All posts by h79snht.top

One of my least favourite aspects of football broadcasting in Britain is the willingness to accept mediocrity when it comes to football punditry.

My main gripe is that broadcasters like Sky can continue to give the same people opportunities to showcase their ignorance.

Jamie Redknapp has been with Sky for well over five years and continues to under-research the teams he’s covering and offer little insight on the teams or the scenario’s that arise in football matches.

He infamously praised Xabi Alonso for “bossing” a game Sky covered that the Spaniard wasn’t even playing in. But while that incident was a few years ago more recent examples are readily available, on the last day of the season last year, on the eve Manchester City’s first ever Premier League championship. The ex England international was trying to make a point about the good players Roberto Mancini inherited at the Etihad, “Vincent Kompany, Joe Hart gotta credit Mark Hughes he signed some great players here.” Admittedly I am paraphrasing but nothing sums up the former Liverpool man’s sub-par football knowledge more than his willingness to credit a manager for signing a player who’d been at the club two years prior to his arrival (Hart). I’d also comment on Mark Hughes’s misuse of Vincent Kompany in greater detail but that’s an argument for another time.

The other main company who provide regular football coverage are the BBC who are by no means different to their rivals, when it comes to accepting bad punditry. One of the main pleasures from seeing Gary Neville come into his own as Sky’s main pundit is he offers fresh perspective on the beautiful game. While nothing is fresh about the BBC’s football presentation, rotating a two of three men: Alan Hansen, Mark Lawrenson and Alan Shearer in their marquee highlights show, Match of the Day, this offers the viewer a familiar but tiresome analysis of football highlights.

Hansen has been integral to BBC’s coverage for as long as I’ve been following football, the decorated ex Liverpool defender has the ability to spot defensive errors and read the game in a way, which at one point had me gutted he’ll never go into management. But more so than any other pundit he seems to be losing his touch and becoming a parody of his former self. The Scot seems to have developed snide arrogance which makes him somewhat unbearable. He mocked Colin Murray for saying it was a shame Croatia were in the same group as Spain and Italy. Dismissing Slaven Bilic’s men as “ordinary” when in reality few could argue they weren’t among the top eight teams to qualify for Euro 2012. His anaylsis of Mats Hummels against Portugal was among the best of the tournament but this has become a rarity rather than normality. He remains one of the best if he can continue to explain the finer side of defending rather than making sweeping statements loaded with arrogance. His co-workers are not better if not worse; Alan Shearer has become synonymous with stating the obvious and under-preparation in his match of the day role. While Lawrenson seems more content using sarcasm to create a miserable television persona, than he does informing the viewer as a pundit.

This year I’ve enjoyed Match of the Days coverage more due to their new studio guests. Still active, seeking-work managers Mick McCarthy and Harry Redknapp have joined the team. Knowing both men have prepared teams to negate and deal with those sides we’re watching in the Premier League, gives greater authority to what they say. Hearing Harry Redknapp highlight the importance of Jonas Olsson to West Brom or Mick McCarthy talk about how important Ashley Williams was in possession for Brendan Rodgers last year is a great pleasure.  It opened my eyes to just how little the most popular football programming in the nation concerns itself with clubs outside the top six though. I get the impression the MOTD regulars are far more concerned with only offering sparse patronising pats on the back for the likes of Fulham and Sunderland before returning to a ten minute dissection of what went wrong for Liverpool or Arsenal.

To finish Gary Neville has raised and exposed the standards of punditry in this nation, the former England right back rarely leaves you unsatisfied on Monday nights. Whether it’s offering an excellent explanation into the diving culture in the Premier League. Or offering new found insight into the Premier League, with his recent clarification of the “one-second rule” that in his opinion should apply to full-backs at the top level. I gained a new found understanding and insight into a position I’ve been trying and failing to play since I was big enough to kick a ball.

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Follow me on Twitter: @jimmylowson

When supporters sit down and analyze the popular perceived failings and prevailing dark forces that degrade English football, it would appear that the list of usual suspects all seem to stem from one universal source.

