Martin Lol

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/sport/football/premiership/tottenham/article1711895.ece Tottenham facing wages dilemma over Dyer by George Caulkin Kieron Dyer has emerged as a summer transfer target for Tottenham Hotspur, although acquiring the Newcastle United midfield player would require a significant shift in the London club’s wage policy. While the 27-year-old represents the prototype Martin Jol signing – he is English, quick and versatile – his present earnings far outstrip the maximum outlay at White Hart Lane. Dyer commands a weekly wage of more than £80,000 at St James’ Park, almost double what Tottenham are understood to pay Robbie Keane, their highest earner. While the England player may be prepared to lower his demands to revitalise his career away from the North East, where he has endured some difficult times, the difference in earnings may prove prohibitive. As yet, there is not thought to have been substantive contact between the clubs, while the player, who has now been on Tyneside for eight years, has not expressed any public desire to leave. Indeed, he has previously said he wants to repay the club’s loyalty after a complex range of injuries. Yet, having failed on numerous occasions to prise Stewart Downing away from Middlesbrough, Jol, the head coach, remains in the market for pace and penetration and Dyer’s ability to fill several roles could prove attractive. At times this season, he has played in wide positions, in central midfield and in attack; it is the latter quality – he has scored six goals – which may raise further questions concerning the future at Tottenham of Jermain Defoe. Glenn Roeder has challenged Emre Belozöglu to repeat the solid performance he produced against Chelsea last weekend, with the Turkey midfield player still to show much consistency. “I thought Emre had his best game of the season for us on Sunday,” the manager said. “This followed on from Portsmouth, where I thought his first-half show was his worst 45 minutes for us. He is a very good player and he will be even better if he could be a bit more consistent.”

How by disagreeing that Woodgate is anywhere near one of the best players in the world? Say that to any neutral and see who's really embarrassing themselves. 'Fraid you're not going to get any support from me mate, and I'm hardly biased! Woodgate is, and always has been since his Leeds days, a class act. It's only his injury record which stops him being recognised for what he is. If Terry and Woodgate had never suffered a day's injury in their careers, which would you prefer to playing at WHL week in week out? For me, I don't really even have to think about it.

................. and Gary O'Neil seems to think they have applied as well. http://uk.sports.yahoo.com/22042007/1/pompey-primed-door-entry.html Portsmouth are ready to take the back-door route into the UEFA if they cannot earn direct entry - but they may have to go to Asia instead.If Pompey finish seventh in the Premiership, aided by a good result at Aston Villa on Sunday, they will gain direct UEFA Cup entry next season now Manchester United and Chelsea have booked FA Cup final places. But eighth or ninth could still leave them with a chance via the Intertoto Cup in which Newcastle had to play only a two-leg qualifier last year against Norway's Lillestrom to reach the preliminary stages of the UEFA Cup - and went on to the quarter-finals. Gary O'Neil still believes his side can finish high enough to leave no doubts despite a daunting final run-in away to Everton and at home to Liverpool and Arsenal. But he is convinced the Intertoto option would hold no fears - even though the need for ankle surgery at the end of the season could ruin his own chances. There is another problem, though. Portsmouth are waiting for a Football Association announcement that they have been invited to take part in the prestigious pre-season Asian Cup in Hong Kong in late July along with Liverpool and Fulham. And that looks certain to clash with the date for any Intertoto qualifiers. But O'Neil insisted: "Even if there were five Intertoto games or something we had to play I'm sure they would all take it on if there is Europe on the end of it. "If the club said to me come in early this summer and forego a holiday to play in the Intertoto Cup I would definitely be up for it.

Pompey applied for the Intertoto last season, so it would be fair to assume they have applied again.

Obafemi Martins drives a train? :lol:

Don't hold your breath before I post it though!

At his best verged on being world class. RIP.

