In The Eyes Of Hod

”’I CANNOT envisage a situation where Tottenham would commit £30m on one player. That would be very dodgy business strategy. If he breaks a leg it can have serious consequences.” The words of Tottenham chairman Daniel Levy, who had earlier insisted that his club have ”set out to establish Spurs in the top flight of European football”.

Hoddle asks ‘dad’ to switch the floodlights on

It’s all great stuff, and exactly what we have come to expect from a club that had been going after Rivaldo, Morientes and Chiesa. As it was they snared Robbie Keane, which for £7m does represent a good deal on a player who had cost Leeds between £5 and £6 million more.

But this talk about refusing to break the bank for a player is rubbish. The players on Hoddle’s wish list didn’t not come to Spurs because the money wasn’t being offered; they didn’t come because they had no intention of playing for the fourth best team in London (source: 2001-2002 Premiership table; 2000-2001 table; 1999-2000 table; 1998-1999 table).

And ”envisage” is such a wonderful word, lending a measured edge to the chairman’s comments. Also note how Spurs have ”set out” to be a big, successful team. And, to my mind, there are few teams that haven’t.

The laughable thing is that Spurs think they can do it with Glenn Hoddle is charge. The Messiah, as many people still call him, is at the top of the table, doing for Spurs what he once threatened to do for Chelsea. But Hoddle is not the glue that will gel any new Spurs team.

If his chairman were to ask Hoddle which player would be worth £30 million, a few seconds deliberation would see Glenn answer: ”Me.” And then the pause would be because Glenn considered the sum as something of a bargain. For now and forever, Glenn remains the best player at the club. And £30 million for his talent would be money well spent.

As Tony Cascarino, a player who once performed under Hoddle at Chelsea, puts it, Glenn Hoddle was ”completely besotted with himself”. And as one nameless Chelsea player adds it: ”If he was an ice cream he would lick himself.”

On another note, we see that the weekend saw the joining of Spurs with north London rivals Arsenal when Sarah Buchler, the daughter of David Buchler, vice-chairman of Tottenham Hotspur, married Darren Dein, the son of David Dein, vice-chairman of Arsenal. It was a traditional do, with Sven Goran Eriksson in attendance. And one for which, one imagines, the bride’s family picked up the bill. Which might well have set back Tottenham’s big plans a little further. More champagne, Mr Dein?

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Posted: 10th, September 2002 | In: Back pages Comment | TrackBack | Permalink