Martin Lol

Currently a first team coach with Newcastle with an opportunity to be Assistant Manager at Everton? Wouldn't surprise me in the slightest to see him move on, especially as the only reason he joined Newcastle was because Southgate bounced him out of Boro.

I'm not in favour, nothing against Shearer personally mind. I know Jurgen the German and others have done it, but I personally like the idea of a National Team Manager having proven himself at club level before stepping up.

John Burridge so I am told is highly likely to become the new Spurs goalkeeping coach to replacethe departed Hans Segers. The last I heard of him (which wasn't that long ago) he was in Dubai with his family. Do you know if he's back in the UK yet?

Only saying he will enforce what he is entitled to tbh. Maybe Owen will be fit for Newcastle for the duration. There again, he may not be!

Yeh thats my team but he'll probably play Defoe ahead of Bent or play that stupid 4-5-1 formation. He won't play Defoe. He brought back Heskey in preference to playing Defoe! I don't know why McLaren includes him in the squad tbh, I would opt for Bent ahead of Defoe every day of the week, Bent contributes far more to the team effort.

Apart from the goalkeeper, that's probably the team I would go with (and I have no strong views on the keeper either so I wouldn't argue about Carson). Gerrard and Barry is simply common sense imo, I think everything will come off the rails if we are back in a Lampard and Gerrard playing together scenario. The eleven best players do not make the best team. Unfortunately, I don't think McLaren has come to terms with that yet.

What team do you think McLaren is going to turn out? He may be saying this is a game we can win and will try to win, but I think he will be very cautious in in his ambition so for me it will be: Robinson Neville/Brown......................Richards.........................Campbell...............................Bridge Barry Beckham.....................................Lampard....................................Gerrard Cole Crouch I think McLaren is petrified of the prospect of failing after the Israeli bonus so he will turn out a team built around experience designed to not lose rather than winning the game. McLaren has proved in the past he has no faith in Defoe so I don't believe he will start, Bent being called up is an afterthought following Owen's injury, so I think Crouch is certain to be the sole striker and how I think McLaren will build the team is built around that premise.

Christ. Didn't know you looking to sign him as well. Good on crosses I hear. oh man.. you don't know what you're talking about My apologies to you for having the humour bypass.

Christ. Didn't know you looking to sign him as well. Good on crosses I hear.

Surprised no-one said what they thought of him in the u21 match. He is likely to be one of your players in the not too distant future. Personally, I thought that there was a lot to like about him. Could do rather well for you imho.

Can't imagine why they plucked £15m out of the air from tbh. He could have been signed for £9m last window and he's suddenly gone up in value by £6m?? If the media are to be believed, he'll be joining Spurs joining Berbatov, Keane, Bent, Defoe, Kanoute, Kerzakhov and Robinho as the striking options.

Seems like the silly season has already started................ ..............Newcastle’s perennially injured England striker Michael Owen is apparently not all that keen on new Toon boss Sam Allardyce and would be all for a move in the January transfer window (Daily Express). Even with his well-documented injury problems, at the right price (£15m has been reported) the 27-year-old would be a good buy and Liverpool, Tottenham and Manchester City have all apparently been showing an interest Juande Ramos is keen to stamp his own brand on the White Hart Lane outfit and has obviously been linked with players from his former club Sevilla - but apparently he is also a fan of the former Anfield legend. Talking of which, news of Owen wanting to leave St James Park has led to the inevitable talk of a possible return to his first love. What would Liverpool fans make of such a comeback? Fernando Torres has made a good start to his Reds career, but Peter Crouch seems unhappy and may well be on his way out, and Dirk Kuyt hasn’t been a big hit even though Rafa Benitez continues to stick with the Dutchman. Andriy Voronin has greatly impressed me but looks destined to be a squad player, so maybe there is space for the diminutive Owen back where he belongs?..................... http://www.sportingo.com/football/arsenal_want_benjani_spurs_liverpool/1001,5753 (and presumably the Daily Express as well)

An absolute colossus in the game as a player, manager, coach and tactician. Hopes he enjoys a long and happy retirement. Nothing more to be said really.

If he's good enough, not a bad thing to be stuck behind a lousy defence tbh. Did Ben Foster a power of good spending 2 seasons at Watford. If he had stayed fit, I think Foster would have had the England jersey by now.

