents who had put them out in the previous season’s second round. Ed sat down with Levy and Arnesen to argue that the Carling Cup might be the best competition for them to focus maximum efforts on – in recent years the really big teams had adopted an approach of playing second-string sides almost without exception, a good run from Spurs and they might be lucky enough to find themselves in the latter stages with a shot at Europe.

[flipsix3]

Blackburn Rovers had still not been forgiven by the majority of Spurs fans, the 2002 Worthington Cup final was a painful memory – despite Spurs winning the re-branded trophy since. Andrew Cole’s late goal was still a sore point around North London.

In recent years Spurs had gone some way to dulling those memories, but never erasing them, the past five seasons had seen Rovers win just two games from seven meetings in league and cup competitions.

With the visitors struggling in the league Ed put together a pretty strong squad, only Walther and Dawson missing as they ran out in front of an enthusiastic home crowd. Though they couldn’t put together a scoreline to reflect their dominance, Ed watched his side rack up maximum points through McGavin’s short range piledriver late in the second half.

As the last few games of September were played out elsewhere Ed enjoyed watching as the table sorted itself out. Their initial assault on the Premier League had been viewed with a mixture of humour and scepticism by most pundits, but they were now six games in and firmly defying those that had tipped them for a struggling season. Of course there was a long way to go yet, and he admitted that their form was a massive surprise even to himself, but the vital forty point target was being approached very quickly.

[flipsix3]

SEPTEMBER 2011 SUMMARY

Fulham 1 (Kerr 15)

Spurs 2 (Booth 20, 69)

Man of the Match: Mark Booth

Spurs 3 (Mendes pen 13, pen 37, 44)

Preston 0

Carling Cup, 2nd Round

Man of the Match: Pedro Mendes

Spurs 1 (McGavin 80)

Blackburn 0

Man of the Match: Márton Fülöp

| Pos   | Team          |       | Pld   | Won   | Drn   | Lst   | For   | Ag    | G.D.  | Pts   | 
| ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 1st   | Liverpool     |       | 7     | 6     | 1     | 0     | 11    | 3     | +8    | 19    | 
| ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 2nd   | Arsenal       |       | 6     | 5     | 1     | 0     | 16    | 2     | +14   | 16    | 
| ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 3rd   | Man Utd       |       | 7     | 5     | 1     | 1     | 15    | 3     | +12   | 16    | 
| ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 4th   | Chelsea       |       | 6     | 4     | 2     | 0     | 12    | 5     | +7    | 14    | 
| ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 5th   | Tottenham     |       | 6     | 4     | 2     | 0     | 10    | 4     | +6    | 14    | 
| ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 6th   | Newcastle     |       | 7     | 4     | 1     | 2     | 14    | 8     | +6    | 13    | 
| ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 7th   | Aston Villa   |       | 6     | 4     | 1     | 1     | 12    | 7     | +5    | 13    | 
| ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 8th   | Man City      |       | 5     | 3     | 1     | 1     | 11    | 7     | +4    | 10    | 
| ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 9th   | Sheff Wed     |       | 6     | 3     | 1     | 2     | 9     | 6     | +3    | 10    | 
| ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 10th  | Middlesbrough |       | 6     | 2     | 2     | 2     | 4     | 4     | 0     | 8     | 
| ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 11th  | Southampton   |       | 6     | 2     | 2     | 2     | 7     | 9     | -2    | 8     | 
| ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 12th  | Birmingham    |       | 7     | 2     | 2     | 3     | 8     | 11    | -3    | 8     | 
| ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 13th  | Wolves        |       | 6     | 2     | 2     | 2     | 5     | 10    | -5    | 8     | 
| ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 14th  | Coventry      |       | 7     | 2     | 0     | 5     | 6     | 14    | -8    | 6     | 
| ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 15th  | Leicester     |       | 6     | 1     | 2     | 3     | 5     | 7     | -2    | 5     | 
| ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 16th  | Watford       |       | 6     | 1     | 1     | 4     | 4     | 9     | -5    | 4     | 
| ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 17th  | Blackburn     |       | 7     | 1     | 0     | 6     | 4     | 13    | -9    | 3     | 
| ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 18th  | Fulham        |       | 7     | 1     | 0     | 6     | 5     | 15    | -10   | 3     | 
| ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 19th  | Everton       |       | 7     | 0     | 2     | 5     | 9     | 17    | -8    | 2     | 
| ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 20th  | West Brom     |       | 7     | 0     | 0     | 7     | 3     | 16    | -13   | 0     | 
| ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|

[flipsix3]

When Tottenham Hotspur travel to The Hawthorns this weekend they will do so without Giel Neervoort or Ryan McGavin – both injured in training. It could be a big blow in the relegation battle as both sides...

Ed stopped reading the small article on the Sky Sports website, did these people even look at the table? Okay so the injuries could be a problem, but to tag the game as a relegation battle was frankly ridiculous, in fact he found it offensive and resented the suggestion that it made about his players. He printed the article off in the end, and pinned it to the players notice board with the word ‘relegation’ highlighted, if the players reacted anything like he had then it might prove to be a great motivational tool.

-----

One of the things that had pleased Ed most was how his side had adapted themselves to playing counter-attacking football. He’d never been a big fan of the concept, the idea of inviting teams to attack you had always seemed counter-productive, but their defence was strong and it was something that he’d started to use in the Championship promotion run – particularly playing away from home. It hadn’t taken long for the discipline required to develop, and now the lads almost seemed to adopt the approach without thinking about it.

It was certainly a conscious approach to play the waiting game at West Brom, the result was plenty of possession for the Baggies in the Spurs half of the pitch, but early on Zonneveld got forward – fed Davies – and watched the Welshman fire them in front. Unfortunately Steve Cotterill was wise to their game, had they not got back into contention so quickly it might have been a different story but Steven Whittaker – a former Hibs and Rangers regular – benefited from some unusual dallying in the Spurs defence to head home a corner and level the match within two minutes.

After that Cotterill’s men had sat back themselves, and played a very defensive game, with McGavin and Walther still missing the Spurs front line was frustrated. Booth never really got going, and when Adam Hilton picked up a second yellow card the chances of a win quickly diminished.

It was hard to be disappointed with a draw away from home, but West Brom were bottom of the table after all, and with league leaders Liverpool due at White Hart Lane in midweek – and Hilton’s suspension ruling out all three of their own strikeforce – they were going into a testing time.

