Spurs fans...

[spurspinter1]

Hope spurspinter1 isn't driven off this forum, it's so refreshing having a fan of the opposition here defending their club rather than offending ours. Some actual decent debate going on here.
I'd be interested to see how he feels about Modric now, though? A few people on GG seem to have forgiven him a little bit, which at one point I thought was never going to happen. And what does Danchev mean? :L

Its good to be here! Learning some new stuff.

Emil Danchev is the agent of Berbatov who we are not so fond of on the whole, so we ended up changing the swear filter from Ladygarden to Danchev for the c word....It gets a bit confusing with the swear filter, starts to mess with your head a bit...

Modric is an interesting one, when he signed a new 6 year deal last year I knew it didn't mean he'd be here forever, I was aware that he signed something crazy like a 10 year deal at Zagreb before he came here. This was to protect the club from being shafted I think, he always knew he wouldn't stay there for the duration of his contract.

He had been pretty positive in many interviews and such and there was generally a good feeling around the camp, then all of a sudden, some Daily Mail journo on his boat (?) gets the inside scoop and he wants to move to Chelsea, nowhere else but Chelsea.

The first feeling was a slight betrayal to be honest, I feel we took a massive risk in signing him and showed a lot of faith in his character to be able to succeed in this league, when Arsenal and other such clubs (apparently) had written him off due to his diminutive stature. At 16.5m he is still our record signing so it was even more money at the time. There were times during the season when he was head and shoulders above the rest of the team in quality, but there were also times when he had let the team down, if he had finished off chances he had against Arsenal and yourselves, we would have had a much better chance at finishing top four, but alas, he's not what you'd call a natural finisher.

It may sound silly but in my head I felt like he owed us another year of service to attempt to get back in the champions league but if we faltered whislt he gave 100%, then I wouldn't be tremendously upset with seeing him play overseas for one of football's elite. I felt like he owed us for the two previous reasons, the gamble we took with him and the fact that if he had done better we could have had consecutive seasons in the champions league.

So for him to come out all of a sudden saying he wanted to play for Chelsea because they are a great club was fairly hard to take. It is silly of me to think this way as it is only a small minority but when I think of Chelsea I think of a bunch of complete wankers signing "Spurs are on their way to Auschwitz", there is not much I like about Chelsea fc.

This dragged on for the entire summer and I know at times, every supporter will feel like the media is against them, but it was absolutely shocking.

For our chairman to come out and say "In respect of Luka Modric, we are not prepared to sell, at any price, to Chelsea Football Club or any other club.

We made our stance on this issue abundantly clear in writing to Chelsea. They chose to ignore it and then subsequently made the offer public.

"For the avoidance of any doubt, let me reiterate that we shall not enter into any negotiations whatsoever, with any club, regarding Luka. We now consider this matter closed."


That was pretty conclusive to me, and yet the journos went on with it nonetheless.

In my opinion Modric's agent let him down and it was him he should have been angry with. You can't expect to be able to toddle off to our 2/3rd biggest rivals after signing a 6 year contract without a release clause, don't even get me started on that "gentleman's agreement" crap, the offers that came in from Chelsea were ridiculous. A player that was 16.5 million and was a massive risk yet turned in to one of the premier leagues finest midfielders (all subjective I know) should not be going for the same price as Jordan fucking Henderson.

So the laughable offers kept on coming in with Modric's head turned but I think Harry did a good job of reeling him in, although he probably spoke about it publically too much (surprised?)

So at the end of the transfer window the 40m bid came in (apparently..), and Levy remained strong. He wanted to stay true to his word and properly give it a go with all our best players still with us and some new quality brought in as well. Modric's value is not going to go down, he'll have four years on his contract in the summer and Chelsea have already dealt their cards at 40m, but I'd rather get 30 and see him play for Inter or somewhere to be honest. I think the right decision was made, but rather ironically Modric's impact has been lessened by him playing on the wing in recent games, we have yet to settle on a formation and it seems to be an issue.

