A Spurs fans response to a "Spurs fans view"

By Sunshine
December 29 2003

Here is another response that tackles some of the key issues realted to our plight. It is a direct response to the previous article submitted by Jolyon.

I don't like Keller as a keeper. Never have. He has indeed 'saved' Spurs quite a few times, but I believe that it is a keepers' job to do so (I bet he's on a fair whack, salary-wise, too) and I also believe that the flaws in his game also contribute heftily to the defensive flaws of the entire team. Oh for a latter day Ray Clemence....

Onto Pleat: yes, I do still think he was the right choice after the Hoddle debacle. As Jolyon wrote in his lucid (as ever) and intelligent post, Hoddle simply HAD to go. In fact, I blame Hoddle for the current state of the squad.

Pleat has made mistakes, sure, but he is working with damaged goods and you can't expect him to perform miracles. It will be interesting to see what happens during the January transfer window. I believe that a mere 3 decent signings could make a huge difference to the performances of the team. I hope he gets the backing of the board to make them. Brown is one, now for another couple.

Then, during the summer, the man in charge could 'complete' the jigsaw.

To get us out of trouble, the team needs to power forward, and this can only be done if the heart of the team is strong. At present, we have no heart. I don't think ANY manager could have done significantly better than Pleat. In fact, I think that these three months have been a damage limitation exercise (with the last month going badly wrong. 'Til then, Pleat had done a great job) UNTIL the re-opening of the Transfer Window.

To those eager to get a new Manager in, do you really think he could have done any better? Or would it have been another, costly, debacle? Can you imagine the depression/anger of the fans had a new Manager been installed on October the 1st and our results being more or less the same?

No, sorry. Much as I like to wade into the Board for their obvious incompetence, they got this one right. What they got wrong was allowing Hoddle to build a squad which was only ever going to get us into trouble. The lack of steel and energy in midfield was, along with precious little striking options, the reason we got 'found out' at the beginning of 2003 and, as I said earlier, putting right just ONE of those glaring flaws, the striker department, is no use, since the forwards' game tends to suffer acutely when the service they get is poor.