Andre Villas-Boas may not have directly used this Alan Partridge based quote but that was essentially the gist of his first press conference as Tottenham’s manager.
AVB took the time out to speak about his plans for the club and he also gave an insight into some possible transfer deals into and out of the Lane.
‘It is fantastic to come to a club with such high ambitions of the future and I want to respond well to the trust the chairman has put in me with success. It is not a mission of restoring my reputation, it is about putting Tottenham back on track for titles,’ he said.
Villas-Boas also stated that he intends to build on the work done by Harry Redknapp and his team.
‘We just have to continue with the quality of work Harry has left us. Not to do so would be a mistake,’ he added.
‘Champions League football is of big importance to this club, but we also want to try to win something.’
Among the players discussed was Luka Modric and AVB hinted that the Croatian may well move on before the season begins.
‘We respect his ambitions and willingness to move on,’ he said. ‘I think Luca respects as well the fact he is an important player and can help us move forwards.
‘Discussions will continue until we reach an agreement which is sensible for each party.’
The majority of Spurs fans were happy with the way that AVB came across and it seems certain too, that his early transfer dealing is far from finished.
I must say that I was very impressed too. If we were grading managers on interviews, alone, if would have definately got an A* from me. Bold, confident and ambitious, he has all the ingredients
….you would want from a spurs manager. The Biggest challenge that awaits AVB though will come on August 18th. The media seem split to me at the moment. Half of them willing to put his chealsea woes down to case of it being ‘tough assignment’, with the other half already baying for blood, especially after his comments about contributing to chelseas unlikely double last term.
I have no douts that IF AVB has learned from the glaring errors he made at chelsea, especially in terms of his handling of players, then he will be a massive success. The sooner we can clear out the deadwood, and get that £35+ million for modric the better.
Deadwood
Jenas
bassong
gomes
Bentley
dos santos
Pienaar (already looks like he’s gone)
Should pick up at £25 mill at least (with levy in charge)
Players to improve squad
Lloris
Ba
Hoilett
Moutinho/Benega
Adebayor/Remy
Armero (LB)
It’s definitely more revolution than evolution.
We’ll be playing a completely different system to the last bloke, with half a new team, mostly new management and training in a new state-of-the-art centre.
When he said build on the work of the last bloke, he meant only league positions (hopefully).
I dont count Dos santos as deadwood just yet, likewise Gomes or Bassong.
But yes, agree that his interview was everything i wanted it to be
I would get rid of Jenas but as for players like Gomes, Bassong, Dos Santos, Bentley and Pienaar I have seen them play for other clubs and been exceptional.
The thing about AVB coming in is it’s a fresh start for a lot of players. I look at that bunch who have been relatively exiled from the Spurs team and see a lot of quality. Because they didnt fit into Harry’s plans does not mean that wont fit into AVB’s.
We definitely beed some back-up for Lennon so plenty of opportunity for Dos Santos and Bentley to step up.
it’s A*VB for me also. This guy was my top choice from the start, I liked him before Chelsea and after he was screwed by Chelsea.
The difference between rosie47 and A*VB in terms of yesterdays interview shined through. Professional, club first and very intelligent.
I have such high hopes for this season.
Not sure about Hoilett now. I think AVB will play 4-2-3-1 or 4-3-3 which means Lennon will most likely be on the bench, which in turn means Hoilett is less important (as would have been Lennon’s backup). Unless Van der Vaart and Sigurdsson play in the same line-up, we will most likely need another wide attacking midfielder with (hopefully) Moutinho/Benega replacing Modric in the deeper playmaker role. Ba, Remy and Damiao are all good shouts to cover/assist Adebayor.
What I like is the thought that have been put into our signings/targets and what there personalities are. Siggy’s reportedly a down-to-earth guy and a bit of a grafter.
Then we have Jan an ex captain at 25, Moutinho club captain at 25, Lloris Club and national captain at 25. All leaders throught the spine of our team.
For this reason, I hope we get a hold of Moutinho and Lloris. They are still young and already proven. You look at the best teams around, they have leaders all over the pitch. Snapping up these two would improve our mentality and make us harder to role over.
All we have at the moment is an aged Parker and injury prone Dawson. Possibly Sandro in a couple years
Sandro? Sandro only turned 23 in March!
If Sandro can play second fiddle to Parker for another season and build learn from his, we will have a player with the grit and strength of Parker who offers a lot more going forward as SP begins to fade.
Hence couple of years comment – leader in the making
Jan Vertonghren and Gyfili (If thats how you spell his name) are great signings. I feel real optimistic about this summer.
Regarding our other transfers I think we need to keep it simple, Moutiniho, Lloris, Adebayor which at this stage look inevitable would definately push us up and away from the likes of Scum, Liverpool and possibly newcastle. Now we need signings that could get us closer to that title- 21 more points in fact meaning we need 1-2 WORLD CLASS signings to get us 7 more wins.
Leandro Damiao and possibly Hulk(who has confirmed he would not be going to chelski) especially now that the Oscar deal seems to be a lost cause to the chelski, we need real pedigree to challenge.
Looking at previous comments about demba ba and hoilett I just dont see them evolving tottenham, they would improve us but not evolve us.
Just imagine Bale and Hulk on the wings with Lennon to come on, it sounds so much better than Hoilett. Now we’ve got a bit more money because of the Qatar/American new owners we can afford to get players of Hulk’s ability and around 35mil could swing it for us.
The fact is Porto are resigned to losing Hulk and Moutinho and if modric wasnt leaving we wouldn’t be spending on moutinho and we would still need a big signing in Hulk to prove to everyone and even some spurs fans that we are a force. Now we’ve somehow lost out on champs league we would need to show this season more than most that that will never happen again.
COYS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!