Now that talk of a takeover from Belgravia has (for the time being) died down, how do people feel about it? Glad Newcastle is still in (relatively) safe hands with FFS or disappointed it was an opportunity gone? There's obvious benefits with new money coming in, but there's also additional risks. The reason I ask is Spurs' share price has doubled in the past year with the majority of the increase being in the last 3 months. There are again City rumours of Ukrainian interest, last time the share price barely moved with the rumours, but not this time. Whilst I'm certain that Levy and Enic won't be around for the long haul, I would have preferred American investment from someone with a sports background, like Kroenke, not rumours of an oligarch. My friends at Chelsea tell me the club has been changed forever, successful it may be, but roughly half would prefer to go back to how it was before. http://shares.telegraph.co.uk/telegraph/security.cgi?username=&ac=&csi=13856&record_search=1&search_phrase=tottenham%20hotspur

It could be perceived to be less stressful, a coach/manager is judged on results. A DoF just has to keep the club running well, not the results. Houllier could also draw on his vast wealth of contacts all over the world. Arnesen and Comolli always seem(ed) to be on a plane, Houllier could travel less if he wanted to and still do the job to a satisfactory standard. Pleat by contrast once opted not to go to the Euro u18 championships, preferring to go and check out Ben Strevens at Barnet instead!

The coach. The DoF provides the workforce the coach wants, the coach makes them work. If they don't work well, the DoF gets in a new coach. That would be the simplistic answer but questions would obviously be asked if the coach failed time and time again cos the DoF wouldn't then be recruiting the right coaches. When you look at the succession of managers that Spurs had from Gross through to Hoddle, you could argue that very few were up to it, and they were all appointed by the Chairman. Arnesen came in but Santini was still appointed by Levy. Jol, Arnesen's choice, took over and is still there nearly 3 years later. Comolli likes working with Jol, says straight who he would like, Comolli gives straight answers if that player can't be had. It's a case of building a working relationship really, nothing more.

I agree, on the pitch they are hardly a million miles away from us but it just isn't about that is it? Having a great youth set up is only the start, if you think of all the money this club has blown on players in the past because there has been little or no scouting done on that individual, now think how much better we would have saved if we had a scouting system that could track players over a length of time rather than going for big name players all the time. Without wanting to give NE5 an orgasm/heart attack, I don't think Shepherd is that bad, he just hasn't got a clue about modern football and how a club should be ran in 2007, the bloke clearly has ambition and the clubs best interest at heart yet he often fucks up with managerial appointments and sticking his nose where it's not needed, I'd be happy if Shepherd took a step back from the football side of things and employed a DOF/Technical director to take care of all that, leaving him to do run the financial side of things, like it was in the early days under this board with Fletcher on board. It may or may not work with Shepherd but it's something that needs to be looked at, the fact that Sir John Hall has said it's being talked about at board level is encouraging. Fair enough Baggio, I actually wouldn't be adverse to one here at NUFC given our state and would be quite interested to see what kind of an impact such a figure could have. I guess I'm just a bit of an old traditionalist in a way and fearful that a DOF (as I understand one to be) would over egg things or get in the way of things. Everytime I hear managers talk about DOFs they all seem fearful of one and many stories involving DOFs seem to be negative ones. "He's after my job", "He's trying to undermine me", "manager and DOF don't see eye to eye". But what the heck, why not. While we are here, I advocate the following: Private Owners - people like the people who own Arsenal and Liverpool or did and like the Glazers who own the club, but don't run it. CEO - A Gill, Dien, Kenyon figure who oversee the entire club operation outside of the football end. DOF - Not for finances though, just football, someone who has to be picked by the manager. What I would fear then though, is if the manager leaves, so does the DOF and if not, the new man doesn't get on with the DOF. The other way bothers me too. Club hire DOF to work with manager, manager OK with that, but doesnt get on with DOF and the twos ideas aren't the same. Under him - Youth Academy Director - doesn't need explained. Again, the manager must pick this person. This person must also be able to work with DOF. Technical Adminstrator - Someone who deals with the medical, technology and science side of football. To setup and run in house medical, technology and science centres to aid the club like what Real Madrid have and we were interested in under KK/SJH. Manager - a good one this time. That would be us modernised The concept with a DoF/Sporting Director is that a club does't have a manager in the English sense, it has a Head Coach responsible for all the activities of the first team squad. The DoF has to be responsible for how money is utilised, but not setting out how much is available. At Spurs, Comolli is told by Levy how much is available in 2 transfer pots, 1 for first team squad and reserves, the other for youth development, Academy etc. If a prospective first team player costs over a specified figure, he has to clear it with Levy. Similarly, he has to clear the wages aspect with Levy if it goes above a specified figure. All negotiations are done by Comolli unless Levy wants to dabble in them as well. One of the most important jobs for Comolli is to maintain continuity within the club. If Jol dies/resigns/sacked etc, it is Comolli's job to get the right replacement coach in (although Levy would be involved almost every step of the way) and in that respect, it is critical that he also recruits the Academy Director and Academy Coach as well. When Alex Inglethorpe was recruited as Academy Coach, it wasn't a case of a first and second interview, it was an interview which effectively went on for 2 days. At the end of it, Comolli knew Inglethorpe's strategy, coaching techniques etc inside out and he was considered the most appropriate. The Academy Director, John McDermott recruited from the FA, was recruited by Arnesen.

