TOPSPURS Jim Duggan's TOTTENHAM HOTSPUR site
The thoughts and views on THFC updated daily from Jim Duggan - Shelfside season ticket holder, White Hart Lane resident & supporter since the early 1970s (last updated 25/04/02 22:56 PM)

25^th April 2002 – Weekly round up (again!)

Site updates: Many apologies about no site updates this week – a process that worked fine last week when I could not use it for another reason suddenly did not work this week. Not that much has happened this week, apart from more discussion about the season ticket price rises.

Liverpool – No Dilemma: If we win, like we have the last three time Liverpool have played at the Lane, it will mean that the Arse cannot be caught by Liverpool – good. A Spurs win is what we must hope for in every match, and although the possible outcome will mean an Arsenal Championship and possibly a double – so be it (although it will be shite for us). Arsenal will have won and Liverpool will have lost it over the whole season and not one match & any Spurs fan cheering a Liverpool win is a c**t in my opinion – just like they were at Old Trafford in 1999.

Liverpool – Match Preview: No matter what happens, I still go into most Spurs matches envisaging victory and Liverpool is no exception. Spurs are a massive 7/2 with Corals in a match that I would normally price us up at 7/4 – 2/1 – and it looks like a decent price for a change because Liverpool “have” to win.

No news from the Snout as yet apart from it is likely that King will probably be ok and Iversen almost definitely be ok, and that the players are off to a hotel for a couple of days to prepare for the game. The snout also reports that Barry Ferguson is a player “we are interested in” and developments should be noted on that score, although he appears to be a bit young for the English Grampus8 equivalents just yet.

TOPSPURS player of the season. Like the footballer of the year, topspurs will have two players of the season, one decided by the webmaster and another one voted for by topspurs regulars. Details to be sorted out shortly.

Despite some of you fearing that I am going to give it to Mr Ed, I have a got it down to two who will claim the crown Sully won by a mile last year. Mr Ed will duly trot in third for his consistent performances and it is not too difficult to think of the defender and midfielder who are in the running for the top honour.

Vote DruidSpur on the Official Site: While no one gives a shit who the topspurs player of the season is, it is important to vote for Davies on the poll on the official site. While this will be a little harsh on Ledders, he is already an established first teamer and it is Davies who should be a regular first teamer in the attacking midfield role. Being player of the year despite being an oddjob man this year should add a bit of pressure to see him starting in his favoured position at the start of next season, as well as making sure he signs a new and improved contract. The only worry with doing this is the curse of the player of the year – Rsol, then Carr who appears to have lost it mentally as well as physically and Sully who has not been the same this season. Surely this can’t happen again!

ENIC/Season Tickets/THST etc. Full comment on all of the events of the week tomm but a couple of things to keep the mind ticking over! That ticket next season will cost £55 – a 20times increase (exactly the same as a programme up from 15p then to £3 now) – and will the extra money they take off us actually make a difference?

21^st April 2002 – Weekend Round Up, Bolton & of course the season ticket prices!

Bolton 1-1 Spurs – Same old Story: This story is old, but it goes on! Spurs take the lead playing well, Spurs ponce about with ball over-elaborating everytime, try to defend a one goal lead & miss chances on the break before conceding a daft goal – Some old Same old & while this is not so important in an end of the season match – we cannot afford to let it halt our progress next season.

On a happier note – I’d like to thank John (Meatloaf) Stevens and his charming wife Allison for making us so welcome over the weekend and showing us some great old fashioned hospitality – it was one of the most memorable experience of the season.

Site Updates: Due to technical problems and me working away from home (yes I do have a day job to pay for ENICs plans) I have not been able to update the site during the week – Hopefully I can sort this now with updates coming at the link below & apologies for all the confusion: http://www.users.globalnet.co.uk/~jmdcon/jmdview.htm

The Season Ticket Price Rises: We all knew and feared what was coming, but it still does not take away the blow of having such huge increases. I’m too knackered to go into it all know and will formulate a proper response later in the week – but which ever way you look at it, it stinks!