Be it the biased pundits that negate your team in front of the masses, the evils of subscription television that have turned our league into some plastic marketing object or even the desperate newspapers that stir up a pot of pressure inducing lies. Whatever medium you decide to pick, the British media has a warm place reserved for it on the top of fans’ most wanted lists.

Of course, the pointing of fingers towards the way all aspects of the mainstream press operate within our national game, is more than justified, but if they command number one spot on the culprits list, then supporters themselves can’t be far off in second.

Because the great irony is of that while no one will deny that gross media exaggeration and general printed guff continuously produces unsavory results for our football clubs, no one seems able to accept that those who consume it are just as responsible as those who produce it. The digital age has offered fans a forum to set the record straight like never before. But whether popular opinion can ever be altered remains quite a different story.

For most Premier League fans, Saturday morning’s headlines didn’t offer anything that would appear out of the realms of the ordinary. Oodles of column inches dedicated to John Terry’s forthcoming appearance at the Emirates, more than one piece offering some staunch opinion on Luis Suarez’s theatrics and rumours of dressing room discontent with Andre Villas-Boas at White Hart Lane. There’s nothing that stands out as beyond the realms of believability.

In fact, Villas-Boas’ dressing room woes were given even more credibility, with it being run as an exclusive, in The Sun on Saturday morning. Some may already be finding the tagline of credibility hard to digest, but bear with us. In Paul Jiggins’ ground breaking exclusive, we learnt that “unhappy Tottenham stars had held showdown talks with the manager over his training and tactics.” Spurs’ players had apparently “hit out at the manager’s negative style of play,” and that AVB had been left “reeling” in the wake of the apparent mutiny. To add insult to injury, he’d also had a bust-up with technical coordinator, Tim Sherwood.

What’s not to believe about that then? Andre Villas-Boas has come across as something of an awkward personality since he first arrived in England with Chelsea. His freezing out of senior players there was combined by a seemingly inability to commandeer the respect of the dressing room. You could argue that the weight of believability and general public opinion would fall on the right side of Jiggins’ story. Just a shame it was a load of proverbial cobblers then, wasn’t it?

Indeed, you can read here for yourself, the distinctly low number of attributable quotes for a leading exclusive. The number is in fact, zero- no quotes, no evidence and not even the age old trick of using the mysterious ‘club source’ to add gravitas.

The piece seems even stranger, given what some of the Spurs staff have actually said themselves in recent days. Indeed, Gareth Bale told The Guardian’s Daniel Taylor only last week that his impressions of Villas-Boas were positive, claiming:

“He’s very approachable. If there is a problem, or something we feel is not right, his door is open. He wants us to work that way: together, the players and staff, and if there is a problem we can always share our ideas with him and he will take it on board.”

Furthermore, Kyle Walker’s Tweet on Saturday night offered an interesting perspective upon The Sun’s ‘exclusive’. Quote:

“Just landed back in London still buzzing from the win thought the gaffers tactics were stop [sic] on and all that in the paper is false.”

Not quite what you would call ‘mutinous’ behavior from two of Tottenham’s most prominent figures.

Some may be reading this and wondering what all the fuss is about. Tabloid papers printing mindless garbage is hardly a headline worth shouting about. Football is the national game and it represents something of a cornerstone of British culture. The level of press interest and speculation will always cultivate a certain amount of guff and hype. But however much we like to think we ignore it, we simply don’t. And it has ramifications for all involved.

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The Villas-Boas example is of course a minute one but every club during every season will experience something similar. A story like this will get printed and other publications will pick up on it, giving it a greater exposure. The wealth of panel shows and their army of pundits will give it credence as something topical, a starting point for debate. The seeds of doubt are subsequently sown. If Tottenham had lost yesterday, would Jiggins’ story necessarily have been framed in the same light? Despite its obvious lack of quotes and substance, would that have stopped people from speculating?

