Rafa Digs His Heels In
Despite an angry backlash from the heavy hitters in the corridors of power at White Hart Lane, Rafael Benitez has refused to apologise for claiming that Spurs are desperate to offload Jermain Defoe and blames the North London giants for starting the whole affair.
Maybe Rafa has been hanging around with his continental neighbour at Chelsea a little too much or he feels that emulating the Great Blue Menace from West London is the best way to bring back the glory days to his club but if he thinks Tottenham Hotspur are going to be the patsy that he employs to try and fiddle our best players from us then he will get a short, sharp shock.
Spurs are traditionally the most litigious club in the Premiership, stemming back to the days of the Sugar / Venables case and taking in Sugar’s victory over the FA when they docked us 12 points for financial irregularities under a previous owner’s regime. Just ask Chelsea how much it cost them to tap up our Sporting Director Frank Arnesen last summer and you’ll see that Daniel Levy has followed on in the footsteps of Mr. Sugar and doesn’t avoid the necessary action if needed.
Tapping up players by agents is a dispicable act which has become all too prevalent in the modern game. To see a manager of a supposedly high class, top club come out and blatantly do the same with Jermain Defoe is a shame and a disgrace and if Spurs have to go to the Premier League to enforce the same fines and penalties on Benitez and Liverpool as they did on Jose Mourinho, Chelsea and Ashley Cole then so be it.
Spurs are not a selling club, we don’t pawn the Crown Jewels every summer to buy more tat like Cisse and we aren’t multi-millions in debt either like a certain Scouse club. Why would we ever contemplate swapping England’s top young striker (despite a relatively poor season by his standards) for the no scoring, headless chicken, crowd inciting antics of Liverpool’s French flop Djibril Cisse?
Answer me that properly Rafa and I’ll save you paying a month’s wages to Brian Barwick and the chaps at the FA.
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18 opinions for Rafa Digs His Heels In
Zechs
Mar 26, 2006 at 6:28 am
What Rafa did was very simple. He said he is happy with the strikeforce Liverpool has right now. Yet on the spurs front, jol tried to unsettle Cisse and saha indirectly. This caused Rafa to respond by doing the same what Jol did. An eye for an eye. jol should have expected that in the first place than to whine to the English FA about some remarks Rafa made.
It seems pretty obvious that jol should reflect on his actions and acknowledge what he did was wrong (and apologise of course) before asking Rafa to apologize.
If there should be any apologies made, it should be jol not Rafa.
On a side note, Liverpool doesn’t need defoe. Think about this, defoe is same type of player as cisse. Rafa goes for strong strikers, not fast ones, that is why Cisse is mostly used as a substitute. Reds don’t need another striker who does not fit Rafa’s style of playing.
angelo
Mar 26, 2006 at 7:28 am
Maybe winning a few matches in a row and scoring more goals in 10 days than in 2 1/2 months excited him too much :-)
Even Mourinho did not overplay other’s hand this way in public. I may be wrong but the Chelsea manager always said ‘I am interested in’ or ‘I want’ but never said other clubs how they must behave.
If Benitez will not clarify his statement this may be his first (?) step in becoming just another Mourinho or Capello.
Mal
Mar 26, 2006 at 6:30 pm
Ah, a few points:
1) Cisse’s agent stated very clearly that Spurs ‘made a bid’ for Cisse on the afternoon of 31 January.
2) Levy ‘tapped up’ Cisse (and Saha)last month, reported in the Daily Express.
3) Liverpool neither need or want Defoe hence no ‘tapping up’ by them can be taking place.
Your story needs revising.
Alan
Mar 27, 2006 at 9:41 am
Daniel Levy has stated categorically that Spurs have no interest in either Cisse or Saha, if he was lying then the other clubs involved would have taken Premier league action against Spurs. For some reason I believe a direct quote from the chairman of a publicly listed company before a tabloid newspaper and will continue to do so.
