Tottenham Hotspur should recognise its greatest team properly

Between 1961 and 1963, Bill Nicholson’s Tottenham Hotspur team took football to new levels. The team won modern football’s first domestic Double in 1961. The following year they won the FA Cup again, finished second in the league, and reached the semi-final of the European Cup – further than any British side had been before. In 1963, exactly 50 years ago today, Spurs became the first British side to win a European trophy, beating Atletico Madrid to lift the European Cup-Winners Cup.

The bare facts are impressive enough. But what made this team stand out was not what was achieved, but the way it was achieved. To win the Double, 11 straight wins from the opening day of the season and over 100 goals scored by the end. The football played was sublime, taking the game to a new level. The European Cup semi-final against the Benfica of Bela Guttmann and Eusebio is still described as one of the best matches ever played. And the thrashing of highly-fancied Atletico Madrid in 1963 announced the arrival of British clubs as a force in Europe.

Much has been written about that team, and many memories rekindled in the last two years since the 50th anniversary of the Double. And yet… Continue reading →

AVB: He should be so lucky

According to Graeme Souness on the post-match TV analysis following Spurs’ 2-2 draw at Stamford Bridge, Andre Villas-Boas is “lucky” to have inherited a great squad, and will have failed if he finishes lower than last season’s fourth. I’ve rarely heard such nonsense, but I’m sure we’ll get more of the same as the season reaches its end and the Redknapp lobby dusts off the articles it’s had written and filed in a drawer since “ungrateful” Spurs said goodbye to Harry and hello to AVB.

There’s no doubt this is a very good squad, with experience, confidence and steel that owes much to Harry’s stewardship. On his watch, Spurs began to believe in themselves again, and gained invaluable experience at football’s top table. This isn’t a revisionist hatchet-job on Harry’s reign. It is a plea to look at the facts, rather than peddle an agenda. In finishing fourth last season, Harry could call upon the services of Luka Modric, Rafa Van der Vaart and, in key games, Ledley King. The loss of those three players would have an impact on most teams, and Spurs this season have certainly missed the creativity that Modric and Van der Vaart could bring.  Continue reading →

Milking it

The comments made by Bayern Munich President Uli Hoeness on the German club’s ticket pricing policy have been widely reported, but they are worth mentioning here again because of the justifications given by English clubs, including Spurs, every time prices are increased in England. When fans complain at policies which have have hugely increased the price of watching football – 105% over 12 years in my case – we are told that if we want our clubs to buy the players and pay the wages that will bring success, this is the price we have to pay.

Many of us have, for some time, pointed out that the total raised by each rise comes nowhere near the transfer or wage bill for even a middling player these days, so the argument doesn’t stack up. This view is swatted aside by the There Is No Alternative brigade running our clubs. But now Hoeness has, succinctly, shown that we are right, that the “raise ticket prices to compete” argument is phoney. He said:

“We could charge more than £104. Let’s say we charged £300. We’d get £2m more in income but what’s £2m to us? In a transfer discussion you argue about that sum for five minutes. But the difference between £104 and £300 is huge for the fan.”

No doubt the cheerleaders for the Greed Is Good League will point out that Bayern are hardly examples of the kind of football communism anyone who criticises current practice in England is assumed to be advocating, but that rather underlines the point. And as for the argument that a more ethical approach is all very well but it won’t get you far… well, what have Bayern ever achieved, eh?

As with most things in life, what is possible comes down to what you want to achieve, and what your attitude is. As I said in a previous post, it’s hard not to draw the conclusion that English clubs such as Spurs raise ticket prices simply because they can. Their attitude could not be more different from that of Hoeness, who said:

“We do not think the fans are like cows, who you milk. Football has got to be for everybody. That’s the biggest difference between us and England.”