[flipsix3]

…run of form in Le Championnat the club have appointed Jacques Santini, the much-maligned former Spurs manager, as boss…

Ed was woken by the radio alarm at his bedside and for a moment the words failed to register, but then Santini’s name worked its way through his half-sleeping brain and he was suddenly wide awake. There was nothing more on the story though, and for a few moments he sat in the bed and wondered if it might really be true – would Triaud have turned to Ed’s most hated manager to turn things around at Bordeaux?

He climbed out of bed and found his dressing gown, pulling it around him he walked through to the kitchen and made coffee before firing up his laptop in the lounge. After a quick check of his email he pulled up the Sky Sports website and followed the links to the French league index. His eyes scanned the page for a moment and then he breathed a sigh of relief, it was Montpellier who had given Santini the chance to return to management – after an uncharacteristically poor last season they now sat at the bottom of the table and had decided, apparently, that Santini was their man. Ed pitied their fans who would, he was sure, soon taste the bitterness of the Santini curse – maybe he was being a little melodramatic about it, but personal acrimony can do that to you, he knew that.

Whilst he had the page open he checked the league table, Bordeaux were still in all sorts of trouble and it pained him to see it – fourteenth after eight games, and just two wins to their name, only seven points separated them from Montpellier and he found himself wondering – not for the first time – what Cartier had done to destroy the side’s spirit. If he wasn’t careful the new manager might find himself playing against Pau in a year’s time, if he stayed in the job that long, Ed’s other French side had quickly established themselves in mid-table and seemed to be in the Second Division to stay this time.

He spent another hour or so browsing various football websites and then ran himself a hot shower, with the visit of Liverpool tonight it seemed likely that Spurs were going to lose their unbeaten record – the league leaders were in fine form and he was going to have to work hard with the lads today if they were going to take much from the game.

-----

With so many strikers out he’d been forced to re-evaluate – he could have started one of their teenagers up front but against Liverpool they were likely to be of no use at all anyway, instead he opted to give Van Barneveld the start and drop him back behind Booth as a lone front man. The Dutchman had made four appearances off the bench already, as well as featuring in the Carling Cup game, and Ed was happy that he was settling in well enough.

Mark Booth gave the Spurs crowd hope early on, another dazzling shot from a tight angle to bring them to their feet and establish the lead, but the pace of the Reds attack proved to be their undoing – playing Spurs at their own game Benitez’s side repeatedly broke quickly from deep in their own half and goals either side of the break for Djibril Cissé meant that Chelsea and Arsenal were now the only unbeaten teams challenging the Anfield side.

Ed remained philosophical, his Spurs side were still in a significantly better position than they would have been hoping for back in August. Okay so Van Barneveld had failed to make an impact, leaving Booth alone up front, but he should have his regular strike force back up to strength before too long and Walther was making big strides towards a full recovery too.

[flipsix3]

Now that is why you didn’t want to take the job just yet, Ed told himself as he lay in bed listening to the football phone in on Radio Five. England had run out as winners in the Euro 2012 qualifying match in Liechtenstein and yet still the fans were on the phone in numbers calling it a poor performance. Okay so the home side had managed to restrict England to two goals, but Kirkland hadn’t been asked to make a save all night and the points were in the bag.

For Ed it was a no-win situation, unless Dave Jones could conjure up a ten goal thriller every time of course, after all the job was to get the points and they’d done just that. Luke Moore had hit the first, Jenas the second, and whilst Rooney and Gerrard might have added to the tally there was no escaping the fact that England already in place as group winners with a game to play. What more did the fans want? If Rooney or Moore were to return to their clubs so tired as to be unable to play their next league game then they’d be baying for blood!

He snapped the radio off and picked up his book, at least the international schedule had given him a few days to relax a little, with a fortnight between the Liverpool game and the trip to Leicester he was looking forward to having a well rested squad available.

-----

It was 4am and Ed was awake, he knew why – it had been a dream, and a bad one – he couldn’t recall the details but he knew that it had involved Catherine… or it might have been Sonja… or both.

There was no point in trying to get back to sleep now, he pulled on a pair of pyjama trousers and wandered into the lounge to go through some notes – May as well get some work done now you’re up, he told himself.

In truth there wasn’t a whole lot that actually needed doing; he had a quick look over the latest financial reports from Levy – all healthy, wages well under budget and a good chunk of transfer cash left. There were no deals in the pipeline, and no significant scouting reports to go through. All in all things were running extremely well, he’d come a long way in the few seasons he’d been a manager, a long way from the days of juggling bills at Pau and trying desperately to sign anyone with a half-decent pedigree, he wondered if he’d already put such concerns behind him for good? Maybe Lineker had been right, maybe he was already being lumped in with the best manager’s in the game? He certainly didn’t feel like one, but then how would he know? What had Alex Ferguson felt like when he woke up in those mornings of the late nineties? Ed was sure of one thing, he’d have felt calm and confident on the vast majority of them, and that was one thing he certainly didn’t have in common with the greats.

In the end he just found himself idly surfing the football based websites as he waited for day to break, trying not to think about the dream.

[flipsix3]

Their trip to Leicester was for the Monday night televised game, as such they’d arrived by coach the evening before having listened to Aston Villa’s big win at Coventry on the radio on the way. It was mixed news, the bottom of the table was already looking a long way away but every team that failed to pick up points was good for Spurs, on the other hand three points for Villa meant that they were now five clear of Spurs – albeit with one more played. Of course Ed had no genuine ambitions of holding on to a European qualifying spot in the league, but it was disappointing to be slipping back into mid-table all the same – even though everyone above them had played more games.

Leicester City were behind the crowd in terms of games played too, and a win could see them climb three or four places and out of reach of the relegation spots, as such Steve Coppell sent his side out with a win in mind and played right into Spurs’ counter-attack trap. Twelve minutes in and a break through midfield saw Davies poke the ball ahead of Booth – the on-loan United striker sprang forward off the shoulder of his marker, and lashed the ball home to put Spurs in front.

Leicester weren’t about to be outdone, and despite a noticeable lack of possession in midfield they kept pushing for an equaliser – finding one when Sebastian Svärd took advantage of some lax defending to net his second goal since a summer move from Boro. It was a bad time to concede, right on the verge of half-time, and Ed wondered if they’d be made to pay for their lack of concentration – the chances hadn’t exactly been coming thick and fast.

