The Cockney Messiah
Mon Oct 27 09:00AM
Tottenham's sacking of Juande Ramos was a masterstroke in burying news.
By delaying the announcement until late on Saturday, they ensured there was no mention of it in most of the Sunday papers, and it was a whisker too late to make Match of the Day.
It would be as though nothing had happened. Of course, when the new man gave his first interview people might be suspicious about the sudden deterioration in the standard of Ramos's English.
But otherwise, they could draft in Harry Redknapp without having to endure the unforgiving glare of the media spotlight.
Sadly, Spurs were forgetting something. There are newspapers on a Monday, too. And websites, TV, radio - blanket media coverage, basically.
And everyone agrees that, while Redknapp is obviously a good appointment, Spurs remain an utter shambles.
It seemed strangely appropriate that such a bizarre and dysfunctional managerial reign should end at close to midnight on a Saturday evening.
The Tottenham players, had the small matter of a match to contend with in a matter of hours, and were faithfully tucked into bed. Bed, in this case, being the name of a tacky nightclub in Woking.
Early Doors was also enjoying an evening on the ale - a pint and a half of Mild usually does the trick - and possibly failed adequately to process the news when it filtered through to the hostelry.
On waking, bleary-eyed, on Sunday morning, Early Doors wondered if it had all been a dream.
ED was greatly relieved to discover it had not spent the night dreaming about Harry Redknapp, and the story was true.
Redknapp is an opportunist, and he knows a no-lose situation when he sees one.
Spurs were never going to go down, and they are certainly not going to now the waxwork dummy formerly known as JR has been sacked.
They could have appointed Bruce Forsyth and seen a major upturn in their results, yet Redknapp will be hailed as a genius when he guides Tottenham to that 11th-place finish.
Redknapp seemed quite impressed that he could fetch a £5 million fee, saying it was hard for Pompey to turn down.
However, it makes him worth only half as much as Frank Arnesen, whose poaching from Spurs by Chelsea in 2005 helped provoke all this nonsense.
You have to feel for the Portsmouth players, whose intensive language lessons to understand Redknapp have proved a complete waste of time.
Now the Pompey players have gone to the bother of learning Cockney, surely that is all the reason the club needs to appoint Alan Curbishley and not Sam Allardyce or Avram Grant.
The consensus among pundits is that a continental-style 'director of football' management structure cannot work in the Premier League, and Spurs have duly done away with theirs.
But that is absolute guff.
As Arsene Wenger said at the weekend, any system can work as long as it is done properly and everyone knows their role.
When he worked at Sevilla with director of football Monchi Rodriguez, there didn't seem to be a problem, as Monchi unearthed gems such as Dani Alves and Luis Fabiano, and Ramos inserted them into a winning team.
Good players are good players, whatever country you are in.
The inherent problem in Ramos's relationship with Damien Comolli is that there wasn't one.
In a post-sacking rant, a 'close friend' told The Sun that Ramos considered Comolli "a dimwit" and that the Frenchman ignored his player recommendations.
Ramos had players bought for him that he neither wanted nor needed, while the heart of the team was ripped out and not adequately replaced.
That is Tottenham's fault, not the system's.
Chairman Daniel Levy whined about the summer's transfer disasters in an open letter to the fans, as though he had no choice in who the club bought and sold.
"Robbie Keane's departure was undoubtedly the shock of the summer." he moaned. "I was as disappointed as any of you when he informed me that he wanted to join what he described as his favourite boyhood club."
Early Doors has a suggestion: if you don't want to sell Robbie Keane, don't sell him.
- - -
In his assessment of Liverpool's 1-0 win against Chelsea yesterday afternoon, Rafa Benitez showed what happens when you spend too much time doing interviews on Sky.
Rather than the result being a case of picking up three points or beating a rival, it became all about sending a message or, in Benitez's words, a "massive message".
Nobody could be very sure to whom this message was being sent, and what information it contained that could not be gathered by looking at the Premier League table.
If you want to send a message, use a carrier pigeon.
- - -
Early Doors has rarely witnessed more slick passing, determined running or tough tackling at Wembley.