Ultimately, it is fans’ consumption of stories such as this, that end up putting as much pressure on managers, players and clubs, as the institutions that print it. Newspapers will print ‘exclusives’ like the Villas-Boas one, because they sell newspapers: not because they carry the weight of truth. A large number of fans have come to vilify this story in particular, but they still make up the minority in some respects. Football is a fickle sport, but did those who booed Villas-Boas off after his first two home games not perhaps already have their minds made up through sinister public opinion? Or just disappointing play? It’s difficult to tell.

It’s up to fans to stop accepting some of the rubbish that some outlets are pedaling, because it’s not ever likely to relent. Football is subjective and when critique is fair and due, it is always going to be put up in the public domain for fans to pick apart. But we must read between the lines and offer balance, when our teams and managers’ backs are up against the wall. Times of upheaval and gloom offer great opportunities for newspapers to make money. They’ll never let the truth get in the way of a good story. Supporters should never let a good story get in the way of the truth.

Are football fans as much to blame as the media for the hype and guff that surrounds the national game? Fed up with the endless amounts of rubbish that fans are fed? Let me know what you think on Twitter: follow @samuel_antrobus and get the debate started. 

The BBC’s ‘Price of Football’ survey has reaffirmed the stout belief that the beautiful game is incredibly expensive. Aside from the revelation that the shocking standard of pies in English football will set you back at least £3, the far more concerning outcome surrounds the fact that ticket prices have risen by 11.7% – more than five times the rate of inflation.

As clubs continue to struggle with the growing financial demands of professional football, is the American advertising model the only means of securing long-term stability?

Despite the fact vast sums of money continue to pour into what is regarded as the most lucrative league in the world; very few top-flight clubs in England actually make a profit. Arsenal continue to defy expectations by repeatedly posting impressive streams of revenue, but it’s hardly surprising when you compare ticket prices at the Emirates with their fellow rivals. In 2010, Arsenal were the first club to break the £100 matchday ticket barrier, and today their most expensive ticket clocks in at a staggering £126.

To understand the importance and indeed potential of adopting an American advertising model, we have to revisit the revolutionary 1984 Los Angeles Olympic Games. In the wake of the disastrous and financially crippling 1980 games in Moscow, organiser Peter Ueberroth encouraged external endorsement that enabled the games to be funded solely by private enterprises.

The games were incredibly successful on an unprecedented economic scale and helped established a format that future hosts would embrace for years to come. Nowadays there are official partners and sponsors in every possible commercial avenue, with a Mcdonalds now a familiar sight in the Olympic village after its debut back in 1984. The modern Olympics simply could not exist without the current level of investment, which is arguably the harsh reality football is destined for.

However, while many supporters still view football as a sacred institution, if such a historic and culturally significant event like the Olympics can benefit from mass advertising, why can’t football? Northern heavyweights Manchester United have quietly gone about gathering up a collection of Olympic-style ‘official partners’, which even includes Mamee, their Official Noodles Partner for Asia, Oceania and the Middle East.

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There are a growing number of marketing tactics that English football has incorporated from our friends from across the pond. The annual Sky Sports ‘Super Sunday’ fixtures feel increasingly like the Superbowl, with television commercials, posters and social media campaigns fuelling anticipation weeks before the event. Is it completely ridiculous to suggest that half-time shows or adverts during breaks in play won’t soon also accompany these fixtures?

One aspect of the American advertising model that is already a familiar feature is the concept of stadium naming rights. Thankfully we don’t have anything quite as bizarre as the Dick’s Sporting Goods Park, home of the Colorado Rapids, but it’s clear that clubs simply cannot afford to build a new stadium without sacrificing its identity. Mike Ashley recently notched up another colossal example of misjudgement when he decided to rename the pre-existing St. James’ Park and Liverpool had to move quickly to ensure fans that planned redevelopments to their home would not mean abandoning the name Anfield.

