Don't you want me Berby ?

Subject: Don't you want me Berby ? Sat Jan 05 2008, 08:15

Wanted to share this entertaining read from topspurs columnist with you ...

http://www.topspurs.com/newsnow/thfccol04b0108.htm

4th January 2008 - Don't you want me Berby?

" I was working as a waitress in a cocktail bar. That much is true
But even then I knew I'd find a much better place. Either with or without you
The two years we have had have been such good times. I still love you
But now I think it's time I lived in the champions league. I guess it's just what I must do"

Dimitar 'Phil' Oakley

Everytime I see Berbatov these days, these lyrics 'pop' into my head.

Following on from the sing-along 3 Quotes for you

'Fans must understand Dimitar is 27 next month and time is running out for him to play for a club that can match his ambition'

'His performances for the club are a testament to his commitment to the fans and his team-mates' Emil Dantchev

'We are not a selling club.....' Daniel Levy

'If we want to challenge for honours as a club, then we must keep him' Gus Poyet (paraphrased from MOTD)

I look on the Berbatov situation simply as a reflection of the current owners of Spurs and the way modern Spurs do business.

We as a club have a policy of buying players of 'possible' Champions League quality, preferably young and with a sell on value. The club have a strict wage structure so that the top earners are on far less wages than the top earners at Chelsea, Liverpool, Man Utd, the goons and even Newcastle, and as such top quality players are hardly likely to want to take a paycut to join Spurs (or even the Damien Duffs and Scott Parkers of the world).

Instead Spurs strategy is buy them young, and try to achieve the champions league places for the financial rewards on the (relative) cheap by hoping the current batch of youngsters live up to their potential.

In the meantime the top clubs continue to qualify for the Champions League and pay top money, resulting in their monopolizing the available talent. If they look like their Champions League place is under threat they simply buy from the up and coming talent out there to reinforce their position.

So if Spurs don't quite make it, the plan is simply sell the player who has made the grade and who has realised his 'possible' potential, sell him to one of these Champions League teams for a profit and buy another younger model to try again with.

It happened with Carrick and it's happening with Berbatov.

. .

I don't blame Berbatov or his agent. Let's get that straight.

His agent presumably would not say anything without his client's say so. It's clear he is going.

If you are a football player of some talent, then it is human nature to want to make the most of it. We witnessed this week Frank Lampard saying that he wants to stay at Chelsea for the rest of the career because of the 'love' he gets from the fans there. It's funny I didn't notice that his need for love was high on his agenda when he refused to sign a new contract until he was given parity with the highest earners at the club. The talk then was about looking at his options. £135,000k a week obviously buys a lot of love?

As the song above goes the Berbatov situation leave us, the ordinary fan feeling like the man in the song where, having lifted the woman out of nothing and into a world of fame and celebrity, she dumps him to move on to 'better things'.

Better things in this case no doubt relating to the size of his paypacket. Good luck to you son. But don't slag us off into the bargain.

And a message for you too as Spurs fans- See the situation for what it is and don't worry about it.

Will Berbatov be a big loss??

Yes and no. When he is on form and wanting it, Berbatov can be the best player in the league. But how often does that happen?

From my seat I have seen this season Berbatov has had 4 good games, scoring 5 goals. So suddenly Berbatov is a world class talent (Again) Just as the transfer window opens.

Have I missed something?

Is this the same player who showed the level of his ambition and commitment up at Newcastle this year?

Or the same world class player who was so so brilliant in the game at WHL against the goons? How many chances did he miss?

Did I miss his performances at Anfield and Old Trafford then?

Alternatively I suppose the agent must be referring to his performances in all of his games and a few others, Villa being the latest as the testament to his talent and his commitment?

Oh and where are Spurs in the league? Don't you have a part to play in that Mr Berbatov?
Or is the testament the bagful of silverware he has won during his time at the Lane. Sorry must have missed that as well. I though that beeping sound was the open top bus reversing into the garage again and not my pacemaker with the excitement of it all.

I assume the testament he must be talking about is from all the awards Berbatov has won for his weekly MoM performances or maybe the player of the month awards he has coming out of his ears.....Has he even won a player of the month award?

Or it must the testament that as Jol used to say, he is for Spurs what Henry was for Arsenal. But I assumed at the time Jol was talking about the one-man wonder who carried the team onto greater things rather than the sulking charmless git, constantly gesturing at his team mates, pouting and mincing around the pitch and generally upsetting the younger players.

