Spurs Balls: Daily Mail’s Neil Ashton Says Fifth Is Good If You’re Tim Sherwood But Bad If You’re AVB
IN this second instalment on Neil Ashton’s post-Andre Villas-Boas reports on life at Spurs we hear him tell Mail readers that Tim Sherwood (a “man’s man”) is doing a good job.
Last season, for example, Tottenham had the sixth biggest budget (£90m) for salaries in the league behind Manchester City (£202m), Chelsea (£173m), Manchester United (£162m), Arsenal (£143m) and Liverpool (£119m). On that basis you could argue that Tottenham’s fifth-placed finish under Andre Villas-Boas was an over-achievement.
So. AVB did well?
‘This season, if Tottenham’s coach Tim Sherwood finishes fifth, where they are currently positioned in the Premier League, that would be about right based on their current wage structure…”
Again. It seems that AVB did well. He is at least Sherwood’s equal.
Is this the same Ashton who attacked AVB, castigating the manager by stating waaaaay back in November:
There is a certain expectation at White Hart Lane, a culture at the club that has been passed down through generations of managers and supporters. To Villas-Boas, it has become anathema… Villas-Boas has the personnel to cut most teams to ribbons…
With expensive recruits, this was the season when they were supposed to kick on and challenge for the Premier League title…
No-one doubts that football has evolved, but the modern Villas-Boas model is already in need of an update.
It got an update. It got Tim Sherwood who has taken Spurs to…fifth.
He’s a man’s man is Tim, says Ashton. And that man is Neil Ashton…
Changing His Tune
You may recall Neil Ashton of the Daily Mail’s topsy-turvy relationship with Tottenham, and principally their former manager Andre Villas-Boas. Back in December, the Portuguese manager publicly accused Ashton of “insulting my integrity, my human values, my professionalism” after he was fiercely criticised for what was perceived to be a poor start to the season.
‘There is a certain expectation at White Hart Lane, a culture at the club that has been passed down through generations of managers and supporters,’ Ashton wrote on Villas-Boas in November. ‘To Villas-Boas, it has become anathema.
‘With expensive recruits, this was the season when they were supposed to kick on and challenge for the Premier League title. No-one doubts that football has evolved, but the modern Villas-Boas model is already in need of an update.’
Quite the attack, we’re sure you will agree.
With that in mind, we assumed that Ashton would be pretty unimpressed by Tim Sherwood too during his time at The Lane, given that Spurs were ‘supposed to kick on and challenge for the Premier League title’. After all, Villas-Boas left the club when they were still only five points off the top four – they are now seven points away, having played three games more than Manchester City directly ahead of them.
Posted: 19th, March 2014 | In: Sports, Spurs Comment (1) | TrackBack | Permalink