There’s certainly a risk that if clubs employ extreme measures to attract revenue, they will be inevitably reach a point of no return. It’s fair to say that advertising theatrics don’t tend to sit well with the typical football fan, and few would be happy if next year’s replica shirts featured the same garish plethora of sponsors that current decorates Santos’ shirt. However, such a high volume of sponsors accumulates a reported £12m a year for the Brazilian club, while three quarters of star striker Neymar’s (£936,000) monthly wage is financed by sponsors. Should clubs in England look to further utilise this tactic to ensure they can attract the world’s best talent?

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The majority of fans in this country, rather unfairly in my opinion, still continue to mock the MLS. I will admit that the quality of football and examples of corny corporate exposure are sometimes embarrassing but there’s no disguising the rapid rise in growth and popularity. More and more accomplished internationals continue to flock to America in the twilight of their career and it won’t be long before the average age of ‘emigration’ rapidly declines.

It’s always been the belief that the MLS will be never be able to truly replicate the standard of European football, but I would argue that it’s the Premier League who are struggling to keep up and if it wants to continue to thrive then it could do worse than imitate the MLS and not the other way round.

Join me on Twitter @theunusedsub where Neymar celebrated his 200th game for Santos with a goal worth of £200k per week. 

Newcastle United boss Alan Pardew has claimed that the sale of Andy Carroll to Liverpool has funded the recent success at St James’ Park ahead of the strikers return with West Ham on Sunday, as reported by The Sun.

Pardew has made some impressive signings over the past few years, including Demba Ba, Papiss Cisse and Yohan Cabaye and the former West Ham boss is thankful of the money that Carroll brought in.

“The position we are in, if I’m honest, is because we used the money from Andy’s sale well,”

“He was a brilliant player for us, but the fee was astronomical. We have used it well and we owe a great debt to him.

“It’s nice to see Kevin come back — he did a super job here. Whatever he was asked to do, he conducted himself well.

“And he gets a goal. He has proven that at any level, he will get a goal.

“I’m looking forward to seeing them both and I enjoyed working with them.

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“There will be a lot on the game. Kevin will be determined to get a result, as will Andy and the manager coming back.”

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Amiss. Wrong. Defective. Just 3 words that are synonymous with the definition of ‘flawed’. The Premier League has created legends and ruined careers. While there is a vast popularity difference between the aforementioned outcomes of certain stars of the English game, legendary status does not assist in hiding your flaws or defaults.

While many of the players who have made this 15 will never reach iconic distinction, there are some players shortlisted who have become symbols of the Premier League. While they may be revered for their abilities, insurmountable mistakes on and off the field, has, in some cases, lead to a rather public character assassination. As the spotlight shines ever brighter on English Football’s biggest stars, newcomers should take a look at this list and realise that it doesn’t matter how good a player you are, you will always be remembered for your wrongdoings.

Click on who else but Joey Barton to see the full list

Unlike most fans of other London clubs, I take no pleasure in seeing Arsenal 10th in the Premier League, five points off the top four and dwelling on a 2-0 loss at home to Swansea. Having grown up with several of my friends being Gooners and my girlfriend’s family being Arsenal supporters, it is a club I have always liked to see doing well, apart from when they’re playing West Ham, of course.

But this current bout of unrest at the Emirates has got me wondering why Arsene Wenger has struggled to keep Arsenal challenging for trophies.

It’s hard to pin point the exact moment where it all started going wrong for Wenger and Arsenal. Some would argue it is down to the sale of the club’s best players ever since they won their last piece of silverware in the shape of the FA Cup in 2005. Others just put it down to Arsene Wenger hitting a brick wall in what he is capable of achieving at The Emirates.

Since that FA Cup win in 2005, the like of Ashley Cole, Thierry Henry, Mathieu Flamini, Emmanuel Adebayor, Patrick Vieira, Kolo Toure, Gael Clichy, Samir Nasri, Cesc Fabregas and Robin van Persie have left North London for pastures new, winning a combined total of 37 trophies while Arsenal’s baron run continues.

Allowing such players to leave is seen as Arsene Wenger’s ultimate crime, as well as not spending the estimated £165million he sold the above players for to adequately replace the talent he had allowed to walk out of the Emirates.