That was a good read, and I have to say I'd be surprised if Ramos doesn't turn things round quickly as he seems to have a great philosophy on team building. Actually I think Allardyce is quite similar, and is probably very good at man-management. Big Sam has some great qualities, his problem is his success has been based on what he's done at Bolton where upsetting the big boys was an end in itself. I don't think he could even imagine how to play a passing game, which the best teams do - even the defensive ones. Totally agree, I personally think that SA's man-management skills with the players are up there with the best of them. I always remember Campo saying when he first joined on loan that he had only gone to Bolton to regain form to enable him to play well in Spain! The fact that he eventually wanted to make the move permanent speaks volumes for SA's communication skills imho. Allardyce's biggest problem is his success at mastering the long-ball game and the opposition's inability to break his system down. Does he drop the system which has taken him where he is today? To be a success at Newcastle, I think he not only has to play a passing game, but to master it (almost) as well as he mastered the long-ball game. I don't know whether he can, personally I have doubts, but he does have tactical ability and the ability to talk to the players, so if he can form his ideas then convey them to the players then I believe Newcastle could be really successful. Maybe it will be more difficult in keeping the media wolves from the door and keeping his job while his plans take shape. SA may be very good with communicating with the players, but I don't think he is any great shakes as a communicator with the media, often coming over as indecisive, and there is a world of difference between talking the players and talking to the media. Jol was as good as they get talking to the media but was only average when talking to the players. Different players heard different things when he was trying to keep them all happy and ultimately it caused the discontent that saw him go. Allardyce's problem, imo, is the opposite. He can talk well with the players and get his message across but he's got to do the same with the media to stop them producing headlines like 'Crisis at the Toon' or 'Under fire Allardyce'. The media can bring a manager down just as easily as a dressing room revolt.

Expanding on the comparison between Allardyce and Ramos, who generally speaking have similar ideas on how their teams should play (even if not under similar formations), the following of a translation of a Ramos interview since he joined Spurs that I have shamelessly lifted from a Spurs site: "Working to the maximum and as a team, it is possible to beat any rival. This is what we have to assume. I intend that my footballers do not feel inferior to anyone, that through hard work, effort and sacrifice they feel they can compete with anyone, that they understand that quality or talent is important but without the former you will achieve absolutely nothing. I intend to convince them that the possibility of success (I think) is very great if they work to 100%." "I intend to be fair to the players, I am not impressed by a name or previous achievements. I observe how they work and I intend to pick players for the effort and hard work, not the name. At times you find players who can destroy the team with by not contributing to the team but detract from it. It is easy to indentify them. I intend that each player will have to compete for their position. Each one will acquire their position through his own effort and hard work. I focus each day on how they train, their daily work and how they fit in with the team. Anyone who continuously doesn't compete tends not to have my faith." "I look for my teams to be just that, a TEAM. And that they are truly competitive. The key is TO KNOW HOW TO COMPETE. It is fundamental that the players acquire a strong mentality, that the team acquires a mentality of competing. I have found footballers who have a strong, winning mentality that don't have great quality as a footballer but prove to be necessary in the make up of the team because of this mentality. For me a good footballer is competitive, his talent is unified with the team and he expresses this quality, above all, in times of major difficulty. The mediocre footballer is he who does not know how to impose himself on adversity, because they are who they are. The player with effort and sacrifice knows how to understand that this competitiveness can compensate for less technical skill or overcome another footballer that is technically better. I quickly distinguish the footballers that are competitive and non-competitive, I do it almost intuitively. In time I build a team that contains the most competitive footballers." "The coach has to be honest and sincere. I intend to be totally honest with myself and everyone else. I treat footballers naturally and to create a code of conduct and to work hard, to convey my ideas and my way of understanding football. I will never become the person who doesn't give 100% for the team and let them carry him, I say what I think and I do what I say. I like to be clear and positive. If the footballer is confused, or doubts the beliefs of the coach, bad results come and he loses faith in you." "In my work the most important thing is to be guided by the belief of trying to improve, to help and to achieve new things." Whilst Allardyce and Ramos may share similar philosophies, I find it hard to envisage Allardyce trying to detail what he is trying to achieve and how he will achieve it. The typical Premiership manager would not be so specific about his aims and objectives and so leaving the usual escape routes (Lady Luck, injuries, rub of the green etc) to be raised should things start to go belly up. I'm not saying Allardyce would do that or that Ramos wouldn't, but I find it interesting how they pass on their hopes and aspirations for the future development of the team. Wenger has always gone on about giving the players the credit to adapt to the manager's philosophy and if Ramos can get our players to do the same, all well and good. I just don't see Allardyce doing that, or even attempting to do it tbh. For the Spanish speaking here, (I'm not one!), the Ramos article was at http://www.sabercompetir.com/extendida.php?id_noticia=2

Pleased to be of assistance!

Didn't think that would get the go-ahead to be honest. I thought that those in the council who would have seen it through had their hands tied due to a conflict of interest? Come as a bit of a surprise that.... Half of the council are Arsenal season ticket holders so it's not been a great surprise that there's been so many obstacles regarding Green Belt land, environmental issues and damage to the habitat of some obscure pippestrel bat. But with permission now in place, maybe Spurs will be getting some of the youngsters that we've lost to Arsenal. David Bentley and Justin Hoyte are both Spurs fans who saw the lack of facilities as being a handicap to their development so they signed up for the pikeys, I'm sure there are others. You can't blame them for putting their career first, there are a number of Newcastle born youngsters who are in (or just graduated from) the Boro Academy. The same principle applies tbh.

