Source: Daily_Mail
Martin Samuel: Keep your Tottenham tanks off West Ham's manor, Mr Levy
Manchester United are slightly tothe south of town, Manchester City are to the east, but it doesn'treally matter. To the rest of the world they are the Manchester clubs,and never more specifically defined.[LNB]Nobody but a local could identifyBirmingham's Premier League duo as being from the north (Aston Villa)or south-east (Birmingham City) and the same goes for Bristol (City tothe southwest, Rovers to the north) and Sheffield (United south,Wednesday north). Liverpool and Everton are separated by a communalpark, Nottingham Forest and Notts County by the river Trent.[LNB]So there is only one city in Englandin which the specific locales of football clubs matter and it isLondon. The north London derby, the fact that supporters of West HamUnited sing specifically of love for east London, grudges to the west,hostility to the south, beyond the capital there is no equivalent ofthis precise division.[LNB]So Tottenham Hotspur might as wellmove to Stratford-upon-Avon as Stratford, east London. As if using theOlympic Stadium as a back-up option in case the redevelopment of WhiteHart Lane falls through is not insult enough, chairman Daniel Levy'sidea of invading the territory of a rival London club shows contemptfor the dynamic of football in the capital and the history of its teams.[LNB] Geography lessons: Tottenham's long history at White Hart Lane means thoughts of a move to east London are wrong[LNB]Not least his own. There may beirritant value in parking Tottenham's tanks on West Ham's lawns andnobody blames Levy for having a plan B, but why would the chairman ofTottenham wish to surrender 128 years of history from beginnings onTottenham marshes to move to a part of the city where his club wouldfeel alien? [LNB]Tottenham have been at White HartLane since the end of the 19th century, longer than Manchester United'stenure at Old Trafford. More significantly, anyone who has visited thevicinity recently will have noticed that its rundown appearancesuggests a major building[LNB]project is coming soon. High streetshops are shuttered or empty, leases are running down. This is theproposed site of the new White Hart Lane, making Tottenham's capacity amatch for Arsenal's 60,000, and propelling the club further towards theelite.[LNB] [columnistModule] It may one day be that, with Roman Abramovich's legacy at Chelsea, and a super-sized Tottenham and Arsenal, London will have three strong clubs with Champions League potential to challenge the traditional powerhouses in the north. Good luck to them all. Nothing wrong with making Tottenham strong in Tottenham. Not Stratford; because Stratford is in east London and Tottenham are a north London club.[LNB]This may seem strange to outsiders but Tottenham could move halfway to Cambridge and still be within their traditional boundaries, but roughly six miles down the road to where the Olympic park is located and they may as well be on the moon. That is West Ham country as indisputably as Tyneside belongs to Newcastle United. One might as well attempt to parachute Leeds United into the stadium at Gateshead. [LNB]Tottenham's Olympic contingency plans may also be a non-starter for legal reasons. Premier League rules I5 and I6 deal very specifically with ground location. I5 states that any change of ground requires the consent of the Premier League board, while I6 says there must be a relationship between the locality and the name of the club or its traditional association.[LNB]Rule I6 (5) states that the move would not adversely affect clubs (or Football League clubs) having their registered grounds in the immediate vicinity of the proposed location. The Olympic Stadium is in the London Borough of Newham, as is West Ham. It is little more than two miles from Upton Park, and West Ham have registered an interest in relocating there. The facility needs a football club to maintain its regular use, but identification with the area is important, too. [LNB]If West Ham were not interested, perhaps there would be a case to entertain Tottenham for practical reasons in the national interest; as they are it seems wrong to encourage an interloper. [LNB]Tottenham, like every London club, are not actually a London club at all. They are a north London club, and Levy should respect that, even if he finds it hard to respect much else.