However, despite not winning anything for seven years, the Frenchman has still been relatively successful in ensuring Arsenal are still a formidable force in the Premier League and the Champions League, but recent weeks have shown worrying signs that such an achievement may be coming to an abrupt end.

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But why? With a midfield consisting of Santi Cazorla, Mikel Arteta and Jack Wilshere, Arsenal have one of the most talented midfields in the Premier League at the moment. Add the undoubted talent of Lukas Podolski, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain and Theo Walcott on the wings and the improving Olivier Giroud up front and you’ve got a pretty impressive attacking basis upon which success should be imminent.

But my main concern for Arsenal, as I am sure it is for all Arsenal fans across the globe, is the defence and the absence of a deadly goal scorer since van Persie left in the summer. There is no doubting the talent of the defence, but the lack of consistency is worrying, especially with the likes of 20-year-old Carl Jenkinson only having 19 Premier League appearances on his CV, despite showing signs of promise in the early stages of the season.

The current spine of the Arsenal side has enough about it to return to the good old days when they were challenging for league titles and regularly winning domestic cup competitions. However, what Arsene Wenger needs to do is spend the money he has been sitting on for several years now and bring in players who are capable of making an immediate impact on the Premier League, while also making his current players happy.

The constant dithering over offering Theo Walcott a new contract cannot be doing the player or the squad any good. There will be several players at the club becoming increasingly worried that yet another one of the club’s best players is edging closer and closer out of the door.

Despite this, Wenger has shown throughout the 16 years of his Arsenal tenure that he can be a very shrewd businessman in the transfer window, making a healthy profit on several of Arsenal’s best players. He has an eye for a good player, there is no doubting that, but what he has failed to do is adapt to the rapid change in how transfer markets work.

With the prices of good players ever increasing, it is now a rare sight to see the likes of an 18-year-old Nicolas Anelka sign for a club for half a million pounds and go on to be as world class as he once was. And this is ultimately what I believe has been Wenger’s stumbling block at Arsenal. He has failed to see the shift in players’ values and that has prevented him from bringing in the players that he may have seen as bargains about 10 years ago.

Every one knows it, but he is unwilling to spend large amounts of money on the quality that will re-ignite Arsenal’s top-flight dominance. That probably comes with the fact that the likes of Toure, Petit, Ljungberg, Anelka, Overmars, Fabregas, Pires, van Persie and Henry cost him a combined total of just over £36 million, all players who went on to have very successful playing days under him at Arsenal.

Wenger needs to realise that such deals are a rarity in modern football and big money must be spent to acquire the best players in the sport. With the January transfer window just a month away, Arsenal fans are probably dreading what Wenger has up his sleeve, and rightly so. He might be bringing back Thierry Henry on a loan deal, but that isn’t going to help the club in the long term. But if he can finally bring himself to fork out some good money on a couple of world class players then we will no doubt begin to see the Arsenal of old.

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We keep hearing the age-old cliché that ‘It’s a results business’ and it’s a cliché could that not be further from the truth, but results only come with good players who can play together and who are confident they are at a club that can be successful. That doesn’t seem to be the case at the moment and, until this is addressed, we will continue seeing Arsenal in the shape they are today.

Personally I believe Arsene Wenger is still capable of returning Arsenal to the good old days. He just needs to bring himself a little more up to date with the modern game to end what I think is just a blip in Arsenal’s successful history.

It’s all very well maintaining a profitable football club as a business, but the focus needs to be on the field of play right here, right now.

What do you think? Is it solely Wenger’s transfer policy that is the reason behind Arsenal’s failure to win anything in the last seven years? Or do you think there is more to it? Leave your comments below.

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Over the last two decades of Premier League football, the game has seen some popular players grace the sport. The ones who get the biggest cheer every time they take to the field from their own supporters and quite often earn the grudging respect of the opposition fans as well. Unfortunately, since football is a game of overpaid, overhyped children, there are plenty of players that nobody can stand in the slightest.

