Back down again

I've been through stages when my friends have been against me, I've been through stages when my teachers have been against me, but now it feels like no one's on my side. I don't how much longer I can take this. The work's getting too much, everything seems to be one big stress, I just need some support. I'm bunking school because the weeks are too long to get through. I'm not as strong as you think.

A comment on Daniel Levy

Okay, this is very lazy, I admit, but there's a big post coming up soon so I just want to keep you all reading. Plus this my blog, my creative place, so I can do whatever the fuck I want. It's my latest Spurs Community column (for those who don't know, Spurs Community = largest unofficial Tottenham Hotspur website online), entitled 'Ah, Mr Levy...'. At the time, many people were critical of me for being harsh on the Spurs chairman, mainly citing the fact that I assumed that Santini didn't actually quit for "personal reasons" at all and just wanted out. Since then, Jacques Santini has indeed stated that he quit because he was not happy with his role at the club, so I was right and they were wrong, and now they all look stupid. Which is nice.

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If you were to walk by the training ground of a Premier, Coca-Cola or even non-league football team, you could bet your house that you'd at some stage hear the phrase "Keep it simple!" being bellowed forth from the mouth of the manager. It is therefore even more of a shame that Daniel Levy had no one to tell him this on either of the occasions he embarked upon a search to find someone to issue this command to his legion of Spurs players.

Let’s step back to March 2001, back in the early days of the ENIC administration. Spurs have battled their way through to an FA Cup semi-final with Arsenal, with form to suggest that they could go all the way, and although Premiership progress has been far from spectacular it has been solid enough for Levy, a self-proclaimed Spurs fan, to take us on to something maybe a bit special. The stage seems set for a return to the glory days. And yet, with rather bizarre timing (less than a month before the big match at Old Trafford), Levy decides to sack George Graham, the man behind these foundations and winner of the Worthington Cup two years previous, allegedly for a breach of trust.

The sacking was a clever one. A certain portion of fans never truly accepted Graham, and the blabbing to the press provided an ideal excuse to sack him without having to pay any settlement. He could then bring in his own man, someone that all the fans would look up to, thus gaining respect himself, and it was the worst kept secret in football (possibly right up until the ‘secret’ that Jol was going to be appointed to replace Santini) that Hoddle was going to be this man. But clever isn’t always good. The appointment made an enemy of Rupert Lowe, inflicting some damage on the club’s reputation, but it more significantly meant that we once again had to start from scratch, a fact that became even more frustrating when Hoddle’s period in charge ultimately ended in failure.

In retrospect, it appears that Levy didn’t learn from this mistake. Since Monsieur Santini’s departure, and, to some extent, his appointment, it has been speculated, apparently justifiably so, that the Frenchman was only hired as a figurehead, as appeasement for us, the fans. Once Arnesen had taken up the role of Sporting Director the plan was to bring Jol in to take control of matters on the pitch, but Levy believed he needed the big name to keep us happy after months of waiting. Once again, this was an unnecessary complication. Whether Jacques’s “personal reasons” really did exist or not, I don’t care, but the fact is that anything other than his own or a family member’s severe illness would not merit resignation by itself. It is therefore more likely that his resignation could be put down to either a combination of some private issues, building pressure and frustration at being out of the loop in a system he just didn’t fit into, or merely a combination of the latter two. With this in mind, we have taken another step perilously closer to being the laughingstock of the Premiership, because of another error of judgment by Levy in trying to be too clever.

I don’t blame Levy. You hardly can. His duty is to the club and, in turn, to the fans. Keeping us happy is effectively his job. But he has undeniably been misguided. Let’s just ignore our existence for a moment. If there were no fans complaining about his links with Arsenal, would it have made sense to sack a man who had won us our first trophy in eight years and was on the brink of winning us another? No, it wouldn’t. If there were no fans just waiting to be disappointed by the appointment of an unknown mid-table, Eredivisie coach, would it have made sense to appoint the French national team coach to watch over him, knowing full well that, barring considerable success, the Frenchman would ultimately make way for his Dutch understudy? Once again, the answer’s no. Yet I for one would have been far more satisfied if Graham had remained or if Jol had been given the job of Head Coach in the first place, if these things would have meant more success.

