By Sunshine
February 3 2005

Let’s face it, Tottenham have been rubbish for years. We’ve had the occasional excellent player and the (very) occasional piece of silverware to keep things ticking over and paper over the cracks, cracks that were plain for all, except the more optimistic, to see. Well, we’ve now got a good squad. In fact, we’ve got a squad which is not only good, but has the potential to develop into a unit capable of competing for a top four berth…and, given the average age of the players and, in particular, the age of the stars amongst them (Defoe, King, Robinson), to do so for a very long time, indeed. Truth be told, if there’s one thing I’m confident about, it’s that Arnesen will not rest once he’s built a team worthy of our glorious (if distant) past. Nope, he’ll carry on scouring the horizon for stars of the future and players who will be able to make an immediate impact on the first team, without sending shivers down the backs of the bank manager and the club chairman.

The last decade has been one of mediocrity. Last season Spurs finished fourteenth in the league and, as we all know, the league table doesn’t lie. This season is a bona fide year of transition, a term so often used to excuse the fact that we were quite simply cr*p. Given that we changed manager after just thirteen games and that since last summer more players have joined the club than most of us have had hot dinners, my expectations for the season, in terms of final position in the league, are measured. I’d be content with 9th or 10th: A marked improvement over last season and a sure sign of progress. Other signs of progress I’d like to see are the ‘Goals Against’ column looking better than last season, more clean sheets and fewer losses.

I have, though, a sneaking suspicion that the pressure on Jol to guide the team to a better (than 9th or 10th) finish this season has just increased quite sharply. Arnesen has built a squad which many other clubs should envy and Levy has provided the financial clout for him to do so. The last gasp additions of Reid and Dawson mean that, together with the return to fitness of Davies and Davis, the upper echelon of the Tottenham hierarchy almost certainly expect Jol to be challenging for a European spot now, rather than from next year on. Sure, talk to the suits and they’ll tell you that the plan all along was to get into Europe at the end of the current campaign, but that smacks of setting one’s sights high in order to maintain the focus on improvement, rather that a realistic expectation. Either that or we’re lead by a group of exaggerated optimists.

This new phase of expectation took an instant tumble with the 3-1 loss to Bolton. Not a good start. Third loss on the trot, actually. Good teams don’t lose two consecutive games, or so they say. Puts into perspective the importance of the home game against Portsmouth: We really do need the three points, we need to invert the negative trend. A further loss, or even a mere draw will cause confusion: We’re all convinced that the club is on the brink of a new era, that the squad is the strongest it’s been for over a decade, yet one (or worse still, none) point (points) from the last twelve available would seem to contradict this belief and do so very forcefully.

These considerations also allow us to realise just what sort of pressure Jol is starting to be put under: One thing is to take the reins of a team doing poorly and knock out a few good results to take us into the comfort zone on the left-hand side of the league table, quite another is to push on and achieve something concrete (like a UEFA Cup place). Jol worked miracles at a small club in the Dutch league, but the Premiership, at the helm of a club which has developed a penchant for expensive mediocrity, is another kettle of fish.

Now is when we will see if Jol is the right man for the job. Arnesen and Levy are providing him with the necessary resources to resurrect the club on the playing field and he has to start to deliver. Tottenham have to start winning and they’ve got to do so sharpish.
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