These are the ones that attract the boos wherever they go and quite often, their own fans can’t even bear the sight of them. Quite often, this unpopularity isn’t down to their playing ability, but their actual personality and for some footballers, those personalities simply aren’t curable. Others players are hated because of their actions on the field, indeed certain individuals go out there to merely wind the opposition up while others just play like morons. This doesn’t make them any better than those with the ugly personalities, indeed more often this draws the attention of the opposition supporters towards them. With this in mind, we bring you the 20 most hated footballers in the history of the Premier League.

Click on Dennis Wise below to get the ball rolling

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Sam Allardyce is hoping his depleted squad will once again cope well with adversity, when West Ham visit Reading on Saturday.

The Hammers boss saw his side reduced to ten men against Everton last Saturday following Carlton Cole’s controversial red card. While the outcome of the appeal is yet to be heard, Allardyce is planning for the trip to Berkshire without last season’s top scorer.

And Big Sam has admitted in an interview published on the Hammers’ official website, that the club would badly miss Cole, if the appeal against his ban proves unsuccessful, while fellow striker Andy Carroll continues to be sidelined through injury.

“We couldn’t afford to lose Carlton Cole, not just the fact that we went on to lose the game because of that but because he may now miss at Reading. That is a massive blow to us,” Allardyce said.

“We will appeal Carlton Cole’s sending off because we need Carlton for Reading. Losing him for three games will be a severe blow that we can’t cope with Andy Carroll being out as well.”

With Ricardo Vaz Te still out injured, West Ham’s only other fit recognised forward is Modibo Maiga, but Allardyce feels the Malian lacks the necessary Premier League experience to make the starting XI.

The 25-year-old, who can also play on the wing, moved to Upton Park this summer from French club Sochaux for a fee of £5million.

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“Modibo has made an impact from the sub’s bench but we don’t think he’s ready to start a game in the Premier League as it’s a big jump from the French league to the Barclays Premier League,” the Hammers boss added.

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Newcastle’s transfer movements this month have seen them bring in five players from Ligue 1, taking their first-team tally to 10, plus four more that were born in French-speaking countries, but the question that is on everyone’s lips is will this foreign invasion of sorts have a negative and potentially destabilising influence further down the line?

Of course, the evidence of such an impact was not visible during the club’s 2-1 win against fellow Premier League strugglers Aston Villa on Tuesday evening, their first away victory in the league all season, with new signings Moussa Sissoko and Yoan Gouffran both impressing on their debuts and Mapou Yanga-Mbiwa being introduced late on.

Cast your eye around the Newcastle squad, though, and the spine of the team next season is likely to be French. Captain Fabricio Coloccini, while he may have been forced to stay at least until the end of the season, may still angle for a move away closer to home in the summer and the Yanga-Mbiwa purchase must be seen as an insurance policy ahead of a likely departure. It seems perfectly feasible next term to see Mathieu Debuchy, Mbiwa, Yohan Cabaye, Gouffran, Sissoko and Hatem Ben Arfa all line-up in the starting eleven; seven out of eleven players hailing from outside of these shores is a bold, but given the personnel available to Pardew, entirely logical next step.

You can clearly see where the club are coming from; the French league offers value for money quite like no other in Europe, with each of the five fresh faces brought into the club this month not only all affordable, but secured on long-term deals as they enter the peak of their careers. Head scout Graham Carr must have opened a boulangerie in Paris given all the work he’s done in the region this past year. Nevertheless, the sheer volume of French influence at the club is precisely what has attracted such interest, speculation and criticism.

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Former Liverpool manager Gerard Houllier warned last month of the potential negative that lies ahead, telling reporters: “You can’t stop the French speaking French. The dressing room will be unbalanced. There will be problems.” Considering the 65-year-old has managed the France national team in the past, plus trying to integrate several players from his time at Anfield, you suspect he knows his eggs on this subject. Obviously trying to head off such criticism, Pardew revealed last week: “They have to learn English or they will face penalties and hopefully they will grasp it.”

