Football 2025-26

[thetime]

1 hour ago, Ben7amin_ said:

 

Our fans gonna demand it everytime things go bad for another manager - you would have though managing Chelsea would have put us of but no.   Basically we want to rewind time and got back to the day he was sacked and redo everything lol.

 

He inherited an absolutely awfull set of players with one or two gems the first time - it wasnt all about signings he really was very good at developing players and getting the best out of them.   I think a lot of people will forget how rough Son found it in his first season - but with a Pochetinho arm round him he turned him into a weapon -  Even players like Moussa Sissoko not the most gifted footballer (as im sure you know). but yet he got good performances out of him.

 

The one that grinds me the most - How good would Dele Ali have become if Poch had stayed. 

 

Basially his shadow will hang over the club until he has a second try 

 

Where do spurs and there fans see themselves now? I saw on sky sports news, a spurs fan got upset as Jay Bothroyd said spurs fans are never happy. 

 

Back in my youth in the 80s, spurs were the one team playing exciting progressive football. Rather than the hoof and run football of that time. Hoddle, Ardiles, Villa and then gazza in the late 80s. They were never going to win a league, but 4 major cup trophies in 11 years (3 fa cups and the UEFA Cup). 

Edited February 12 by thetime

[balti-pie]

56 minutes ago, thetime said:

 

Where do spurs and there fans see themselves now? I saw on sky sports news, a spurs fan got upset as Jay Bothroyd said spurs fans are never happy. 

 

Back in my youth in the 80s, spurs were the one team playing exciting progressive football. Rather than the hoof and run football of that time. Hoddle, Ardiles, Villa and then gazza in the late 80s. They were never going to win a league, but 4 major cup trophies in 11 years (3 fa cups and the UEFA Cup). 

I can only speak for meself, been a fan since the late eighties, i don't demand champions league places and silverware - i just want to enjoy going to the football. Its been dogshit for years now. Don't mind midtable or whatever as long as there's a sense of common purpose. The nineties we were dreadful but it was still fun, we always had a couple of players who would just take the imagination and be a treat to watch - Klinsmann, Ginola, Teddy, through to Defoe and Keane, and then Bale, Sonny, Kane etc - someone who would get you off your seat and make you dream. Even if we did lose at least we had a good crack at it. Nowadays its eleven athletes and setpieces - i just cannot be bothered, its uber-professional and its eye-gougingly dull.

 

I have two goals at the start of every season - score more goals than we let in, and win more games than we lose. I have been through a LOT of seasons that gave us neither 😄 Social media doesnt help, in that great swathes of everyone's fanbase are now a lot more visible, especially the idiots. We have a lot of idiots in our fanbase demanding this, that, whatever. I wont listen to them, and i wont listen to the 'obsessed by arsenal' types either - i ignore the goons, dont care what they're doing, they're a disgusting club, i couldnt identify half their players to be honest - the older i get the more adept i am at excising things i dont like - football clubs, music artists, celebrity nonsense - cut it out, and it wont bother me any more.

Have to do the same with Tottenham 😁

[Punksnotdead]

So it turns out we have a racist co-owner! Forget champions league qualification, new manager, new players, etc - United's priority should now be getting rid of this piece of sh*t!

[charlierc]

2 hours ago, Punksnotdead said:

So it turns out we have a racist co-owner! Forget champions league qualification, new manager, new players, etc - United's priority should now be getting rid of this piece of sh*t!

So much for thinking the main attention being brought to Man Utd for off the pitch reasons was the interminable coverage of that bloke waiting for a haircut. 

[charlierc]

12 hours ago, thetime said:

 

Where do spurs and there fans see themselves now? I saw on sky sports news, a spurs fan got upset as Jay Bothroyd said spurs fans are never happy. 

 

Back in my youth in the 80s, spurs were the one team playing exciting progressive football. Rather than the hoof and run football of that time. Hoddle, Ardiles, Villa and then gazza in the late 80s. They were never going to win a league, but 4 major cup trophies in 11 years (3 fa cups and the UEFA Cup). 

