Merry Xmas all. So. Here’s the thing. The board and the people with the reasonability of appointing a new manager are the ones accountable for the output. When we get someone else in, that person is more or less inheriting the previous failed manager’s broken incomplete team. This is football the world over. You sack a coach if it aint working, someone comes in and turns it around and you again. Except Tottenham don’t seem to ever truly back the appointment, work through the tough process of cultivating a new identity. We just give up. And often we do because that appointment was proved to be an incorrect one. So I guess my question is - do we stick or twist with Frank or is there enough evidence thus far that the job is too big for him? Or is it too early, what with the big BIG players we have missing? Factor in the muddled, bipolar expectations of the fanbase who are right to point to ticket prices and then to the eleven home game losses in 2025. What exactly is the solution here? How do you fix this conundrum? Over to you…

Hiya babe. I was on The Fighting Cock this past ep + Filthy Shambles also available on all pod apps. I for one welcome our new overlords. I meant old overlords. I meant rebooted overlords? Such a shame social media killed the golden era of blogs. Sorry about that. Up the Spurs*. *hope Forest get relegated. Good chance of that happening right?

Never a dull moment. We are, afterall, the most dramatic of football clubs. Players in. Forest playing silly games of deflection. Naming rights. Investment. Levy might step back to a non-football role. Spurs don’t do sun beds. Just melt our brains instead. We go again. We always do. And it’s shaping up to be a good one.

Right or wrong decision? It aint binary. Everyone wanting him sacked was right. Everyone wanting to see him stay on was also right. y u do this spurs?

The cycle will continue.

New Filthy Shambles ep available on Spotify and on Patreon.

Bare Bones: Spurs Slump City (podcast) Sunday afternoon rejoicing. I'm recording Filthy Shambles on Monday, but for now I solo pod with a few joyful insights covering off our majestic humiliation of Man City. Oof marone! Up The Spurs https://www.patreon.com/posts/bare-bones-spurs-116628429?utm_medium=clipboard_copy&utm_source=copyLink&utm_campaign=postshare_creator&utm_content=join_link

Early Access on Patreon: **Therapy Sessions: "Things Have Always Been Better? The Bad Ones"** with @haydengribble.bsky.social and @80s90sspursbooks.bsky.social and myself @dearmrlevy.com (on Bluesky) Six of the very worst Spurs defeats revisited. Part II will cover the most glorious of victories. But for now, buckle up... https://www.patreon.com/posts/therapy-sessions-116112888 I'm joined by Gareth Dace and Hayden Gribble in Part I of a two part podcast, with this one focusing on Tottenham's worst ever results circa 1990 onwards. Yes, I know, but don't fret, Part II will focus on our most glorious victories. Gareth pulled together a scoring criteria for the games we have plucked out of infamy and we work our way through the memories and embarrassment as only Spurs fans can. Gareth is the author of the book 'Is Gascoigne Going To Have a Crack? Magic, Mayhem and Mediocrity', a truly wonderful book on the 1990s. https://90sspursbook.square.site/ Hayden is the author of 'Post Traumatic Spurs Disorder: Being A Tottenham Fan In The Premier League Years'.  https://amzn.eu/d/eNYf0Fh Both extremely knowledgeable and correcting my often dazed recollection of yesteryear. Enjoy. Up The Spurs.

Your international break therapy session. The state of play at Tottenham is a massive bundle of frustration. Take a seat. Walk the dog. Hope this helps. COYS (even though the idiots don't deserve it). Podcast now available on all pod apps. Go listen. Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/0GCQf0fYWnR0JBSlS1UtzC

