This article was written in March 2003 by Joff Wild
Many readers of this website will know that I am also on the board of the Spurs Trust (or to give its full title - The Tottenham Hotspur Suporters' Trust). On the right of this and most pages of the site you will find the active logo that will take you to the Trust website (Ed:- formerly maintained by Yours' Truly), and the various items of interest, including how to join. Right now, it could be a very interesting time to join the Trust, who have a new investment scheme in the planning stages.
Earlier this week, when reporting on the Bolton game, I finally joined the growing army of fans who would like to see Glenn Hoddle move on, although I still have yet to express such a sentiment in a forceful way.
Joff Wild is also a Trust member, and was the Chairman of the Steering Committee that saw the establishment of the Trust. Joff is a very active and passionate Spurs fan, and has written the following article explaining why he thinks that Glenn Hoddle should stay. I am happy to publish such a well-written item, in the interests of balance and healthy debate. Thanks Joff!
Why Hoddle should stay
It is clear beyond all doubt that Tottenham Hotspur is in a desperate
state. The kind of stories published in today's (26.03.03)Daily Mirror and Daily
Express are not going to go away. Some will focus on Hoddle, others on the
chairman Daniel Levy. You pays your money and takes your choice. And when it
comes to apportioning responsibility for the shambles that is Spurs these
days I choose not to place the majority of the blame on Hoddle even though I
do recognise his many faults and errors of judgement.
My contention is that there are few other managers that could have done any
better with the resources that have been made available to Hoddle. Games we
have lost we may have drawn or won with another man in charge. But then
again there are games we have got points from which we may not have done
with another boss. I see it all as swings and roundabouts with a mediocre
squad made worse by long-term injuries to key players. Something the likes
of Charlton, Soton and Everton have not had to worry about so much this
season.
I think that the first half second half display conundrum is explained away
by two factors: first, many of our players are old and so just do not have
the physical strength necessary to play 90 minutes; second, most our team is
not good enough to play 90 minutes against Premier League opposition,
especially when the other side adopts a physical approach to the game. It
seems that Hoddle has the ability to send out what is essentially a mediocre
team able to compete for the first 45 minutes in many games, a team that can
even look good at times. But once they are back in the dressing room, have
lost the adrenalin and the muscles are beginning to tire, that same team is
just unable to come out again and do the business. I don't think this is all
about bad motivation or bad tactics. I think this is a product of
mediocrity. And the lack of a credible strike force highlights this because
we are unable to kill off games when we are on top.
Clearly Hoddle must take some of the blame for this. For one thing he fails
to recognise the very real physical deficiencies of much of the team. But my
question is why do we have such mediocrity in the first place? In my view it
is because the board of directors at Spurs are unwilling to back the manager
with money that they could access if they so wished to. He is forced to play
players he clearly does not rate and to shop around at the bargain bucket
end of the transfer market for players that do not cost us anything (the old
ones) or the ones that have low salary demands (the ones from eastern
Europe). We are a rich club, richer than almost any other club in this
country. But we spend far less on transfers and wages as a proportion of
turnover than most others. That is not Hoddle's fault. We know, because he
has told us, that the chairman has the final decision on who we buy and that
he only gives a deal the green light when he considers it to be
"advantageous". This is why we ended up with the comparatively low salary
and interesting marketing opportunities Toda represented in January rather
than high salary, dodgy profile of Lee Bowyer, the man we now all know
Hoddle wanted. Which one of those two would be likely to have most impact on
the pitch however?
So, whilst recognising Hoddle's faults, my major fear is that in calling for
Hoddle to go what we are doing is giving the club the perfect opportunity to
buy yet another two or three years of inaction and non-ambition. Getting rid
of Hoddle is far easier than addressing the root and branch reform that
Spurs so desperately needs. Remember, Levy will be picking Hoddle's
replacement. What will his criteria be? How will he know what he is looking
for? What selling points can he use to bring in someone that is better than
who we have at the moment? Levy has shown himself to be a disastrous
negotiator with management skills that are far worse than Hoddle's. He has
no successful business background and no real experience of working in
football. Yet we have to trust him with the most important decision a club
can take. It frightens the life out of me because I know just what we will
end up with. A no-record yes-man, who will not cost much in wages, will not
demand funds to rebuild the squad and will not kick up a fuss when our best
players are sold. In other words, a complete disaster.
So, my support for the manager is not based on the fact that I think he is
doing a great job. It is based on the fact that I struggle to think of
anyone who can do it better given the resources that will be made available.
If the personnel at the top were to change or were to begin to show some
concrete evidence of real ambition then my views on the manager could well
change. But at the moment neither looks like happening.
Having said all that, however, I know Hoddle will go sooner rather than
later. I know many people will be very happy about it. And I know that in a
couple of years time we will be having the same debate played out against
the backdrop of falling attendances, falling revenue and the terminal decline
of our club's name.
· · 2 Ian Campbell comments on Glenn Hoddle's Talents and Misjudgements
· · 3 The state of "The Spurs Franchise"
· Check the current team appearances, cards and scorers in all competitions
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