http://www.spurs.co.uk/tickets/seasontickets.asp

Season Ticket Prices	2001-2002	2002-2003	Increase	Increase
West Stand Upper - Centre	£850.00	£1,200.00	£350.00	41%
West Stand Upper - Centre	£850.00	£1,050.00	£200.00	24%
West Stand Upper - Centre	£850.00	£950.00	£100.00	12%
West Stand Upper - Next to Centre	£795.00	£875.00	£80.00	10%
West Stand Upper - Wings	£705.00	£775.00	£70.00	10%
West Stand Lower - Centre	£670.00	£750.00	£80.00	12%
West Stand Lower - Wings		£695.00	£25.00	4%
East Stand Upper - Blocks D, E, F.	£690.00	£750.00	£60.00	9%
East Stand Upper - Other Blocks	£615.00	£685.00	£70.00	11%
East Stand Lower - Blocks 26, 27, 28	£580.00	£650.00	£70.00	12%
East Stand Lower - Other Blocks	£560.00	£595.00	£35.00	6%
North Stand - Upper Adult	£485.00	£585.00	£100.00	21%
North Stand - Upper Junior/OAP	£242.00	£242.00	nil	nil
North Stand - Lower Adult	£430.00	£495.00	£65.00	15%
North Stand - Lower Junior/OAP	£215.00	£215.00	nil	nil
South Stand - Upper	£585.00	£585.00	nil	nil
South Stand - Lower	£495.00	£495.00	nil	nil

(thanks to Fred Dowry – a man who has not missed a competitive Spurs match since 1989 or any match since 1994, a true Tottenham Legend - for providing me with the numbers)

The only way it can nearly be justified is by buying relatively young and champions’ league quality players over the summer – AND EVEN THEN it must be part of a package of measures to increase revenues for THFC. It is lazy and unjust to just go for the most inelastic section of the Spurs market – the season ticket holders - without doing other options such as THTV, Pay Per View Spurs games on the net, selling media right etc. The memo about how the club view season ticket holders is disgusting – we are the most loyal, but repayment for our loyalty is to have our discount taken away from the club shop and being the sole source of increased revenues (so far) – just how happy will you be when they buy this poxy golf club and relocate the training ground with our additional money? Its not as if it is an old training ground.

It is true that I have not had time to read all the stuff from over the weekend both from the Club and the Trust, but things like the Ticket Charter is the equivalent of the “Cones hotline” set up by John Major – nonsense. The fans will trust the ticket office when the simple operation of putting tickets in envelopes is made error free & when they do not see tickets advertised on ticket agencies when real Spurs fans are missing out. All they need to do is ring up and buy the tickets back – find out who they gave the tickets to and ban the bastards – with a threat to bar them from the ground if they do not reimburse the club the money they spent buying the tickets back. Unfortunately – this would involve action and not words, and seems unlikely to happen.

I keep getting told that ENIC are much better than Sugarlump because they are more transparent and we are kept informed of what is going on. Well what is the point of being kept informed of what is going on when nothing apart from stitching season ticket holders up is happening. Even at lowly Southampton, a half time vote was done by the fans to chose the home shirt design – why was something like that not done at Spurs? Cos it would require effort without direct financial reward and thought of the supporter wishes.

This brings me on to the role of the Trust. First of all I would like to say that the people involved in the trust have all given a lot of their spare time up and are unpaid (like people who run independent websites) to help other fans and their commitment to helping their fellow Spurs fans should be applauded. But – is the Supporters trust an effective vehicle for getting Supporter pressure on the board so that things are done for the benefit of Supporters?

While I am the first to agree that after the horrors of Sugar we need a period of stability and togetherness at the Lane, this must not be used to cover the club taking the piss. Have the Trust ever criticised the club? What would it take for them to do this? What if everyone emailed them about the season ticket prices and said they wanted action – what would they do? Unless it is only me that is unhappy about the price increases, they need to reflect supporters views and generate some action.

I have already been subject to a snide reply to a comment on the wallyboard about the Trust with the usual scare tactics of all dissenters are not true fans and that it was much worse before etc – there is only so long you can say it was much worse before. As I have said above –we need stability and a stable platform to build both on and off the pitch but there should always be debate. Things are much better at Tottenham now – but virtually all of that is related to Glenn Hoddle – I cannot tell the difference between ENIC and Sugar, except that ENIC seem to be getting away with things that would have brought the house down if Sugar had done them, purely because they are not Sugar.