* **Had an issue with the high line**  - fixed it (media persist with ‘Spurs will give you chances to score’ as if this doesn’t happen with any other system or team on the planet. The reality is, for this system to truly work consistently, we will need improvements to the squad depth and a backbone that relates to the current conundrum) * **Had an issue with set pieces**  - fixed it (defending and goal-keeping has improved to the point where it’s a non-issue, relatively speaking in comparison to the alleged crisis we were told the team was suffering) * **Had an issue with fluidity/goal scoring**  - fixed it with an injection of fast paced ball movement and transitions (we can and will improve - Solanke is genuinely top drawer with his awareness, passing, holding and pressing + in addition Johnson’s form and the Kulu/Madders dynamic). We do have another level to step up as the games we've lost (NLD aside which was a dull affair), we should have comfortably finished LC, NU and Brighton with the opportunities we had. * **Have an issue with mental collective switch off / on the field leadership**  - TBC. Our game management when facing adversity or self-inflicting an error that leads to an opposition goal is not good. We collapsed and gifted the game to the home side on Sunday. It's a trait, perhaps not a trend, but it's evident that something isn't quite right with how the players react on the field. At some point, things will have to level out and the development of Ange’s team will need to stop creating disruptions from within. It's growing pains and for us fans, it's a harsh learning curve we have to endure. The mental switch off happened during the Leicester City game (for 20 minutes). Arguably, with consideration, you can’t say the same thing about the Newcastle defeat (a case of simply not being clinical when on top). Arsenal was a let-down, performance wise - far too passive against their low-block Stoke tactics. It was hard to break them down. But Brighton? I guess we need to take the gut punch and learn from it and do so quickly. Where exactly is the leadership on the field? That missing element of vocal force to rally the troops and get them all back onto the same page; one that is written in blood and guts. Hello? Anyone? Yes, in some games, we’ll be put under pressure but there has to be a collective attempt to regain the momentum, take the sting out of the game, and do so with shrewd and busy energy. Key experienced players appear to ghost through these moments when they should be commanding the younger players and galvanising the team. We should be able to defend with the same amount of tenacity and press as we do when attacking. That first half along with the football played at Old Trafford was magnificent. Elite. Don’t care for the opposing team and their own struggles; Spurs were unplayable. The second half on Sunday was a blue screen of death. The likes of Romero caught ball-watching and perhaps also the lack of swift changes (something Ange won't admit to publicly) were required to protect Destiny and reboot the midfield with early tactical switches. Spurs need to influence change from the dug-out as well as on the field. I’m not lingering on history and Tottenham’s soft centre. Considering that in the same time we have accumulated 10 occasions when we have lost a 2-0 lead, we have also amounted plenty of points from losing positions and qualified for the Champions League and so on and so forth. Context is everything. If anything, in the past, this has happened when the club has failed to synergise to a philosophy. So the trust is not there from the manager and the players (and then fans). This culture of complacency is a psychology barrier that is only defeated with a winning mentality. One that has to be earned. It's happened when Spurs have been in the midst of rebuilding but never quite finishing the blueprints, let alone the structures. This time, we are starting with a foundation and we're making sure that what gets built on top of it, does not crumble. Even if we're having some architectural issues currently; this is part of creating something long-lasting. I prefer this perspective as opposed to the one where I scream about 'the club is dead/ENIC OUT/let's scapegoat the young players'. If you want that, fair play if you wish to fester in misery as you'll never be content regardless of our form. A case of wanting the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow but not wishing to get drenched from the downpour of rain to find it. (I know, pot of gold doesn't exist does it? Guess the analogy works for us) It’s a bit different this time. We have someone that wants to succeed, believes he will and knows how and what to fix. That’s us having a manager that takes accountability. The club are backing him too. Say what you want, but we can all agree that Levy and company have got it wrong with the likes of Jose and 'purple and gold' favourite, Conte (the truthsayer himself). This time, it feels like they (the club) understand what is required. And because of the desperation they have often showcased, it's broken us further when having to be patient for a new team to be birthed. Again, we've not truly attempted this after Poch left. Such is the mis-management of Daniel and friends. We'll know just how committed they are when we add to this squad in January and the summer - because there can not be any slow brooding movements cometh the 3rd season of Ange's tenure. By then, it needs to be about how to consolidate consistency by upgrading certain players (and aligning the system to footballers that can deliver over 38 games). Remember the benchmark in the Prem is extremely high (if you wish to entertain 3rd spot and above). I have seen some moaning on the socials that apparently the likes of myself and other 'podcasters' (as if we are not fans first and foremost) are not publicly attacking the club/Ange/the players/the board. Apparently we're bias. I mean, of course we are, we support THFC, we're not lost in a political war of hate with other supporters and the crusade against the owners. We support the team, want our players to do well, want to achieve things and do so with a bit more balance rather than hating everything and everyone, constantly. Take note of the constant abuse and scapegoating of Brennan Johnson; proof that any given 'in the moment opinion' drowning in finality - is the wrong opinion. Why do we need to lose our heads every time we have a tricky moment? For what? In his second season we are looking to grow and build with something tangible for the long term rather than the aforementioned short-cut nonsense the board have always dished up in desperation. Your POV is your own but wanting the club to fold every time we hit a bump, considering how painful it is to even attempt to contend; it's a tragic existence. 'Get the next man in, give him a year and a bit, then get rid of him too' Some Spurs fans have more in common with Levy and the board than they wish to admit to. And look. We're back here again with me having to defend the art of common sense. I get triggered to have to blog about this every time the fanbase have a meltdown. For, sure, discuss the problems at hand and the questions that need answering but as stated at the start of this written piece - we've improved this season. We've all seen the output stats of Angeball. The frustration comes with the delivery of that output. It's not perfect. Not yet. Now that might not be impressive to some but I've seen enough of Spurs on the front foot to know we are mightily impressive in possession. We just need a little more tinkering and there is no shame in that and no need to flip tables over either. We need to be great without the ball too. I’ve said it before. Ange might not be ‘the guy’. He might be the first stepping stone towards Spurs truly contending. There is no deadline either, aside from Ange's contract. It's up to him and the club to support this journey and if it does look like working, if Ange is 'that guy', then every one of us wins. Then again, with the FFP/sponsorship rules getting bent and broken whilst City are being investigated (and those very rules undermined), success in today’s game might only ever be achievable by selling your soul to a state nation. Better the devil you know I guess. The purgatory persists. (First published on Patreon a week or so ago).

