Tottenham Memorabilia

A couple of things catch my eye today.

Reports suggest Spurs are making a second attempt to sign Aiden McGeady from Celtic and Juande Ramos waiting until the summer before appointing a goalkeeping coach.

Aiden McGeady plays on the left of midfield for Celtic and has 17 caps for the Republic of Ireland. I have watched him twice and he looks a very skillful player. I was very impressed especially for one so young.

The 21 year old Scottish Premier League February Player of the Month states on his website, that his is playing a more direct style, using his pace and ball skills to tryand get to the byline to cross.

He is not the finished article and at 21 you would not expect him to be, but he is of the age that the club like as an investment for the future.

Have you seen him play, what do you think, would he be a good addition to the squad? Leave a comment and let’s hear your views.

It has been forgotten that we have not had a goalkeeping coach since Hans Segers left with Perry Suckling from the Youth Academy filling in. Like everyone else goalkeepers need a coach, but for them it does have to be a specialist coach, otherwise all they are working on are the basic training routines and not improving their positional play for instance.

I do feel this is where Paul Robinson has been unfairly left to work on his own problems with an inexperienced coach at Premier Leagus level. I am sure this could not have helped him when his confidence was low. Personally I think he should have been taken out of the firing line earlier, but I totally agree with him returning. Presumably the manager was not impressed by Cerny and had to stick with Robinson.

Backroom staff are often overlooked but are vital, just look when England won the Rugby World Cup in Australia under Sir Clive Woodward. he left no stone unturned putting in place an array of specialists the like of which England had not seen before. This is an overlooked area when you consider most sports these days are played in the mind. On the field it is all about making the right decision at the right time and that not only comes from the experience of playing but also from the mental approach.

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For all those Spurs fans remembering the glory years, make your way over to Tottenham Memorabilia where you can pick up his Limited Edition Autobiography on CD, Steve Perryman - Tales of a Tottenham Legend.

 It is a 60 minute question and answer session about his career and comes with a signed photograph and Certificate of Authenticity for £27.97 which includes Free postage and packing.

There have only been 1,000 of these made and they are not widely available. You can pick one up for

White Hart Lane and Slavia Prague in the UEFA Cup today with Robinson back in goal and I for one am delighted.

Radek Cerny does not fill me with confidence, he has looked very ordinary to me and is certainly not our number 1.  Robinson has played big games for England, he played in a World Cup remember under that buffoon McLaren (the worst choice as England manager since Kevin Keegan).

The secret to Jenas was not fitness as everyone assumes but confidence, feeling he was wanted, loved, in short man management.  So is this the secret to transform Robinson?

The question I have not been heard asked is how did Robinson come to lose his confidence over one mistake for us and a piece of misfortune for England, when the ball bobbled over his foot, that could have happened to anyone?

Who destroyed it, was it Steve McLaren or Martin Jol or the sensationalist journalism in the papers and their need for a scapegoat all the time?  Whoever it was and it was probably the press in my view, you have to question the man management of Martin Jol at the time.

Now don’t get me wrong, I was a fan of Martin Jol and he would have been even more successful for us if the board had not gone behind his back and tried to recruit Harry Redknapp, long before the Jande Ramos affair.  He was then totally undermined and I wonder if that is not the true root of Robinson’s woes?

Did Martin Jol then take his eye off the ball and not pay enough attention to the man management side of his hansomly rewarded job?  Yes obviously a mistake, an unjust public slating through the press started the ball rolling and it went from there.

I’d love to hear your views.

Paul Robinson was Tottenham’s number 1, he was England’s number 1, he was a good goalkeeper, he will be again.  I am right behind you Paul, you’re good enough so will the real paul Robinson please stand up.  We want you back.