NORMAN GILLER’S SPURS ODYSSEY BLOG No 16
Submitted by Norman Giller

The first decision for Tim Sherwood’s successor is not which players to bring in but which of the Spurs surplus to move out. There are more midfielders on the Tottenham books than 0s on the David Moyes pay-off cheque. I make it 11, not counting the on-loan Holtby, Livermore, Mason, Falqué and Carroll.

Which of these would you keep if you were the new manager at the Lane, in shirt number order: 7. Lennon, 8. Paulinho, 11. Lamela, 15. Capoue, 17. Townsend, 19. Dembélé, 21. Chadli, 22. Sigurdsson, 23. Eriksen, 30. Sandro, 42. Bentaleb.

What a drain on the Tottenham wage bill. The man taking charge can ship out four of them and splash the cash on one desperately required striker.

But hold on, Gladys! Will there be a new manager? Now that first choice Louis van Gaal looks bound for Old Trafford Daniel Levy must be running around in ever decreasing circles trying to get the next appointment right?

Mauricio Pochettino, Frank de Boer, Rafa Benitez and even David Moyes are the latest names being bandied about, often by agents thirsting at the thought of their cut.

Many Tottenham fans voiced their view on Moyes at Stoke. To the tune of Slade’s ‘Cum on Feel the Noize’, they sang: “Tottenham make some noise … We don’t want David Moyes.”

The difference a season makes. I clearly remember huge support for Levy to sign Moyes in place of Harry Redknapp.

What song will they sing if it’s, say, Alan Pardew or ‘Fat Sam’ Allardyce, that takes over at the Lane? Only joking.

The bottom line is that the man in charge at the start of next season could easily be one Tim Sherwood!

I know that will please a lot of people. Only joking.

The fact remains he is in the box seat, and – as he modestly reminds us – he has a record of 11 victories from 18 matches since taking over from AVB in December. That’s a win rate of over 58%, a superior percentage to any of his predecessors in the Premier League.

Tim – refusing to be intimidated – crowed: "The record's good – it is better than any Premier League manager in the history of this club. There has been no one at Spurs who has done a better job in the Premier League. My record stands for itself.”

I would prefer it if he would leave it to loyal supporters like me (ok, I’m in a minority) to put that sort of message out. His comments just gave more ammunition to his detractors, who were quick to point out that he had conveniently forgotten to mention the exits from the Capital One Cup at the hands of West Ham, the FA Cup defeat by Arsenal and the Europa League elimination by Benfica on top of the heavy defeats to the top three teams in the Premier League.

But then it would not be Tim if he sheathed his tongue. He cannot help but say it as it is.

Victories in the remaining matches against West Ham and Aston Villa and he just might still be in charge next season. And I am not joking.

***

As somebody who has continually defended Danny Rose against vicious on-line criticism from Spurs fans, I was delighted to see him playing a prominent part in Tottenham’s victory at Stoke.

His crucial 32nd minute goal was the highlight of an influential performance, and I thought Sherwood showed good sense when he took him off after his unwise yet understandable altercation with Geoff Cameron. It was not Rose who got Ryan Shawcross red carded, but the Stoke skipper’s crude flying tackle on the Tottenham full-back.

The Stoke fans turned on Rose as if he was their worst enemy. Booing is just about tolerable, but some of the vile abuse aimed at Danny showed the unacceptable face of football.

He lost it when Cameron hit him with a crunching tackle, and he was out of order retaliating with his double-handed push. The referee quite rightly showed him a yellow card that could easily have been red, and then the verbal assault from the crowd reached a new crescendo.

Sherwood pulled him out of the cauldron and wisely advised him to seek the shelter of the dressing-room rather than take any more of the dung being tipped on him by the incensed Stoke supporters.

Danny must learn to show composure at all times, which is very easy to type but how many could have kept their cool in those explosive circumstances? Some of the more abusive Stoke fans should be ashamed of themselves.

I hope Spurs fans get behind 23-year-old Danny. He has taken more than his fair share of abuse, and now deserves the full support of the Tottenham faithful

*****

THE GILLER TEASER

Each week here in my Spurs Odyssey home I test your knowledge of Spurs. Most of you provided the right answer to the question: Which FA Cup Final goal-scoring Spurs hero later played for the Woolwich Nomads and Stoke City?

It was, of course, Jimmy Robertson, a quick and direct Scottish international right winger who was swapped for the less impressive Arsenal forward David Jenkins In 1968. Jimmy once threatened me with a Glasgie kiss over something I wrote about him, but I continued to respect and like a man who was a fully committed professional and never less than competitive.

The first name chosen at random from the correct entries is Bryn Bannister, of Norwich, who wins a signed hard-back copy of Bill Nicholson Revisited.

This week’s teaser, with Saturday’s League game at West Ham in mind: Which former Barcelona striker scored a hat-trick for Spurs against West Ham on April Fool’s Day 1992?

A signed Bill Nicholson Revisited book (one of the few remaining hardback versions) to the sender of the correct answer whose name is randomly drawn first. Email your answer please to gillerteaser@normangillerbooks.com

The book is now available in paperback, with profits going to the Tottenham Tribute Trust: www.normangillerbooks.com

Thank you for joining me.

COYS!

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