The rebuild is in motion. Buckle up.

We're playing better football this season than we did in those opening 10 games of last season; conceding less shots and controlling far more of the game in comparison. Where we got lucky last season, we've had less composure (and luck) this one so far. 7 pts after 3 games last time out but had to endure 40+ shots on goal. This season the tally against us is in mid-20s. Far more structure and purpose, just letting ourselves down with final third output, even when bossing touches in opponents pen area. Those opening 10 games were amazing because of how much of a refresh it was compared to the dull dead football of end-game Conte and the self loathing mess the club curated. We got away with it a few times and often Ange maligned the lack of front three fluidity. He could see that not being clinical and then struggling versus low block was a huge frustration. To suggest we're not combating this differently is wrong. 'It's only 3 games' works both ways too. Also, the high line; we looked suspect all the time last season. Less so now. Injury and form implosion pretty much left us with an aftershock that we failed to recover from. Already this season we're defending corners better (still not pretty) and actually seem to have sprinkled some creativity on our attacking set pieces. High turn-overs too (nerdy). Had we capitalised on our domination in both the LC and NU games and won both - the long standing questions would still remain (relating to consistency, game management, defending with the high risk high line). Lack of finesse and discipline from players has let us down, fine margins. Claiming a continuation from last season is a huge stretch. We do however need to liven up the output to truly own the games narrative (and also react better when under pressure). The test in terms of levelling up, is for us to start scoring the goals we are promising to do so in our build up play. How do we game manage when we're 2-0 up? When winning games, how does the momentum solidify confidence? Will key players become accountable, week in week out? No doubt, this is going to trigger a few, you know, 'cause how dare I retain a sense of caution and desire to have valid tactical questions answered and also be positive and balanced with my perspective. Current Spurs is well worth my time to commit too. Have to give it a go. There's a loud minority on here (Twitter) that will never accept discourse. Nobody wins if Tottenham don't succeed. The frenzied anger-spats is like a peak Ibiza foam party. Wipe your mouths. Stop blaming other supporters because of your inability to connect emotionally to nice things. If you're angry all the time, I feel sorry for you. Plenty wrong with THFC, modern football. It's not a weakness to smile and retain a siege mentality for your players and gaffer. No need to weaponise every single aspect of the matchday experience etc. Wild ideology I know. But I'm preaching to a cult, so, I guess you do you and crack on with it. Keep screaming into your echo chamber, the algorithm will reward you with other miserable people, stamping their feet. The most sensational plot twist is that often BOTH sides will agree on certain things, but this gets lost in amongst all the noise. Hating Spurs is a badge of honour and being positive is deemed cuck behaviour. Wtf. Some are choosing to ignore the whole point of football. Anyways. Enjoy your lunch.