The performance of the Spurs’ defence was key on the night, led by Michael Dawson who was obviously fired up – as a former Forest man any game against Leicester was a big deal to the captain and he rallied his back line to keep the Foxes out with more than one vital challenge. Zonneveld saw an absolutely exquisite diagonal cross sail just over, from Booth’s snap header, but they were showing little tendency to build a structured attack and Ed was growing frustrated – he made some changes and instructed his side to drop the counter-attacking mentality.

City were still looking for the win too, and Coppell decided to push for it late on – the pressure on the Spurs defence doubled but Dawson and Laursen were running the show, it was going to take something special if either side were to grab a dramatic winner. Something special came, with less than two minutes of normal time left to play…

…Leicester had tried to play Spurs at their own game, a quick break saw Tommy Wright feed Chopra, and Chopra send Smolarek clear with a clever through-ball. Laursen’s tackle needed to be timed perfectly, he was the last man and it was a definite scoring chance – he slid in and picked the ball off Smolarek’s toe. The ball broke to Tommy Wright who whipped in a quick cross, but Romito climbed above Chopra and headed clear, Ian Murray then picked it up thirty yards out and played a quick square ball but he’d misjudged the run of play. Mendes dropped off his man and snatched the ball up, starting his run he spotted the strikers ahead of him – he opted for the fresh legs of Hilton and pushed the ball left, continuing his run right to move with Mark Booth before accepting the one-two return pass. Hilton continued his run whilst Booth checked up and received Mendes’ clipped pass, firing it through to his strike partner to side-foot the ball under Joseph Cook and into the net – from Laursen’s last-ditch tackle to the ball in Leicester’s net, the move took no more than fifteen seconds.

[flipsix3]

After the Cup game against Preston Ed had found himself casually wondering what his chances of making a permanent move for Mark Booth were, by the end of the game against Coventry he was dead set on finding out. The obligatory goal from a tight angle had come inside the opening five minutes and, after Munn pulled one back, Booth went on to set up McGavin to score his first two goals since his return from injury.

There was just no questioning the ability of the Brighton-born striker, but United had paid £4.4million for him in July – the chances of them accepting any kind of bid so soon were surely less than zero, and then there was the whole question of their likely asking price anyway. Undeterred Ed decided to make his initial move, he had Booth on the books for the rest of the season anyway so his offer was simple, £5m at the end of the season and another five over the following two years. Clearly David Gill’s staff were amused by the approach, and had decided to humour him – their response was simple, £10m now and another ten over the next eighteen months, Ed laughed before sending a polite withdrawal of his offer… but he already knew that he’d be back on the youngster’s trail soon enough.

Naturally Booth retained his spot for the trip to Wolves in the Carling Cup, in fact Ed had opted for a full strength side in an attempt to progress through the match and put a cup run together. It had been Wolves who had dumped his Spurs side out of the tournament last season but they’d already come a long way since then, and their hosts were far from a force in the league.

Early on Booth got into the box and curled the ball around Enckelman, only to see it come back of the post. It was an omen of things to come, a dominant Spurs failed to capitalise on their chances in the first half as Wolves played a physical game, and a penalty early in the second saw Mendes fire the ball straight at the Wolves keeper.

Ed was disgusted with the whole circumstances of the penalty, Makengo Mvuemba was let off with a talking to after the brutish challenge on McGavin that led to the spot-kick, and as Mendes stood over the ball the French midfielder shoved Zonneveld to the floor and was ‘only’ given a booking – for Ed the two offences in quick succession should have seen Mvuemba dismissed, already five Wolves players had been booked and it was clear what their game plan was.

Further chances were wasted, Zonneveld flashed a snap-shot over the bar and Hilton went close as he replaced McGavin – in all Enckelman made over half a dozen good saves, and saw just as many other shots go close. But it wasn’t to be Spurs’ day and Tim Janssen’s seventy-second minute goal, totally against the run of play and possession, put them out of the Carling Cup for the second successive season at Wolves’ hands.

------

Chelsea’s unbeaten run went at the weekend, a shock defeat at home to Fulham on the Saturday whilst Ed was preparing his side for their Sunday game, by the time they kicked off at Watford they knew that a win would see them leapfrog their London neighbours and join a three-way tie for third place.

An early unforced error from Joey Barton gave the home side the lead, Simon Lennon had been given a start and he parried a Jon Macken shot only to see Barton smash the rebound into the back of his own net in his hurry to clear the ball. Spurs soon made amends though, a Mendes drive from the corner of the box saw them level and McGavin’s breakaway goal reversed the early advantage to leave them looking comfortable. It was an evenly matched game though, Watford were fighting for points to keep them above the drop zone, and some late defensive lapses saw the points shared as McNamee’s corner was bundled home by Richard Turner.

To have given up the lead so late, and in such a fashion, stung Ed but he was determined not to let it become a big issue, the general mood in the camp was pretty positive despite the recent results, and their league form overall was nothing to be sniffed at – with Walther resuming full training on the Monday after the game Ed was looking for a good push in November.

[flipsix3]

OCTOBER 2011 SUMMARY

West Brom 1 (Whittaker 21)

Spurs 1 (Davies 19)

Man of the Match: Márton Fülöp

News: Adam Hilton (Spurs) sent off 70 mins

Spurs 1 (Booth 17)

Liverpool 2 (Cissé 28, 71)

Man of the Match: Jamie Carragher (Liverpool) [D RLC]

Leicester 1 (Svärd 45)

Spurs 2 (Booth 12, Hilton 89)

Man of the Match: Martin Laursen

Spurs 3 (Booth 5, McGavin 45, 54)

Coventry 1 (Munn 15)

Man of the Match: Ryan McGavin

Wolves 1 (Janssen 72)

Spurs 0

Carling Cup, 3rd Round

Man of the Match: Peter Enckelman (Wolves) [GK]

News: Mendes (Spurs) missed pen 49 (saved)

Watford 2 (Barton og 7, Turner 75)

Spurs 2 (Mendes 12, McGavin 22)

Man of the Match: Pedro Mendes

League Position: 6th

[flipsix3]

By the time the November schedule began only Liverpool remained unbeaten and the media battles were well and truly under way, Ed remained quiet and watched from the sidelines as Wenger rubbished Man United’s chances and Clarence Seedorf told Mourinho that Fulham were going to derail Chelsea’s bid. The former he could understand, to an extent, it was the kind of psychology that he expected – but Seedorf’s Fulham were in a world of trouble and his comments just made him look out of touch, that was exactly the reason why Ed largely refrained from such banter. As far as he was concerned he had yet to earn the right to throw his weight around, not that it was his style anyway, and he certainly didn’t feel that he would gain anything from talking up his side when they could come unstuck in any game.