Sadly for English football fans, it was being done by the New Orleans Saints and San Diego Chargers.
A couple of weeks after last year's Wembley NFL game, England got stuffed by Croatia and the helmet-wearing, hot dog-eating gridiron stars were duly blamed for wrecking the pitch.
The Wembley ground staff have four months to get the playing surface in order ahead of England's next World Cup qualifier against Slovakia in March, but ED sees no reason not to blame the Yanks anyway should Fabio Capello's boys cock it up.
Last year, 'special guest' John Terry was roundly booed as he was introduced to the crowd - handily getting him prepared for the treatment England got after the Croatia debacle.
This time organisers played it safe by trotting out Rebecca Adlington and predicted the crowd would be just sober enough not to boo a girl.
They were half-right. Although Adlington's two Olympic gold medals bought her enough respect to get a decent reception, British soul wannabe loon Joss Stone - who is rubbish at sport - was not so lucky.
Rather curiously, Stone sang God Save The Queen with an American accent, getting lightly jeered in the process.
- - -
QUOTE OF THE DAY: "They put eight players out to defend and there was no space to work the ball, only space to cross. We didn't win one cross. This is not the football we normally play. We need to play and touch the ball, as we do not have big strikers. That's what made me angry, I told the players to take a touch but they were losing confidence to do that. Rafa Benitez is intelligent. He knows and I know that we don't have a two-metre tall centre-forward." Big Phil Scolari on what passes for intelligence these days.
FOREIGN VIEW: "Black hand" - Real Madrid are whining about the referees in Spain again. This time after beating Athletic Bilbao 3-2. Some people are never happy.
i would wish Loserpool to win the title. Eighteen years is too much for a 'big team' to have not won the league trophy.
From kaggwa2000 on Mon Oct 27 11:09AMPeace to you all folks.Anelka is completeshit.As to say Pool deserve their victory i won't agree.they were even but luck seemed to weigh in their favour.Our unbeaten run had to come to an end unluckily it is Pool but again it is part of football.
Jude good to have u back.What Jay said last week was really really sad and which didn't warrant any comments from me.I think as one poster said some of us are becoming obsessed with ED but i think since he seems to be apologising you should accept his apology.Peace
From jacknfor on Mon Oct 27 11:12AMoi wait a minute just because i have a thing about ben, his hot tubs, pancakes and surfing from la, croydon. Doesn't mean i am ben.... I mean how he treated samone and other ladies was a disgrace, and since then (actually since the first time he posted) i have had a problem with him.... it was interesting though that he made an appearance on thursday, after so long out, just as all this imposter conspiracy theory @#$% was going on.
Let me reaffirm, i am not really called some_steam, but i am 100% real fake....
From some_steam on Mon Oct 27 11:13AMSlow down guys I cant keep up
From anne_helm on Mon Oct 27 11:16AMjude lol, its only a lighthearted football banter blog, u dont have to get all obsessed over it. No the reason i went along with all of that is because my main aim was to show how pathetic fakes were to everybody, in the end finding out who it was, was a bonus really. I think after friday ive learnt not to take fakes to seriously so im glad it happened.
From jay8my on Mon Oct 27 11:16AMsome_steam lol
From jay8my on Mon Oct 27 11:17AMoh rumpy_pumpy isn't the only theory i had, remember i have paranoia, paranoid people go with alot more things than that lol
From jay8my on Mon Oct 27 11:18AMmorning anne
robinho sucks.From jay8my on Mon Oct 27 11:19AMlol, jude like i said 'tac-tics' although it wouldn't be that strange..peace jack.
From jay8my on Mon Oct 27 11:20AMHe sure does Jay
From anne_helm on Mon Oct 27 11:25AMjude_surf@ymail.com you really are an imbecile.
From imayger on Mon Oct 27 11:25AMWTf is all this EPL c**p??? Call it the Premier league you mugs.
