NORMAN GILLER’S SPURS ODYSSEY BLOG No 411
Submitted by Norman Giller

With one foot in the grave, I probably won't be around to see it … but I'll bet all my children's inheritance that Harry Kane will be a Tottenham manager one day. Anybody who saw him analysing yesterday's victory over Nottingham Forest on Sky Sports will know he talks as good a game as he plays.

I hope somebody bookmarks this page so that when Harry is appointed in about 2035 you can call it up and say, 'Uncle Norman predicted that years ago.'

(Note, if my "kids" are reading this: only saying that about the inheritance to make a point. I've spent the money already)

Harry agrees with my assessment that Spurs have still not got into top gear, but there's something about this team that suggests the long silverware famine is soon going to end.

Unfortunately, we see red when studying the top of the Premier League table, and there just might be a North London blanket over the football scene this season. It has already got that 1970-71 feel when the Gunners did the double and Spurs finished third and lifted the League Cup.

Early days, but both clubs have got off to a flier. Two dates for your diary: October 1 at the Emirates and January 14 2023 at Tottenham Stadium. That's when the two NLD matches will be played, and already you can bet they will be even more spicy and special than usual.

But first there's the little matter of Wednesday's derby against West Ham followed by Fulham at home on Saturday. The Hammers got off the bottom of the table yesterday with a 1-0 victory at Aston Villa and Fulham were unlucky not to squeeze a draw out of Arsenal on Saturday.. If we can come away from these two matches undefeated it will add to the belief that something magical is brewing under the Svengali guidance of Antonio Conte.

It will be interesting to see if the Brazilian Bomber Richarlison starts ahead of temporarily out-of-touch Son Heung-min against West Ham. He seems a constant companion of controversy, but just might be the man to give Spurs the sharp edge that has so far been missing this season. He created Harry's second goal and very nearly had one of his own, as our Spurs Odyssey guru Paul H. Smith reports HERE.

I was drawn into arguments on social media because I did not approve of Richarlison's arrogant showboating when he came on as substitute for Son yesterday. It's my belief that you have to earn the right to swagger, and the Brazilian has not yet established himself at his new club.

There was never any pomposity in the two greatest of all Tottenham teams, the Push and Run masters of the 50s or the Double kings of the 60s. They let their football do the talking for them without resorting to ever humiliating their fellow professionals.

I am not going on hearsay, because I am old enough to have seen them both play. They operated with dignity and style, but were never ever big headed and egotistical.

Once Richarlison has, so to speak, earned his Spurs he can showboat, but taking the mickey out of the Forest players was not warranted. It is not the Spurs way. If he wants the perfect role model, he should study modest master Harry Kane, the man who I am saying will one day manage Spurs.

You read it here first. COYS!

Week five of our ninth year of Spurs Odyssey Quiz League challenges:

Who has played 58 times for his country, was the youngest ever player for Bayern Munich and what number Spurs shirt does he wear?

Please email your answer to me at soqleague@gmail.com with Quiz Week 5 as the subject heading. Deadline midnight this Friday. I will respond to all who take part.

The rules are the same as in previous seasons. I ask a two-pronged question with three points at stake – two for identifying the player and one for the supplementary question. In the closing weeks of the competition I break the logjam of all-knowing Spurs-history experts with a tie-breaking poser that is based on opinion rather than fact. That’s when I lose the few friends that I have. But, hey, it's fun. Please join in.

This year’s prizes for the champion will be announced later in the season, but most important of all, they will include a framed certificate announcing the winner as 2023 SOQL champion.

Last week … Question 4 Who won 59 caps, played in a World Cup quarter-final against Brazil, scored 159 goals for Spurs and from which club did he join Tottenham?

Of course, club treasure Cliff Jones, who joined Tottenham from what was then Swansea Town after playing for Wales in the 1958 World Cup finals in Sweden. Tottenham has had few greater servants.

See you back here same time, same place next week. COYS!

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