I have noticed that myself, I am aware all clubs, even we do, have in one form or another, a DOF. FS is our DOF (and Chairman, fat greedy b****** etc.) I did say further above that Arsenal won't be appointing a DOF as such, which I aknowledged was a fany title more than anything. But the one that Baggio seems to base his views on or advocates is the European DOF which is what Spurs have, no? I.e. someone who is directing the football, someone who will not have any say on the financial side of things, like who to give contracts to, what wages to pay, how much to spend in the transfer window etc. Just someone who looks after scouting, coaching and other football aspects below the actual manager and his staff. Only Spurs and Chelsea here in the UK have a true DOF in that case, then. Chelsea don't have such a position at the present time, Arnesen is responsible only for recruiting youngsters to the Academy. His official title is Chief Scout and Director of Youth Development. At the present time, any players required to be added to the first team squad are identified and recruited by Mourinho and his staff. That will probably change in the summer when Abraham Grant, Portsmouth's Technical Director (and personal friend of Abramovich) is expected to join as Sporting Director over Mourinho and Arnesen. Spurs are the only ones at the time with a true DoF (although Comolli's title is actually Sporting Director).

Seems more likely to be Houllier: Damien Comolli says he takes great pride in being part of the Club - from Dimitar Berbatov’s selection by his fellow professionals in the PFA Team of the Season to the continued development of our Academy players. Damien described Dimitar’s honour as ‘a real achievement’ and added that he has been delighted with the progression at all levels this season, from the first team competing on all four fronts through to Under-16 players turning out for the reserves. Speaking of Dimitar’s honour, announced on Sunday night, Damien commented: “I’m pleased the fans can watch a player like him play week in, week out and his attitude and commitment has been tremendous. He’s a winner and he passes that to the other players. “This season we have proved that we have the depth and the quality to compete in all the competitions, including Europe, and it’s very positive we’ve been able to that. “It’s a massive undertaking to try and compete in everything and if you look around Europe, there are not that many clubs who have done as well as we’ve done. We now have to look ahead and we are confident we can qualify for Europe again. “In terms of the reserves and Academy, it’s great because all the players are playing above their age groups. We have Under-16s involved in the Under-18s, the Under-18s regularly playing for the reserves and even a couple of Under-16s in the reserves as well.” And, with just four Premiership fixtures remaining this season, Damien is equally convinced that he’s here for the long term, happily dismissing any rumours to the contrary. “I’m in a great project here at Tottenham, building something for the future with fantastic support from the Chairman, the board and a great relationship with Martin Jol and I think we are very, very close to the top level of the Premiership so I don’t know why I would want to go somewhere else, especially as I’m enjoying it so much. What I’m doing at Spurs is with passion so, for me, it’s not even an issue.” http://www.tottenhamhotspur.com/news/articles/comollicomments230407.html

Without going to the effort of rummaging through history, I recall FFS saying that Jenas would only leave Newcastle if a bid of £15m was received (or words to that effect). Clubs will put out on their sites what suits them at the time. Spurs said that Keane was unlikely to play today because of a knee injury but he was there all the same. http://www.tottenhamhotspur.com/news/articles/teamnews190407.html Bit of a difference don't you think? If Derby had accepted 2 different bids for Barnes then why would they deny any bid had been made? They would more likely announce that bids had been accepted to try and start a bidding war. A bidding war would be good if Derby were looking for maximum income following a sale. If they are not looking to sell with hopes of promotion to the premiership, better to try to deter prospective buyers. Of course, the agents will have a different agenda and may ry to put a spanner in the works.

