Craig Harrison investigates if there is a an ulterior motive behind Ashton and Samuel's attack on AVB
Is There Substance in the Allegations?
It’s been quite a week for Tottenham Hotspur. three games played, two wins and a credible draw against Man United; our season may well be up and running again. Amongst all this though the biggest headline grabber has been AVB’s intense showdown with two sports “journalists” from the Daily Mail, and the subsequent media circus that has followed.
In his post-match press conference after the 2-2 draw with United, AVB (quite spontaneously) took the opportunity to vent his disdain at what most Spurs supporters will agree has been an unfair whipping of our manager in the press in the days after Citygate. AVB’s comments of course went on to completely overshadow the result of the match, and every journo on Fleet Street has since taken the opportunity to weigh in on whether our manager has been the subject of a media witch-hunt.
Staying true to form, the slime balls of the industry have stuck together, united in defence of messrs Ashton and Samuel and roaring with a collective voice that, that: “AVB is taking this a bit too personal isn’t he?” None of us expected any less, but a closer look may well vindicate AVB’s claims that his treatment in the press, particularly by the two writers at the Daily Mail, hasn’t exactly been impartial.
To begin with Martin Samuel, who forced himself onto AVB’s radar with an online article, titled “What’s the beauty of being Villas-Boas? It’s always someone else’s fault”, where he sticks the boot in about the gaffer’s “stubbornness” and poor decision making.
[authquoteleft text=”AVB took the opportunity to vent his disdain at what most Spurs supporters will agree has been an unfair whipping[/linequote]
Football journalists growing 5 feet taller when they’re hiding safely behind their computer screen is nothing new, and Samuel’s harsh assessment of AVB isn’t the first and won’t be the last time a sports writer gives a Premier League manager a verbal wellying. However, a lesser known fact is that Samuel may well have motivations for harbouring a closet disliking of AVB, and perhaps Spurs in general. As if the fact that he’s a self-admitted West Ham fanatic wasn’t enough, that fact that he ghost-wrote Harry Redknapp’s autobiography, Always Managing, published in 2013, and is also a columnist for the Jewish Chronicle, may help to open a few eyes a little wider.
The association with West Ham and why this may lead the writer to dislike Spurs doesn’t need explaining. However, the fact that Samuel is chummy with Harry Redknapp and helped our former manager write a book, does seem to offer evidence that he is a long way off holding Tottenham as his second team, to say the least. Added to this is his involvement with the JC which in the aftermath of the latest chapter in the “Y Word” debate may also lead some to infer that perhaps the Daily Mail writer doesn’t hold our club to too high a regard. Maybe he genuinely believed that everything he has written about AVB is true, and if so we’ll just have to accept that he has a different opinion than us and move on.
However there is an argument to be made that his harsh attack on AVB’s credentials may well have been motivated by his harbouring of a dislike for the club that the Portuguese manages. Neil Ashton, who played the game quite well during AVB’s press conference, refused to accept what the manager said, wouldn’t let the conversation move on and interrupted his fellow reporters at will to have his voice heard. Ashton has managed to raise himself from a bareky heard of writer to one now of national fame. The journo pushed himself into the spotlight with a petulant article about how poor a manager AVB is.
He devalued the former Porto manager’s triple success before he moved to Chelsea, claiming that anyone could have won the silverware he did with the amount of quality the Porto side had, and went on to argue that the 35 year old was out of his depth at Chelsea and the wrong fit for Spurs. Firstly, if we follow the logic that teams with great players will win silver wear regardless of who their manager is, then the footballing world needs to have a serious rethink about the esteem they hold managers like Pep Guardiola and Sir Alex Ferguson in.
[authquoteright text=”Samuel is a self-admitted West Ham fanatic and ghost-wrote Harry Redknapp’s autobiography[/linequote]
More than that though, throughout the showdown Ashton scoffed at AVB for implying that the article was in any way personal. How can a writer devalue the biggest successes of a mangers career to date, claim he was too small time to manage a team like Chelsea and argue that he is bound to fail at his current club, and expect that manager not to feel like he is under attack?
If the shoe was on the other foot, and AVB announced to the world that Neil Ashton was a rubbish journalist, that his success to date has only transpired because he is at a prestigious newspaper, and that he “isn’t the right man” to present the Sunday Supplement show on Sky Sports, would he not take it personally?
Would he not get a bit upset, and feel that he was being attacked?
These ideas are simply theories, and we’ll never be able to prove the long held suspicion that many of us have about the media representation of Tottenham Hotspur. We’ll just have to support our team all the same, and smile gracefully when AVB proves them all wrong.
[author name=”Craig Harrison” website=”www.coysnews.com” tag=”CraigHarrison[/linequote]
All views and opinions expressed in this article are the views and opinions of the writer and do not necessarily represent the views of The Fighting Cock. We offer a platform for fans to commit their views to text and voice their thoughts. Football is a passionate game and as long as the views stay within the parameters of what is acceptable, we encourage people to write, get involved and share their thoughts on the mighty Tottenham Hotspur.