There had been a temptation to drop a sly comment occasionally though, and the visit of Man City was just such a situation. Willie Donachie had left Spurs to take over at the City of Manchester stadium and his side were now sat just four points behind the team that Ed had taken over from him, and rebuilt. He decided to let the football do the talking though, and urged the lads to give an extra effort to put the dampers on Donachie’s day.

Walther was back to full fitness, but far from match ready, so Ed gave him a spot on the bench with the intention of giving him a few minutes if the result was going the right way. It was a cold and wet Sunday afternoon, not exactly ideal for dazzling football, but the stadium was almost full all the same and Donachie was given the sort of reception that he’d probably known he was due – it would be unfair to call it out and out hostility but he was quickly made aware that he wasn’t the most popular manager on the sidelines.

If the game was meant to go according to some greater scheme of things, some galactic game of fate, then the fans were to be disappointed – and so was Ed, when a lapse in midfield allowed Noel Hunt to get to Fülöp’s long kick and punt it straight back into the path of Güiza. The Spaniard raced on to the ball and tucked it under the Keeper who was still back-pedalling from the kick. Spurs found an equaliser soon after, Güiza becoming the villain of the piece as he dallied in midfield and allowed himself to come under pressure. The striker opted for a long ball back to his own area but Ternes failed to hear Johnsen’s call and tried to head away – only finding Booth thirty yards out. Johnsen was stranded at the edge of his area and Booth spotted it, taking great delight in lobbing the keeper and accepting the jeers of the travelling City fans who were perfectly aware of his ties to their deadliest of rivals.

With a goal apiece the game soon descended into a slog, Zonneveld continued to try and pry open the City defence, as did Jacques Mahoma at the other end – a former Spurs youth player. It was all in vain though, and the home fans had to be content with a point that kept them above City and allowed them to tell Donachie who the better side were as the teams trudged off out of the rain.

Ed was beginning to have some concerns, not major but he saw their lack of attacking options from midfield as something that might be holding them back, it may be time to go and look once more for a Downing replacement to allow them the width and penetration that they were missing. His fullbacks were doing all the running at the moment and he wasn’t sure that they could keep doing that week in and week out for ninety minutes.

As for the big media battles, the weekend’s results saw Seedorf sacked, and Wenger triumphant as his Arsenal side travelled to Old Trafford and delivered a wake-up call to the United fans, a blistering second half bombardment to leave the home side in freefall to sixth spot.

[flipsix3]

With a break for the Carling Cup ties Ed had a few extra days in training and he was considering their options once more, the problem was that their next game was against Chelsea and he really wasn’t sure that it would be the best time to make and sweeping changes. He knew from his Bordeaux days that Zonneveld could play the left wing, and Van Barneveld was capable of filling the role too, but was it worth the gamble in such a big game?

The list of talent was impressive; Duff, Vandermieren, D’Alessandro, Torres and Joe Cole were all in the starting line-up for Chelsea and Ed had quickly decided not to start messing with things for this match – it didn’t help that Booth and Walther were both away with their respective nations on Under-21 duties, and were ruled out from returning in time, leaving Hilton and McGavin to spearhead the attack. In fact if they could escape with anything less than a humiliating defeat then he’d be happy.

To say it came as something of a surprise when his side took the lead would be an understatement, the Stamford Bridge crowd loved their flair players but with so many of them they were vulnerable when one got caught in possession at the wrong end of the pitch – that was exactly what happened to Joe Cole, and Ed couldn’t hide his smile when Zonneveld stripped him of the ball and fed McGavin on the edge of the area. The Irishman needed no second invitation, his shot was low and hard and crept inside Cech’s right post.

It was an early goal, inside five minutes, and for a while it looked like it might be enough to see them into a shock half-time lead. Chelsea threw everything at them whilst Mourinho, clad in his familiar long coat, scowled from the sidelines. Ed’s defence were in good form, with Neervoort being particularly fierce in the challenge, and they were frustrating Torres as the lone striker – but it only takes one moment, and when Romito overcommitted himself and brought down Vandermieren, Torres stepped up and put away the penalty coolly.

Still, they were level at the break and if they could hold Chelsea off for the first ten minutes or so then the second half might end up bogged down in midfield, as much of the first had. As far as Ed was concerned the worst thing that they could do was concede early on then, so when Torres netted the ball less than twenty seconds after kick-off he was furious – Davies had been guilty of dallying in the same way that Cole had been, Duff took the ball off him and the rest was academic. Now he expected a rout, Chelsea had their tails up, but it looked like Mourinho had one eye on their midweek Champions League game and the pace quickly dropped.

There was to be no comeback, his side simply couldn’t break down the Chelsea defence but at the same time they were given little to worry their own back three – it ended in a two-one margin for the home side and Ed was left considering their formation again.

[flipsix3]

On the whole spirits were still good among the players, but there were one or two who were beginning to show signs of concern and Ed really couldn’t figure out why. Their early run of form shouldn’t have been something that they were aspiring to week in and week out yet that seemed to be exactly the case, he really needed a result against Birmingham to lift everyone’s morale ahead of what was likely to be their biggest away game of the season.

It would be unfair to suggest that the change was dramatic, but in a familiar 4-4-2 Ed did see his side looking a little more attacking in their approach against the visitors. McGavin’s goal gave him the boost he was hoping for, coming early in the game from a Walther cross, and by half-time the lead was doubled – Joos van Barneveld firing home from the edge of the area, his first goal in the white shirt.

There was an ease about the way they played the game, and though Birmingham pressured they were kept comfortably at bay until stoppage time at the end of the game, how much of that was down to the tactics – and how much the opposition – he didn’t like to say, but it was pleasing that the lads seemed able to flip between two very different styles so easily.

He could have done without the injury to Ifil but it was nothing major, and it had given Kovacik the chance to make his debut appearance with positive results. Ifil would be back in time for what was bound to be the biggest media circus of his English career to date. Levy had done a reasonable job of sheltering him from the worst of the spotlight so far, but he knew that would change soon enough.

