WELCOME TO THE MAGICAL MYSTERY TOUR THAT IS A SPURS CLOSE-SEASON

This week, I’m going to go first-person and bring you to a place that some of you will not be able to relate to. Oh you will have had a chuckle, a giggle and a joke about it, but the pain and ever-so-rare pleasure will be beyond your experience and comprehension. I speak of the close-season…the close season transfer rumor mill…the close-season transfer rumor mill for a Tottenham Hotspur supporter.

It is a place imbued with glitz, glamor, big names and big money, a place where dreamers (such as myself) can get lost in world inhabited by the biggest of global stars and galacticos. In the past we’ve enjoyed being linked with Fernando Torres, Puyol, Guti, Beckham, Roberto Carlos, Daniel Alves, Samuel Eto’o, Joe Cole, Ruud Van Nistelrooy and my personal favorite, Rivaldo. That last name turned out to be genuine, so much so that when we inevitably failed to get the man, he was so touched by our polite and well-organized approaches that he sent a ‘thank you’ letter. How wonderful. There have, of course, been others that I either cannot remember or are not superstars, too many for even an unreasonable human being to remember, but you get the idea. Not even Arsenal get linked with the glitz and glamour we do.

This summer has been a little different in so much as Spurs kicked off their summer transfer dealings a) before the end of the season and b) with a genuinely world class player in Luka Modric, the Croatian playmaker feted by a clutch of the world’s top clubs. Thanks to swift and decisive action, plus Juande Ramos’ reputation within the football community, the player was ours as of early May. The feeling at Spurs has been fed directly from Ramos who wants all the major business done by the start of Euro 2008 if possible so as he can have a full pre-season with his chosen first-team squad for next season. This means that targets need to be signed quickly, and as I write, chairman Daniel Levy is reportedly in Spain tying up deals for Jarque, Giovanni Dos Santos and trying to close on Ronaldinho and Eto’o. Yes. I know. I’m right there with you. Especially when you read it in a sentence like that. Even more so when you place it against a side who’s current stadium only holds 36,000 and who are only in the Uefa Cup.

But it really is different for once right now. In Ramos, Spurs have a genuine winner, a man who has not been trophy-less for a few seasons, and a man who will not compromise. There are some genuinely great players littered throughout the squad. There is Dimitar Berbatov, and there is a trophy. Berbatov holds the key to much of what will/won’t happen in the coming weeks. He is aware that business must be concluded by early June in order to allow the signing of a replacement. He is also aware that if a god enough deal does not come in, then he will be staying. And the word on the street is that he would be fine with such an arrangement, that he feels Ramos is on the verge of great things at Spurs.

So you see, as a loyal Spurs supporter, I’m here to tell you it’s going to be alright for us, that we’re either going to sign Eto’o or Ronaldhino or keep Berbatov, that Ledley King will be fit enough to partner Jonny Woodgate next season, that we will sign a world class goalie and that we will thus break the top 4 next season at Liverpool or Arsenal’s expense…well, we signed Modric didn’t we?!!!!!

· Read more from "Jumpers for Goalposts" here