As I said, more later in the week – but in terms of action – what can we do? Protest in the strongest terms possible to the Club/Trust? Yeah but what will it actually achieve. We are fucked – I’m renewing as I want to watch Tottenham – and that is the crux. I am ambitious for Tottenham and want Spurs to be the best and know that money is needed – fine – but money can be generated from other sources than season ticket holders. I know it will not be easy & wish the board good fortune in getting good players to come to the Lane over the summer and the next few seasons – but if they want my respect – the need to show the loyal fans more respect.

Tell me what you think at Nayim@topspurs.com or better still get on to the Trust.

From the THST: In the interest of balance, please find to follow some comments from the THST:

We've been putting as much pressure as we can on the club to be as open as possible. A small example: With our encouragement Spurs will be the first Premier League club to publish a Ticket charter. It will explain exactly how ticket allocations for next season will work, who'll be entitled to what and when. This should mean  no mess-ups like we've had this year and previously when we apply for tickets for away games or cup games and so on, or home games if we're not season ticket holders.  We expect to have more input to the detail of the Charter before it is published and will continue to do everything we can to make the ticket allocation policy fair. We don't know how well it will work, but at least we will now know how it ought to work, and I can promise you we'll be policing it very carefully indeed. Please let us know of any problems or thoughts you have on this over the coming season.

Also, we've gone to great lengths to put over your opinions to the club. We've told the club very clearly that we want them to be highly ambitious, that we need to see results and that we want to see a return for our incredible loyalty  and a financial contribution by fans way beyond most other clubs over years of disappointment and frustration. A conversation that the Trust Chairman Peter Haring had with Daniel Levy, Spurs' chairman, is reported below and it reflects this, and we have every intention of letting the club know exactly how our members feel. Please let us have your reactions. We promise to pass them all on to Daniel Levy.

Some people are concerned that we should be doing more to make sure that the club is always in tune with the supporters. We can promise you that for every bit of progress we've fought for there is more we would love to be able to do. The Trust exists purely for the benefit of Spurs supporters. We have limited resources and can't do everything we'd like to, which is why every supporter should join the Trust. It costs £10-00 a year and the more members we have the more influence we will have and the more we'll be able to do. We've achieved a lot already, but there is so much more to do. Can you imagine a year or so ago having the sort of information and access to the club that all members of the Trust now have? So, can you imagine how much more we could do if everyone who truly cares about Spurs was prepared to join up?

We'll keep fighting on your behalf, but please tell us what you want so that we can do it as effectively as we can.

This is Peter Haring's report of a conversation he had with Daniel Levy on Friday after the announcement of next season's ticket prices. "I had a long conversation with Daniel Levy late on Friday night. I told him that many people were very unhappy about the ticket price rises, some extremely so, and that virtually all supporters would probably feel that the overwhelming priority is to catch up with the leading clubs. If supporters tolerate such large increases it will only be if the club shows that it is absolutely determined to achieve this. He said they are, and agreed that he and the club will be judged on what it achieves.

He said he knows he will take flack over the price rises, but he's done it entirely in the interest of the club. He said that most of the biggest increases are one-off adjustments, such as the North stand coming into line with the South, and the West stand realignments. They believe that to do their jobs properly they have to get the relative pricing right at some point. They considered phasing the increases in over a few years, but decided to do it all now, in one fell swoop, because otherwise it would prolong the agony and fail to maximise income for too long a period. He says he understands the risks and has taken the decision that he believes is best for Spurs. (He also said that there will be many benefits to the Thomson deal, such as discounts, vouchers for free Spurs shirts with holidays booked etc., which could seriously offset the increased cost of tickets without reducing Spurs' income, but this will come out later, and isn't the main point.)