[flipsix3]

NOVEMBER 2011 SUMMARY

Spurs 1 (Booth 27)

Man City 1 (Güiza 11)

Man of the Match: Mike Zonneveld

Chelsea 2 (Torres pen 28, 46)

Spurs 1 (McGavin 4)

Man of the Match: Fernando Torres (Chelsea) [sC]

Spurs 2 (McGavin 13, Van Barneveld 45)

Birmingham 1 (Castillo 90+)

Man of the Match: Nery Alberto Castillo (Birmingham) [F LC]

| Pos   | Team          |       | Pld   | Won   | Drn   | Lst   | For   | Ag    | G.D.  | Pts   | 
| ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 1st   | Liverpool     |       | 15    | 11    | 4     | 0     | 24    | 9     | +15   | 37    | 
| ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 2nd   | Arsenal       |       | 14    | 11    | 2     | 1     | 31    | 7     | +24   | 35    | 
| ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 3rd   | Chelsea       |       | 14    | 10    | 2     | 2     | 30    | 16    | +14   | 32    | 
| ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 4th   | Aston Villa   |       | 14    | 8     | 3     | 3     | 29    | 15    | +14   | 27    | 
| ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 5th   | Tottenham     |       | 14    | 7     | 5     | 2     | 23    | 15    | +8    | 26    | 
| ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 6th   | Man Utd       |       | 14    | 7     | 4     | 3     | 25    | 12    | +13   | 25    | 
| ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 7th   | Newcastle     |       | 15    | 8     | 1     | 6     | 25    | 19    | +6    | 25    | 
| ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 8th   | Middlesbrough |       | 14    | 7     | 3     | 4     | 19    | 13    | +6    | 24    | 
| ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 9th   | Southampton   |       | 15    | 6     | 3     | 6     | 19    | 22    | -3    | 21    | 
| ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 10th  | Man City      |       | 13    | 5     | 5     | 3     | 21    | 15    | +6    | 20    | 
| ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 11th  | Birmingham    |       | 15    | 5     | 3     | 7     | 20    | 24    | -4    | 18    | 
| ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 12th  | Sheff Wed     |       | 14    | 5     | 2     | 7     | 15    | 21    | -6    | 17    | 
| ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 13th  | Wolves        |       | 13    | 4     | 3     | 6     | 10    | 19    | -9    | 15    | 
| ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 14th  | Leicester     |       | 15    | 2     | 7     | 6     | 17    | 21    | -4    | 13    | 
| ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 15th  | Watford       |       | 15    | 3     | 4     | 8     | 11    | 22    | -11   | 13    | 
| ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 16th  | Coventry      |       | 15    | 3     | 4     | 8     | 12    | 25    | -13   | 13    | 
| ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 17th  | Fulham        |       | 15    | 4     | 1     | 10    | 14    | 29    | -15   | 13    | 
| ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 18th  | West Brom     |       | 15    | 2     | 4     | 9     | 12    | 23    | -11   | 10    | 
| ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 19th  | Everton       |       | 14    | 1     | 4     | 9     | 18    | 30    | -12   | 7     | 
| ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 20th  | Blackburn     |       | 15    | 1     | 4     | 10    | 11    | 29    | -18   | 7     | 
| ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|

[flipsix3]

There had always been big rivalries in football of course, either within a town – like Glasgow, or Manchester – or across regions such as the Nottingham and Leicester divide. Growing up in Yorkshire he’d been aware of plenty of little inter-club clashes, but he hadn’t been prepared for his first North London derby when he arrived at Spurs in his playing days. The animosity that Spurs and Arsenal fans held for each other was legendary, but that had done little to prepare him and he was sure that the same would be the same for many of his players – especially as the two sides hadn’t met for nearly three years, in a game which Spurs had actually won. In fact over the last seven years Spurs had a narrow lead, five wins to Arsenal’s four with three drawn games across league and cups.

As he’d predicted the relative media quiet that he’d enjoyed so far vanished in an instant, quite apart from the blatantly partisan members of various local stations and papers there was a great interest from the nationals as to how the title contenders would fare against a Spurs side that were refusing to slide down the table. Day after day there were more interviews, more opinions to be offered, and more messages of support on the club web forum.

It was all very well, a part of the game, he knew that but it was taking his mind off the more immediate problems – namely injuries. He could have told the coaching staff to lighten up for a week of course, just to minimise any risk, and he’d been tempted – he may not have truly understood the local rivalry when he first arrived at White Hart Lane but he certainly had by the time he’d left. There was a dual blow to be dealt with when match day came around, Mendes and Davies both absent from the midfield, which meant that there was no question about formation – they’d be going with 4-4-2.

He opted to go for experience at the back, preferring Laursen to Niervoort when choosing his partner for Dawson. Matt Richards got the nod on the left because Zonneveld was needed to cover the wing, and Ifil took the right. Midfield was the real concern and it was difficult putting the line-up together, he realised how dependant he’d become on the aging Mendes – he made a note to make sure that the playmaker role was the first to be addressed in the transfer window. Joey Barton was the longest established of the middle four, with Zonneveld and Van Barneveld – both recent arrivals – taking the wings. That only left Kovacik to partner Barton, and despite his five caps for Slovakia Ed really didn’t expect him to be ready for the task – he decided to gamble and put Mendes on the bench just in case. The only place that everything was okay was up front, with McGavin and Walther spearheading the attack, and the comfort of having Booth on the bench.

[flipsix3]

Ed was disappointed to see that most of Wenger’s injury worries had evaporated by the time his side arrived at the Emirates Stadium, Arsenal were missing only Fernando Cavenaghi from their strongest eleven, although he was somewhat surprised to see that Daniel Fredheim Holm was preferred to Thierry Henry in terms of cover.

Arsenal’s new stadium was a minor blessing, lacking the relative claustrophobia that Highbury used to generate for the away team, but with an unblemished home record the odds were against them all the same and a crowd of almost sixty-thousand left them in no doubt that they were not welcome. With the live TV cameras on hand to add to the occasion Ed was keen that his side get off to a solid start and not get hit early on.