Liverpool’s strikers, who before they turned over a piss-poor Birmingham side in the Cup couldn’t hit a cow’s arse with a banjo, are a bunch of big name underachievers and are hardly goal machines, individually or as a unit. If you are seriously telling me that Liverpool don’t need a deadly, goal hungry young English striker like Defoe then I think your whole football outlook needs revising.
CS Smith
Mar 27, 2006 at 12:42 pm
And yet, we look down at Spurs from higher up the table.
frank
Mar 28, 2006 at 3:59 am
The link between spurs and cisse has been widely reported for some time now, while defoe and LFC has been the owen mark II to anfield and has also been running for some time. The only think we have found out to be of some certainty is that cisse’s agent claims contact with suprs and if true would point to spurs doing the first door knocking and therefore the reason for no official complaint to the premier league. For some of the spurs fans to get shity is rich though highly entertaining.
Bald Man
Mar 30, 2006 at 9:45 am
Maybe it’s cause I’m American, but I don’t see the big deal in any of this. A coach or exec. says, “Boy I’d love to have [INSERT NAME] on our squad.” A player or agent says, “Boy I’d love to play for [INSERT NAME].” What’s the problem?
Going a step farther, say a player negotiates a transfer behind his current team’s back. Doesn’t his current team have to reach an agreement with the new team before a move takes place?
I’m sure there’s something to the system I’m not getting.
Alan
Mar 30, 2006 at 12:40 pm
In football (and Englsih football especially) we still kid ourselves that players have loyalty to their clubs above and beyond the paypacket they take home at the end of the week. The problem with tapping up players is that there is virtually nothing a club can do if one of their players gets a better offer from elsewhere other than making them train with the youth team and let them sit out the rest of their contract without playing.
The downside of this for the club apart from the obvious morale issues is the loss of transfer value if they did follow this path and in these days of football as a business above all else there isn’t a manager in the country who would risk losing their chairman £10m just to prove a point.
Bald Man
Apr 1, 2006 at 9:35 am
OK, I’m starting to get it. Particularly when there is such economic disparity between clubs.
Alan
Apr 1, 2006 at 9:44 am
I think that’s a large part of it. It simply isn’t fair for the less well off clubs to bring a young player through and put a lot of time and effort into his development only for a rich club to make noises in the papers or behind the smaller club’s backs and poach the player.
That’s not to say it doesn’t happen and sadly it’s becoming an increasingly more widely used tactic by the big clubs (read Chelsea) even for players from their nearest of rivals (Arsenal and Manchester United).
Another nail in the coffin of top flight football.
Ged
Apr 7, 2006 at 8:27 am
This Alan fella is a bit of a t1t isn’t he.
Comes over all big ‘warning’ Rafa Benitez to watch it cos there’s a bit of friction between Liverpool and Spurs
Who are ya? Anybody important? thought not; just another git hoping for some reflected glory. What a sad man
Why would Benitez come out and say it if there wasn’t some truth. Defoe’s alright but nothing to get worked up about and it’s pretty obvious that Spurs dont have £10m second choices in their squad so it seems obvious that if they could get that money for Defoe they would then crow about what an outstanding piece of business.
When Levy got called on it then he got flustered and denied anything, but tell me, if he is such a ligitious City professional and he was sure that he was right then why didn’t he sue Liverpool? One thing has to be wrong; either he knew he was talking crap or he decided to let it lie (and in doing so deny Spurs potential damages and therefore basically give money away and so making a mockery out of being such a professional)
So Alan, where’s this short sharp shock mate; or were you just trying to the the big man when really all you are is someone who spends a bit too much effort thinking you actually have some connection with your club
By the way Chelsea only paid because Levy’s bleating was getting tedious
Ged
Apr 7, 2006 at 8:41 am
Oh Alan’s treated us to more of his ‘wisdom’
Listen, there’s a trialist at Liverpool now called Lee Tomlin. He’s supposed to be pretty good (probably will fade into obscurity). His club, Rushden and Diamonds have said that Liverpool should “get their chequebook out. We need the money”
Now that doesn’t sound to me that they would rather him not leave
Basically the clubs survive because of selling their young players to big clubs
They are currently struggling because the big clubs get better value from overseas.