So the problem is that Daniel Levy has no balls. He’s afraid of being cruel to be kind, of saying “I know what you want, but this’ll be best for you in the long term, so shut up”. Maybe it’s just because he’s one of us, he feels like every move he makes should be one that makes us happy. As admirable as that is, it is naïve, and with Santini’s departure it wasn’t far off being too much. Should he have stepped down before the promotion of Jol? If he had done, it would have been the bravest move he’s made as chairman. It might have been perceived as cowardice under similar conditions to those in which Santini left us, but at the same time he would have been admitting that he got it wrong. As it is, I’m prepared to give him another chance. He’s far from being a figure of hate, more an amiable, bumbling fool who's yet to completely screw things up; there’s no need for urgency. So third time lucky, as they say, but I hope that in future the saying Danny L. is paying most attention to is the one Jol has now been given license to use – keep it simple.

I'm not dead

I guess this post has added relevance thanks to the amount of time its been since I last posted, but its main purpose is to inform you all that I'm about to reformat my PC, and considering how long it's takenme to actually get round to it, it could be a while before I get myself back online. So if you find yourself wondering "Where's Adam/Benji/Zapsta [obviously delete as appropriate) got to?", don't worry!

Crap day summarised in MSN convo

Went up to Nottingham University today as part of the conditions of their offer. What follows is a discussion on what turned out to be a very crappy day. Many thanks to Viral for giving me permission to post this.


Cast:
Monkey Dust mentioned my school/Adam - me
Safeway didn't let me take photos of the interior of their Hatch End store...I'll go try Tesco's (Please ask if confused) - Viral Thakerar

Monkey Dust mentioned my school says:
iv had the worst name ever btw
Monkey Dust mentioned my school says:
*day
Monkey Dust mentioned my school says:
and name
Monkey Dust mentioned my school says:

Safeway didn't let me take photos of the interior of their Hatch End store...I'll go try Tesco's (Please ask if confused) says:
lol
Safeway didn't let me take photos of the interior of their Hatch End store...I'll go try Tesco's (Please ask if confused) says:
soz - what happened 2day?
Monkey Dust mentioned my school says:
well first i got to nottingham
Monkey Dust mentioned my school says:
everything was going fine
Monkey Dust mentioned my school says:
i asked where i could get a bus to the uni
Monkey Dust mentioned my school says:
the guy at the ticket office said it was a 10 min walk and there was no point
Safeway didn't let me take photos of the interior of their Hatch End store...I'll go try Tesco's (Please ask if confused) says:
bit harsh
Monkey Dust mentioned my school says:
so i walked to the university park campus
Monkey Dust mentioned my school says:
and looked around for a bit
Monkey Dust mentioned my school says:
and then didnt really know what to do
Monkey Dust mentioned my school says:
because i needed to get to the jubilee campus
Safeway didn't let me take photos of the interior of their Hatch End store...I'll go try Tesco's (Please ask if confused) says:
me and simon got lost as well for medsim
Monkey Dust mentioned my school says:
i knew there was a bus between campuses, but wasnt sure where to get it from, so i walked to the visitor info centre
Monkey Dust mentioned my school says:
on the other side of the campus
Safeway didn't let me take photos of the interior of their Hatch End store...I'll go try Tesco's (Please ask if confused) says:
u got plenty of exercise it seems
Monkey Dust mentioned my school says:
it wasnt evident on my little map that the campus was about a mile across
Monkey Dust mentioned my school says:
found the bus stop
Monkey Dust mentioned my school says:
but id missed the bus by 2 mins
Monkey Dust mentioned my school says:
next one wasnt for another 20
Monkey Dust mentioned my school says:
so i walked to the jubilee campus
Monkey Dust mentioned my school says:
got there on time, but didnt have time for lunch
Safeway didn't let me take photos of the interior of their Hatch End store...I'll go try Tesco's (Please ask if confused) says:
feels like shenmue
Monkey Dust mentioned my school says:
then the actual day was crap
Monkey Dust mentioned my school says:
just propaganda to get us to join basically
Monkey Dust mentioned my school says:
we were all oxbridge applicants
Monkey Dust mentioned my school says:
then we went around in groups to tour the facilities
Safeway didn't let me take photos of the interior of their Hatch End store...I'll go try Tesco's (Please ask if confused) says:
no fun then?
Monkey Dust mentioned my school says:
my group had someone in a wheelchair in it which slowed the whole tour down and it finished 20 mins late
Monkey Dust mentioned my school says:
i rushed out to get my train
Safeway didn't let me take photos of the interior of their Hatch End store...I'll go try Tesco's (Please ask if confused) says:
imperial had people in wheelchairs
Monkey Dust mentioned my school says:
planned to get a bus, but there was very little info at the bus stops or on the buses themselves
Monkey Dust mentioned my school says:
basically just numbers
Monkey Dust mentioned my school says:
so i didnt know what bus to get
Safeway didn't let me take photos of the interior of their Hatch End store...I'll go try Tesco's (Please ask if confused) says:
again, shenmueesque
Monkey Dust mentioned my school says:
got on one, asked him if he was going to the station i needed, he said i wanted a bus on the other side
Safeway didn't let me take photos of the interior of their Hatch End store...I'll go try Tesco's (Please ask if confused) says:
lol - i hope u left plenty of time to get there
Monkey Dust mentioned my school says:
which was weird, because i was walking on the left
Monkey Dust mentioned my school says:
anyway, walked across the road, saw the same bus route going in the other direction, which is what i thought he meant
Monkey Dust mentioned my school says:
he didnt
Safeway didn't let me take photos of the interior of their Hatch End store...I'll go try Tesco's (Please ask if confused) says:
one of those space-time contradictions
Monkey Dust mentioned my school says:
that bus driver wasnt as friendly
Safeway didn't let me take photos of the interior of their Hatch End store...I'll go try Tesco's (Please ask if confused) says:
this needs to go in the blog
Monkey Dust mentioned my school says:
so i just decided i couldnt do that all afternoon or i wouldnt have a chance, so i just kept walking, albeit briskly
Monkey Dust mentioned my school says:
in my rush, i must have taken a wrong turn somewhere
Monkey Dust mentioned my school says:
realised i didnt recognise the streets, but thought if i just kept going in the right general direction id be ok
Monkey Dust mentioned my school says:
i wasnt
Monkey Dust mentioned my school says:
i got completely lost
Safeway didn't let me take photos of the interior of their Hatch End store...I'll go try Tesco's (Please ask if confused) says:
oh dear
Monkey Dust mentioned my school says:
so i looked for signs that pointed towards roads on my shitty little map so i could get my bearings back
Monkey Dust mentioned my school says:
found a main road, but didnt know which side id approached it from
Monkey Dust mentioned my school says:
by this time id missed my train, so i just asked stopped someone and asked her which bus i needed
Monkey Dust mentioned my school says:
she told me no35
Monkey Dust mentioned my school says:
i got on a no35, asked him if it was right
Monkey Dust mentioned my school says:
he said no
Safeway didn't let me take photos of the interior of their Hatch End store...I'll go try Tesco's (Please ask if confused) says:
im losing track here...
Safeway didn't let me take photos of the interior of their Hatch End store...I'll go try Tesco's (Please ask if confused) says:
lol
Monkey Dust mentioned my school says:
got off the bus
Monkey Dust mentioned my school says:
wandered a bit more
Monkey Dust mentioned my school says:
saw a taxi stop for petrol
Monkey Dust mentioned my school says:
asked him if he was taking fares
Monkey Dust mentioned my school says:
he said yes
Monkey Dust mentioned my school says:
got to the station
Monkey Dust mentioned my school says:
paid a fiver to change my ticket
Safeway didn't let me take photos of the interior of their Hatch End store...I'll go try Tesco's (Please ask if confused) says:
ru sure ur not adding bits?
Monkey Dust mentioned my school says:
had to wait 40 mins in the cold for the next train
Monkey Dust mentioned my school says:
saw fit girl
Monkey Dust mentioned my school says:
fit girl was with mum
Monkey Dust mentioned my school says:
her mum, not mine
Safeway didn't let me take photos of the interior of their Hatch End store...I'll go try Tesco's (Please ask if confused) says:
lol
Monkey Dust mentioned my school says:
that would have just been surreal
Monkey Dust mentioned my school says:
and... thats it
Safeway didn't let me take photos of the interior of their Hatch End store...I'll go try Tesco's (Please ask if confused) says:
well, it was eventful
Monkey Dust mentioned my school says:
i didnt get lunch though
Safeway didn't let me take photos of the interior of their Hatch End store...I'll go try Tesco's (Please ask if confused) says:

Adam says:

Safeway didn't let me take photos of the interior of their Hatch End store...I'll go try Tesco's (Please ask if confused) says:
g2g - tell me again 2moro
Safeway didn't let me take photos of the interior of their Hatch End store...I'll go try Tesco's (Please ask if confused) says:

Adam says:
again?
Adam says:
i'll have forgotten
Safeway didn't let me take photos of the interior of their Hatch End store...I'll go try Tesco's (Please ask if confused) says:
just jkkn
Adam says:
should probably save this
Safeway didn't let me take photos of the interior of their Hatch End store...I'll go try Tesco's (Please ask if confused) says:
u should save - ive lost it