I have not forgiven him, but fair play, he has got his head down and has been working hard for the team. If we don't finish in the top four he'll be gone, but if we do then there is a chance he'll stay.

I bet you regret asking me what I thought about the Modric situation now ;)

 

[Castiel]

He wanted to go to Chelsea specifically because he didn't want to move, and Arsenal were the only other choice (struggling and can't afford him) he said that himself. There is nothing mysterious about it.

 

[spurspinter1]

He wanted to go to Chelsea specifically because he didn't want to move, and Arsenal were the only other choice (struggling and can't afford him) he said that himself. There is nothing mysterious about it.

What mysteriousness (is that a word?) are you talking about?

We'd have sent him on loan to Leyton Orient before accepting a bid from Chelsea.

 

[Castiel]

It just sounded like you were surprised by his resolve to come to one club alone. He explained why himself with perfectly acceptable reasons. If Arsenal were doing better he'd probably have had no preference between the two.

 

[spurspinter1]

Yeah I was pretty surprised when one of my teams best players who had been going on about everyone being together and not downbeat about finishing 5th as they had a great chance to push on and finish in the top four suddenly wanted to jump ship to our local rivals.

His perfectly acceptable reasons was essentially convenience? Can't just be champions league football as I've said, he squandered the chances he would have had to take if we were to have champions league football.

Going from 20m to 40m in a month or two shows just how worried Abramovich was, he was probably right to be worried.

 

[Castiel]

Yeah I was pretty surprised when one of my teams best players who had been going on about everyone being together and not downbeat about finishing 5th as they had a great chance to push on and finish in the top four suddenly wanted to jump ship to our local rivals.

His perfectly acceptable reasons was essentially convenience? Can't just be champions league football as I've said, he squandered the chances he would have had to take if we were to have champions league football.

Going from 20m to 40m in a month or two shows just how worried Abramovich was, he was probably right to be worried.

I think you're reading too much into it. Abramovich worried? We bid and stopped when the price went over what we were willing to pay. Thats how football transfers work. Then we went for Mireless (couldn't be happier with him), as a substitute.

Of course he wanted CL football, thats why he wanted to move in the first place. Better wages, better chances at success and CL football. However he was specific about Chelsea because he didn't want to leave London, as opposed to going to Man United or City or even abroad. As I said he probably would have had no preference between Chelsea or Arsenal had they been in a better position at the time.

As for him having the chance to earn CL football at spurs. Have you forgotten your striker and defence issues last season? I can see why he was sick of it. He can't carry your entire team into the CL with VDV and Bale.

 

[spurspinter1]

Yeah I was pretty surprised when one of my teams best players who had been going on about everyone being together and not downbeat about finishing 5th as they had a great chance to push on and finish in the top four suddenly wanted to jump ship to our local rivals.

His perfectly acceptable reasons was essentially convenience? Can't just be champions league football as I've said, he squandered the chances he would have had to take if we were to have champions league football.

Going from 20m to 40m in a month or two shows just how worried Abramovich was, he was probably right to be worried.

I think you're reading too much into it. Abramovich worried? We bid and stopped when the price went over what we were willing to pay. Thats how football transfers work. Then we went for Mireless (couldn't be happier with him), as a substitute.

Of course he wanted CL football, thats why he wanted to move in the first place. Better wages, better chances at success and CL football. However he was specific about Chelsea because he didn't want to leave London, as opposed to going to Man United or City or even abroad. As I said he probably would have had no preference between Chelsea or Arsenal had they been in a better position at the time.

As for him having the chance to earn CL football at spurs. Have you forgotten your striker and defence issues last season? I can see why he was sick of it. He can't carry your entire team into the CL with VDV and Bale.

You went up to 40m and were rightly rejected. There was never a price, but you could never understand that, so kept on making laughable bids, gradually increasing, showing weakness. It was made clear he was not for sale at any price.

You don't think Abramovich has got a bit hot under the collar recently? 50m on Torres and 25m on a player that can only be described as "The Gomes of Centre backs". Meireles is quality though, fits better with your system than Modric would have.

