Are Spurs The Most Underhand Club In The Premier League ? Friday, 14th Nov 2014 11:18 After the way Glenn Hoddle was poached from Saints back in 2001 there was no love lost between Saints fans and Spurs and that deep mistrust surfaced again earlier this year when they poached Mauricio Pochettino. Rupert Lowe famously called Tottenham Hotspur a bunch of North London Yobbo's for the way they poached then Saiint's manager Glenn Hoddle, for those not old enough to remember Spurs held talks with Hoddle without approaching Saints first, they claimed these were nothing more than an informal chat, but even as they were happening it was being linked to the press and it forced Hoddle's hand, rather than wait till the summer and leave the Dell in good standing, he had seen his bridges burned for him and it was either go to White Hart Lane then or Spurs would look elsewhere. We all know of their courting of Pochettino, the constant press rumours the constant denials of any interest, then suddenly hey ho the moment the season ends he is top of their wish list and appointed with indecent haste. Morgan Schneiderlin was again courted and the press played their part in stirring up the pot even after Saints had stated that they were not going to let him leave. But the latest rumour is that Spurs want Saints head of player recruitment Paul Mitchell, this is absolutely ludicrous, this must be the first time that a member of a club's backroom staff in a non coaching position is the subject of specualtion in the national press of a bid from another club, indeed most Saints supporters would not have heard of Mitchell, not to say his work is not valued, he is just low down on the radar. So why is he being linked, ? well two words "Neil Ashton" this Daily Mail journalist has stopped at nothing to de stabilise Southampton Football Club in 2014, the only surprise is he hasn't tried to suggest that the car park attendant at St Mary's is planning a sex change. But Ashton must be getting his information from somewhere, after all when you put something out like this you are risking your credibility if it turns out to be complete rubbish, Ashton seems to be in the know at Spurs, claiming that not only are they after Mitchell but Pochettino trusts his judgement ( Strange that one as during Pochettino's time at Saints we only signed four players and two of them Forren and Osvaldo turned out to be total disasters) and that Levy is looking to re structure the back room staff, now either Ashton has a mole in White Hart Lane or he has a vivid imagination. "Daniel Levy's massive restructuring programme at Tottenham has started with an attempt to bring in Southampton’s head of recruitment Paul Mitchell." This was Ashton in the Mail earlier this week, this is a big statement, in it Ashton is not speculating , he is putting things forward as fact, so who is telling him these "facts". As I say he must be getting information from someone, it probably isn't Saints who confirmed that they have received no official approach from Spurs, so if we discount disgruntled ex employee's then it has to be from within Tottenham themselves. At the head of Tottenham Hotspur is Daniel Levy, he joined them in February 2001 coincidentally just before Glenn Hoddle's departure from the Dell in the March of that year. Soon after Levy arrived George Graham was sacked in controversial circumstances and since then including Graham, Levy has had 10 permanent managers plus several caretakers in 13 years at White Hart Lane, all bar the current one have left under a cloud, on the face of it the average shelf life of a Spurs manager is 17 months, probably about the Premier League average, but if you take out Harry Redknapp and Martin Jol who between them did 7 years in the Spurs hot seat then the other 7 have lasted an average of around 10 months each. Managerially speaking Levy has rarely got it right for the club and that being the case his employers ENIC must be considering his position given that in addition to the managerial fiasco's there is the issues with their trying to move to the Olympic Stadium (ask West Ham fans about that one) and when that failed the building of the new ground that doesn't appear to have been managed well and of course the fact that Spurs are going backwards on the pitch. That being the case then it is easy to see why Levy should be making noises to his trusted press contacts that he is going to change the backroom staff at Spurs and bring in a different culture, however after 13 years has that culture not been set in place by Levy himself with his constant hiring and firing of managers ,meaning that now there is no true loyalty to any man at the club be it manager or otherwise because they have so many people brought in by ex managers and employee's So over the last 13 years Daniel Levy has not had the greatest reputation with Saints fans, they would claim his tactics have always been underhand, perhaps that is harsh and untrue but it certainly felt that way in the dealings we have had with them starting with Hoddle. Now we have national newspapers claiming they are chasing our backroom staff, how desperate is that, mind you how desperate now is Levy ? how many millions have been spent on hiring and firing managers and in the transfer window for players who are still at the club now and who are surplus to requirements. Once upon a time Tottenham Hotspur where a great club respected throughout football for the way they did things, in the last decade or so that has been turned to dust in the minds of most other supporters of other clubs. Bill Nicholson always the most admired and respected of men must be turning in his grave. Perhaps we at Southampton have more to be aggrieved with Spurs than most, yes perhaps there is a little bitterness, but there is also now a degree of sympathy for Spurs supporters for the way their club has been turned from a once decent club, into one that see's itself as above ethical ways of doing things and see's nothing wrong in trying to de stabilise other club's players and now in our case backroom staff. Paul Mitchell should have remained the anonymous vital part of the team he was, if he left he should have done so under honourable circumstances, not seen his name plastered as a major news story in a national paper as a pawn in Spurs problems. Ten months ago Mauriccio Pochettino was the subject of similar rumour of his departure from St Mary's to White Hart Lane, despite his denials that anything underhand had gone on etc, the rumours were spookily accurate and Pochettino was appointed with indecent haste. I wonder how true these latest rumours are ? and as we brace ourselves for alleged bids for Morgan Schneiderlin and Jay Rodriguez in January what tactics will be employed to try and prise them away from St Mary's The initial question was "Are Spurs the most underhand club in the Premier League ? " Im not qualified enough to answer that and there are certainly others that could challenge for that title, however in the eyes of the supporters I have spoken to not just at Saints but throughout the land, they are certainly one of the leading contenders. Photo: Action Images Please report offensive, libellous or inappropriate posts by using the links provided.
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