17 Comments
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07/12/2013 @ 9:30 am
The truth is that sportswriters will go for anyone who they think is on the skids. In 1960 the great Australian athlete Herb Eliot said that “the British press is the most vicious in the world” and added that their attitude to any sportsmen whose career seemed to be in the decline was “that blokes on his way down, I’m going to kick him down and keep him there.”
I’ve read twice that AVB has a month to save his job – how many times have we been told that about a manager whose team has hit a bad streak? It wouldn’t be so bad if you felt that these writers knew what they were talking about. Remember all that ignorant rubbish about Paul Robinson after that mishap against Croatia when a goal was conceded because of a ridiculous rule and a bad pitch? Every time a goal was scored against him it was an error, or a blunder or a howler – usually it was nothing of the sort. Now they think they have a potential victim in Joe Hart. These people watch football from a good vantage point every week – wouldn’t you think they’d learn something about it?
07/12/2013 @ 9:35 am
I have to say that there must be a motive. To misuse their ability to communicate with the public through a newspaper and tear into AVB in the ways that you mention. Implying ofcourse that their opinions are correct and above everyone else’s. It’s not right.
There was no need to discredit his past wins and success like that. Almost get the impression they hate that fact.
How on earth can you take that away from him? You can have the best squad of players in the world, it doesn’t guarantee success. You have to form that team, make them play together.
That’s fact. So for them to sit there and attempt to make people think otherwise is a good enough example of their motive.
I wish people like them didn’t exist in the game to be honest. Always negative and they should clean up their act.
I now hope that AVB will wind them up the best way possible and that would be to win things. Only then would I enjoy reading their cheap and narrow minded words.
07/12/2013 @ 9:52 am
Perhaps during upcoming press conferences he should decline to answer any questions these two have like, “No comment”
That would wind em up…
07/12/2013 @ 9:55 am
Perhaps it’s all in the wording. When Ashton says it’s not personal I think he means it’s not vindictive, just a statement of fact. Of course it’s personal when somebody criticises your achievements and abilities but I don’t think you can say these criticisms are unfair or incorrect. Before coming to us he had only two full seasons in management and a disaster with Chelsea, his success in Portugal came with a side which is always in contention for the league and mostly wins it, he also won the domestic cup competition so the same criteria applies. His biggest achievement was winning the Europa League, a tournament which is much maligned throughout football and doesn’t involve the better sides in Europe at least until the latter stages when the least successful of the Champions League enter the fray. How seriously do they take it? His time at Chelsea was a disaster, highlighted further by the subsequent achievements of Di Matteo when he took over. Yes there may have been problems with huge ego’s etc among the Chelsea squad but his failure to deal with those problems and his part in their creation surely just emphasises his lack of suitability for a top managerial position, at least for the time being.
As for him being a poor fit at Spurs, again I don’t see it as an unfair observation. His laborious football by numbers is certainly a million miles from the ‘Tottenham way’ and while some fans seemed happy to accept being bored stupid as long as the results followed, the results are inferior to those of our last manager who was branded a tactically clueless chancer by a lot of supporters. The press can be vicious and callous but in this case they have the facts on their side.
07/12/2013 @ 11:16 am
You and Ashton are simply wrong. The facts are, Redknapp’s win percentage with Tottenham is 49.49%, AVB’s win percentage with Tottenham is 54.55%. If you decide to refer to facts in your comments, please get them right.
COYS!!!
“I’m really tired of outraged consumers masquerading as supporters.”
– Harry Hotspur
07/12/2013 @ 12:47 pm
Can we PLEASE stop rewriting history about AVB being a disaster at Chelsea? His points per game record was better than de matteo and Chelsea were 4th when he was sacked but finished 6th. His record is also better than mourinhos second spell record. AVB was under instruction to change the style and replace older team members. He brought in Mata and it was only the “strike” by those senior players which forced Roman to sack him.
Going back to Ashton …….he wrote that AVB had blamed his players for Man City result and said they were an embarassment. His agenda? That AVB shifts the blame and is at odds with his players. The truth? AVb seems to have total support from the players and his comments after Man City specifically included himself and the coaches. So thats why AVB was annoyed……opinions are
one thing but lies are another.
07/12/2013 @ 10:06 am
The truth is that journos are only second to politicians in the disdain that the general public has for them except football fans who appear to hang onto every word these these experts in tapping into the baser human emotions write. The question is, who is the greater fool the idiot who writes the crap or the idiot who reads and believes it?
07/12/2013 @ 10:29 am
These two are typical of most journos who only ever look for the negative, and never spoil a good story by telling the truth, and the Mail is IMO the worst of the lot. The title of “gutter press” was never more true and perhaps they and others should crawl back to where they belong. We see all to often playes, in all sports built up by the press, and then kicked unmercifully when they doubt reach the heights that they set.