Ange Postecoglu went on a podcast overnight and said that Spurs have the trappings of a big club but not the will to be one. It could be frustration at missing out on transfer targets but I'm aware there's been chatter for a while about Spurs lacking the will to invest the same in wages, which on the one hand is something to say is a good thing because the rate of wage growth in the Premier League has been madness, but it's seen them fall behind their rivals after a lengthy period of being regular Champions League qualifiers.

 

I guess its difficult to know what exactly is a good thing for Spurs at this point. Maybe their hopes were elevated by that Poch era in the 2010s where they were playing nice football and seemed 1/2 players away from being regular trophy challengers. I saw a suggestion that Spurs post-Kane reminded them of the lull at Newcastle after Alan Shearer's retirement in 2006, which I kinda get - we did look lost for a while after that, and ironically did spiral into the Championship (though I would argue the 2008/09 season was just a clusterf**k all round as that squad was good enough to stay up but just lost all confidence).

 

At the very least, they need a reboot. Though we've seen the transfer market is never guaranteed to be a solution for all these myriad problems.

[thetime]

Really enjoyed the Brentford v Arsenal game tonight. Football in the premier league is so much better this season for a neutral. For a few years its been slow, pass, slow, pass. Apart from the lack off 50/50 challenges, it reminds me of Football in the 90s. 

 

Long may it continue. 

 

[thetime]

26 minutes ago, charlierc said:

but it's seen them fall behind their rivals after a lengthy period of being regular Champions League qualifiers.

 

A few clubs have had periods out of the champions league, teams who've spent more than Spurs.

 

Arsenal had 5 or 6 years out of it, utd have failed to qualify 3 of the previous 4 seasons and Chelsea missing out for a couple of years. 

 

If you don't get recruitment right, you struggle. 

 

 

[Ben7amin_]

I always said Igor Tudor was the man.................... googling his managerial record has we speak

 

Spurs squad and wage structure is the level of a club that should qualify for europe on some level each season -  

Thomas Frank has gone has he was falling well short of that so had to leave -    But the board talk of ambitions of trying to win the premier league and make trophies a regular part of it and if that is to happen they are the ones that need to pull the fingers out -  We dont have enough first team players in terms of numbers and we struggle to keep the best players though lack of wages and success.   We are i will add not sure of cash -  Stadium is all budgeted for and the mega sized concerts, NFL etc are brining in the big money.

 

I respect what Ange said the other day he made some good points -  A club with spurs ambitions the Spurs ownership claims to have should have been signing  players like Neto and Semenyo -   and not Odebert & Tel.    Let the smaller and mid clubs pick up those players and then we buy them when/if they got to the top level -  not buy them early and cheap and hope they get there.   The worst thing is about are transfer policy is the fact with big clubs sniffing around the likes of Bergvall & Luka Vušković the two young ones who do look like they will be absolutely top tier could even be sold before we even get to see them reach there peak.

 

Had bad as Frank has been - its still the board & directors that need a slap.

 

 

 

 

[charlierc]

17 hours ago, thetime said:

 

A few clubs have had periods out of the champions league, teams who've spent more than Spurs.

 

Arsenal had 5 or 6 years out of it, utd have failed to qualify 3 of the previous 4 seasons and Chelsea missing out for a couple of years. 

 

If you don't get recruitment right, you struggle. 

 

 

Last point is a fair one - Wolves and West Ham have been abysmal in the transfer market for a few years now and both are in the bottom 3 with players fans would gladly get rid of. 

 

I think the Poch years at Spurs raised expectations plus they have revenues that hint they should be a club that can challenge consistently for Europe at least. But it's pretty clear they've made some abysmal recruitment choices in recent years to wind up with essentially a midtable squad on Champions League wages. Which is also what started the rot at Leicester judging by stories of that dumpster fire. 

[lost]

What percentage of Spurs revenue comes from the other stuff going on at the stadium, NFL and the like? They feel like they could be the first successful football club without needing a successful team.

Edited February 13 by lost

[charlierc]

On 11/02/2026 at 12:38, kaosmark2 said:

Says something about our away form this season that we're now a trigger point for a sacking.

