Football Focus

[Alan Medic]

Irritating jerk.....lovely term. Who would you like to interact with here? Anyone or no one? I suspect the latter.

[Undisputedtruth]

Well you've definitely irritated a few people on 'the mixed football at Peckham Rye thread' if my memory serves me right.

[Otta]

You've never irritated anyone though, huh UDT?

[Alan Medic]

Not that I'm aware of..........enlighten me oh wise one.

[Jah Lush]

Mick Mac Wrote:

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> Bad day for the Spurs unfortunately. Next Sundays

> game is a must see.

I was at White Hart Lane today. The only way Wolves were going to score was from a set piece/corner which they duly did though it was never a corner and Adebayor had what I thought was a perfectly good goal ruled out for offside. We should have won today but as I said earlier in the week we'll drop points and so will everyone else.

Also, I think Spurs should do some work on the training ground of their own for set pieces. Our corners (usually Van Der Vaart taking them) are rubbish and we don't look capable of scoring from free-kicks either.

As for Arsene Wenger's observation that we've sold our soul to TV and its revenues. I think he is absolutely correct. It was good to go to a game two Saturday's in a row as I have just done in which the match kicked off at 3pm. That's how it always used to be. Everton and Spurs next games in the FA Cup are on a Friday night FFS! It's not right but that is the way things are these days.

The TV companies now dictate the fixture list not the FA. The FA make the fixtures and SKY or ESPN change them to suit their audience and to maximise their profits with their scheduling. Of course the clubs are well paid and to some extent rely on the TV money. I'm sure Spurs rely more than some other clubs on TV money as we don't have the capacity in our ground as clubs like Arsenal, Man Utd, etc etc. It's one of the reasons we want to build a bigger stadium. To earn more through gate money.

[SteveUK1978]

JL - I was at the Lane as well today and our set pieces were awful as they have been all year. With our wingers and full backs we are always going to win plenty of corners and I cannot remember us posing a threat all season (Kaboul may have had a header earlier in the year?). The number of times they hit the first man and it gets cleared is shocking.

Here's hoping for a better performance next Sunday.

[maxxi]

On the subject of football and tv and who needs who more - welcome back Football League Show on BBC tonight after an enforced absence apparently due to "budgetary decisions".

What do you mean you hadn't noticed it had gone missing?

[Mick Mac]

Alan Medic Wrote:

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> I trust you watched Ulster last night Mick. That

> was proper entertainment!

Your kids may be off to university Dec. Mine are all under 10 so I don't get much sport in the evening. When little Rory grows up a bit we shall soon command the remote control. Hapoy days ahead.

[Mick Mac]

Alan Hansen spot on tonight on MOTD. Too many people began to speak of spurs as potential champions after beating everton midweek being their game in hand. But today I think might help them this season. I think that no matter what happens against MC they can go on a run. They are unbeaten since August and todays result does not change that but only enhances it.

[Mick Mac]

BTW todays Telegraph sport has a mid page spread on Tottenham comparing this seasons aspirations and the 1961 double winning team.

[Sharon_H]

Most (top) football clubs are not reliant on revenue from tv. They are in the business of playing football and are not entertainers. I go to a game to see football sometimes it's good sometimes not, 3 points is all I want, if I'm entertained that's a bonus.

[Laddy Muck]

Undisputedtruth Wrote:

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> Well you've definitely irritated a few people on

> 'the mixed football at Peckham Rye thread' if my

> memory serves me right.

Sorry UDT, but I think you are mistaken. As far as I am aware, there is no way Mr. Medic has "irritated" any of us. In fact, some of us (me included) have been trying to sign him up!

[Otta]

Sharon, I think you're missing the point. Of course the 3 points matters most, but football on telly is huge business.

The top clubs could indeed get by, but why are they all so desperate to qualify for the CL? Because although it's not everything, the money is important to them.

[Sharon_H]

No I haven't missed the point. I know that football on tv is huge business but it did quite well before sky existed. I think that teams always wanted to qualify for Europe anyway. It was usually always televised on normal" tv.I used to watch it before sky existed.