From the off Arsenal were out to attack, Schweinsteiger fed Xabi Alonso who hit it from distance, and Fülöp made his first confidence-boosting save with just twenty seconds on the clock – and before a minute was up the Spaniard saw a second long range effort whistle over the bar. Ed signalled for the lads to calm down, collect their thoughts – everyone was only too aware of the occasion, but in the end it really was just a football match like any of the others they’d played – ninety minutes of trying to put the ball in one net and keep it out of the other, if Arsenal wanted to make it something bigger then that was fine by him, they could take the consequences…

…the first booking came inside two minutes, Ashley Cole bringing down Van Barneveld on the wing and Patrick Vieira reacting petulantly to the free-kick – it was the one area that he’d demanded his players stay particularly focussed, he didn’t want bookings in the name of local rivalry and if Arsenal got plenty, well he wasn’t going to complain.

With ten minutes played Bojinov’s floated cross caused havoc in the Spurs box, Fülöp was caught in two minds and came late, Schweinsteiger’s header eluded him, but Michael Dawson had taken a covering position and cleared the ball off the line to keep the scoreline level. Ed was getting worried by now, Fülöp had already made four or five good saves and his side were just sitting too deep for comfort, he didn’t want to change anything drastically yet, but he made the signals to let the lads know that they needed to be more adventurous – seeing the Arsenal half of the pitch would be a good start. A couple of minutes later Barton robbed Alonso in midfield and spotted Kovacik in space, the Serbian turned and saw McGavin making his run – the through-ball was weighted brilliantly and the Irishman raced onto it with two defenders closing in, both arrived at the same time but McGavin muscled his way through and Tim Howard found himself stranded as he collided with one of his own men leaving the Spurs fans to ridicule him as the ball was side-footed home with ease.

After the pressure they’d withstood so far the goal was a real release and Ed allowed himself a rare sideline celebration, letting out a huge ‘Go on!’ to vent some of the tension that had built up in his system – thirty seconds later the tension was back as his side almost committed the cardinal sin, and Fülöp was forced to tip Fredheim Holm’s effort over the bar. He raged at his players from the technical area and the message got across, they didn’t need to be throwing their lead away as soon as they’d made it – especially as they were looking unlikely to get many opportunities to add to it.

Things were starting to get niggly on the pitch, whilst his own players remained mainly calm their opposite numbers were clearly out to rattle them, Reyes threw himself into a silly challenge on Dawson and Ed was convinced that if he hadn’t injured himself, he might well have been in serious trouble with the Ref – as it was Henry came on to replace him, and even at thirty-six he clearly had enough to frighten most defences. Bernardo López could easily have been dismissed before half-time, picking up a booking and refusing to let it hold him back as he landed a couple of crunching tackles on Van Barneveld, and Vieira was also in no mood to pay too much attention to his own booking. Still, if they’d got to the break with only tough tackles to worry about he’d have been happy, but there was an equaliser to lift the home crowd – Bojinov’s long range effort was parried by Fülöp and Fredheim Holm was on hand to absolutely lash home the rebound from six yards out, the shot nearly broke through the net and the roar that went up was deafening.

He spent the break trying to lift his players but it was clear that they were struggling out there, no-one was in any doubt that they’d got lucky with the goal – they hadn’t been near the Arsenal area before or since and the defence was being pulled all over the place. He made some changes in their approach and gave it ten minutes to see how they settled in, but it made little difference as Arsenal came charging at them again – when they made it to the hour mark he wondered if they might grab a miraculous point from the game. He made changes in personnel, Booth for McGavin – who picked up a minor knock – and Neervoort for a tiring Laursen, but they were of negligible impact as a seven minute assault soon saw the home side well clear.

Goals from Henry and Vieira – the ‘old men’ of the Arsenal line-up – saw the game put beyond reach and they all knew it, every player on the pitch and pretty much all but the most optimistic of Spurs fans in the stands. By the end of the game Arsenal had tested Fülöp nearly two dozen times, Spurs had drawn just two saves from Howard, and yet the sponsors saw fit to award the American the Man of the Match award!

[flipsix3]

hehe-nice one as an Arsenal supporter Flip it's quite amusing to remember that you are playing an old version of this game arent you? which one?

Cheers Mambaman, yeah I'm playing FM 2005 still, hence Ol' Cash Cole still being at Arsenal. It even catches me out when writing it, when I came up against Martin Jol I was going to refer to him as a former Spurs manager, but he was never there in this version of the history, and I brought Mike Dawson to Spurs myself on the recommendation of my scouts - can be confusing at times!

[flipsix3]

He’d had to be careful in the days following the Arsenal defeat, whilst it was probably nothing short of a predictable result his own dedication to Spurs had made it hard for him to swallow - but he didn’t want the players getting that feeling from him. They had a fairly innocuous run of games coming up for the period into Christmas, including three home ties, and he decided to set a target of six points from the four games in total. He also used the occasion of the FA Cup draw to try and take their minds off any lingering doubts, and when the Championship side Reading were pulled out of the hat as their hosts he knew that they would immediately have a new focus for their anxiety. The chance of going out in embarrassing style to a team from a lower division was, as always, something to be wary of. Ed decided not to draw attention to the fact that their opponents would be the first team that he had led his side out against when he’d taken the Spurs job last year.

-----

The first of the target points came at home to Aston Villa, although not without a scare or two. Simon Davies’ first goal in what seemed a while got them off the mark, but there was none of the dominance that Ed had hoped for against the visitors now that he had a full strength squad, and by half-time Villa had actually squandered more chances than Spurs.

After the break a great move saw Booth brought down in the area by Sørensen and the keeper dismissed, now they had the upper hand and he was convinced that an easy win would follow – Zonneveld’s penalty was saved though, 19-year-old Tom Ashton making a name for himself on his first appearance for the seniors, and Villa promptly ran the ball up the other end and equalised. Ed made a snap decision, with the extra man they would try and force the issue, but even then they endured some hair-raising moments at the back before Adam Hilton headed home a stoppage time cross from Booth.

With an injury to Van Barneveld, and Ed deciding that their change in tactics had maybe been premature, he looked to reverting to the wingback formation – at least on the road.

[flipsix3]

Ed stood on the sideline and shook his head in disbelief, four minutes into injury time and Mendes’ corner had just been lashed towards the top corner by Neervoort of all people – but Enckelman had somehow grown in height enough to tip it onto the bar with the very end of one finger… at least that was how it looked.