I believe DL's position is this;  the club will do evertything it can to maximise revenue. He assured me that every penny the club raises will be invested in the club with the sole intention of making it as successful as possible. He backs Glenn Hoddle 100% and will do everything possible to help him build the squad he needs. But they will not borrow to buy players or throw money around irresponsibly. He will not jeopardise the club's survival. They have absolutely no intention of paying dividends to shareholders. They could not make a public commitment to this effect because if, for example, there were a real collapse in the share price of the type which could actually threaten the club's existence (rather than the current decline which is common to most clubs), it may be necessary to consider paying an extraordinary dividend, or buying back some shares. This is standard for all public companies, but he tried hard to assure me that there was no realistic prospect of paying dividends because their sole objective is to make the
club successful, and that needs all the money available. The shareholders will make their money from the long-term increase in the value of their shares if Spurs becomes truly successful, but they have to be in it for the success of Spurs, not for any short term pay-outs, because there won't be any.

If we accept that the money being raised by all the means possible, including sponsorships, TV money and ticket sales, is not being raised to enrich shareholders' cash-flows but for investment in the club, we have to look at how the money will be invested. He said that there is virtually no transfer market. A tiny number of clubs will spend real money, but most are too scared or too poor. Spurs have to sell some players because the wage bill is astronomical. For example, Jamie Redknapp's wages use up most of the Thomson money. (His medical, BTW, was the severest, most demanding they could devise.) But to sell a player, you have to find a buyer who is prepared to pay the players' wages as well as any transfer fee that may be required. He said Spurs are not reluctant to spend money on transfer fees if the players Glenn wants are available, but he said some of the wage demands are just absurd and could threaten almost any club's future. That is one reason why they are placing an enormous emphasis on youth development. That is something they can get on with regardless of the condition of the transfer market or the economic climate for football clubs, and its a way to give Spurs a competitive advantage.

He repeated a few times that they've appointed Glenn to manage the team and will always back him 100% with all the resources they can make available to him. They will take risks but they won't allow Spurs to do what some other big clubs have done. He said what he's said to me before: he has no right to put the existence of the club at risk. He has to make sure its still there in five or ten years' time. They desperately want to bring in  top class players and let some players go, and are working very hard on this, but
won't make promises because deals are never easy to predict and the current market is especially hard. My personal opinion is that they have done the hard, unpopular things that they believe needed to be done, and are prepared to take the criticism for it
and be judged on results. In putting up prices they are asking us to make an act of faith, but this is the last time  they'll be able to ask it unless their actions justify it. I've told them many times, as forcefully as I can, that Spurs supporters have been incredibly patient despite immense frustrations and disappointments, but now, finally, we need to see the benefits of our patience and loyalty. I believe we have made this very clear and that they understand it. Now we'll see what happens.. "

Please let us have your thoughts. We will pass them on to the club because that is what we are here for:-  we can't always change things. The club was determined to put up ticket prices this year and we couldn't stop them. But we can and did find out why, and we can let them know exactly what we think. Reaction so far suggests that many supporters feel the new prices are excessive and can only be justified if the club makes major signings this summer and goes on to achieve real success on the pitch next season; the
Trust will continue to hammer this home to the club. Also, people are not happy to find that there will be no refunds if there are
 not two home cup-ties to use the vouchers for. Is this acceptable to you? But please tell us what else you think about the new prices. And tell us anything else that's on your mind about Spurs. It doesn't have to be just about tickets. Our job is to make sure that the supporters and the club understand each other better, and with your help that's exactly what we're trying to do.

19^th April 2002 – Weekly round up

This Week - Redknapp: The third week without daily round ups and I can only apologise – problems with my FTP package which should definitely be sorted next week, but regular readers of topspurs knew the major news of the week back in December anyway - (many thanks again to the snout!) & I would like to wish Jamie Redknapp an injury free and successful time back at the Lane. Redknapp’s page at topspurs has been up although not publicised for a while at www.topspurs.com/jredknapp.htm and no, there is not a kphillips page up there - yet!

I’ll get me Clogs: With all the off the field stuff this week, you could almost forget we have another important match to see us win the championship of the Premiership crap when we travel to Bolton. Our three previous matches against the Trotters this season has seen us score 13 goals to 2 in three wins but it should be a lot tougher against their top notch as opposed to second team journeymen. A win up there and points from our last two, notably 3 at Leicester should see us finish above crappy old West Ham and into a respectable and equal Premiership highest 7^th.

Team news is that Ledley is struggling & Iversen, shock picked up a knock, and we are already without the usual suspects – although Irish goalscoring hero Doherty, Clemence and Treacle (I think) should all be back in the frame, and to be honest – it is more about attitude than individuals as if we want this, and combination of our players should be good enough to turn them over – just as long as they want it – something that did not seem evident the last time we played a team of clog wearers.