 

But thanks Dr Tottenham.

Now for the hard part of having to double down in getting away wins.

 

I've seen a few of our fans say they're not as arsed as traditionally today with thinking the trip to Baku next week is the more desirable to win as more CL games more money, but I'd still like to see us win the FA Cup one day. It's probably not going to be this season due to our burnout, but if a cup is likelier to achieve than winning the league (let alone the real long shot of the Champions League), I'd like to have a go. And I say this sympathetic that the less games might be better with everyone being so knackered.

 

Saying that, Villa didn't look great against Bournemouth or Brighton judging by the highlights. Maybe they've got the same problems.

[charlierc]

17 hours ago, lost said:

What percentage of Spurs revenue comes from the other stuff going on at the stadium, NFL and the like? They feel like they could be the first successful football club without needing a successful team.

Not as much as I thought judging by their last set of accounts. Feels like they're going that way though about being an events promoter that just happens to have a football team attached.

[thetime]

@charlierc @kaosmark2

 

Not good for you guys guimaraes being out for 6-8 weeks. One player you don't want out for that long. 

[charlierc]

6 minutes ago, thetime said:

@charlierc @kaosmark2

 

Not good for you guys guimaraes being out for 6-8 weeks. One player you don't want out for that long. 

Yeah only just saw that. Goddammit. Particularly as Joelinton is already out for a month or so, meaning the midfield is thinning out.

[thetime]

Not a good advert for no VAR in the Villa v Newcastle game. 

[charlierc]

1 hour ago, thetime said:

Not a good advert for no VAR in the Villa v Newcastle game. 

Yeah.

 

It's a relief for the officials to some extent that we scored from the free-kick they incorrectly gave instead of a penalty because it was quite the achievement to get that wrong.

 

Pleased we won. No idea how little that'll help us with our comically overstuffed fixture calendar and certainly didn't see it coming when we fell behind but we won so yay.

[thetime]

47 minutes ago, charlierc said:

Yeah.

 

It's a relief for the officials to some extent that we scored from the free-kick they incorrectly gave instead of a penalty because it was quite the achievement to get that wrong.

 

That penalty decision was mad, it wasn't even close. Lucky for the ref and assistants Newcastle won, woukd of been a lot to answer for if Villa won. 

 

The penalty 

Offside goal

The foul on the touchline, should of been a red. 

[kaosmark2]

11 hours ago, charlierc said:

Now for the hard part of having to double down in getting away wins.

 

I've seen a few of our fans say they're not as arsed as traditionally today with thinking the trip to Baku next week is the more desirable to win as more CL games more money, but I'd still like to see us win the FA Cup one day. It's probably not going to be this season due to our burnout, but if a cup is likelier to achieve than winning the league (let alone the real long shot of the Champions League), I'd like to have a go. And I say this sympathetic that the less games might be better with everyone being so knackered.

 

Saying that, Villa didn't look great against Bournemouth or Brighton judging by the highlights. Maybe they've got the same problems.

 

I'm in this group (didn't watch and haven't seen highlights yet), obviously not unhappy about a win, but I just think I enjoy European wins/runs more than losing in the cup quarters to Arsenal/City. It's more about which tourney I'd prefer to get to the quarters in with our injuries. Also which one we'll be in next season. I'd just prefer to have more different European games about different opposition.

 

11 hours ago, thetime said:

@charlierc @kaosmark2

 

Not good for you guys guimaraes being out for 6-8 weeks. One player you don't want out for that long. 

Not at all no. I've been pretty sympathetic towards Tonali's poor form this last 3 months as I've heard reports his wife was ill before a premature baby, but we really need him to step up and dominate midfields again as the senior fit midfielder. Hopefully today's goals (and performance? I didn't watch so just speculating) will prove a spark towards that. I do think Willock and Ramsey have looked a lot better the last month or so, but we're also going to need Miley back soon. Crazy how a 19 yo has been our 2nd best midfielder and our best right back this season.