He was going to start having nightmares about Wolves, he could tell – defeat in last year’s Carling Cup, and then this year’s, and now this. It wouldn’t be so bad if their opponents had actually come looking to win the game but clearly they hadn’t, the opening third of the match had been a tight affair but when the visitors had somehow scrambled the ball home on their first attack they’d immediately signalled a defensive withdrawal – for the last sixty minutes Ed had watched as Zonneveld terrorised the left flank but all to no avail. The statistics said it all, fifteen corners for his side and two for Wolves, they’d got into the Spurs box just three times whilst he’d seen nearly two-dozen attempts on Enckelman’s goal.

The final straw had come when Antoine Koumbouaré had taken off Janssen – the lone striker – and replaced him with Frank Lampard, effectively meaning that Wolves had been playing a 4-6-0 for the last twenty minutes. Of course the Frenchman would claim that Danny Webber had been in an advanced position but his lack of chances would contradict that argument in Ed’s book.

Following his team-talk he went to find somewhere to relax, Levy and Arnesen would be entertaining the special guests in one of the executive suites and he could use a drink.

“You know sometimes luck is just against you old boy,” Gary Lineker offered a cheeky grin as he walked in, “I think you could use something to take your mind off it by the looks of you, how about a round of golf during the week?”

[flipsix3]

”So is it right what I read in the paper this morning, that they’ve offered you the Blackburn job?”[/i] Lineker turned to question Ed even as his ball was soaring toward the third green, his confidence in his shot-making both amused and infuriated Ed – but as he watched the ball pitched five yards short and hopped on before coming to rest fifteen feet from the pin.

”Yeah, they contacted me a couple of days ago, I’m not really sure what they expected me to say, obviously they’re in trouble but I’m here to manage Spurs – there was no way I was going to say yes”

“What if it was a bigger club, United maybe? They’re hardly setting the league alight, what if Gill and Edwards came calling? I mean they lost at home to Southampton last week, it’s not beyond the realms of possibility”

“Okay I’ve been doing this job long enough to never say never, but I’m not going anywhere until I’ve brought something big to the trophy cabinet. Come on Gary, you must remember what it was like pulling on the shirt, if you were managing us – or Leicester even – wouldn’t you want to achieve something?”

Ed stood over his own ball and eyed up the shot, maybe just over a hundred yards to go but he had already taken one more stroke than his playing partner, thanks to his wayward driving. He picked his point and tried to swing smoothly – catching too much ground, the ball flew well but came up a good five yards short of the dance floor.

To be fair he was starting to get the old rhythm back, and Lineker was certainly a good partner to play with, he was just as amiable has he seemed on the TV although he could slip in a quick jibe now and then, just to twist the knife when things weren’t going so well. Despite the time of year the sun was bright, and the air wasn’t too cold, and by the turn Ed was really enjoying himself - albeit that he was already trying to chase a game that he was losing by four holes.

A birdie at the tenth pulled one back and his confidence grew a little as he managed to halve the next three holes – Lineker was playing off single figures and looked good for it, but Ed was definitely picking up some of his old feeling for the game. On the par three fourteenth his old team-mate put his ball long and left, a few yards over the green, and when Ed’s tee-shot finished nine feet from the pin he saw his chance… until Lineker holed the chip back.

“I’m really sorry,” he laughed “your shot deserved better than that, what can I say?”

Ed tried not to show his feelings, the reason he loved golf was that you could be truly pleased for your opponent when something went well because, in the end, it was you against the course – but he felt really hard done by, especially when his birdie putt lipped out of the hole. That killed it off, he messed up his drive on the next and by the end he lost by five, but he had genuinely enjoyed himself and they made their way through the fading winter sunlight to the clubhouse.

“We’ve got to do this again soon Ed, I get to play plenty, through connections with the Beeb, but playing against friends is the best way”

Ed agreed entirely, although he wasn’t sure that he’d gloss over the alternatives so easily – from what he’d said Lineker had played with Greg Norman, Colin Montgomerie, and Sir Steve Redgrave – all in the last six months. They made an agreement to start up again after New Year and Ed even picked up a membership application as they left after a late lunch.

[flipsix3]

The last unbeaten run in the Premiership came to an end as Arsenal beat Liverpool in the televised Saturday game, and that gave the Everton fans something to celebrate as they huddled in the Goodison stands a couple of hours later. The Toffees were a side that were struggling badly, and when Booth lashed home one of his outside-of-the-boot shots in the opening couple of minutes there was a brief spell of ‘Menzo Out!’ from their supporters.

Before ten minutes Booth had gone close to doubling their lead, almost lobbing Morgan De Sanctis from the edge of the area, but Everton were certainly playing at a standard that belied their place in the relegation zone. McFadden’s free-kick rattled the bar and Simon Lennon – whom Ed had decided should get a few more starts – had to react quickly to collect Eremenko’s follow-up. The game was tight throughout, with Lennon and De Sanctis both making a handful of good saves, but the Italian stood no chance for Spurs’ second – Joey Barton lofting a free-kick to the edge of the ‘D’ and Michael Dawson volleying, on the turn, and sending the ball into the roof of the net!

The win, their first on the road in exactly two months, secured the six points that Ed had targeted and saw them into fifth place – two points clear of Manchester United and only four shy of third-placed Chelsea. With one more game to go until the half-way mark things were certainly looking more than healthy for their Premiership wellbeing.

-----

The final pre-Christmas game was a fourth versus fifth affair with Middlesbrough making the long trip south to White Hart Lane. Boro were in a rich vein of form but they were suffering from injuries – Anthony Gardner would miss the chance to face his old side, as would Robbie Keane, and their midfield had been decimated according to his scout reports. By contrast Ed was missing just Van Barneveld and Walther – the German had picked up his third injury in the space of five months and Geoff Scott’s team were starting to have concerns over his general physical fitness, it was frustrating for Ed too – Walther had been tagged as a real wonder boy but at the half-way point in the season he’d made just nine appearances.

When Boro took the field Ed’s immediate reaction was to sack his home-based scout, if this was a side decimated by injury then the rest of the league might be in for something of a shock – of course it should have been his own job to keep an eye on what the other nineteen clubs in the top-flight were doing, but Boro had slipped in beneath the radar and he could understand their fourth place berth now. Juan Román Riquelme provided the creative spark in a midfield that featured Hidetoshi Nakata and Mourad Meghni. A front line of Shola Ameobi – returned from his time with Metz – and Dmitry Sychev would be no pushovers either.

