My Quarter Final Memories

Tomorrow will be the eleventh FA Cup quarter final of my Tottenham supporting life, so I'm going to take a quick look back at the previous 10, going back over a quarter of a century.

1990-91

Back on March 10th 1991 we hosted second division Notts County at the Lane. A Gascoigne goal and an own goal helped up to a 2-1 victory.

Lineup

Thorstvedt, van den Hauwe, Thomas, Mabbutt, Edinburgh, Sedgley, Nayim, Gascoigne, Allen, Stewart, Lineker

Subs; Samways, Walsh

Following this victory, we went on to beat the old enemy Arsenal 3-1 at Wembley (with Gazza's famous "he is you know" free kick past a despairing Seaman), before defeating Clough's Nottingham Forest 2-1 in a famous victory marred by Gascoigne's tackle on Gary Charles.

1992-93 

Two years later, we went to Maine Road to take on Manchester City, running out 4-2 victors thanks to a Nayim hat trick and a Steve Sedgley goal.

Lineup

Thorstvedt, Austin, Ruddock, Mabbutt, Edinburgh, Sedgley, Nayim, Samways Anderton, Allen, Sheringham

Subs; Turner

Arsenal defeated us 1-0 in the semi final; a match filled with narrow misses and denied penalties in what felt an unjust defeat.

1994-95

In the '94/95 season Teddy Sheringham had fired a goal in every round on the way to the quarters (but Rosenthal's hat-trick in the replay v Southampton stole the headlines in the run).  Sheringham and Klinsmann combined with the goals to take us past Liverpool.

Lineup

Walker, Austin, Calderwood, Mabbutt, Edinburgh, Howells, Anderton, Barmby, Rosenthal, Klinsmann, Sheringham

Subs; 

A heavy 4-1 defeat met us in the semi final, bringing a sad end to a run that had us feeling our name was on the cup.

1998-99

David Ginola's mazy run and strike was enough to take us past Barnsley in 1999. 

Lineup

Walker, Carr, Campbell, Vega, Taricco, Sherwood, Freund, Anderton, Ginola, Armstrong, Ferdinand

Subs; Sinton, Iversen

Newcastle got the better of us in the semi final; sending us home as 2-0 losers.

2000-01

A Rebrov brace and a goal from the ginger Pele; Gary Doherty gave us a 3-2 victory over West Ham at Upton Park

Lineup

Sullivan, Doherty, Perry, Campbell, King, Young, Freund, Clemence, Ferdinand, Iversen, Rebrov

Subs; Korsten

Another semi final defeat at the hands of Arsenal followed, ending our hopes of a cup in a year ending in a '1'

2001-02

The following year, goals from two future Spurs (Gallas and a Gudjohnsen brace) along with a rare Le Saux goal embarrased us at the Lane v Chelsea

Lineup

Sullivan, King, Gardner, Richards, Ziege, Sherwood, Poyet, Anderton, Davies, Ferdinand, Sheringham

Subs; Rebrov, Taricco

2004-05

An early Patrick Kluivert goal at St James' Park was enough to take Newcastle through to Wembley in our 2005 quarter final

Lineup

Robinson, Pamarot, Naybet, King, Atouba, Brown, Carrick, Davies, Ziegler, Defoe, Kanoute

Subs; Keane, Marney, Gardner

2006-07

In 2007, we were 3-1 up at Stamford Bridge thanks to goals from Berbatov, an Essien o.g. and Ghaly, before Lampard and finally Kalou in the last five minutes earned Chelsea a replay.  Eight days later at White Hart Lane (playing our fourth game in nine days) we fell 2-1, with Keane's penalty being little more than consolation as it failed to kick start a recovery following goals from Shevchenko and Wright-Phillips

Lineup (first game)

Cerny, Stalteri, Dawson, Rocha, Lee, Tainio, Zokora, Lennon, Ghaly, Berbatov, Defoe

Subs; Mido, Malbranque, Gardner

Lineup (replay)

Robinson, Chimbonda, Dawson, Rocha, Lee, Zokora, Jenas, Malbranque, Lennon, Berbatov, Keane

Subs; Defoe, Stalteri

2009-10

We took part in another replay three years later, this time running out as victors 3-1 following a goalless first match at Craven Cottage.  Bentley, Pavlyuchenko and Gudjohnsen striking back to overturn former Spur' Bobby Zamora's opener.

