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

Typical, we thrash Arsenal and every goal we scored did’nt count according to Wenger, we totally outplay Chelsea and Grant reckons Chelsea were the better side.  What game was he watching? Bad losers the pair of them. Even at the end they wanted the rules changed to suit them, the game is over when the time is up, not when play breaks down.

Spurs were all over Chelsea at the start, we hit the bar after 9 mins and Carvalho should have been sent off for an elbow on Jenas after 35.

After Drogba scored from a free kick, they tried to play boring football for a 1-0 win, they got what they deserved, nothing.

Bridge was clearly seen bringing hand to ball from the replay view the linesman, or is it still assistant referee, had. Just look at what it meant to Berbatov when he tucked away the penalty.  Spurs wanted it more than Chelsea.

Zakora, who had a wonderful game, should have wrapped it up after 79 minutes but Man of the Match Woodgate scores after 4 minutes of extra time.

We had a Keeper and defence that had not played together before, Robinson in only his second game back, a right back playing at left back, Hutton playing only his third game since signing from Rangers, Woodgate playing only his fourth and King back after 6 games out.

Can we hold out, yes we can, well done boys, Carling Cup Winners 2008, European football secured for next year.  Now for the UEFA Cup.

The wait is over, the Carling Cup Final is here, another exciting day in prospect full of nerves and drama.  Players excelling themselves, others performing below expectations as the occasion gets the better of them.

The beauty of cup finals is you don’t know who it is going to happen to, how each individual will react and how that affects the team as a whole.

Both sides have “big game” players but that guarantees nothing.  The retoric you see throughout the papers from players saying they are ready, up for it etc etc some genuine, some masking nerves.

It’s a chance for former Spurs greats to have their say and voice their support and get involved in the day, players like cup winner Graham Roberts, who is travelling to Wembley by coach from White Hart Lane with 53 fans, Pat Jennings once rated the world’s best goalkeeper above Gordon Banks, the wing wizzard David Ginola, former captain Gary Mabbutt, the media have wheeled out programmes on Ossie Ardiles and Ricky Villa.

let’s hear that song one more time ringing from the rafters at Wembley and around the pubs and clubs at the end of the game “Glory Glory Tottenham Hotspur.”

Make us proud boys.

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.

Tottenham spend £135 million on new players! Don’t think we will be seeing those headlines, do you?  We are being linked with every player under the sun it seems.  Here is just a “small” group of our transfer targets apparantly.  Tell us which ones would you want and why.  I’ve left a few for you to price up yourselves. Tottenham want 25-year-old Italy stopper Marco Amelia from Serie A side Livorno. Tottenham will land Espanyol defender Dani Jarque in the summer for £8 million. Tottenham Hotspur talent spotter Damien Comolli has lined up Olympique Marseille goalkeeper Steve Mandanda to be the clubs new number one for £2.5 million. 

 Tottenham and Manchester United are set to do battle for 15 year old Congo international Paul Jose Mpoklu

. French sensation Karim Benzema (Lyon) is on Tottenham’s radar - cost £20 million.

 Diego Capel – £10m from Seville.

David Villa – £25m from Valencia.

Ricardo Quaresma – £20m from Porto.

Charles N’Zogbia – £8m from Newcastle.

Peter Crouch – £12m from Liverpool – don’t inflict him upon us please.

Wes Brown (Manchester United).

Jens “Clanger” Lehman (Arsenal) – do we need 3 fumbling goalkeepers, and a gooner to boot?.

David James (Portsmouth).

Steve Sidwell and Wayne Bridge (Chelsea) - £15 million.

Werder Bremen midfield ace Diego - £12 million.

 Other recent and fantastic news, Stuart Downing signs a new contract at Middlesborough and Jason Gardner wants to stay at Everton, please do, let’s get whatever we can for him.  The guy is a total liability, he has had one good game for us this season to be fair but if we can get £2-2.5 million, grab their hands off. 

New Owners? Steve Nash is in “casual contact” with Tottenham - but the Phoenix Stars basketball player says he has no immediate intention of getting involved in the club.  Reports suggest he would like to head a consortium being a passionate Spurs fan. An intelligent man obviously.

 In our webstore now are over £170 products, so trot along to www.tottenhammemorabilia.co.uk and see the latest additions.

Welcome to the new Tottenham Memorabilia blog, the easy way for you to keep up our take on the news surrounding the world’s greatest club, Tottenham Hotspur FC.

Let me draw your attention to a nice little webpage devoted to Jermaine Jenas at www.hubpages.com/Jermain-Jenas our industrious midfielder.

So we have two goalkeepers who drop clangers. Radek Cerny, when I have watched him play, seems to have no spring in his legs. He dosen’t dive very far to his right or left and that causes me concern. He has looked safe in the air and then makes the most elementary mistake which was solely down to concentration.

Robinson was a fine goalkeeper until losing confidence, if that can be repaired then he will be a fine stopper again.

Against Slavia Prague Spurs didn’t even try, they should have killed that game 4-0 by half time and then started preparing for the Carling Cup Final. As it is they can not rest and have to do a job 3 days before facing Chelsea, not ideal.