So it went from being a solid fact that we'd agreed a deal to take Barnes in January, but now they're only rumours, and it's Tottenham anyway who had an agreement. * Jol Talks s**** and Lies Vol. 2524b Try to read it again. I said Newcastle had a bid accepted, I didn't say a deal was agreed. Acceptance of a bid indicates the fee to be paid is agreed, not personal terms nor even if the player wants to move to Newcastle. You may recall that Spurs had a bid accepted by Chelsea for Damien Duff. He still finished up at SJP in spite of that. Where did I say that Spurs had an agreement? I said "an agreement on those lines has been rumoured since the last window, reputedly with Spurs." What I said and what you say I said are poles apart. The simple fact is you have your opinions and distort the facts or rewrite history to make them fit your opinions. Haha, a new signature... trying to prove something? Not at all. Just saying I wasn't down the Brickie's having a pint after the match! Bob, what has a boardroom pass got to do with the The Bricklayers Arms ? Nothing at all. And the name isn't Bob either, but 9/10 for detective work!

Without going to the effort of rummaging through history, I recall FFS saying that Jenas would only leave Newcastle if a bid of £15m was received (or words to that effect). Clubs will put out on their sites what suits them at the time. Spurs said that Keane was unlikely to play today because of a knee injury but he was there all the same. http://www.tottenhamhotspur.com/news/articles/teamnews190407.html

So it went from being a solid fact that we'd agreed a deal to take Barnes in January, but now they're only rumours, and it's Tottenham anyway who had an agreement. * Jol Talks s**** and Lies Vol. 2524b Try to read it again. I said Newcastle had a bid accepted, I didn't say a deal was agreed. Acceptance of a bid indicates the fee to be paid is agreed, not personal terms nor even if the player wants to move to Newcastle. You may recall that Spurs had a bid accepted by Chelsea for Damien Duff. He still finished up at SJP in spite of that. Where did I say that Spurs had an agreement? I said "an agreement on those lines has been rumoured since the last window, reputedly with Spurs." What I said and what you say I said are poles apart. The simple fact is you have your opinions and distort the facts or rewrite history to make them fit your opinions. Haha, a new signature... trying to prove something? Not at all. Just saying I wasn't down the Brickie's having a pint after the match!

:lol: Yes I did though I thought it had gone until JJ stepped up at the end.!! A NLD to savour, not because we won cos we didn't, but because we got a point out of a match that we should have lost by 2 or 3, leaving the scum fans with the feeling that they'd lost! The match also showed that they can manage without Henry but they fall apart without Fabregas. Keane had picked up a knock in training but they obviously exaggerated the severity. It was plain for all to see that King shouldn't have been playing but with Gardner, Stalteri, Dervite, Ekotto and Lee all out, we needed someone to go the extra mile, fair do's to him, Ledders did ok.

So it went from being a solid fact that we'd agreed a deal to take Barnes in January, but now they're only rumours, and it's Tottenham anyway who had an agreement. * Jol Talks s**** and Lies Vol. 2524b Try to read it again. I said Newcastle had a bid accepted, I didn't say a deal was agreed. Acceptance of a bid indicates the fee to be paid is agreed, not personal terms nor even if the player wants to move to Newcastle. You may recall that Spurs had a bid accepted by Chelsea for Damien Duff. He still finished up at SJP in spite of that. Where did I say that Spurs had an agreement? I said "an agreement on those lines has been rumoured since the last window, reputedly with Spurs." What I said and what you say I said are poles apart. The simple fact is you have your opinions and distort the facts or rewrite history to make them fit your opinions.