That kinda p1sses on your comments doesn’t it
And exactly how is it another nail in the coffin of top flight football, it seems to be going pretty well
You obviously are a Spurs supporter and so you have conveniently left that name out of the list of premiership poachers, I wonder why. Spurs didn’t mind poaching that odious Hoddle fella, did they, can you imagine if it was the other way round, would Levy give them a short sharp shock?
Alan
Apr 7, 2006 at 11:29 am
Shocking revelation, I’m not actually the top man at UEFA nor even on the Spurs board, I write about football and some people don’t like what I have to say. Shock horror.
Ged, if you have to resort to name calling then I usually can tell you have no argument. I’m still trying to decipher what yours is from your two comments. Is it that Danny Levy was lying about Rafa publically tapping up Defoe? I doubt it because everyone seen and heard Benitez doing it.
Is it that I’m not actually on the “inside” at Spurs? Don’t see any claim anywhere on any of my websites, those I frequent or messageboards I post on that I am. Where did I claim to be a big man with tenuous connections to my club? I support it and always have done, that’s enough of a connection for me.
There’s also a difference between Rushden and Diamonds players and competing clubs in the Premiership, Lee Tomlin was hardly tapped up now was he? I honestly can’t see why Benitez would be looking at Defoe in the first place. Surely the height of Rafa’s ambition is one season wonders from Southampton and Liverpool old boys on their last legs. Someone get Kevin Keegan a pair of boots sharpish…;-)
Ged
Apr 10, 2006 at 1:50 am
Your whole argument is founded on the premise that Defoe was being tapped up.
If Benitez actually wanted him then to say that Spurs are desperate to get rid of him would be foolish because the natural reaction of Spurs would be to deny that.
Ever thought that Bentiez may be right
That’s the reason for calling you an idiot because you are so blinkered that you make assumptions then base facts on those assumptions
The sense of outrage at newspaper stories and the ‘warnings’ you give on behalf of Spurs are a bit silly aren’t they. You are in no position to give Benitez warnings so therefore you’re trying to be something you are not.
Face it, bentiez may be right - the stories that followed the Defoe article were of Spurs trying to bring in Torres. If you place so much stock in the accuracy of newspaper stories then it is fair to assume that this one is also credible and where are Spurs going to find £15m-£20m to bring in Torres when they have a £10m-£12m identical type of player on the bench
Logic suggests that Benitez MAY just be right, so forget this tapping up by Liverpool, it’s more a case of trying to flog by Spurs.
And the height of Rafa’s ambition is winning things, you know like the European Cup. Now your main ambition maybe winning arguments but like Spurs winning things, you’re not doing well either, idiot
Alan
Apr 10, 2006 at 12:12 pm
I would say that I’ve known about the Spurs/Torres negotiations for months but I wouldn’t want Ged accusing me of trying to pretend I’m an insider at Spurs. I will say this though: Spurs aren’t £80m in debt as Liverpool are reported to be, we’re one of the most cash rich clubs in the Premiership and finding a potential £20m to fund a move for Fernando Torres wouldn’t be a problem.
I’m not trying to win any arguments, I provided my opinion on a newsworthy football item as is my job as editor of thefootie.com, you’re the one arguing and if I may say so, acting childishly by resorting yet again to petty name calling.
If the European Cup win meant so much to you surely you should be chilling out with a beer and watching the DVD again instead of defending your manager’s dubious morals on the internet. I know where I’d be.
Ged
Apr 11, 2006 at 7:23 am
Actually I have got to hand it to you, you may be wrong (more of that in a second) but at least you can rationally discuss, the insults are basically part and parcel of any football discussion these days so I get them in whilst I can but you have indeed shamed me there.