Newcastle. Home or away, one team always gets smashed. More the case that we tend to get smashed at theirs whilst we dish it out at ours. So, with that in mind; nervous much? No Solanke. Richy is in a perpetual state of ‘no’. Spurs owe us for the calamities of prior visits. Window has shut until January and we can finally focus on the games ahead of us, domestic and European. The season starts now. But what exactly do you expect from it? Spurs are progressing but some might say (no, I didn’t get tickets) that the steps are too slow. Others will remark that the steps are far too grounded. No skip or attempted jump. But we’ve attempted that before and fallen to the dirt. Tottenham are seeking to build something, short term into long term but doing so with genuine commitment to the philosophy they have embraced. Is it enough? What is enough? What are the expectations? There is no short cut to success if success is competing with Manchester City. There is no magic formula other than to somehow discover it through belief and focused management; generating relentless momentum that might still not be enough. But reaching our capacity means we’re doing everything to impact the Premier League with a lasting flavour of THFC, the type that others will struggle to remove from their mouth. The flavour of THFC in this analogy is the salty taste of tears from every other club as Spurs finally take over. Arsenal (the absolute gits) found their way through the simple art of backing their manager even when it looked like he was lost, caught between a rock and a Pep. We are in season 2 of a reset. We can’t keep leaning on this. But we do need time, as grating as that is. Considering we have given our lives (over dramatic klaxon). This season needs to be one that illustrates that the blueprint we’re working from has depth and output. Success is top four because top four means we’ve been competitive and consistent. Actual quantifiable success is winning a tin pot. But in the grand scheme of things, once more, to be the best you have to force them to want to fight you and fight to get away from you. I do like the fact that whatever happens in this new cycle, the club won’t need to reset the next time round. That’s the future. The present is in the hands of our gaffer. We have a squad. Can it and will it be stretched? Can we avoid an injury implosion? Can Angeball be a thing that sees us persist with possession but result with more goals? Are we contending this season? Will the next big window give us those big final piece signings? Is there even a point to any of it as long as City have that big show-off oaf up front? For now, let’s just try and get all three points on Sunday. Up The Spurs

Spurs are moving in the right direction. The disagreements will be over the pace of that progress. I expected a little more in this window, however, I also expect more from Ange from a coaching perspective and perhaps the young players will evolve at a pace we find agreeable. One thing that is amplified in press conferences is Ange owning the transfer ideology we have. He keeps reminding us that he has the final say. That Daniel Levy (defo still signs the cheques) has stepped back and Lange and Munn are running the football. From a club perspective, we can all agree that things are healthy if the players we do sign fit the manager - because ultimately the manager HAS to fit the club. This gives us a consistency, a constant hook from one appointment to the next. No need for identity shake ups with the likes of a Jose or Conte. Stick to what we want THFC to be. Why has it taken this long for us to wake up to this? Longevity, as ever, has been the crux of all the issues at Spurs, with Levy and the board often rattled by their own indecisions in the short term. But alas, the past is the past. Oh boy what turbulent past it’s been. But I retain my stance. We must commit, in the moment and for this current short term objective (Ange’s contract). This includes the output from resetting things. It’s only been one season since we escaped the previous four, so we have to forget about the emotional baggage we carry across from one coach to the next, because it’s not the same path we’re now walking. I know, we have been here many many times. Long time readers of this blog, back in the golden era of blogging, will know with our countless attempts at reinventing how to be successful. We have tried all types of styles and managers and directors of football. Rather than stick with the single blueprint and allow it mature over time. Have we finally caught on? Perhaps. The reality is very simplistic; even if you are the best version of yourself, you still need to compete against Manchester City. Them lot down the road have closed the gap but the context with their journey is that it took them a decade, two, to get back in amongst it. Lock-down FA Cup win aside, it’s not an easy task. Fluke seasons aside (I’m referencing that God awful fairy-tale), being a top top club isn’t easy. But you have to attempt to be it. You have to be hungry, ruthless. I imagine Levy and co don’t have this trait. They made us a Top 4 team, yet to make that big leap forward to make us a Top 2 contender. How’s that done? You need to be obsessive. All of the time. We have never quite being able to break that door down and get a seat at the table, on a permanent basis. But where we are, mostly, is always there or thereabouts. We’re not fleeting. We’re just not enough of what we need to be to make others concerned. This is season two, perhaps the second phase. We might not yet see full Angeball until next season (always with the ‘next’). Yes, it's mad to be thinking ahead to next summer (lol). One step at a time. Need to get the possession stats to equate to more goals when we're on the front foot and also vastly improve how we work as a collective to get control back if we conceded or lose the ball. Gaffer time. Additional brain dump: I often over commit and get emotionally hurt by it. Which is perfectly absolutely fine because if football doesn't have you feeling the highs and lows then you're doing it wrong. But yeah, I'm cautious. I expect a lot. Time to enjoy the ride. Again. ffs re: Solanke. We are cursed. The social experiment of THFC persists.