 

I do think that's it for any lingering hopes of top 5/6 though. Just too many games and we're so dependent on him. Also it'll put more pressure on the midfielders we do have to play more and possibly burn out. One interesting thing is that Howe put Woltemade behind Osula today, so maybe he'll look to use Woltemade a bit deeper more consistently while Bruno is out, with Ramsey the only other midfielder who can make those intricate passes to unlock defenses.

[pink_triangle]

I’m very wary of the idea that one game can be used as evidence that we need VAR, especially as the result with VAR would have been the same. If however Villa had won, life would still go on, most football fans will have forgotten it the following week and it would likely make no impact on who wins the tournament.

 

One of the main reason I don’t want Wrexham to go up is the thought of the emotion drain that is VAR nitpicking over decisions.

[kaosmark2]

7 minutes ago, pink_triangle said:

I’m very wary of the idea that one game can be used as evidence that we need VAR, especially as the result with VAR would have been the same. If however Villa had won, life would still go on, most football fans will have forgotten it the following week and it would likely make no impact on who wins the tournament.

 

One of the main reason I don’t want Wrexham to go up is the thought of the emotion drain that is VAR nitpicking over decisions.

We've clearly been hard done by today (I've now seen a 5min highlight package), but I think our game against Chelsea a couple of months ago was very clear evidence that VAR isn't worthwhile. Horrendous decision making throughout that game, with identical decisions at each end both going in Chelsea's favour in a way that really made me question the integrity of officials.

 

The other 2 examples that spring to mind of VAR making me suspicious about corruption, not just disliking delays, were Chelsea/Liverpool screwing Fulham. Why Fulham's goal against Chelsea was disallowed post-VAR I will never understand, and Wirtz's "5mm allowance for offside" rule that somehow hasn't made an appearance in any other close offside this season was outrageous. 

 

I don't think VAR improves things, and while if I'd been watching live today I'd have been fuming about those decisions, I honestly think I'm angrier when they go wrong with VAR. Mistakes can be made live on the pitch by referees. Delays and tempo damage only to still get it wrong just stink.

[kaosmark2]

1 hour ago, charlierc said:

Pleased we won. No idea how little that'll help us with our comically overstuffed fixture calendar and certainly didn't see it coming when we fell behind but we won so yay.

How did the midfield look with the 4-2-3-1? Hard to judge by the 2nd half given we were against 10 men but was it functioning and competitive before that or was it being overran with Tonali the only natural presser/tackler in that line-up?

[charlierc]

11 hours ago, kaosmark2 said:

How did the midfield look with the 4-2-3-1? Hard to judge by the 2nd half given we were against 10 men but was it functioning and competitive before that or was it being overran with Tonali the only natural presser/tackler in that line-up?

Ah I missed the first half as was busy and only got home at the start of the second half. But it did seem from reports like we had a few chances when it was 11 v 11. I think we'll get more of a measure with some of the other contests coming up if we were to try it.

 

I'm not sure Osula works as a focal point though. Imo I think he'd actually be a better winger than central striker. But I gather Wissa was rested due to a knock so guess we'll have to wait another time for the W&W partnership that we last tried in the Bournemouth cup tie.

[charlierc]

11 hours ago, pink_triangle said:

I’m very wary of the idea that one game can be used as evidence that we need VAR, especially as the result with VAR would have been the same. If however Villa had won, life would still go on, most football fans will have forgotten it the following week and it would likely make no impact on who wins the tournament.

 

One of the main reason I don’t want Wrexham to go up is the thought of the emotion drain that is VAR nitpicking over decisions.

Yeah when you're in the stadium, without seeing the replays that are being assessed, it's a very odd experience. I remember one of my first PL games with VAR was a game where Newcastle won a VAR penalty for a handball by a Bournemouth player, one that I don't think was getting appealed for by a lot of people that were in the part of the stadium with the best view of the incident and it was that kind of "What the hell's happening?". It's funny when you actually see some games were it flashes up VAR is checking something and you can almost hear the crowd going as one "Oh here we go, we're gonna be here for ages"

 

This is to say nothing about how VAR seems to be essentially held up as a scapegoat for everything. I appreciate it's been done to death but I agree it becomes a hyper-focus that turns the already "Boo referees are sh*t" discussion that was going on in a pre-VAR age up to 11 and can really disrupt a flow when something is getting forensically examined. There was an incident in a Spanish cup tie this week between Atletico Madrid and Barcelona where it took 8 minutes for VAR to come to a conclusion on whether to disallow a Barcelona goal, and while in the end it didn't matter that much as Barcelona were already 4-0 down, it's still a bit much.