I have been around to long to pay any real attention to what twats like these say, but could I remind them of Sunderland way back who bought a whole collection of stars became know as the Bank of England team and were relegated. Buying up a load of talent does not guarantee success.
I was never over the moon when AVB was appointed and like so many fans do not enjoy the style of football we are currently playing, but then why would I when I saw my first game at WHL over 60 years ago, so have seen the good the bad and the ugly.
We need to give him time and now is not the time to change as this will only create more problems, we need to support the team and assess again at the end of the season. If we are really building for the future then we have to take that view and not to make a knee jerk reaction, and even more so just because some mindless morons in the press want to push us into that.
07/12/2013 @ 10:47 am
Not enough has been made of Ashton’s deliberate,IMHO, misquote after the City game where he tried to imply that AVB was excluding himself from any responsibility for the loss……which was absurd of course!
07/12/2013 @ 10:52 am
This ‘press vendetta’ rubbish is frankly pathetic; AVB has done nothing to justify the worship lavished on him by his happy-clappy fan club – we’re lower placed, and playing much worse football than when he took over 18 months ago, but it’s all a media conspiracy, based on hatred of Spurs. Oh, and everything’s Harry Redknapp’s fault as well! When are you lot going to take off the rose-tinted specs, and see AVB and Levy for the charlatans they are?
10/12/2013 @ 8:52 am
We may be lower placed, but we’ve got more points? We’re lower placed in the league because the teams around us have improved. What exactly could AVB have done to prevent that?
07/12/2013 @ 11:10 am
Personally, I don’t think he should have bothered saying anything about clown no.1 Ashton. His ‘opinion’ piece was so ludicrous for exactly the reasons you mention. Essentially as soon as a club puts together a good squad they should let their current managers contract run down and just get some guy off the street on minimum wages to come in and take over…simply moronic what he said. But then it was just an opinion, as foolish as it was. Clown no.2 Samuel absolutely deserved to be taken to task. What he wrote was not an opinion, it was as brazen and as outright a lie as I’ve ever seen from a sports ‘journalist.’ He told that lie quite clearly because he had an agenda of trying to show AVB doesn’t take responsibility. It needed to be addressed or that lie will return at some point potentially replacing the truth.
07/12/2013 @ 11:11 am
AVB is creating an “us against them” mentality – a bit like Mourinho did during his first spell at Chelsea. Spurs have been too liked and were often peoples “second team” when we fluffed our lines chasing the top four finish. This tactic takes pressure off the players and gets them riled up to prove the doubters wrong. He knows what he’s doing and is doing it well. We have a very strong team of good professions (light years away from the dark days of Bently, Jenas, Dos Santos, etcetera) who will get us top four. I like the new spurs, they’re mentally tough, bounce back from set backs, sacrifice themselves to aid the team (vertongan at left back, dembele playing deeper) and can all play footy!!!
07/12/2013 @ 1:13 pm
every journo writes an article to provoke a reaction from people , most of these articles will have a small part of truth which will be enlarged and exagerated to get noticed by the general public and avb fell into his trap by responding in public which he should never have done most people take these articles with a pinch of salt , avb should have just laughed it of but it seems that he cant take anybody questioning his ability or lack of . as for me i think he is a poor manager his team selection has been poor his present style is the most boring ive seen in years and hopefully he will be gone by the end of the season and hopefully he will be replaced by a manager who knows what hes doing as avb doesnt in my opinion.
08/12/2013 @ 8:23 am
I think that these two Daily Mail journalists are intimidated by a young, good looking, and intelligent foreigner. The Daily Mail is a horrifically right wing rag, constantly blaming foreigners for everything and these two can’t take the fact that here we have a manager who is more eloquent in a foreign language, than most English people involved in football.
I have read in the past that often intelligence is derided among footballers in this country, and no matter what your opinions are on AVB’s management style, you must admit the man has a brain. Something that is often held against him as his team talks are apparently too complicated for the players to understand and he uses Power Point presentations etc.
Furthermore, watching the game v Sunderland yesterday, I noticed once again that a lot of these journalists and TV commentators don’t bother doing proper research before showing up to do their job. I don’t know and don’t really care who was commentating on Sky Sports during yesterday’s match, but this person said that in the last 3 games in which Tottenham had gone behind, they had failed to win. Yet on Wednesday evening we played Fulham. Went behind. And came back to win. This just goes to show how unprofessionally these people can get away with doing their job. Such obvious mistakes and ignorance of facts in any other line of work would be unacceptable.
09/12/2013 @ 4:31 pm
that’s BT SPORT for you… when your picking up 3rd and 4th choice commentators, your going to get poor coverage. Michael Owen is without doubt the main offender.. he talks absolute twaddle..
09/12/2013 @ 10:09 pm
The classy thing to do is just simply rise above it, and let the results on the pitch do your talking. You cannot win a war of words with journalists in a free press society. Unless it’s outright slander and lies, it’s just an opinion. Deal. Prove them wrong by winning. Simple.