A Season for Optimism

Article by e-Spurs Writer Johnny Murwill

 

The failure to achieve champions league last season has led to shouts that Spurs will ‘never have a better chance’ of entering the ‘promised land’ – insinuating that they never will again. However, it should be noted that this kind of warning was being thrown at Spurs the season before last as well. While it is certainly true that each of the last two seasons have offered up opportunities for champions’ league football that have been gloriously thrown away in Tottenhamesque style, it is also undeniable that Spurs have not fallen behind, and are pushing the leading pack harder than ever.

 

Instead of focusing on the failure of last season, it’s time to really see how and why next season really can be the year of the Cockerel! Those who state that next season will be harder than ever at the top of the premier league are not wrong – Mourinho and Chelsea will undoubtedly strengthen, City have already started spending, Wenger is rumoured to have cash to splash, while it is hard to see United regressing too much under Moyes. The red and blue sides of Merseyside represent a constant possible threat. However, even if the competition does strengthen considerably, it is hard to see Spurs being left behind. For a start, it is worth remembering that four of the top 6 will start next season with new managers. This being the case, Spurs could well be in a relatively rare position of stability at the top end of the table. For this to happen, however, the next couple of months are crucial.

 

Since the end of the season, AVB has come out and clearly stated that his preferred structure for the club involves a technical director:

 

“I think it's something that works. Since the first day I told the club that it's somebody who is extremely important in my view to the structure of the club." (SkySports)

It now appears to be a formality that Franco Baldini, the ex-England assistant, is the man to fill this role. Duncan Castle at The Times has been heavily linking his name to Spurs for some time, and having left his role at AS Roma at the beginning of the month, he is set to be appointed when he returns from holiday according to his friend Rosella Marrai. While the usual transfer rumour mill is in full force, it seems that assigning someone to help with the running of transfers is the first order of business at Spurs this summer. When this occurs, two issues are of paramount importance in order for Spurs to set up successfully in time for the start of the new season

 

A striker. A deficiency that is so obvious it barely needs to be stated as an issue. Which makes Levy’s inability to really push for a ruthless forward all the more confusing. Spurs have lacked a lethal striker since Berbatov’s departure in 2008, but this was emphasised most evidently last season, with Defoe and Adebayor contributing a meagre 5 goals between them since the turn of the year. David Villa and Christian Benteke, along with approximately 267 other vaguely exciting names, have been linked with Spurs since the end of the season. While rumours vary in intensity about which forward is coming to spurs, the club must surely realise and rectify the deficiency up front at long last.

 

Most importantly, however, with even more articles (and even less quotes) surfacing about either Gareth Bale’s extravagant wage demands (from 150,000 per week in The Express to 200,000 in The Daily Mail) or potential amount of Real Madrid’s bid (the latest number plucked out of the sky being £85 million), the future of our welsh superstar cannot be underestimated in importance for next season. Stability is key for next season, and could be the advantage Spurs have on their rivals at the top of the league. For this to happen, Bale’s future must be sorted well before the first league game kicks off.

 

While some fans have argued for the benefits of raising 70 + million for squad improvements, Bale simply must stay. Levy’s final statement of the season asserted that the clubs best assets would be kept, and in Bale, Spurs have an asset of global value. Leaving to one side the mass of points that Bale is capable of winning single-handedly, never in the modern era have Spurs held a player who holds such phenomenal marketing power. A recent article interestingly argued the fact that, economically at least, Fernando Torres has lived up to his £50 million price tag. Both in shirt sales and global marketing, Bale can become the image of Spurs. Across Europe players and managers have taken notice of Bale’s meteoric rise, and this in turn can only increase Spurs exposure in global marketing. Spurs do not have the status of United or the money of Chelsea to reach a global audience, but they do have Bale. It is not often Spurs have a player whom Zinedine Zidane rates as the third best player in world football, and the most impressive in Europe this year. Keeping Bale elevates Spurs’ status, helps attract better players, and provides a superstar to lead what is already a strong spine in Lloris, Vertonghen, Kaboul, Sandro and Dembele.

 

If – and it’s a big if – Spurs can manage to hold on to Bale and bring in a quality striker, there is no reason why next season won’t hold as big a chance for success as the last two have. AVB has shown great promise with a squad short on goalscorers – and in the face of relentless media criticism – and the club will surely benefit from the extra year of maturity gained by a squad still to reach its peak age (the average age of the first 11 next season will still be under 25). Bale simply must stay, and the addition of a striker coupled with the return of Sandro and Kaboul would present an enviable spine to the team. Off the back of our highest points tally in Premier League history, next season promises to intrigue, optimism and – dare I say it – a better chance for success than ever.

 

By Johnny Murwill

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