How we feeling? Anxious I guess. It’s the bog standard default setting for most Spurs fans at any given moment. Of course, you can choose to be positive and hope for the best because the alternative is to fester in the misery that we often define for ourselves, with accompanying support by the mis-management of the club (by the board). But alas, this is a reset right? Not a reboot, a fully blown reset. One year in, under Ange, we have a new structure within the walls of THFC regarding player acquisitions and scouting. Data led, the right players for the right manager. A philosophy that isn’t based on desperation. An identity re-connected to what it means to be Tottenham. Right? Ha. Well, fuck knows. The above all sounds sweet but the reality check is the output on the field. Long time readers will know that my stance is to always believe and for the club to represent the heritage and traditions we favour. Afterall, WE are the club even if in modern times we are being pushed aside as any season ticket holder is replaceable, such is the demand for attendance (even with the rising costs of fandom). It’s been a long long time since I’ve blogged here on DML - the place that pretty much made me. The landscape of online football discourse has changed massively. Podcasts are the main resource. Social media is practically a constant stream of micro-blogging. YouTube offers detailed breakdowns of tactics and theoretical line-ups. Everyone is a content creator. Everyone is a blogger. And there is little time for long form written essays. It’s a very selective club, as seen by the rise of SubStack and other platforms (Patreon included, hint hint). I’d wager some people haven’t even got this far in reading this particular share. Spurs, since the Poch implosion, has showcased how poor Daniel Levy and friends have been with decision making, from a football perspective. It’s a story as old as time itself. Jose and Conte, perhaps ambitious to a point but neither suited to a club like Spurs. Yet rather than rebuild after Poch, we opted for a quick fix. Of course, the whole ‘20 years 1 trophy’ line - as factually correct as it is, there’s a lot of context missing. We have attempted breakthroughs and arguably since 2006 have risen to be a top team. Just one with missing ingredients to ‘get over the line’. Lots of European football, cup finals, semis. Just no cigar. Spurs are criticised for their high end failures whilst the likes of Everton and Villa and a few others are barely compared (if you dare to follow the trajectory from the 80s into the 90s and 00s). And now? Today? Ange is maligned by some. No doubt he has questions to answer (set piece defending) but Spurs have a bright and sparky squad of players. That backline is potentially elite. The midfield is stacked with talent (if said talent turns it on) and also youthful enterprise. Recovering from Harry Kane is almost impossible so we need reinvention to inspire resurgence. The club are backing their manager, we have a strategy for once, and if they can add an obsessive energy to pushing us from (often) seasonal Champions League contenders to actual title contenders - then things will have truly changed. Project Youth is also tasty, with the profile of players we are signing and the academy lads (especially one Mikey Moore). That gap between City (and them lot) and the rest is big but not impossible to close. But first things first, we need to be decent and consistent. As Ange has said, we need to be in a position where we can compete and win and not simply do so on the one off occasion. The window has yet to close. The season is about to start. We need perhaps a winger and a midfielder in. A defender too. We do in fact need all of those things. The club have never been in such a promising position. A billion pound entity (and some). Revenue streams aplenty. Super club on paper, not so super on the pitch. It’s time. And because of that aforementioned valuation I doubt the club will be sold any time soon. Perhaps a stake, a percentage, an injection. But we are stuck with ENIC. And for all their missteps (wrong appointments, wrong players for the wrong manager, ticket hikes, concession controversy) they appear to have finally caught on. We need a blueprint and we need to commit to it. An uncomfortable comparison is the one at the other end of the Seven Sisters road. We have that capacity so if we’re serious people, we need to move seriously towards elevating ourselves to the next level. Rather than sit comfortably where we are; flirting with elite potential. The investment we make as fans (both with heart and wallet) needs to be matched. Because if you’re not hungry to be the very best there are several other teams that will happily step up instead. Some might say that we need to cheat-code our way to success. Do a City. A Chelsea. Who cares about laundering and human rights? Sports washing is practically legitimised these days. Ha, well, I would hope nobody wants to sacrifice the club, sell its soul. Then again, some will argue we’re less of a football club and more of an entertainment venue. The war of words will persist. Ultimately, we are here for the football and that’s all I can focus on. Up The Spurs Find me on Twitter and Bluesky + Patreon for more thoughts and existential musings.

Here. We. Go. Again.

June 14th. Window opens. England start their EURO campaign. UK will be raining pints.

Don’t fuckin lose Tottenham please

Give it time lads. We’re in good hands.

Midfielder in next. Fingers crossed. Need to ‘sell’ one before we make a move.