Despite a scrappy goal from Booth it had quickly become apparent that Boro were going to play Spurs at their own game, sitting back and inviting an attack before countering – Ed realised this, and with Zonneveld and Ifil pushed forward they were getting overrun at the back. He made a brave decision to carry out a substitution before the first half was over, bringing Matt Richards on to enable them to reshape to a 4-4-2. The impact was immediate, with his wingers able to drop back and double up on Boro’s wide threat.

The game wasn’t without its hair-raising moments, Riquelme was particularly threatening despite his age and drew two good saves from Fülöp, but at the other end Spurs were equally dangerous and could have increased their own tally two or three times. By full time it was a very relieved Ed who applauded his side off the pitch with a narrow victory and fourth place in the Premiership – the perfect way to wind down for Christmas.

[flipsix3]

With exactly half of the season gone Ed sat down and reflected on their situation. Obviously their league position was far more than anybody had hoped for, and the reports from the Board suggested that the financials were healthy enough. For Ed the main positive was the performance of his less experienced players, he’d been concerned that the squad had a handful of real veterans and then a lot of ‘youth’ – in terms of experience, if not age – but the form being shown by those players was superb. He was under no illusions though, the squad was still a long way from the all-round quality that he’d had at Bordeaux and he knew that there was a lot of work to be done.

His first target was a left wing player, and ideally he knew that he needed to make a signing in the winter window - with thirty-five points on the board they were already within touching distance of the widely accepted survival mark of forty but whether their security was looking assured or not, if they were to suffer a poor second half to the season then the damage it might do could be immense. Whilst their wingback formation played well as a counter-attacking unit it was vulnerable, as Boro had shown, when the tables were turned. Joos van Barneveld was capable enough of playing the part when fit, and Zonneveld had shown his ability in the position too, but what Ed really craved was someone of Downing’s quality to team up with the Dutchman and terrorise right sided full-backs throughout the league. It wasn’t a position that they had any emerging talent for in the youth programs so he knew that he was going to have to bring someone in. He had names on his shortlists but with the current transfer budget set in stone his ideal targets were going to be nigh on impossible to approach, on the other hand he really didn’t want to wait until the end of the season.

He made a call to a couple of his scouts to see if there was anyone out there that they’d not reported back on yet – John Moncur was particularly keen on Steed Malbranque, who was plying his trade with Roma, but whilst the Italians were apparently likely to listen to offers Ed knew that the chances of getting the Frenchman back to England were pretty slim. In the end he decided to go with a bid for Bolton’s Cedric Konan – the Ivory Coast international was apparently looking to step up to the Premiership Jan Olde Riekerink was ready to listen to modest offers.

Ed put in the bid and waited hopefully, he wanted to get something in place before too many more games. He was probably allowing his pessimistic side through again of course, and he realised this, but it was something he’d never learned to shake – it amazed him that the football press were talking about him as one of the biggest prospects in the management field, he’d even seen himself tipped for glories that would eclipse all but the greatest names, but he certainly didn’t feel like a world-class manager and he wasn’t sure that he ever would.

[flipsix3]

Ed sat quietly in his parents’ house and watched the usual rubbish Christmas Eve television offerings when the front doorbell rang. His father was in the conservatory, probably with his headphones on listening to Radio 3, and Mum was upstairs somewhere… at least he thought so anyway. He hit the mute button on the remote and walked into the hallway. He opened the door and before he could even register the face in front of him a familiar voice spoke

“I’m really sorry for everything…”

Although it was snowing Sonja stood framed in the doorway in jeans and a cotton blouse, her red hair blowing around her shoulders

“I’m really sorry for everything that’s happened since I left, I’m not sorry for leaving when I did, but…” she stopped, pressed herself up against him and held him close.

What the hell was she doing here? Why had she suddenly felt the need to break the silence after so long, what was it? Nearly twelve years now? Why had she decided that now was the time to remind him of the hold she’d always had?

“I’m really sorry for everything that’s happened since I left, I’m not sorry for leaving – you have to understand that – but life’s not been fair to you”

He hugged her tight, his eyes closed as her buried is face in her hair and smelt her familiar scent. As she spoke her voice started to change a little, maybe she was fighting against tears.

“Why… why did things – “ he told her to hush and pulled away a little so that he could look at her face. He looked into Catherine’s eyes, tears of blood running from them and down her cheeks. She smiled at him, her teeth staining as the tears ran over her lips, and reached a hand up to touch his cheek, “it’s okay Ed, I forgive you”

-----

He was biting into his bottom lip so hard, when he woke up, that he’d drawn blood. The sweat was pouring off him and he only hoped that he hadn’t made a noise to rouse his parents. He sat in their spare room in silence for a few moments and listened for any sign that they’d been woken up, before creeping downstairs to find a bottle of beer… or something stronger.

[flipsix3]

Christmas was a disaster, not that there was anything wrong as such, but the dream had thrown his mental state right out of the window and he’d spent the morning itself in a walking daze. He’d done his best to try and muddle through for his parents’ sake – gone through the present opening and dinner rituals almost on autopilot – but he’d excused himself shortly after noon and started the journey home to go and catch up with the lads training for the Boxing Day game.

He drove home in silence, passing the occasional car on the M1 as the grey skies deposited sleet and snow – turning to rain the further south he got. All the time he forced himself to think about things to do with work, anything to keep his attention diverted, and every time it worked for no more than two or three minutes until he found those words popping back into his head

I’m really sorry for everything…

Did she mean that she just felt bad for him? Was there more to it, she’d said that she wasn’t sorry that she’d left – but maybe she was trying to tell him that it was something she’d needed to do and now she was ready to… he cut that one off right away, that was one road he definitely didn’t want to go down.

Why are you even thinking like this Ed? It was a dream, those were your words not hers, and you do not need to be getting your head started on things like that. Sonja’s gone, Catherine’s gone, and for months you’ve been coping perfectly well with that – don’t go off the tracks now.

By the time he got back to the training ground the players were just wrapping up the session and he forced a smile as he had a quick chat with them. He caught up with Ray Wilkins to see how things were going.

“Merry Christmas Ray, how were they today?”

“Not bad boss, one or two of them look like they’ve overdone it a bit on the turkey and stuffing but we’ll be alright… which is more than I can say for you, are you alright? You look like death”

“Nothing major,” he lied, hoping that it wouldn’t show “Just been a long couple of days, I’m off home for an early night, I’m sure I’ll be back to normal in the morning”

They parted and Ed headed for the car park, wondering if he really wouldfeel better tomorrow, wondering if he’d even sleep tonight.