[Huguenot]

You can see from the finances that every single premiership club is completely reliant on TV cash to function.

Without it they couldn't pay the players or run the team.

Without the money, Arsenal would lose 29m a year, Man U would lose 183m a year, Spurs would lose 59m a year, Liverpool would lose 100m a year, Man Cty 179m a year...

It's no use saying their celebrity owners would bail them out, because the celebrity owners are only there because the football is on the telly.

ETA Looking at those figures again, I can seem that many clubs equal the TV revenue from sponsorship and commercial activities that are derived from their TV fame. Some of those clubs would lose almost 2/3 of their income without TV.

Saying they would survive is just wishful thinking.

I'm not suggesting football would cease to exist, but harking back to the olden days is irrelevant. That was when they paid footballers in beans and stadiums doubled as dog tracks.

I reiterate, current managers are in the entertainment business.

[Otta]

Exactly!

Of course football did just fine before Sky showed up, but Sky did show up, and changed things. Players never used to be paid tens of thousands a week.

The simple fact is, that if the TV money stopped tomorrow, the teams in the prem especially would find it very difficult to pay their players.

Wenger said it himself, they have sold their souls to the devil. But they are doing very well out of it.

[maxxi]

Otta Wrote:

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> Exactly!

>

> Of course football did just fine before Sky showed

> up, but Sky did show up, and changed things.

> Players never used to be paid tens of thousands a

> week.

>

> The simple fact is, that if the TV money stopped

> tomorrow, the teams in the prem especially would

> find it very difficult to pay their players.

>

> Wenger said it himself, they have sold their souls

> to the devil. But they are doing very well out of

> it.

Without tv they wouldn't be playing at the Emirates Stadium - but then again they wouldn't be playing at "Emirates Stadium"

[Jah Lush]

Well done Swansea City. I thought Spurs did very well to get away with a point there a couple of weeks ago as, on the day they were the better team but we did well to scrape a point. Today though they really showed once again what a good team they are by beating the Arsenal. And not a la Stoke/Wolves blah blah blah they achieved it by playing good football. A good passing game. In fact they beat the Woolwich Wanderers at their own game and thoroughly need applauding. Of all the teams that were promoted last season I hope that they stay up and I think they will. They have a very good young coach/manager in Brendan Rodgers and some very good players. I've been really impressed with them this season. Good luck to 'em.

[Undisputedtruth]

Watch out for Stephen Caulker, a promising young Tottenham central defender currently on loan to Swansea.

[Jah Lush]

Yes. Harry has got a lot of time for him. He'll be in the first team squad next season no doubt about it.

[Mick Mac]

Brendan Rodgers is from Northern Ireland and used to play for Ballymena being my home town. Nice to see the ballymena total football being played at swansea.

[Parkdrive]

Well played Swansea, you showed more spirit and fight than our mob. Very disappointing. I didn't expect us to go there and win to be fair,I expected a draw at best. Once again well done Swansea. Now Arsene, get rid of that lazy SOB Arshavin, Rosicky can go as can Chamakh, Djourou, & Mertesacker. On the upside, it was nice to see Frimpong blowing kisses to the Tottering Hotscum fans.

[Jah Lush]

Pingpong put himself about a bit on Saturday with some very rash challenges. Booked but carried on doing the same and was taken off before he got himself sent off. Got a lot to learn that boy. As for the rest of Woolwich Wanderers I think you'll agree that they need completely rebuilding. Wenger's more recent purchases over the past couple of years just haven't worked out and aren't up to scratch.

[Parkdrive]

You mean like Vermaelen, and Oxlade-Chamberlain? As for Frimpong, he doesn't like spuds which is why he put himself about but needs to learn to do so in the right way. As for 'arrys squad, didn't exactly shine against Wolves at the weekend did they? When does his court case come up by the way?

[Jah Lush]

No, I meant all those players you mentioned in your previous post and a maybe a few more. Still ten points above your lot though. Do you think Wenger is still up to the job or past his sell by date? I think Harry's up before the beak at the end of the month.