NORMAN GILLER’S SPURS ODYSSEY BLOG No 372
Submitted by Norman Giller
Spurs are STILL top of the table and that other North London lot remain at the bottom, pointless and goalless. That’s the best thing about the international break, that it has prolonged a situation that I’ve not seen before in my 70 years following Tottenham.
But the pantomime goes on. No sooner do we get to the end (at least temporarily) of the Harry Kane saga than another farce develops, this time engulfing new Sporting Director Fabio Paratici.
Apparently, some unnamed Spurs players have complained about his behaviour on the touch line benches. He and technical performance director Steve Hitchen have been drawing attention to themselves by jumping about like rabid supporters rather than paid employees.
I think this tale comes under the heading of ‘silly season’ reporting, when during quiet periods journalists (I am of that ilk) exaggerate stories to make eye-catching headlines.
Paratici is an excitable man, but he has the full trust of chairman Daniel Levy, who I am sure will quietly tell him to control his emotions when sitting among squad players. Crisis over!
I’m more interested in the impact Paratici is having behind the scenes, and provided he and the likeable Nuno Espirito Santo are singing from the same song sheet all is good for Spurs.
We will get a better idea of the true standing of the new-style Spurs when the League leaders (still rolls nicely off the tongue) visit Patrick Viera’s Crystal Palace on Saturday.
By then they should have sorted out the farce of the attempted on-pitch arrests of Argentinian players including our Lo Celso and Romero during the World Cup qualifier in Brazil for allegedly breaking Covid quarantine laws.
As I say, the pantomime season is not yet over.
Stay safe and sane. Normal service resumes next week.
The fourth week of season eight of the Spurs Odyssey Quiz League challenge, and the question is:
Who was born in Notting Hill, won 35 England caps and against which team did he captain Spurs in a UEFA Cup final victory?
Please email your answer to me at soqleague@gmail.com and make the subject heading Quiz Week 4. Deadline: midnight this Friday. I will do my best to respond to all who take part.
The rules are the same as in the previous seven seasons. I ask a two-pronged question with three points at stake – two for identifying the player and one for the supplementary question. In the closing weeks of the competition I break the logjam of all-knowing Spurs-history experts with a tie-breaking poser that is based on opinion rather than fact. That’s when I become as popular as Sol Campbell in an Arsenal shirt.
This year’s prizes for the champion: A rare out-of-print book from my Greavsie collection with autographs from Jimmy Greaves, Steve Perryman and Dave Mackay, and, most important of all, a framed certificate announcing the winner as SOQL champion 2022. Plus a signed copy of My 70 Years of Spurs book and a special bonus prize that I will announce later in the season.
Answer to question 3: Which Yorkshireman captained Tottenham, won four England caps and from which club did he join Spurs in 2005?
Our latest club ambassador Michael Dawson who joined Spurs from Nottingham Forest in 2005. He comes from the same Yorkshire county as Bill Nicholson and Keith Burkinshaw, so knows all about Tottenham tradition.
See you back here same time, same place next week. COYS!
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