Lineup (first game)

Gomes, Corluka, Dawson, Bassong, Assou-Ekotto, Palacios, Modric, Kranjcar, Bale, Pavlyuchenko, Crouch

Subs; Defoe

Lineup (replay)

Gomes, Corluka, Dawson, Bassong, Assou-Ekotto, Palacios, Modric, Kranjcar, Bale, Gudjohnsen, Crouch

Subs; Bentley, Huddlestone, Pavlyuchenko

A shock semi-final defeat to Portsmouth followed, losing 2-0 with both Pompey goals coming in extra time.

2011-12

Our most recent quarter-final was five years ago, and featured a rescheduled match at the Lane, after the first match was abandoned following the collapse of Bolton's Fabrice Muamba.  We came through 3-1 winners with goals from January window signings Ryan Nelsen and Louis Saha either side of a Gareth Bale goal

Lineup

Cudicini, Walker, King, Nelsen, Assou-Ekotto, Parker, Livermore, Modric, van der Vaart, Bale, Adebayor

Subs; Defoe, Saha, Rose

Our last FA Cup semi final appearance ended in heavy defeat (5-1) at the hands of Chelsea.

So, of our last 10 quarter finals, we've won 7, but only managed to win 1 of the subsequent semi-finals, and that was 26 years ago.  It's been too long, and as Arsenal have already got their name in the draw for the semi finals, maybe we'll see scenes reminiscent of these in a semi-final, before finally rediscovering the glory of lifting a big f'ck off shiny trophy.

Gazza's free kick is on it's way

Delight at the end of 90 mins

The lads celebrate the FA Cup win in 1991

It's been a while

It's been a while..

Almost two years to be precise.* What once was something done reasonably frequently on an evening, something relaxing, light and fun became more difficult, less enjoyable and almost chore-like.

I'm going to try and start writing again a little more.  Sometimes it may be something brief, just a comment on the day from one Spurs fan's point of view. Sometimes a little more in depth, maybe with some statistical analysis.  In fact, if the whim takes me, there's a bloody good change there'll be statistical analysis, 'cos I bloody love numbers, me.

So, for now; that's it.  This one is as much about me sorting out my Blogger login and switching emails (that was hard work) and reminding myself how this works as actually doing any writing.

Cheers

@ChunkyTHFC

* 20 months to be a little more precise

Calling all West Midlands Spurs fans!

Are you a Spurs fan?

Do you live in the Birmingham / Black Country area?

Are you fed up of hearing about 'Villa, Wolves, the Baggies, the Blues' all of the time?

Yes to all three???

me too... and having looked for a local supporters club in the past and not found one I thought I'd look into the possibility of setting one up myself.

I'm not sure how difficult and time consuming it is to run, but I'm going to look into it.  

I want to try and gauge potential interest before making firm contact with the club, so if you're interested, please DM me on Twitter, or drop me an email on ChunkyTHFC@hotmail.co.uk

Please include your name and location so I know I'm not duplicating people.

Please RT this and share with anyone you think would be interested.

#COYS

Now is the winter (transfer window) of our discontent

Spurs fans have been trained in recent transfer windows to love/hate the transfer window and particularly the climax in equal measures.

We've lived through the pantomime of Harry with his car window chatty habits, the Manuel-style 'I know nothing' when it comes to transfer comings and goings, coupled paradoxically with open talk of admiring other clubs' players.

We all thought that the reign of AVB would bring in a new, more practical, method of getting our business done. Sort deals early and have the squad ready to go at the start of the season seemed to be the idea. After all, the season starts mid-August, not on September 1st. It all seemed to be going well. Kranjcar had been sold under Harry, and after Redknapp's departure Levy moved on Corluka before AVB had signed up. Within a couple of days of the ginger one arriving we were greeting Sigurdsson and Vertonghen and were excited about what else was to come.

Strangely we started the season with the same group or players as we had in mid-July (Pienaar's permanent move aside) and then the habitual end of window scramble started. Bassong and Modric passed Adebayor and Dembele in the revolving doors yet still there was deadline day business to be done. We finally said adios to Johnny Two Saints, and sadly our beloved Rafa and brought in Lloris and what looked at the time like a bit of a typical panic buy; Clint Dempsey.