From rich_will57 on Mon Oct 27 11:27AMlol cheers jude, the only thing i seem to be is mature, ive not sworn at u at all. I have attempted to talk about football on this 'football blog' this morning, because, u see, im not obsessed. Ofcourse u would accuse me of being the fakes i have already predicted that as ur next 'tac-tic' not bad for a dumbdick aye
'Once a fake always a fake'From jay8my on Mon Oct 27 11:27AMimayger anagram for i m gayer
From some_steam on Mon Oct 27 11:31AMMorning Jude did you have a lovely break?
From anne_helm on Mon Oct 27 11:33AMjude lol
im....not...buying!! Keep up the work tho, u never know a fuckingstupid person like me could learn alot from the most intelligent guy in the world like you From jay8my on Mon Oct 27 11:38AMyour a fuckingidiot who probably sits in front of his computer all day pulling himself off coz he has no life.
From imayger on Mon Oct 27 11:38AMI think there are too many imposters for one person only. Jude and Jay must both have imposters. If I am wrong I am sorry
From nigel_eliot_tudor on Mon Oct 27 11:39AMliverpool do not deserve to be top. they have yet to put in a good performance. on another day chelsea would have been 3 up at half time. difference was luck. another scrappy goal gets them points. Im quite glad this home record thing is finished with now though. they have the record and it wont be beaten anytime soon but itwas stopping chelsea play as good as they can with the worry of losing it.
From sav46e on Mon Oct 27 11:40AMHey Jude dont invite me or if you do know all the facts first
From anne_helm on Mon Oct 27 11:42AMAnne,
Totally agreed wiv what u, mick and bob said on friday afternoon about how bad it got wiv the fakes, i think 'the imposter' must have reluctantly agreed. He was still trying to get attention and was blatantly ignored it was so funny. So now hes seems to have stopped posting wiv all of them. 'Happy days'From jay8my on Mon Oct 27 11:42AM#172 savage, "on another day you would have been 3 up at half time"... of course that would probably be true but you were playing liverpool on sunday not relegation fodder or mid table anonymity. And maybe on the other day liverpool would have a world class striker in the team. We haven't won the league, but hey let us enjoy the gloating for once!
From some_steam on Mon Oct 27 11:45AMHello anne how are u and how did u welcome stoke's waterloo?i guess disappointing.Not to worry though,better days lie ahead.Peace
From jacknfor on Mon Oct 27 11:46AMNo-one's won a title in October - but people have certainly lost them. We're now 3 clear of Chelski and 5 of Man U (assuming they win their game in hand). Given how we normally start a season, there's even more so of a reason to be optimistic. And, people, remember - luck or not, we beat BOTH Chelski and United without Torres.
Besides, unbeaten? Only dropped 4 points out of a possible 27 so far? I'd definitely say there's cause for hope.
From bigscarykillerbutterfly on Mon Oct 27 11:47AMIs this an Agony Aunt blog?
Jack - Remember when you said I would be walking alone on Sunday? How funny is that now! peace.
Sav46e - They put in good performances against Man City, Man Utd & Chelsea
From kevin1985kane on Mon Oct 27 11:48AMwhere SexYy beauties and wealthyy singleS Mingle
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------------Meet your special easier and more effectiveFrom qoakholona on Mon Oct 27 11:49AMBig fuckingmassive conclusions Jude
From anne_helm on Mon Oct 27 11:53AMI remember kev.I do accept that was an over optimistic statement but which should be expected from a fan like me.We need Drogba back.Anelka is nonesense and i think Scolari is beginning to bother me with his concentration on controlling the game but not creating chances.Well,i do believe we'll pick up on wednesday against Hull.Peace though Pool won't win the league that is certain
From jacknfor on Mon Oct 27 11:55AMHey Jack thanks for that do you want me to stop supporting Chelsea Im like a kiss of death
From anne_helm on Mon Oct 27 11:55AMYou lot may diss us liverpool fans for gloating but if United or Chelski or even Arsenal had been our position now, they would be gloating until the cows come home!
Is it that hard to give us a pat on the back? Yes we are not playing to the highest level at the minute but I hope we up the gears and extra notch and prove to you lot once & for all that we have a great shot this season. October is where we usually start to drop points but hey if we beat Pompee on Wednesday night we are off to a flyer!
From kevin1985kane on Mon Oct 27 11:55AM
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