[LNB] Alan Smith paints a very gloomy picture of life after injury for Manchester United winger Antonio Valencia. Smith, now with Newcastle United, suffered a serious leg break during his time at Old Trafford and says his career never recovered. He blames the injury for his conversion from the forward line to deep midfield. [LNB]Smith is correct about the long hours of rehabilitation and the bitter fight to rediscover the player he was, but this does not mean Valencia will never return to the wing again. Many managers were unconvinced of Smith as a striker even before his injury. He was not a prolific goalscorer and had been tried in midfield and wide positions even before leaving Leeds United. [LNB] Collector's item: Alan Smith scores a fine second as Manchester United demolished Roma 7-1 in 2007's Champions League quarter final [LNB]It is quite possible his career would have taken that direction without the fateful events at Anfield on February 18, 2006. Smith says he was never the same after that day, and this may be true, but nor was he as settled in a forward role as Valencia. It is too early to be negative about what lies ahead.[LNB] Don't shoot the Games messengersThe chief medical officer has gone down with suspected typhoid, in the athletes' village contagious sickness is rife, 16 significant structures may have fake safety certificates and nobody has located the 300 tonnes of explosives that went missing from a convoy of 61 trucks last month, but that is no reason to be sceptical of the Commonwealth Games in Delhi. Western snobs, said Commonwealth Games president Mike Fennell, earlier this year; alarmists I heard last week; hysterical xenophobes. It will probably go off without a hitch.[LNB]We certainly hope it does, for so excessively cavalier is the attitude of sports administrators these days that when a tournament fails as the Africa Cup of Nations in Angola did this year, for instance people can actually die. [LNB]It is quite possible that somebody would have died in India this month were it not for the sort of reporting, from local newspapers, too, that is now sneeringly condemned as racist. There were certainly 27 very lucky people in the vicinity when that bridge collapsed (and don't mention the 140,000 forced evictions). [LNB]It is not xenophobic to comment on accommodation unfit for human habitation. It is not alarmist to question the safety of major public buildings with dubious safety certificates. It is not hysterical to be concerned when one of those structures, a pedestrian walkway, simply falls down. And if the security network fails the morgue will not allow us to distinguish between the sceptical and trusting.[LNB] So far, so good? The 2010 Commonwealth Games began with a spectacular opening ceremony at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium in Delhi[LNB]The safe passage of the World Cup in South Africa is advanced as the antidote to any negative publicity these days, but a huge contributing factor to it passing without incident is that hated western alarmists placed pressure on the organisers to guard personal safety and upwards of 30,000 additional police officers flooded the streets. Imagine what would have awaited the athletes in Delhi had the big questions not been asked?[LNB]Mike Hooper, the Commonwealth Games chief executive, would have continued belittling those with genuine concerns from his house with six servants, a chauffeured limousine and a tax bill of £100,000 paid by the Indian government and the event would have descended into potentially fatal carnage. [LNB]Yet even now, some will claim the athlete withdrawals and criticism were an overreaction, as long as the tournament progresses with an acceptable level of chaos. That is our revised expectation; providing nobody is dead the competition was a success. [LNB]Yet if the Commonwealth Games does pass uneventfully beyond the sporting arena, the rooms are clean and the venues secure, we will know who to thank. Western snobs, alarmists and hysterical xenophobes. You're welcome.[LNB] [LNB]AND WHILE WE'RE AT IT... Liar: Ijaz Butt has been forced to backtrack[LNB]Ijaz Butt, chairman of the Pakistan Cricket Board, turns out to be a liar and issues a creeping apology claiming there had been a misunderstanding of his assertion that England's players went bent during the third one-day international.[LNB] The England and Wales Cricket Board feel vindicated by this climbdown and now consider the matter closed. It shouldn't be. [LNB]The ICC must possess an equivalent of the charge of bringing the game into disrepute. [LNB]If an entirely false allegation of corruption doesn't deserve it, what does? [LNB] Another grand project of Sir Clive Woodward's is about to bite the dust. His Olympic coaching programme is desperately short of funding and may fold in December with Woodward remaining in a woolly director of sport role. Nobody is very clear on what impact he has had within the Olympic set-up and this follows on from a brief spell in football at Southampton, where his effect was similarly underwhelming. No doubt the gifted Woodward still has a significant role to play in British sport. A wild shot, I know, but perhaps he might like to have a crack at rugby.