Champions at Champion Hill

Final whistle at Champion HillAn ebullient crowd of over 1,100 saw Dulwich Hamlet FC win their first league title in 35 years on Saturday, a draw against Burgess Hill Town being enough to secure top place in the Ryman Division One South and promotion to the Premier. It was a nervy performance, with the Hillians going ahead on the half-hour. Then news came through that title rivals Maidstone United, having kicked off 15 minutes late, were wining against Horsham. If the results had stayed like that, Hamlet would have missed out. But in the second half the pink and blues pinned the visitors back and, on 67 minutes, Xavier Vidal thumped home a low drive from 25 yards. The south Londoners continued to fashion chances until the whistle, at which point the celebrations began as jubilant fans poured onto the pitch to chair the players off.  Continue reading →

Germany calling

After Dortmund’s demolition of Real Madrid set up a likely all-German Champions League final at Wembley, one wag on Twitter observed that German fans would now be able to experience a proper football experience of bad public transport, overpriced tickets and weak beer. There’s been much rueful casting of gaze towards Germany and the Bundesliga after this week’s twin triumphs by Bayern Munich and Borussia Dortmund over Barcelona and Real Madrid respectively, and inevitably some are asking if the country is now the centre of the footballing universe. Continue reading →

And the nominations are…

The Glory Glory Nights has been shortlisted for Illustrated Sports Book of the Year at this year’s British Sports Book Awards. You can see the full shortlists across all categories at that link, and it’s a very strong field right across the board. It’s easy to sound insincere with these things, but me, Adam Powley and Doug Cheeseman really are honoured to be shortlisted in such company. The awards ceremony is at Lord’s on 21 May.

The news came on a morning in which I also found out that economia, one of the magazines I work on at Progressive Customer Publishing, has been shortlisted for three awards at the PPAs, the publishing industry Oscars. Editor Richard Cree is up for business editor of the year; art director Ewan Buck for business media designer of the year; and the magazine itself for customer magazine of the year. PCP has also been shortlisted in the publishing innovator of the year category.

This is possibly the only time you’ll read about a book on the history of Spurs in Europe and a customer magazine for the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales in the same post, so savour it.

Glad About The Girl

Cover of Tracey Thorn's book Bedsit Disco QueenTracey Thorn’s memoir Bedsit Disco Queen is as well-crafted as the songs she writes. Genuinely insightful and very down to earth, it’s a very original and vivid view of the music industry. One of my favourite things about it is the way it shows a person who never let the industry define her, as so many pop stars do, and who therefore remains far more human and textured and interesting. Another is the accuracy with which  the late 1970s/early 1980s – a period being increasingly mythologised – is portrayed.

Everything But The Girl’s debut Eden is one of the albums I’m most familiar with. I’ve listened to it so many times I know every hook, melody and lyric almost instinctively. I can’t remember now how or why I picked up on them, because at the time I had some of the very rockist tastes Tracey set herself resolutely against from the outset, but I do remember buying pretty much everything they put out up to 1990′s The Language of Life album, and loving Tracey’s voice. Some of the attraction was that they were clever – the lyrics and the arrangements – but it wasn’t just a cerebral thing, EBTG made music that moved us. Reading this book was also a reminder of some great days growing up, and of some classic tracks I haven’t played in a long time. Continue reading →

Margaret Thatcher

The death of a leading political figure provides an opportunity for supporters to remould history in the image of the departed great leader. Under cover of respect for the departed, supporters seek to expand and drive forward the set of ideas they were associated with, simultaneously marginalising any dissent by means of expressing outrage that anyone should speak ill of the dead. There has been plenty of evidence of this since the death of Margaret Thatcher last week, and today provides the platform for her supporters to step up the pace.

I was 14 years old when Thatcher was elected, so it’s fair to say she’s had a profound influence on my life, the world I live in and the decisions I’ve taken. Even as a 14-year-old schoolboy, as many of my classmates embraced working-class Toryism, I could see she would be bad news. I didn’t know quite how bad she would prove to be. Continue reading →

John Crace on Harry’s Games

This is no ordinary football book. But Harry Redknapp is no ordinary football manager. John Crace took on a tricky task in writing this, and it won’t be to everyone’s taste for a number of reasons. But it works and, what’s more, provides a much-needed addition to the wealth of wordage on Harry. The real strength of the book is that it’s neither a hatchet-job nor a hagiography.

Crace sets the book up succinctly in his intro, saying “Traditional methods of biography hadn’t really come close to pinning Redknapp down”, saying he remained “an elusive character in whom everyone saw the reflection that suited them”. In wondering whether he’ll succeed in the task he’s set himself, Crace hopes the journey is “fun and interesting. Just like Harry.” It is. Continue reading →