Snout Stuff & another TOPSPURS exclusive: The real reason for reading this crap is for info from the snout and it has been plentiful this week:

Diego Forlan – you know, that Man U clown who is going to do his best to outstrip both Gary Birtles and Peter Davenport as Man U’s worst ever striker – well word has reached me that Poyet put him on to Tottenham and we were the first English club to speak with him – but after lengthy discussions THFC did not think the deal was right for the club, and passed him on, Alan Brazil style to Man U. That’s what the word is!

Davies Contract: Not much has been heard on the Davies contract in recent weeks – and while we will all go mad when the likely hikes in season ticket prices are revealed later in the season, it is fair to say that not one of us would mind some of the money going to give the DruidSpur a substantially improved contract. The good news is that word has reached me that the Davies contract is “not far off” and hopefully this will be signed for 5 years very soon.

Hoddle: The great man was not to be seen on Weds and it was confirmed that he was aboard looking at players in an international friendly. Rumours that it was the Luxenbourg – Liechtenstein match as players from these countries are all we can afford above Bosmans are not true!

Little Piggy: Scanning the list of reserve and Bosman players the other day, it dawned on me that Barmby at Liverpool is just about perfect for Tottenham – cheap, talented and very much a Hoddle player. Word has got back to me that the club are also aware of Barmby’s talents and Hoddle still likes the player so we could expect some action there, and anything less than £3m is a decent deal (provided the wife has a 150 mile exclusion zone).

I have given Barmby plenty of stick as he has behaved like a prick since he left the lane for a road of mediocrity, and there was that great moment when the dog ran on the pitch at Goodison a couple of years ago with the chant “Nicky Barmby Spice” but I’d have him back as he was a quality player and someone who could fit into the Sheringham role properly as opposed to Ridgeley’s interpretation of it and is still young enough.

It will be funny to think that the team full of promise at in Spring 1993 will finally be reunited – Sheringham, Anderton, Barmby and possibly Walker! – It just shows the harm and the start of the Rot which happened in the summer of 1993 when TV was removed.

Anderton Testimonial: While some of us may regard seasons of non appearance when there is not a major international tournament at the end of them benefits for Anderton, the club quite rightly are going to mark his 10 years at the club (something they should have done for Walker).

A likely cast list will include Hoddle, probably Jurgen Klinsmann, possibly Gazza, possibly Nayim and of course Anderton (no doubt clogging up the central midfield, with either Hoddle or Gazza forced to play wingback). The game will probably be in Aug like the Bill Nick match.

That bleedin Red Logo: Bored of the debate – not because it is not important, but because nothing can be done now - which is why it is last on the list. Here are the two new shirts for next season:

The debate is over – if you think the club were right not to consult fans, patronise us with financial realities and then still expect us to shell out £40 for a home shirt – go out and buy one. If you think they took the piss, ignored the supporters trust and took us for granted and want to teach them a lesson in unsold shirts and lost revenues – the only language the understand – don’t buy one – or delay it til well into the season. 70’s replica – lilywhite shirt and cockerel on a ball for me as ever next season.

And just a point on that – Levy in the patronising language of a primary school teacher tried to claim that they worked hard to make sure that the logo was not red on the away top. While this may be true, it seems obvious that a red logo on the navy blue would not be able to be seen – so it was always going to be a colour that would show up.

Trying to claim a victory when there was n’t one I think – which leads quite obviously to the question “if the logo on the away shirt does not have to be Red, why does the one on the home shirt have to be red?”. Answers on a postcard to “we did not ask this at the time as we were too busy looking at the money” competition. As Charlie Whelan said, Everton got One2One to drop the Red……….