The winter window opened well, and soon we were treated with the news that Lewis Holtby had signed a pre-contract agreement to join us in the summer window and that Zeki Fryers had finally arrived at WHL, having somehow been lost in Belgium since the summer.

Twitter has been a wild, busy, sometimes argumental place this window. Far too many claiming to be ITK. The one thing I'm ITK about is that there are large number of teenagers sat in their dimly-lit rooms pretending to be agents, or club insiders. Rumours are flung like meat to the waiting lions, who either rip them apart or swallow them whole, only to feel embarrased at the indigestion they cuase when the players signs elsewhere, or the informant is exposed as a fraud.

It seems to be generally agreed that if we are to strengthen we need a frontman (nothing new here), and someone to pull the strings in the midfield (any team that loses Modric and Van der Vaart needs one). Consequently we've been linked with all manner of strikers and particularly creative midfielders. The list, from memory, includes the perennial Damiao, the blindingly obvious Moutinho, Eriksen, Negredo, Willian, Remy, Llorente, Zaha, Hooper, Sneijder, and even the crap Aaron Lennon down the road. As yet, none of these have turned up in the lilywhite shirt, some have signed on elsewhere, and it's unlikely any of the others will be at the lane come February 1st.

It's not hard to see why people want us to bring these sort of players in, but why we expect it to happen is somewhat harder to understand. Our recent winter window history isn't great in terms of bringing in new faces, despite our status as a banker for some excitement for Jim White & co. on deadline day.

Last year we brought in Saha and Nelsen on free transfers (and firmed up the Falque deal), which hardly set our pulses racing. Meanwhile we parted company with the frustrating inconsistent Roman Pavlyuchenko. We'd started the window in a three horse race for the title expecting to strengthen and push on, and ended up arguably weaker than when we started. In 2011 our sole business was to bring in Pienaar and Khumalo, which may have enhanced our standing in South Africa, did nothing for the team. In 2010, we brought Younes Kaboul back from Portsmouth, but that was the extent of the dealing.

Given that in three January windows we've only brought in four players that have seen any first team game time it is hard to see an indication that we'll do any worthwhile business in the next few days.

Personally, I don't think we'll bring anyone else in during this window. I want new faces in certain positions, but only if they are the right quality to take us forward. I don't want any more short-term deals, or average quality players coming in. I believe that this is the attitude that Levy and AVB are taking as well. If AVB still wants Moutinho then my guess is that Moutinho is who we'll go for. If we can't do that this window, we''ll stick with what we've got, look again in the summer, or move on to another target of similar quality. There is no point bringing in average players. This is why I'm hoping we don't bring Hooper across the border. He may be a decent player, but he's not the quality that we need to take us forward and help us match our ambition.

With any luck, we will see some outgoing players this window. The missing men on big salaries; Gomes, Jenas, Bentley need to start plying their trade elsewhere. There's talk of the likes of Livermore, Gallas, and Huddlestone leaving but I think all of these are unlikely.

Whatever happens, the next 5-6 days will be full of rumour and opinion, which when mixed into the deliberately controversial false rumourmongering on Twitter will inevitably result in bickering and 'I-told-you-so'-ing amongst the ITK pretenders.

Let's sit back and enjoy it and hope that now is our winter of discontent, made glorious summer by this son of Levy.

Deadline Day fast approaching

In just under six days time, the transfer window closes, leaving us all debating the merits of the players our clubs have deemed appropriate to pass through their entry/exit doors.

Thursday evening, Jim White will enter the building. An occurance celebrated with bells, whistles and fanfares over at Sky Sports News, and most likely the famous yellow 'Breaking News' banner. We'll then be subjected to a few hours of Jim getting more excited, shouting more loudly, and turning more red faced as the whole occasion builds to a crescendo and overwhelms him.

The Redknapp tracker will need to stick UB3 5AQ into his sat-nav to keep on top of 'Arry and his door-window leaning soundbites. We know the drill, and QPR fans had better be getting used to it as well; 'triffic player', 'don't think we'll do a lot of business', 'the chairman's trying hard' etc.