However, the main quotes doing the rounds this past week come from Pardew’s time at West Ham back in 2006, railing against a transfer policy at Arsenal very similar to the one that Newcastle now have: “I saw a headline saying Arsenal are flying the flag for Britain and I kind of wondered where that British involvement actually was when I looked at their team. It’s important that top clubs don’t lose sight of the fact that it’s the English Premier League and English players should be involved.”

Devoid of context, the quotes make Pardew seem fairly ridiculous and will have left him somewhat red-faced at being reminded of them, but it’s clear that while the Newcastle academy hasn’t produced any players of top flight quality these past few years, even if it doesn’t quite explain why they’ve aligned themselves so clearly with one country when the global game is a potential smorgasbord of talent.

With Danny Simpson set to leave in the summer when his contract expires, and Mike Williamson little more than a back-up centre-back, only really Steven Taylor stands a chance of consistent selection for the first-team out of the English players in the squad. Shola Ameobi, James Perch and Ryan Taylor are useful squad players to have, while Sammy Ameobi, James Tavernier and Shane Ferguson all represent viable prospects for the future, but there’s little to suggest any of them can make an impact on the starting eleven within the next year or so.

The club were in desperate need of recruits going into the January transfer window, with Pardew’s explaining their policy in greater detail recently: “There is slightly more value in the French market. Obviously, we have exploited that. Zaha is a typical example of trying to take a young player out of the Championship. I like him. I wanted to take him but, seriously, we had no chance. We just can’t pay that. We got four players for that. It suited our needs better to strengthen several positions for that sort of money. None of them was a knee-jerk reaction; otherwise we would have bought a 31-year-old from a squad in the Premier League.” There is nothing wrong with that assertion whatsoever.

The fans have urged owner Mike Ashley to invest this month or further run the risk of getting sucked into an ugly and increasingly messy relegation battle and the win against Aston Villa put breathing room between them and the bottom four once more. When the French market has worked so well for them these past couple of years, why even bother to try and look elsewhere? They have a strong scouting network in the country and the value for money is excellent.

Moreover, with the world shrinking (in an economic and communicative sense, not literally), the days when clubs could field a number of players from the academy are long gone and plenty of other sides in the top flight have fielded solely foreign-born sides and been no more worse off for doing so. To put this into context, the squad that got relegated back in 2008/9 contained 11 Englishman – do you forsake some sort of local pride and a lose connection with the surrounding community for success? The higher up the ladder you climb, it’s inevitable and to pretend otherwise is naive.

Pardew is clearly not in charge of transfers at the club, with the recruitment committee of Carr, managing director Derek Llambias and club secretary Lee Charnley all influential figures that report directly to Ashley. There is no recipe for success in the league, just different paths. Buying domestic players at the prices they cost these days is simply not an option for a club that’s ultimate aim is to balance the books.

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They are being sensible over their financial future, and should be applauded for not being as reckless as many of their rivals. They are bringing in established international players from a hotbed of talent that traditionally adapt well to the English game. The club clearly need to make improvements in integrating local players and academy prospects, but if they’re not good enough in the first place, then what’s the point?

A balance needs to struck in the future, but for the time being at least, needs must and the new recruits look certain to provide a much-needed shot in the arm for the entire squad while simultaneously boosting their fragile confidence, which should go a long way to ensuring their top flight status for another year. For those that want to bang the jingoistic, vaguely xenophobic drum that the Magies are beginning to represent everything about the decline of the English game, well I’m afraid that ship sailed a long time ago.

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At quite what point Emmanuel Adebayor transcended the line between an struggling passenger and a figure of derision within this Tottenham Hotspur team is somewhat unclear.

But with any existing goodwill seemingly in desperately short supply at White Hart Lane after a string of fruitless appearances, the heat upon the Togolese international is beginning to become intolerable. And it shows no sign of relenting anytime soon.

