So what is all the AVB hate from the media all about? Never before have I seen such a co-ordinated collusion to have a man’s character rubbished so deeply as to advocate a hope of failure in what he does next so that the laughing can continue. It is bullyboy tactics at its worst and everybody seems to be subscribing to it. Before the game against Reading even the mighty Glenn Hoddle himself was saying “I’ve spoken to a lot of spurs fans and they’re worried, and so am I’.
But why? Wherefore cometh all this dislike? What has this man actually done wrong?
He was one of the most sought after managers in the game less than two seasons ago. So much so that Roman “mega wad” Abramovich, shelled out a mighty fortune to snag him before any one else did. Following a season (2010-11) where Chelsea finshed second in the premiership, got to the quarter finals of the Champions League and got knocked out of both domestic cups early, it was felt by many that a new broom was needed. That the club was going stale. So in came AVB with his broom and his project bestowed on him from up high and when the senior pros that seemingly run the club put up resistance, Mr Mega Wad hung him out to dry; promoted another three letter named manager in RDM and promptly won both Champions League and FA cup by playing some of the most boring football in Chelsea’s history and riding a mighty wave of luck in the process. But it’s a results business and who cares about anything else? This is precisely why AVB is a failure because RDM showed the world how it should be done. Really?
So now he is at Spurs where his other problem is that he has taken over from the overly media friendly Harry Redknapp. The journos are clearly aggrieved at the loss of their hyper active media cheeky chappy that kept them all sweet, so they were always going to ensure that the follow up act did not get an easy ride in his new appointment. Of course Spurs were employing the “hapless” one from Chelsea. The one who screwed things up as proven by “RDM Footballing Genius”! So now we are faced with “AVB hasn’t got a clue” both on radio (Talk Sport Adrian Durham – professional wind up merchant) and on TV (Sky Sports Paul Merson – former alcoholic, gooner and failed football manager).
We’ve also got people commenting on AVB’s man management because of course buying Hugo Lloris and not playing him immediately means that Lloris wants to go home to France already, so therefore AVB is just annoying players. Far be it from a manager to buy a player, allow him to settle and fight for his place in the team, which is what Sir Alex and others would no doubt have been credited with. But no this is another example of AVB annoying the hell out of his squad. And by the way I wonder how they’d spin it if he did actually drop Friedel and play Lloris?
Of course theres cheeky chappy Harry in the background with his newspaper column. (A feat in itself for one who can’t spell or turn on a computer. Perhaps Rosie is helping him out). Football shouldn’t be over complicated apparently. Well no you are right, it shouldn’t be and especially not if you still live in 1960’s England just around the time when the W M formation converted to 442 and stayed there for an eternity. Don’t get me wrong HR did some good stuff for Spurs but he also contributed to some pretty bad stuff too. Kyle Walker stated on Soccer AM recently that the new managers training is different and he hopes to improve from it. The old manager concentrated on defensive and attacking drills and a match after apparently! (Not saying that was old skool but there was always that long commute to the south coast to eat into the day I suppose).
Even Seb Bassong, a player that has since left Spurs and has no need to say the right thing has praised AVB training methods; Jermaine Defoe has said that the manager has been good for the club (and so far has been good for him after playing for a manager that appears to pick his team on merit for a change). Brad Friedel has spoken positively about AVB and rubbished the Lloris being unhappy rumours and yet no one out there appears to be listening. Knives are still being sharpened at every opportunity and three games into a season AVB apparently has three games left to secure his job! This is where we are with today’s agenda filled media.
Give the guy a chance. OK perhaps his press conferences are overly intellectual for some. Using words bigger than “triffik” seems to baffle some of our media. Remember that English is not his first language and in Europe, and unlike in England where education has been dumbed down for years, they learn English properly overseas. OK perhaps he has to compute the word in Portuguese first before using the English equivalent? People just have to deal with it and try and understand what he means rather than what he doesn’t..
Then there is the Chelsea fan. The bitter twisted ones that still hasn’t forgiven AVB for upsetting his beloved Frank, JT and Didier and this view seems to be embodied by one Andy Jacobs on Talk Sport. Get over it mate. Move on! You won the Champions League. Show some class. Should we spurs fans really still be spitting nails at Ramos and Christian Gross?
The fact is I suppose that only results will shut people up and buy AVB some time so hopefully the results will come. He is the current spurs manager so I will support him. If he makes mistakes then I will say so. But one thing is for sure and that is I want him to succeed because if he does then so does my club. I will not buy into all these agendas. I will not fall into line with the rest of the media. I will judge only by what he does at Spurs and not by what has gone on before. I am Spurs and for now, so is AVB.