[LNB] Corey Pavin's use of a military man, Major Dan Rooney, to inspire the United States golfers before the Ryder Cup caused predictable[LNB]divisions. Over here, we simply do not understand America's desire to drag the military message into sports events. Over there, they do not comprehend that their massive shows of patriotism around even the most humble baseball fixture will be regarded as excessive, almost an affront, beyond domestic shores. The mixed reaction to Pavin's motivational tactics is simply a matter of cultural difference.[LNB] Bitter City coach has a pointClearly, Raymond Verheijen is a man with a massive grudge. He was the fitness coach under Mark Hughes at Manchester City, was replaced by Roberto Mancini, and these days never misses an opportunity to criticise the new regime.[LNB]He claims that City's injury problems are related to Mancini's training methods, the double sessions and afternoon workouts that have been the hallmark of his management style. Mancini has a very simple explanation for his approach. Starting with yesterday's 1.30pm kick-off against Newcastle United, Manchester City then play games at 4pm, 8.05pm, 4pm, 3pm and 6pm. [LNB]Mancini argues that when matches are played at such wildly variable times it makes no sense to have rigid training hours. The sessions should change according to schedule. This makes sense. [LNB] Method in his madness? Roberto Mancini has come under fire from former coach Raymond Verheijen[LNB]What is also true, however, is that Italian managers have in the past been guilty of not understanding the physical demands of English football.[LNB]Left Field, the autobiography of Graeme Le Saux, contains the revelation that Gianluca Vialli, a former manager of Chelsea and Mancini's friend, introduced a fitness regime straight from his former club Juventus. One session, performed regularly, involved placing pads attached to electric leads on a player's legs. A shock was then transmitted, firing the muscles and enabling the player to lift heavier weights than normal. [LNB]Leaving aside that this artificially induced strength should be illegal, Le Saux felt Vialli did not understand the extra demands on players in England. One might argue this is Verheijen's point, too. No doubt he is bitter about his departure, but that does not mean nothing he says has worth.[LNB] It has been reported that Fabio Capello will incur the fury of Premier League coaches for taking his team to play a friendly in Thailand directly after the European Championship qualifier with Switzerland on June 4. Whoever is to blame for this, it is unlikely to be Capello. Think the 2018 World Cup bid team, because you'll never guess where FIFA executive committee member Worawi Makudi comes from.[LNB] His team depleted by suspension and injury, it may be wise for Fabio Capello to revert to his 4-2-3-1 system for the match with Montenegro next week. If so, there is nobody better to partner Gareth Barry in the deeper role than Jack Wilshere. He has been playing there for Arsenal with great success and it is a pity Capello did not watch him in the 6-0 win over SC Braga.[LNB] Little more than three years ago Milan Mandaric set out his strategy for Leicester City. Martin Allen had just become his first managerial casualty. 'If I have to part company with 20 managers, rest assured I'll do it,' Mandaric said. Paulo Sousa is his latest victim, dismissed this week after nine games. Six down and 14 to go then. To fully comprehend the brilliance of Mandaric's vision, just look at the table.[LNB] Paul Ince has apparently rejected the chance to join Fabio Capello's backroom staff. Ince told the FA he is more interested in management than coaching. And it is not as if he could have learned anything there, eh?[LNB] [LNB] Explore more:People: Gareth Barry, Mike Fennell, Antonio Valencia, Paulo Sousa, Clive Woodward, Alan Smith, Daniel Levy, Fabio Capello, Jack Wilshere, Paul Ince, Roman Abramovich, Martin Allen Places: Manchester, Bristol, Cambridge, Liverpool, London, Angola, Montenegro, Thailand, United Kingdom, India, South Africa, Switzerland, America, Olympic Stadium Organisations: Football League, Pakistan Cricket Board, Wales Cricket Board
