Tottenham Hotspur FC 2013/14

[EJG1980]

I was expecting a few to leave without direct replacements coming in as Poch said earlier in the week that he thought the squad was too big and he wanted to reduce it in size, although it's a bit sad to see Sandro be one of those to leave as I really liked him and (like Dawson) you never felt he was giving less than 100%.

I can understand why they let him go though as he's often out injured, only once in four seasons has he managed over 20 league starts for us, and I think the price we got for him reflects that injury record.

[EJG1980]

Lots going on at the club this week. Unfortunately Archway Sheet Metal have decided to go to the high court to appeal the CPO against them meaning more delays to the start of stadium construction. Statement from Spurs:

Further to the Secretary of State confirming the Compulsory Purchase Order in respect of the last remaining land to be acquired for the stadium site, the Club can confirm that the landowners, Archway Sheet Metal Works Ltd and the Josif Family have exercised their right to seek to challenge the Secretary of State's decision in the High Court. The challenge proceedings will now commence and we await notification of the earliest possible date for the High Court Hearing.

We have already successfully and amicably relocated more than 70 businesses in the area to the satisfaction of all parties concerned and a number of these organisations continue to reside in the borough.

Whilst we were able to accommodate all these other businesses' requests, in the instance of Archway, we have been unable to reach agreement over the period of the last seven years.

That said, we remain committed to finding the earliest possible resolution and shall continue to engage with Archway regarding a possible agreement reached by private treaty.

Given the lengthy period of time taken to reach the CPO decision in the first place, we should like to advise supporters that it is highly unlikely we shall be able to open the new Stadium at the start of the 2017/2018 season.

The Club has revised its construction programme in order to take the shortest possible time to construct. This now therefore involves the Club moving away from the Lane during construction for a period of one season, to start at the beginning of a season in order to comply with Premier League rules.

We are currently undertaking due diligence on alternative stadium options. Consideration needs to be given to several factors, including planning and policing and, importantly, our fans and the impact it may have on the Team itself. Clearly all possible options have pros and cons and we are aware that we shall not be able to find one which will please all parties. We shall however seek to find the optimum solution for the Club and our supporters and we shall be sharing our deliberations with our supporters at an appropriate time.

We shall continue to provide updates as matters progress.

After this there was speculation in the press that Spurs were "up for sale", which is a bit of a non-story in itself, as ENIC are an investment group, so Spurs are really always up for sale if a big offer comes along that gives them a big enough return on their investment. Spurs response:

The stadium redevelopment plans are a significant part of the future for both our Club and the local area and represent a complex infrastructure project that requires funding. This substantial construction project requires discussions with multiple providers of finance so that the optimum financing package can be achieved. To this end, we have appointed Rothschild to advise us on those options.

Accordingly, we are at a stage where we are starting to engage with a number of financing institutions and potential funders in respect of the new stadium development project.

Contrary to recent press speculation, neither the Club, nor its majority shareholder, are in any takeover discussions and the focus of the club is fully on delivering the new stadium project.

Then The Telegraph ran a story specifically naming US investment group Cain Hoy as being interested in buying Spurs. This was confirmed today by the following statement from Cain Hoy:

Tottenham Hotspur Limited

Statement Regarding Potential Offer

Cain Hoy Enterprises, LLC ("Cain Hoy") notes the recent speculation in relation to a potential approach to Tottenham Hotspur Limited ("Tottenham Hotspur").

Cain Hoy confirms that it is at the preliminary stages of assessing a cash offer for Tottenham Hotspur. Cain Hoy's considerations are at an early stage, and there can be no certainty that any offer will ultimately be made or at what price any offer might be made.

In accordance with Rule 2.6(a) of the City Code on Takeovers and Mergers (the "Code"), Cain Hoy must, by not later than 5.00 p.m. on 10 October 2014, either announce a firm intention to make an offer for Tottenham Hotspur in accordance with Rule 2.7 of the Code or announce that it does not intend to make an offer, in which case the announcement will be treated as a statement to which Rule 2.8 of the Code applies. This deadline will only be extended with the consent of the Takeover Panel (the "Panel") in accordance with Rule 2.6(c) of the Code.

This announcement has been made without the consent of Tottenham Hotspur.

A further announcement will be made in due course.

And a response from Spurs:

Tottenham Hotspur Limited ("THFC") notes the continuing press reports surrounding a potential takeover and the announcement released by Cain Hoy Enterprises, LLC ("Cain Hoy"). THFC confirms it is not in takeover discussions with Cain Hoy or any other party.

As stated in yesterday's announcement regarding the new stadium project, THFC has been in discussions with multiple providers of finance so that the optimum financing package for the project can be achieved and, in the course of those considerations, has met representatives of Cain Hoy. However, there are no ongoing discussions with Cain Hoy.

The Club is focused on the new stadium development and the season ahead.

And a BBC article on the above.

So, as always, intriguing and interesting times at Spurs

As the Cain Hoy statement says, they may not even make a bid, so all this may lead to nothing. Still, I am wary though as I think ENIC and Daniel Levy have done an excellent job since buying Spurs. They don't get everything right (no owner does) but we are now a forward looking, ambitious club, one always trying to improve. Far cry from the trudging, entrenched mediocrity, "meh, where we are is good enough", water treading of the Alan Sugar years.