Berbatov is a quality player and he is a cut above much of what we see down the lane these days. But he is no better than Sheringham or Klinsmann were. And as Jim has said on this site, if any Spurs player has the right to act the prima donna, it is Robbie Keane who scored more premiership goals than anyone else in 2007. And so after the performance of his agent, and his latest round of sulks, I won't suffer too much heartache when he goes.

But he will go.

That has been obvious from the minute that Spurs paid £16m for his replacement, Darren Bent.

Given a decent run in the side and with some fitness, Bent can do a good job for Spurs. He reminds me of Chris Armstrong, but hopefully without the injury record and a better aim. And so we have hope for the future.

But Berbatov will go.

And when he does Levy will turn round and say 'We are not a selling club.....but there is no point holding a player to his contract who wants to go'. Followed by 'We got the best possible price for him (estimated £30m+).

Funnily enough I remember those same quotes when Carrick was sold.

Going back to the message for Spurs fans, I haven't forgotten the time when Enic first took over Spurs in 2001.

Judas at the time was quoted (not that you can really believe anything he says) to have welcomed them, and said he would be interested to see their ambition. If you cast your mind back, Judas was often quoted in his final days as a human being to say that he wanted to know the ambition of Spurs before he signed a new contract, and that he in particular wanted to see the quality of the new signings before he signed a new contract. And so, as a sign of the ambition of the new Board, Judas signed for the goons.

Had he signed for anyone else, we might still have some time for him, and we could have directed that anger at where it should properly have gone. But no.

In the meantime, 666 was sacked. He wasn't sacked for the negative football at the time and the succession of 0-0 draws. No, he was sacked because he told tales out of school and told the press that Enic, the new owners had no money for purchases.

He was sacked for giving away confidential information that might affect the financial performance of the company. Is that the same as leaking to the press that Berbatov has a £30m price on his head? Should Ramos now be booted out on the same grounds? Or is acceptable if it leads to an open auction?

And lo and behold, the truth came to pass. We witnessed the advent of the messiah who was gifted the funds to show the strength of Spurs and Enic's ambition. Such ambition that we bought Acimovic, Bunjecevic, Poyet, Sheringham (free) and Ziege (£5m).

Judas was right to leave after all. (just not to them)

But we at Spurs have been so focused on Judas that we have forgotten or ignored the role of our inglorious owners in all of this at the time.

Had Enic come in with genuine funds, despite the reported backing of the billionaire in the Bahamas , and done an Abramovich then history might have been so much different. We could have been up there first before Chelsea .

Oh and on Chelsea and centre halfs, does anyone recall that a certain John Terry was reported to be on the verge of leaving Chelsea for Arsenal just before the Russians landed in West London? That is another fact conveniently forgotten at badge kissing time.

So my message is simply this. Accept the Berbatov situation for what it is. Accept that Enic are simply there to make a return and a profit on the club and are not really going to 'speculate to accumulate' to invest properly for the future. They don't spend their own money as history clearly shows. And accept that once Berbatov goes there will be another one on the production line to replace him, all nicely wrapped for a Champions League team this time next year.

And when Berbatov comes back to the Lane give him a reception he deserves.

But looking at the last quote from Poyet above, when the club sell him, what will this say to Ramos and Poyet? I think you know the answer to that one.

Over the last 10 years we at Spurs have had to adjust to our standing in the football world. We as fans now readily accept we are a football club on the second tier and we hope to be back on the first tier one day. And for that we let the owners do what they want without a peep of protest. What have you got to protest about after all? You get what you pay for as Paul Barber told us last year, and having no defence clearly is a strategy for entertainment.

If you want to see how we used to be, just listen to the fans of the barcodes go on about how Allardyce is betraying their status or look at their campaigns against Shepherd. Or listen to the Liverpool fans who despite the money spent on big name players year after year, just can't seem get it right, and have turned into a Cup team and always trail miles behind their main rivals.

Sound familiar?

We on the other hand are the new West Ham. A nice Club. An entertaining club. A club with good football traditions.

A selling club.

Admin Age : 25 Joined : 22 Sep 2007 Posts : 227

Great read.

Edgar Davids Joined : 06 Jun 2007 Posts : 3552

some valid points.

Don't agree entirely with what he says though

Founding Father Joined : 06 Jun 2007 Posts : 1704

Very good read. Kind of agree with most of what he says but one or two disagreements. No doubt to be further discussed over a few

tonight.

COYS