Anyway back to the bits where you’re wrong..
I ask you again what possible reason would Benitez have for saying that Spurs are desperate to sell Defoe? If he wanted to tap up Defoe then saying how much he admired him would be the starting point, he’s proved he’s not stupid so why risk getting Spurs all flustered and against him, surely it would be better to praise Defoe as I said.
Similarly why have there been noises out of WHL about Cisse. I didn’t mention anything about him cos I do reckon we are desperate to sell him (or we should be - he’s not a Liverpool type player (in the current regime I mean). So who’s to say that Benitez aint pissed off cos Spurs are trying to unsettle a player.
The point is that I cannot see any possible reason for benitez to come out and say that Spurs want rid of Defoe unless the agents have been putting feelers out. The natural reaction for Spurs when confronted with that accusation would, of course, be to vehemently deny it; this doesn’t prove that Levy is right though, so the umbrage I take is from your biased assumptions that Levy should (I doubt he could) slap down Benitez for his remarks without any consideration that Bentiez could be correct.
As regards Torres there’s no way that Spurs can lay out that money on one player without selling his footballing twin first (yes I know, one’s black and one’s white). Also if Torres came in then Defoe would seek a move but his value would be lessened as he could dictate where he wanted to move to and only Chavski can let a player of that value rot and lose money.
With respect to the reported £80m debt of Liverpool and the debt free Spurs I think you need to do a little bit more research. Did Spurs buy all their players with cash or spread the payments like everybody else. Are Spurs paying millions for ground studies - so the debt is actually investment although it does restrict cash flow. I think you are confusing debt with cash (dont try and make any funnies out of that bit - anybody with an economics gcse would know what I’m talking about is true)
In any case you’re a bit off the mark with that debt figure anyway, the actual debt (not offset by an asset)is closer to £17m. The reason you have seized on the figure is because Steve Morgan the Liverpool shareholder is trying to take over the club on the cheap. If we were to look at the respective clubs’ values then I think you would be seeing that of the 2 Liverpool should be able to afford the bigger transfer fee but even Man Usa could not afford to let an asset like Defoe lose money if they were intending to bring in a more expensive player who was very similar in style.
Look face it, you’re basically being Quixotic, in any case your assertion that Tapping up is despicable flounders when the name Hoddle is mentioned. It’s amusing how you can believe that you are being rational when you choose what you want to see and what you dont.
There you go, all of that without an insult
Idiot ;)
Alan
Apr 11, 2006 at 7:42 am
Sorry Ged, must have dropped off there, I’ve got this dreadful habit of nodding off when I hear the same thing repeated for the fourth or fifth time ;-)
I do appreciate your points, which you have argued extremely well, but I do think you and I could go on posting ever lengthier diatribes at each other for weeks and we’d still never win the other over to our way of thinking, such is the way of tribal football debates and one of the very reasons I love to write about it.
I do think Benitez was up to a shady trick publicising the Defoe/Spurs issue and I still don’t agree with it. What I can’t deny is some level of agent involvement especially when Defoe is now represented by Spurs fans favourite ever agent, Sky Andrew, the very man who led our former captain down the road for his thirty pieces of Goon silver.
I don’t think there is any chance of Spurs selling Defoe for a loss, it’s completely against club transfer policy these days (we made money on Thimothee Atouba for Christ’s sake!) and despite his bench warming place due to Robbie Keane’s miraculous return to form I think he still has a great future at Spurs. Actually taking a leaf out of Keane’s book would be his best strategy because Robbie had been poor for a long time after his Player of the Season performances in his first couple of years with us but he’s really knuckled down this year and is back to his Premiership beating best.
I’d hate to see Defoe do the same but in a red shirt of any variety.
Idiot ;-)
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Apr 21, 2006 at 7:15 am
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