I'm not what "Partnership" means tbh. But wve already launced Chinese and Thai versions of our official website this season. Proper ones that get updated every day. (mcfc.co.th? Catchy) Mugs of the world unite. And give us all your lovely money. Sometimes I just get the feeling that the people in charge of our club really know what they are doing. The scum had a partnership with Beveren but still have several other agreements still operating, Manyoo have one with the Belgian club where they deposit their players who can't get a work permit from day one. I would say that 3 partnerships set up would be good news for you, even if on the face of it, it doesn't look up to much. Spurs have partnerships with some South African team and an Ivory coast outfit and there's talks going on with a Belgian club, FC Brussels I think, and an Aussie club. I think the 'partnership' means that Spurs fund the African Academies getting first dibs on any players that go through the system, while the Belgian club will take some of the better youngsters for experience and also take the parked foreigners awaiting work permits. Can only think that your partnerships will be of benefit and I've no doubt that there will be many more announced in time. Spurs' strategy is for there to be 20 partnerships in place worldwide in time.

I think Allardyce proved at Bolton that he could produce a team difficult to beat with meagre resources. I may be totally wrong but my gut feeling now is that Allardyce is out of his depth with a squad which is several notches up on what he had at Bolton. I think several notches is pushing it a bit. Thing is, at Bolton he had brought in all the players himself. NUFC might have a better squad man for man, but are they as well suited to the system? I couldn't see Allardyce signing Owen, for example, even though he's one of the best strikers in the country. It may well turn out that he can't cut the mustard at a big club (just like Otto Rehhagel), but it's far too early to be making that call. You've got to give him the chance to bring in the players he wants. I think several notches would be an appropriate description though I, like you, have no great biased opinion, just describing it as how we see it. The system employed by SA at Bolton was designed to do a job, basically, to keep them up. As he succeeded in that respect and over time the system evolved but not by too great a degree. I would expect that system to have its limit where it can no longer be effective if the long term goal is to continue to take the club forward. Moving to Newcastle and having the current squad, I think SA has already gone beyond the effectiveness of the old system. I did say it was my gut feeling that Allardyce was out of his depth, time may prove me wrong, but Allardyce said he needed 5 years to take Newcastle where he wants them to be and, imho, very few managers get 5 years nowadays, especially one who was not the preferred choice of the current owner. Personally, it wouldn't surprise me in the slightest to see Allardyce gone in the summer. I totally see where you're coming from. Allardyce did a hell of a lot better than just avoiding relegation at Bolton, though, getting them into Europe more often than not in the last few seasons. I think it's too early to say whether Bolton/Allardyce couldn't go further because of Allardyce's managerial limits or Bolton's financial limits. Obviously, it's too early to tell if Ashley will chop and change like the previous regime did, but it'd be a shame to see Allardyce booted out after just one season, without getting the chance to build his own team, unless he makes a complete cock-up of it. He's definitely a massive step up from Roeder. It would be a shame and very unfair on Sam. I am disappointed though that Allardyce only seems to think there's one way to play football. When he arrived I saw him as a manager deserving of better resources that would allow him to compete at the top level. Now, having seen him put out teams outplayed by championship level sides, there is a nagging fear that he is more suited to managing small clubs who can ruffle the big boys. Your first highlighted sentence echoes my thoughts upon his appointment. The second sentence echoes my feelings now. I agree with the first sentence, too, but isn't it really a little bit early to be judging him? Not really much I can say that Big TRon hasn't said before. It's far too early to be judgemental but you can start to form an opinion on what has gone on so far. After his dozen matches or so, I would have thought you might have seen a little change evolving, to get an early indication of what he was trying to achieve, either by what was being seen on the pitch or what was being said off of it. Ramos has been at Spurs for just 4 matches and I'm not going to suggest that everything has changed because it hasn't yet. But there are early indications that he will change things around if things are going wrong. Kaboul's pitiful first half display of defending ended when he was subbed at half time and Chimbonda was moved into the centre for the second half......... and for the following match as well. That sort of thing would never have happened under Jol in a milion years. Robinson has reputedly lost 12lb since Ramos came in, he's certainly lost a lot of weight, something that should have happened ages ago. Driving the team on when 3-0 up against Wigan was also sending out a message. Ramos in short has given them a kick up the backside, something that could have happened at Newcastle but which isn't readily evident to me. SA will (and should) still get plenty of time to get things to develop but his wish that he gets 5 years to get his system to evolve won't happen imho either.

:kasper:

Was the style of play under SBR better than would be offered under SA's leadership? If at the end of the day Ashley thinks that he's not getting enough entertainment and wants a change of manager, that's his prerogative. I accept it wouldn't be especially fair to SA be sacked so soon into his tenure but that's the way of the world, life isn't often fair.

I posted here following the announcement on the Official site. Never claimed it as my own as usual because only very rarely is it my own.

Would never have started the thread without one! :lol:

................. Planning permission for the new Academy and training facilities has been approved tonight. State of the art, 11 pitches in 30 odd acres costing £33m and clears the way for the future of WHL to be resolved. http://admin.tottenhamhotspur.com/docstore/FINAL.brochure.07.09.28.la.pdf