No doubt someone else will be stood outside a pitch black Etihad stadium, with nobody to talk to, whilst another reporter is at the Britannia getting mobbed by Stoke fans getting excited at the prospect of another distinctly average player arriving (Jenas anyone?)

There will be nobody near Villa Park on Thursday night. None of the Sky boys are brave enough, for fear of being relegated to the Football League Show along with Villa.

Levy's brinksmanship will surely come into play at some point. Surely something will happen, it can't have been Redknapp creating the deadline day nervousness for Spurs fans. No, Harry was merely riding the media wave created by the way we do our business.

Bryan will be there too, with his totaliser. His hands furiously swiping back and forth, showing us who might be going where, what deals have been done and what deals are definitely off. You watch excitedly for his hand to move towards your club's badge and reveal a tasy new signing, only for the 'In' column to be empty, and all they have to report is that Bentley might be going somewhere.

We'll be fed breaking news that's actually fours or five hours old, but nothing has happened for ages. They'll show us videos of someone who may or may not be a footballer with someone who may or may not be an agent arriving at a club/training ground/hospital to sort a deal.

Twitter will explode on Thursday, with all manner of rumours. There will be the odd genuine bit of truth, but the majority will be guesswork and windup. Suddenly most of the population seems to start working as a cab driver, or at an airport, or private hospital receptions where they can lay claim to having seen Messi arriving to complete his move to Sunderland. If only there was a way of filtering out this type of bullshit, aside from not looking at twitter for a week.

I'm not sure there will be a lot of business done before the window slams shut.


Sky's totaliser is currently reporting a spend of £58m this window, so it looks certain it'll beat last year, but whether enough business will be done to see it hit to £100m mark is yet to be seen. I suppose it depends on how many more Frenchmen Pardew can entice to the North-east, or how much of Fernandes' money Redknapp can prise out of his wallet.

I may be scornful and moaning, but I do love transfer deadline day, and will (tv access permitting) be watching it from the minute I get home from work until an hour of so after the deadline (you never know what late deals you might miss – they get announced late – paperwork etc.). I have in the past taken the day/afternoon off work to enjoy the day.

