Next Season is ours...

Article by George O'Neill

Subscribe to the e-Spurs Podcast!


It’s an annual spurs cliché as we head into February. A ritual if you will, like Marcus Hahnemann shaving his head or Simon Cowell dragging some hapless teenage girl from the Lidl checkouts to Christmas number one. The January transfer window typically bears no fruit, form dips and a top four finish looks to be slowly evading our grasp. “oh well, next season is our year” we defiantly declare to any friends, twitter followers and pub landlords that’ll lend an ear. This season mind, I thought I’d leak the statement from a position of strength. Still nauseously high from Saturday’s heart-stopping derby win, a cup final in the offing and Harry Kane… Just Harry Kane, this is probably as good as it’s been for us since Newcastle’s ghost equaliser. Yet still, “next season is our year” has never resonated clearer for me.

It’s been quite an astounding turnaround from Poch and the lads to put us anywhere near the top four this season. When Bojan slotted home Stoke’s winner at the Lane back in November, I genuinely feared our season would be resembling something similar to the situation at Everton. Forgotten, irrelevant, invisible. We had no philosophy, no direction, no tempo, no clue who our best eleven was. Miraculously, Pochetinno has turned us into a force once more. Exceptional away form, a battering of Chelsea on New Year’s day and a performance that made Woolwich look completely gutless on Saturday.

That said however, do I think we’ll make the top four? Unfortunately not. The challenge is even steeper than it was last season which is testament to Poch and the players that we’re even being talked about as a potential Champion’s league side once again. Taking City and Chelsea as a given, the money United have spent, the quality of Arsenal and Liverpool, we’ve taken huge strides to be back in the mix from the shambles we were last season. Who know’s maybe we will scrape the top four? It’s certainly possible. I’m just saying this season, it shouldn’t be seen as a disappointing season if we don’t.

Poch’s chief responsibility when taking the reins in the summer: Give this team an identity. At least that’s what my feeling was. He’s certainly achieved that. Even in the semi-successful AVB era we meandered through games looking lost at times relying on a Bale banger to light us up. Poch has given us a definitive style with the heart, passion and energy of quality young players driving us forward. I feel the days of £100 million splurges and pricey gambles are behind us. This will be the first off-season in years where the sharks won’t be sniffing around our top players, they’ll be no managerial merry-go-round and we have the foundations of a strong team we can be build around. Granted this season still promises so much. The cup final, a deep Europa league run perhaps, and just maybe we can sneak into the top four, but regardless of all that I can say with pride “Next season is ours”.

© e-Spurs 2014 All rights reserved no part of this document or this website may be reproduced without consent of e-Spurs

Share on Google Plus