I'm surprised he set his sights on Chelsea, you'd think he'd actually want to go to a club that didn't bottle the champions league every season, and as for wages, I'm not sure what I'd do with 50k a week, nevermind the ridiculous money you'd have him on. The target this season is to prove to Modric that there isn't that much of a gap, we essentially won at the Bridge last season and I hope we do the same this season (although not having the result stolen from us) which a Modric belter, although it's unlikely as modric does finish like a girl.

If you think Bale is carrying us to the champions league this season it shows you haven't been watching much of Spurs so far.

 

[taconinja]

At the risk of derailing something that could be quite delightful to watch, perhaps you could point out to the Glory Glory folks who keep going on as if no one ever spent any significant money on football before Roman Abramovitch there's a simple concept they're overlooking as they continually fellate the rags: inflation. It's a fairly basic idea that economists came up with some few centuries ago.

 

[Castiel]

You went up to 40m and were rightly rejected. There was never a price, but you could never understand that, so kept on making laughable bids, gradually increasing, showing weakness. It was made clear he was not for sale at any price.

You don't think Abramovich has got a bit hot under the collar recently? 50m on Torres and 25m on a player that can only be described as "The Gomes of Centre backs". Meireles is quality though, fits better with your system than Modric would have.

I'm surprised he set his sights on Chelsea, you'd think he'd actually want to go to a club that didn't bottle the champions league every season, and as for wages, I'm not sure what I'd do with 50k a week, nevermind the ridiculous money you'd have him on. The target this season is to prove to Modric that there isn't that much of a gap, we essentially won at the Bridge last season and I hope we do the same this season (although not having the result stolen from us) which a Modric belter, although it's unlikely as modric does finish like a girl.

If you think Bale is carrying us to the champions league this season it shows you haven't been watching much of Spurs so far.

Haha, here I thought we were having a reasonable discussion and you reveal yourself to be another bitter spud. Oh well.

Torres - Abramovich wanted him since his first season in England. It was impossible to achieve until last season when Torres made his intentions to leave Liverpool clear.

David Luiz - If you watch him frequently (I personally don't blame you for not, you follow your own club) you'd see he's an incredible player. His passing range and ball retention is outstanding and he was an Ancelotti buy. I personally think he should be a DMC, not a centre back, because he refuses to stay back anyway. I don't regret having him on our squad sheet for a second.

As for the CL, if I recall your one venture there in your history resulted in a humiliation at the hands of Madrid, the heaviest defeat by an English team, ever. We consistently reach the semi-final in the toughest tournament in world football. That isn't even important to Modric, he wanted to be in it to begin with, which Spurs obviously have trouble delivering.

The wage issue isn't about numbers. They all earn obscene money. The point is relative pay. He's considered one of the best midfielders in the country. How would you like it if you and I were Engineers say, and at my firm I earned 20k a year more than you, yet you could do the work just as well? You're living comfortably and don't really NEED the 20k extra, but I'm sure you'd be pissed off that I'm earning more for no apparent reason. You'd be on the phone to my boss in the morning looking for a job. What if I was less skilled than you? Modric is better than many of the CL teams players and he's earning less than half they do. Thats the issue and it exists in every walk of life.

We essentially battered QPR on the weekend. We essentially beat Barcelona in 2009. We essentially had United on the ropes earlier this season. Cry more, we still lost. Welcome to football.

I still don't know how you come to that conclusion. Its very often true in this game that a ref changes the tide, but you had one shot on target for the entire match, to our 15 or so. Your one shot just so happened to go in.

All that aside, a City forum isn't the place for this debate. I originally wanted to clear up why Modric was adamant to come here in case you'd missed it.

 

[taconinja]

David Luiz - If you watch him frequently (I personally don't blame you for not, you follow your own club) you'd see he's an incredible player. His passing range and ball retention is outstanding and he was an Ancelotti buy. I personally think he should be a DMC, not a centre back, because he refuses to stay back anyway. I don't regret having him on our squad sheet for a second.

Off-topic I realize but not fullback? Personally, I agree he goes forward too much and he can be somewhat... rash in the box.