[charlierc]

12 hours ago, thetime said:

 

That penalty decision was mad, it wasn't even close. Lucky for the ref and assistants Newcastle won, woukd of been a lot to answer for if Villa won. 

 

The penalty 

Offside goal

The foul on the touchline, should of been a red. 

I can forgive the offside goal to a degree tbf - I didn't see the replay clearly first so didn't realise he'd gone a beat too early, and I think another Villa player blocked the lino's view of where Abraham was standing. But yeah, it's a definite error.

 

There's an argument we could've had a first half penalty for a foul on Lewis Hall (I'm less convinced by an appeal for a similar incident involving Harvey Barnes) but the Digne foul was an error and ironically the same man's handball in the box was just crazy decision making.

 

So... pfft. Good luck to whichever Championship teams gets those officials next week given the PGMOL's penalty appears to be refereeing a lower level game.

11 hours ago, kaosmark2 said:

We've clearly been hard done by today (I've now seen a 5min highlight package), but I think our game against Chelsea a couple of months ago was very clear evidence that VAR isn't worthwhile. Horrendous decision making throughout that game, with identical decisions at each end both going in Chelsea's favour in a way that really made me question the integrity of officials.

 

The other 2 examples that spring to mind of VAR making me suspicious about corruption, not just disliking delays, were Chelsea/Liverpool screwing Fulham. Why Fulham's goal against Chelsea was disallowed post-VAR I will never understand, and Wirtz's "5mm allowance for offside" rule that somehow hasn't made an appearance in any other close offside this season was outrageous. 

 

I don't think VAR improves things, and while if I'd been watching live today I'd have been fuming about those decisions, I honestly think I'm angrier when they go wrong with VAR. Mistakes can be made live on the pitch by referees. Delays and tempo damage only to still get it wrong just stink.

It was an odd one tbf because there were quite a few incorrectly disallowed goals (Man City and Liverpool both had goals from onside players chalked off), but I guess where VAR struggles is these kind of decisions that are much more subjective. I agree though that having the technology and still f**king it up, as they did for that penalty against Chelsea that wasn't given, doesn't help people sell people on it.

 

I guess the central question is that we've never really got over the disconnect. VAR was sold as this kind of silver bullet to eliminate mistakes and very much hasn't, but take it away for a sustained period of time and then there'd be a wish for it to return.

 

Somebody on Football365 described the performance yesterday by the Villa-Newcastle refs as like making someone who can't drive anywhere without the sat-nav do their own navigation, or like someone who uses ChatGPT for everything to do independent critical thinking. It's not far off tbh.

[SPW]

On 12/02/2026 at 11:46, Punksnotdead said:

So it turns out we have a racist co-owner! Forget champions league qualification, new manager, new players, etc - United's priority should now be getting rid of this piece of sh*t!

Only just looked in on here so a belated agreement. He has been a disaster from a match going fan perspective - trampling over euro loyalty scheme, cost cutting by ridding of the lowest paid staff that supporters face (ticketing & stewards) without any thought or plan re the impact, screwing over membership tckt prices which are the segway in to Utd for younger supporters. Claiming his unpopular decisions have resulted in an upturn in the football is laughable given the cost of his mistakes (Ashworth; ETH; Amorim) drowns out his cost cutting elsewhere.....

 

And then layer in his right wing views and brexiteering......

 

I have never liked or trusted him. Boyhood club, lifelong supporter my arse. As a billionaire he couldn't be arsed making the trip to OT so bough Chelsea STs. He's a charlatan!

 

We ended up with a choice between Racist Ratman and a corrupt, human rights abusing state. What a world🤦🚮

Edited February 15 by SPW