While it would be verging on the uncouth to suggest supporters doubted the sincerity of the former-Manchester City man’s injury during last weekend’s North London derby, it will perhaps come as little surprise to some that Adebayor’s stretcher-requiring issue might not suppress his availability for the weekend’s tie with Liverpool.

Regardless of the severity of his knock, perhaps in some ways, a spell out of the firing line is what Adebayor needs at the moment. As much as he’s looked a man bereft of the capability to stick the ball in the back of the net, he’s also looked like a striker bereft of anything resembling one iota of confidence. And for as delighted as supporters may be that Jermain Defoe now appears ready to return to the fold, their faltering striker’s lack of self-belief is something that they can’t sweep under the carpet.

With Defoe now back involved with first-team affairs following nearly a month out with ankle ligament damage, it’s very much a case of out of sight and out of mind, when it comes to the notion of Adebayor for some. However you wish to dress it up, the Togolese has had an extremely poor season and for all the issues that he had in getting his season off the ground – his first start didn’t come until the 2-1 defeat away to Manchester City back in November – his contribution in front of goal simply has not been good enough.

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Yet even when Defoe’s been struggling for goals in this side, Villas-Boas’ team have still managed to produce the goods, the fact is that Emmanuel Adebayor still has an important part to play should the Lilywhites wish to fulfil their ambitions of both Europa League progress and Champions League qualification. And part of that process involves extending their patience towards their faltering just a little longer.

This doesn’t involve chanting his name, praising him from the stands or necessarily showing him much in the way of anything approaching affection. Merely ensure that the atmosphere towards him isn’t one that starts turning toxic.

Quite where his long-term future stands at White Hart Lane could well be anyone’s guess after this season. Regardless of his questionable goalscoring output, following his mucking around over his decision to go to the African Cup of Nations and his subsequent delayed arrival back from the competition, it’s been widely reported that neither Villas-Boas nor chairman Daniel Levy were particularly enamoured with his behaviour. And for Adebayor, it’s upsetting the latter that may have potentially burned an irreparable bridge in N17.

Although regardless of a potential breakup, the one time-Real Madrid striker isn’t going anywhere for the moment and with Spurs fighting on two fronts as we head into the final straight of what could be a defining season for the club, they’re not going to achieve all of their goals with Jermain Defoe playing every minute of every match until the end of the season.

Like it or not, we’ve not seen the last of Adebayor in a Tottenham shirt and if he’s going to start returning to the sort of form that saw him play a starring role in the side that attained a fourth placed finish last term, he’s not going to do so underneath a hail of pelters from the Spurs fans.

Now that might not have happened as of yet, but after another disappointing showing against Arsenal on Sunday, the tides of patience are beginning to renege, and fast.

But although some will argue that he’s not done much to warrant any more goodwill from the home fans, Adebayor hasn’t cut this caricature of disinterest and petulance that many like to make out. The goals haven’t been coming and his movement’s not been anywhere as sharp as it should be, but he’s still putting a shift in and working hard.

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As ridiculed as he was in the aftermath of the North London derby, he may not have done much with the ball, but it was his peeling run that freed up Gylfi Sigurdsson’s line of sight to see up Gareth Bale for the first goal. Reinventing the wheel it most certainly was not, although when Defoe did a similar sort of thing against Manchester United back in September to allow Bale to score, he was heralded as hard-working genius.

Clearly Adebayor doesn’t hold anywhere near the same sort of lofty standing as Defoe does with supporters and most prominently, he’s not been scoring enough to allow him much in the way of a reprieve, either.

But for however frustrated supporters may feel towards Emmanuel Adebayor, they can’t let that frustration boil over into substantial malaise. He’s still got an important part to play in their team’s season and if he is going to start scoring goals in the near future, he’s unlikely to do so within a backdrop of simmering ridicule.

Support in football is a two-way street. But for as little as he may have done in front of goal, Tottenham haven’t exactly been loosing too many games when that Emmanuel Adebayor has featured in this season, too. He must do a lot more but when he next takes to the field, he must do so within an atmosphere of amiability, as opposed to one of mild disdain.