The summer pruning has started

Sometimes the closer you stand to something the harder it is to see. This season the more Tottenham have disappointed or angered me the closer I seemed to be drawn. The more I read, the more I watched and the more I fantasised about it just turning out ok, simply because it should.

There was no base to my hope, it was a pure unrefined spring of the most delusional hope. The Peckham Spring of hope, if I could have bottled it via a hose hidden in a bush, this time next year I would have been a millionaire.

Something changed though, the spring dried up, I stepped back. In actual fact I got on a plane and landed somewhere where I was denied Wi-Fi for 23 hours. All of us talk about stepping away from Twitter, going dark, but how many of us actually do?

The temptation to glance, respond to a stupid Tweet, blog, speak or head butt someone takes over. We are football fans, patience isn’t something we have a lot of.

However on holiday I had no choice. Wi-Fi for more than one hour was a $20 taxi ride, or a 35pesos journey on a collectivo bus service with the locals. I love Spurs, but I prefer a sun lounger, cocktails, fresh fruit and sun-on-tap in foreign country. Therefore I had no choice but to go cold turkey-ish.

[linequote]Spurs had become a routine, a weekend missionary outing, where after the event I would lay back hot and sweaty thinking was it even worth the expense of energy?[/linequote]

I missed the Stoke and Villa victories and the defeat to West Ham. I missed the fall out of the Hammers game, I avoided the gloating of their triple cup final win, but most of all I avoided all of us and myself.  Tim Sherwood became just a man who had a job and Tottenham my long distance relationship.

Anyone who has ever had a long distance relationship knows what happens. First there is longing. “What are they doing? How are they doing? Who are they talking to?” Eventually though telephone sex becomes boring and you search for reason to not answer the phone, before long you forget completely who they are.

Time and space away gave me a new view of Spurs and it allowed me to break the mundane monotony of either a victory or defeat as the season fizzled out. Spurs had become a routine, a weekend missionary outing, where after the event I would lay back hot and sweaty thinking was it even worth the expense of energy? My break, however, changed that.

I returned to England full of vigour. Time and space had sharpened Cupid’s arrow and I had been hit. I saw us for what we are, a football club with whom I am twinned and a club in serious need of some summer pruning and refining.

Since AVB was cast off we have been neglected and we have gone from being a manicured yet tedious bonsai into Aurdey from The Little Shop of Horrors, a full on eating itself and everything else monstrosity.

Thankfully though as I sit here and ponder what Spurs need to do, the back door has been opened and the first wave of gardeners have arrived. Sherwood is no more. The man with the gilet, the “passion“, the noise and the face of an owl has gone. The right move?

Yes.

We couldn’t continue with a man who split dressing rooms and fans at will. We won games we should have won under him and we lost games we could have won. He was a manager flying by the seat of his pants, learning on the job.

Tottenham was never going to be the right place for him to learn. He was perfectly average. Sherwood is a man who will go on to stand alongside Curbishley, Pardew, McCarthy and Poyet. Their distinction is their avergeness.

[linequote]I am unable to pour my faith into De Boer, a man who has dominated a small European league. AVB grabbed that bridge doused it in petrol and took a flamethrower to it[/linequote]

We, however, need something better. Seven managers in ten years seems to suggest it is our eternal quest, we are forever in search of perfection. The perfect circle, the perfect manager, the perfect goal, looking round at the available faces, I get the feeling that the man to scratch this itch is not among them.

Pochettino is the one who interests me the most. He has Premier League experience, his formation suits our plethora of players, and he arrives with out the battle scars handed out by Mourinho, Sir Alex and Chelsea fans with A4 paper and a printer. Another issue which puts me off Benitez is having a manager still worshiped by Liverpool fans leaves me rather uneasy.

Perhaps the third option, Ajax man De Boer, would one day become the stand-out character, but for now I am unable to pour my faith into a man who has dominated a small European league. AVB grabbed that bridge doused it in petrol and took a flamethrower to it. A leap of faith is not something we need right now.

I will throw my weight behind Pochettino, however if it turns out to be the Dutch man or Spaniard, they will receive the same backing from me. As I said when Sherwood ruled the touchline, I support the club, more than the manager. Personal agendas, vendettas, jelly and ice-cream and other terms bandied around under Sherwood don’t interest me.

The manager situation however is not the only part of the club that has been allowed to grow out of control. We need to step into this summer one hand clasping DDT, the other a pair of razor sharp secateurs and approach our players for a more clinical and serious bit of manscaping. Our managers may have had some effect on our season but the primary issue is that in key tactical positions we lack quality, composure and class.

[linequote]We need to step into this summer one hand clasping DDT, the other a pair of razor sharp secateurs and approach our players for a more clinical and serious bit of manscaping[/linequote]

Left back, central midfield and out-wide are positions that all need work. All season we have been let down in these key areas and with Adebayor likely to march off and salute elsewhere, upfront will also need addressing. Dawson and Lennon are Spurs stalwarts, but they are players indoctrinated into our continual cycle of transition. We need a fresh out look, we need new heroes to look to.

A team has to be built around Lloris, Vertonghen/Chiriches, Paulinho and Eriksen. Around this quartet add Lamela, Soldado, Walker, Kaboul, Sandro and two to three more players, then perhaps we can find that next gear and remove ourselves from neutral.

Whatever your thoughts are now though, one thing in football, especially when it comes to Spurs, is that change is the only constant. This time next week everything could be different, my advice therefore is this summer take some time for yourself. Find a spot in the sun, grab a cocktail and allow the refreshing taste of a Spurs free air to enter your body. Tomorrow, the next day, next week and next season we have it all to do again.

It is why we love this club, it is also why we hate it at the same time.