I think those 2 lines highlights what is wrong with Newcastle's planning currently. Roeder has several targets and he's watching one game? It's too much of a job for just one man to line up prospective signings and prepare the first team squad for the upcoming matches, and Roeder doesn't have the staff who he can delegate the jobs to. In the last 16 days Comolli has been to 9 different countries, including Argentina, Brazil (twice), Spain, Portugal and Bulgaria as well as England and Scotland. Much is just checking on players first hand but there is a lot of optimism about signing a Brazilian and Levski Sofia's 18 year old striker Atanas Kurdov, who's scored over 30 goals this season, comes over in the next couple of weeks to look around and train with the first team squad for a week. Getting the setup right to recruit the right players in the window is more important than finding some players to sign without the right setup imo. You might sign a decent player but was there a better option out there for Newcastle? Without the right setup in place, Roeder will never know. I agree with you that you need DOF to handle this sort of tasks.I always though that Tottenham are going in the right direction when it comes to watching young talents,watching alot of promising players all over the world.So far Newcastle didnt do anything like this and i think its a big mistake because if we have someone famous as DOF who has alot of connections and knowldege about European football this will help enormously when it comes to signing young talents. I dont know about Comolli and i dont know what kind of job he is doing at Spurs?Maybe you will tell me.Did he sign anyone so far? About Atanas Kurdov im from Bulgaria and i know alot about our bulgarian talents and i must tell that i would be very surprised if you sign Kurdov.Why?Because i dont think he is anything special.He is pretty much overrated.He has enormous confidence and is pretty much because his father was famous football player and he things he is something special. When it comes to real talent i think Marian Ognyanov is one of the biggest talents in Bulgarian football.He is only18 years old and scored the only goal for Levski in the Champions league. Like i said i would be very surprised if you sign Kurdov Where did you hear that btw? Well, I heard from a friend who lives in Yambol, he told me that it had been in the Bulgarian press/media that Kurdov and someone else whose name I don't know will be coming over for a week to have a good look at them. If we like what we see, tentative agreement is in place with Levski to one or other or both. He said Kurdov had scored 32 goals this season, which hasn't yet finished, which on the face of it sounds great, but statistics can always be misleading. Maybe Ognyanov could be the other one? Just know it's 2 youngsters from Levski Sofia, one is Kurdov and they will be staying with Berbatov for the week, whether he recommended them I have no idea. Comolli is doing a solid job for Spurs. Amongst others, signed Berbatov, Zokora and Ekotto for the first team and Taarabt, Pekhart and Olsen as youngsters to progress through. Also set up a number of arrangements with other clubs, either as homes for loanees to get around work permit problems or with a view to taking their better youngsters. Only cloud on the horizon is that Arsenal have made an approach to talk to Comolli about joining them. Permission was refused but I don't reckon that will be the end of the story. Time to go, hoping for something really good at lunchtime but probably fearing the worst. King is highly doubtful irrespective of what is being said publicly, Keane's out, Berbatov don't like playing with Defoe (doesn't play with intelligence), I'd take a draw now if it was offered!

For what it's worth, it's being reported that Barnes' agent is saying that there is no 'informal' agreement for Barnes to be allowed to move on even if Derby do get promoted, an agreement on those lines has been rumoured since the last window, reputedly with Spurs. The agent says that Barnes will stay with Derby if they are promoted especially as they are starting to pay good money. The clubs that are interested are Spurs Everton and Newcastle, Liverpool definitely not. Someone else who claims to know his family says his preferred destination would be Arsenal and his agent is trying hard to get them interested. Nothing much of substance but that's it if you're interested.

I think those 2 lines highlights what is wrong with Newcastle's planning currently. Roeder has several targets and he's watching one game? It's too much of a job for just one man to line up prospective signings and prepare the first team squad for the upcoming matches, and Roeder doesn't have the staff who he can delegate the jobs to. In the last 16 days Comolli has been to 9 different countries, including Argentina, Brazil (twice), Spain, Portugal and Bulgaria as well as England and Scotland. Much is just checking on players first hand but there is a lot of optimism about signing a Brazilian and Levski Sofia's 18 year old striker Atanas Kurdov, who's scored over 30 goals this season, comes over in the next couple of weeks to look around and train with the first team squad for a week. Getting the setup right to recruit the right players in the window is more important than finding some players to sign without the right setup imo. You might sign a decent player but was there a better option out there for Newcastle? Without the right setup in place, Roeder will never know.

My thought, and it just an opinion, is that whilst the new TV money will reduce the overall percentage ratio, when the new players come in who are going to improve the squad, the percentage will start pushing back up again. Also, will Newcastle attract the right quality of players if there is no European competition? If the 'right' players won't sign, then will FFS start offering silly wages to get those players in with the hope that the improved squad will have European competition the following season. I tend to agree that the current situation looks a cause for concern rather than looking disastrous, but I also think that there is an significant element of risk if Newcastle's next season finishes without European competition as a prize. What I'm saying in a roundabout way is I think Newcastle's salary levels are sustainable without Uefa competition in the short term, but maybe for only one or two years.

The big concern for me right now is if Wenger stays with the scum and takes up Hill-Wood's offer to work alongside a DoF, because I know who Wenger would like to join him! That would be bloody typical as Comolli is on the verge of doing Spurs' most promising deal in God knows how long!