Interesting Stuff from a Norwegian Message Board: Many thanks to my good friend Oystein Haugen, who runs the best Spurs site in Norway (http://home.c2i.net/ogen/) for forwarding this on which was posted on a Norwegian Message board. Most of these “my mates the barber of the accountant to …” are usually full of Bull but this seems to stack up and is repeated here, my comments in between:

"I've got a client who attended an analysts briefing with Daniel Levy about ENIC, by client is a Spurs fan and got a bit of Spurs news out of him, if you're interested read below. Apparently wages will never be more than 55% of turnover, and contracts are made up of 25% of bonuses. The aim at this stage is to get into the Uefa cup most years and the Champions League 1 year out of 4. The briefing took place on 10th April and Levy was pleased with the Kappa deal and the impending Thomson deal (apparently it's more lucrative than Arsenal's new deal.)
(Jd) Good news – profit related pay and a good financial basis for the club. I am pleased ENIC are placing sensible financial structures within the club. Business realism 1 in 4 CL and mostly UEFA but once we get into the top4, I hope we can stay there and believe Hoddle is the man to keep us there.

The West Stand is going to be made all season-ticket, whereas prices in the Paxton will rise by 20%. They've set a limit of 23,000 season tickets, because ST holders turn up late and don't go to the shop. Next season games will be classified as A, B and C, to get a ticket for an A class game you have to have been to 2 class C games (I don't know how it will work if we have A class games near the start of the season).
(Jd) All season ticket West Stand would be good idea – but what about all the corporates, where will they go? The tickets based on Loyalty is a great idea – but getting the ticket office to run it efficiently is a totally different matter. ST holders don’t go to the shop as much as some twats took away the 10% discount! But the funny thing is with season ticket holders – we are loyal, have gone thro thick and thin, and have funded much of the ENIC revenues over the last year – we should not be treated badly for the sake of some glory hunter who just watches one game a season. If this is true, ENIC will have a massive problem – make no mistake.

Levy admitted that we paid too much for Richards, but at the time they had to, he thinks that Richards has done 'just about ok'. Apparently Hoddle decided during pre-season that Rebrov wasn't good enough for the job he had in mind for him, and the board aren't too happy with Hod's 2 minute sub usage of Rebrov cos it's knocked his value down so much, but they think they might make some money out of Keller as he was on a free. The Spurs doctor thinks that Carr will be better than ever next season.

The board have 3 priorities, first team, youth set-up and ground, however in order of importance they are youth set-up, ground and 1st team (sorry), Hod knows this and is 'happy' with it. The club is £15m in debt, but ENIC have a £25m cash shell and £20m locked up in Autonomy.
(Jd) Wrong order – get the first team in the Champions League and the rest will sort itself out. Just how many players actually come thro the youth ranks to be given a chance? The Debt is an issue, as I thought we spent all season paying it off

As for transfers they've identified 4 or 5 players they're confident of getting, he also talked about a Bosman free transfer which was practically signed and sealed, my client asked if it was another slow injury prone midfielder, to which Levy replied 'No comment', but I think it's safe to assume he meant Redknapp. They also think that the new golf course could help swing a few signings their way.

Overall some positives – but after the cock up with the shirt logo, they will face all out war if they balls things up over the season ticket prices WITHOUT showing some evidence as to how the extra money is being spent to bolster the first team. 

14^th April 2002 – Weekend round up

West Ham: One of the least interesting matches for a while at the Lane. The game followed the usual patter – Spurs take the lead, Spurs miss chances, Spurs fail to keep a clean sheet and points are dropped! In fairness they were a bit lucky – Pearce, like Weir for Everton before him, hit a wonderful goal – but we really should have made it safe before that.

DINKT – the final shows: Manchester, this weekend was probably the last place I’d have chosen to be, but it was the recording of the final set of shows for the football quiz DINKT. While we did well to get into the last stages from the 108 teams that entered, we were now pitted up against the serious saddoes and it looks as if our run has come to an end.

Star of this weekend was Lee Dumont who scored a magnificent 14 in a minute long specialist round he only knew he was doing on the morning of the quiz. Team captain Bernie Kingsley also did an excellent score of 12 in his specialist round in the other show. The away day Jonah – with a badge calling him Jonah did well & Meatloaf added some much needed glamour. I was virtually useless this time – getting difficult but do-able ones wrong & actually costing us a share of second place by telling the Gillingham bloke next to me one of the answers to a Tottenham related Gillingham question. While this sporting gesture cost us a share of second place, it did manage to clear my name from the “spirit of Taricco” match in the previous filming. As usual we got, really difficult qu