If ENIC do sell (and they will one day) I hope that Daniel Levy stays on as chairman to run the club for the new owners.

[fallenangle]

Pity about the result today. From MotD it looked as though Spurs dominated and had plenty of chances to put it to bed. But, as is so often the case, gave it away and almost lost the match thanks to defensive mistakes and naievity. Still a draw is better than nothing.

[EJG1980]

Yeah, just watched the highlights on Goals on Sunday, and from those and all the match reports we really should have won the match. It was a shame Lamela's shot wasn't a couple of inches lower, I'm pretty sure we'd have won if that had made it 3-1. A bit unlucky with their (second) equaliser, not much Kane could do about the own goal.

Ah well, thems the breaks, we played well and the attack looks like it's starting to gel, so quite a lot of positives and at least we did get a point out of it.

[prinnysquad]

There was a crime on Wearside yesterday. A crime of epic proportions. Sunderland stole a point.

You boys should have kicked us into the North Sea.

[fallenangle]

Solid 0-0 result in Europe yesterday evening. Spurs looked pretty tight at the back, the more likely to score and were in control most of the time. Just a pity we couldn't manage a goal.

[EJG1980]

It looked we set out to control the game, win if we could, but not over exert ourselves and go too gung-ho as we've got a match at the weekend and a point away from home in Europe is fine.

A shame that Harry Kane's chance didn't cross the line in the first minute, he was very unlucky not to score there. Also, that pitch was an absolute shocker.

[fallenangle]

Yes the pitch was pretty poor. It didn't look that bad from the normal high camera view but when they had shots from ground level you could see the ball jumping about all over the place. Could have been costly too as several players lost the ball as a result, luckily none in dangerous positions.

Meant to mention the Andros Townsend booking - he was stupid to react at the 'assistant' refree's decision in the way he did. But the incident happened just a few feet away from the guy and it was blatantly obvious the Belgrade player hadn't been fouled. He tripped up all by himself, probably due to the pitch, and he was the one who had commited a foul immediately before by trying to pull AT back when they were both going for the ball.

[EJG1980]

Got what we deserved today, really poor performance. We didn't press the ball at all when West Brom had it, our passing was slow (and often inaccurate), barely any movement or creativity from the attacking players, and we got worse as the match went on. Ben Foster made one save that I can remember. Not a good day at all.

Credit to West Brom though, their passing looked quicker and slicker than ours and when we had the ball they pressed us much better than we did to them. Their attacks looked more dangerous than ours. They turned up, we didn't.

I'd be worried about our chances against Forest in midweek if we play like that again, let alone Arsenal next weekend.

On top of that, we threw away a great chance to open a little gap to Man Utd and Liverpool behind us and go back ahead of Arsenal.

Gah. Still, it's only football, eh?

[fallenangle]

Yes, very disappointing result; with a win we could have gone second or third in the table but now we're back in amongst the middle tablers again.

Talking of mid-table teams: it'll be interesting to see on MotD just how MU managed to mess up and lose to Leicester.

[EJG1980]

Yeah, the main entertainment today was seeing the Leicester score come up on the big screen

Lots of big name teams having inconsistent / iffy starts to the season; Everton, Man Utd and Liverpool all in the bottom half below us, and Man City only one point ahead.

[bwi]

Well on sky tonight, i only think we're on because they sense an upset. Cmon spurs turn me into an optimist

[EJG1980]

I bet you weren't feeling very optimistic for that first seventy or so minutes!

Took us a long long time to get going but at least we're in to the next round and managed to get a win ahead of Saturday.

Not a bad first goal for Spurs from Ryan Mason, wonderful strike! Nice instinctive finish from Soldado for the second, although we still give him so little service when he plays; it was appropriate that our best ball into the box for him was a miss-hit shot. Nice pass from Lamela and good finish from Kane for the third. Brighton next!

Very nervous about Saturday though as we still really need to up our game to get something from that match. A win would be such a boost and hopefully give us the momentum to start a good run of results.

---------

In other news, Cain Hoy have announced that they will not be making a bid to buy Spurs from ENIC. Looks like it was likely a publicity stunt to generate a bit of press for them (as they're a new investment firm that have only just started trading).

I'm glad nothing has come of it personally, I think ENIC have done a very good job running the club and as I said before, I'd be wary of any unknown quantity taking over. You may end up with some Hicks & Gillette types who totally eff up the club.

[fallenangle]

Good result last night indeed. From the BBC highlights it looked as though Spurs were just going through their paces for most of the first hour then, after the substitutions, they suddenly clicked into gear. Very strange.

Not at all confident about Saturday either. Fingers crossed for a good outcome.

[EJG1980]

Ryan Mason starting for Spurs today, making him Premier League debut, a brave decision from Poch. Fingers crossed he gets off to a winning start!

Less than an hour until kick off. God, I absolutely love and hate derby day in equal measure, + !