AVB's plea and DL's deaf ears

Saturday, August 11th 2012

Somewhere deep within his lair at White Hart Lane, Daniel Levy sits in his plush leather chair stroking a lilywhite cat.
He hears a knock on the door, and spins round. He composes himself, fixes a stern stare upon his face and calls "Come in"
André Villas-Boas walks in, checks himself in a mirror hung above the fireplace in Levy's grand office, and happy with what he sees, blows himself a kiss and crosses the room to greet Daniel.
AVB - "Good morning Daniel"
DL - "Good morning André, you're looking well"
AVB - "I know. Daniel, I need to talk to you about transfers. The window closes soon"
DL - "True. I need to get my team entered. I must win the Sun's DreamTeam league this year, I can't let Peter Hill-Wood win again this year, it's getting embarrassing..."
AVB - "Daniel, I'm not talking fantasy football here. When I took this job you promised me money for transfers"
DL - "I've bought you Vertonghen and the chap from Iceland, what more do you want?"
AVB - "You were buying them before I arrived. I need to bring new players in. We need new strikers"
DL - "Why? What's wrong with what we've got?"
AVB - "What's wrong!?! We've only got Defoe"
DL - "And?"
AVB - "What do you mean, 'And?' ? I need more than one striker"
DL - "What for? You told me that your formation uses only one striker. You have Defoe. Job done"
AVB - "Defoe can't play as the lone striker, and from what I've seen in training, doesn't understand the offside rule. He's injured anyway"
DL - "Injured? What's wrong with him?"
AVB - "He needs to see the physio, he seems to have something wrong with his neck"
DL - "His neck? What do you mean?"
AVB - "He seems incapable of getting his head up and passing the ball"
DL - "Threaten to replace him with David Bentley"
AVB - "Daniel, I don't understand"
DL - "Juande had the same issue with Lennon a few years ago. He brought David in and Lennon stopped just running aimlessly down the wing"
AVB - "Like Theo Walcott does"
DL - "Exactly"
AVB - "Daniel, back to matters at hand, we need to bring strikers in, and quickly. We play Newcastle in a week's time. Did you not see the performance against Valencia?"
DL - "You know I didn't. You made me stay here and do your shopping"
AVB - "Shopping? Do you mean the list of transfer targets I gave you weeks ago?"
DL - "Yeah, probably"
AVB - "So, how did it go? Have we made any progress in negotiations on any of them? I'm weeks behind in my preparation for the new season"
DL - "Remind me who was on your list again"
AVB - "Right, Damiao. Any joy there?"
DL - "No. Too dear"
AVB - "But I thought you had some special relationship with his club?"
DL - "So did I. Let's move on"
AVB - "Ok. Llorente. I've heard he's angling for a move from Bilbao"
DL - "Not for that money. Too dear"
AVB - "Falcao?"
DL - "You can't catch me out like that André"
AVB - "Sorry? "
DL - "I can use Wikipedia too you know, nice picture of you on there by the way"
AVB - "Thanks, I know. What about Falcao"
DL - "He retired years ago and you know it. Did pretty well while he was here though. I knew you'd put a joke one in the list to test me André. You're so much funnier than Harry was"
AVB - "Daniel. You're talking about Mark Falco aren't you?"
DL - "Why, yes. Aren't you?"
AVB - "No. Radamel Falcao. Plays for Atlético Madrid. I managed him at Porto. So you haven't even enquired about him have you?"
DL - "No, but I think he'll be.."
AVB - "Too dear? Thought so. Adebayor is coming back though isn't he?"
DL - "No. He got greedy. Something about charity money or something. I switched off to be honest"
AVB - "You lost him because you weren't concentrating?"
DL - "Don't lecture me about not concentrating. You had me trying to buy someone we already own"
AVB - "Eh? What are you talking about?"
DL - "You had Carroll on your list, and I've checked it out on our website and he's already ours. Thomas Carroll. Decent little player as well, according to Tim Sherwood"
AVB - "He's not a striker! I meant Andy Carroll!!"
DL - "Really? I did wonder, but checked his stats on the Liverpool site and figured he wasn't a striker either"
AVB - "So you haven't made any progress with any of the signings I asked you to try for?"
DL - "Not as such. Although Younes tells me that Lloris is interested in signing"
AVB - "That's something I suppose. Those keepers are beginning to worry me"
DL - "In what way?"
AVB - "Friedel is starting to show his age. He was complaining about the cold an asking for a blanket yesterday. Cudicini just seems so uncertain and indecisive. I offered him a coffee the other day, but it had gone cold before he could commit to whether or not to have sugar"
DL - "What about Gomes?"
AVB - "He just unnerves me. Every time I look at him he just waves his arms around and grins manically at me"
DL - "Maybe he fancies you! Ha!"
AVB - "It's only natural, they all do, but he makes me feel uncomfortable. Can we get rid of him"
DL - "I'm trying. You can tell we're in recession. I've even offered a BOGOF offer on Gomes and Dos Santos, but no takers"
AVB - "So, back to strikers Daniel?"
DL - "Yes. I've been thinking about that. We don't need any. I was at Southend last night and saw those three strikers. You don't need anyone else, not with those lads"
AVB - "Are you taking about the boys from the development squad? They're not ready for top flight football"
DL - "Of course they are. I saw Kane's hat-trick, and Coulibaly's strike. Obika took his header well, too" The hunt is over"
AVB - "B-b-but you must be joking. This is not what we agreed when we discussed transfers. You said there would be money to spend"
DL - "Got anything in writing?"
AVB - "No, but we had an agreement!"
DL - "A "gentleman's agreement"?"
AVB - "Yes"
DL - "But nothing in writing, no?"
AVB - *sighs* "No, not exactly. Luka warned me about you. Where is Luka anyway? I haven't seen him since we got back from the US"
DL - "Don't worry about him. He's safe. For now. He's going nowhere unless I get £40m for him. Real will pay it. They'll throw in Sahin too. And Kaka. And Huntelaar"
AVB - "Daniel, Huntelaar isn't Real's player. That's not going to happen"
DL - "It will. Trust me. What Daniel wants, Daniel gets"
AVB - "Okay.... I need to get to training now. Apparently the defenders aren't comfortable with my high line.. Are you following up the names I have you, or are you seriously telling me I have to go into the new season with Defoe, Kane, Coulibaly and Obika?"
DL - "Ha ha, no. Of course not. I'm selling Defoe"
AVB - "What?!? Who to?"
DL - "Sunderland, QPR and Aston Villa"
AVB - "Which one, how much for"
DL - "All three, although I expect late interest from Everton. £8m each"
AVB - "Daniel, you can't sell a player to four clubs"
DL - "WHAT DANIEL WANTS, DANIEL GETS!!!"
AVB - "Ok, ok, calm down. I guess that'll be fine. I really had better be going now"

AVB edges backwards towards the door.

DL calls him back - "André - what about Daniel Sturridge?"

AVB - "What about him?"
DL - "We're signing him apparently"
AVB - "What do you mean? Don't you know?"
DL - "I've not spoken to Chelsea, but it seems we are signing him"
AVB - "How so?"
DL - "I've just logged onto twitter, and and @Agent_ITK says we're signing him, so it must be true"

André turns and flees the office, as Daniel swivels back round to look out of his window.


It has "will have going to have happened" happened, but is hasn't actually "happened" happened yet, actually

Night all

Chunky

3 is a magic number

We’re third in the league and want to stay there (or move higher – League/Cup double anyone?)

We’ve got three tough games coming up running us into March. We have to keep focussed and make sure we still have a decent lead over the chasing pack before we meet Everton at Goodison on March 10th.

I try not to worry about what other teams are up to, and concentrate on what Spurs are doing, but it’ll be difficult not to be checking on what Chelsea, Arsenal, Liverpool and Newcastle are up to just as keenly as I’ll be watching Spurs matches.

So, to keep my own obsessive side happy, let’s take a look at who the top seven are playing over the next three weeks.

Man City

Villa (a)

Blackburn (h)

Bolton (h)

Man Utd

Liverpool (h)

Norwich (a)

Tottenham (a)

Tottenham

Newcastle (h)

Arsenal (a)

Man Utd (h)

Chelsea

Everton (a)

Bolton (h)

Albion (a)

Newcastle

Tottenham (a)

Wolves (h)

Sunderland (h)

Arsenal

Sunderland (a)

Tottenham (h)

Liverpool (a)

Liverpool

Man Utd (a)

No game – Carling Cup final

Arsenal (h)

City and Chelsea seem to have it easy, while the rest of us are mostly playing each other in the coming weeks.

I can’t see any real reason to suspect City won’t collect a maximum 9 points, taking their tally to 66. My bet would be United to collect wins against Liverpool and Norwich, but be held at the Lane. 7 points takes them to 62. We have to be looking to beat Newcastle on Saturday teatime, and I’d take a point in each of the next two games. I know we should be looking to win every game, especially at home, but realistically think that 5 points from the next 9 will be as many as we get.

Sadly, I think Chelsea will take a full house against weak opposition (we can but hope Pienaar puts in a MotM performance to beat them though?). They will improve their GD and move to 52 points from 27 matches. Newcastle will lose at our place, but sweep Wolves aside, before taking a point from the derby game v Sunderland. Only 4 points will see them lose ground, sat on 46. RVP will be enough to beat Sunderland however, prior to hosting us to a no doubt nerve-wracking draw. I think they’ll suffer at Anfield against a decent (ish) looking Liverpool. Their 4 point haul will drag them up to 44 points.

Liverpool only play two league games over this period, and I have already predicted 3 points from these games above.

So, with an if as big as Arsenal’s dependency on their little Dutchman, here is how the league will look ahead of the Everton game on March 10th

Man City P27 Pts 66

Man Utd P27 Pts 62

Spurs P27 Pts 55

Chelsea P27 Pts 52

Newcastle P27 Pts 46

Arsenal P27 Pts 44

Liverpool P26 Pts 42

No changes to position, but a drift further away from the Manc clubs, and an erosion of our lead of Chelsea.

As I said, 3 is a magic number, as that is the position I think we’ll hold in 3 matches’ time, and 3 is the lead I think we’ll have before the Goodison kick off. A couple of weeks later and we’re off to Stamford Bridge where the battle for third may be won or lost.

Where does everyone else think we’ll be after these three matches? Let me know on here, or on Twitter (@ChunkyTHFC)

Chunky