Cruciformity

On Thursday night at White Hart Lane Martin Jol was told just before the UEFA Cup match that it would be his last match as Coach at Spurs.

I suppose that for most of you this means even less than the tragic news that Paris Hilton cancelled recent plans to go to Rwanda (sorry to have to break that to you). For most Spurs fans this means devastation.

Here’s my slight over-representation of a football tragic’s feelings…

BMJ (Big Martin Jol) was a father-figure to Spurs fans who have endured some terrible football from their club over the last twenty years. When Jol stepped up to take on the big job, and when he brought us into 5th position in the League two years running and brought European football back to the Lane, he was quickly adopted as one of Tottenham’s favourite sons. It was only a couple of months ago that things looked so good. We injected 40 million pounds into getting new players! But… a string of bad luck and injuries to our back line has resulted in our 18th position on the ladder and the board’s lack of a scape-goat.

There have been tears, don’t worry about that. Lots of anger. But also the pledge of fans to never stop supporting the club. Admittedly, I’ve only ever really been keeping scores from websites and rarely seeing games on Fox. But BMJ was like the Godfather - the man you looked to when times got tough -  Spurs would have a few defeats, and the Dutchman would take it, say the hard truth, speak of his hopes and then shape the side into a ‘winning mentality’.

Martin made an emotion-packed statement following the game on the official website:

I can understand the position of the Club in light of the results. I have thoroughly enjoyed my time here. Tottenham Hotspur is a special Club and I want to thank the terrific staff and players. For me the fans were always amazing with their support so I would also like to say thank you – I shall never forget them.

The fans turned up to the game unaware of the message that the board had just stabbed into the square of Martin’s back. So one fan at the game writes of the event as it unfolded on the night:

The sound of beeping mobiles in the interval alerted us to the biggest drama of the night. News filtered around the stadium that Jol had agreed a severance package with Sevilla boss Juande Ramos stepping in to the breach.

Text ’severance’ then turned to text ’sacked’ and the crowd rose as one to voice their admiration for the affable Dutchman.

He wasn’t perfect, but he bagged us two top-five finishes in a row and a stirring Uefa Cup run last season that was halted by a shocking refereeing decision, ironically against Sevilla.

With the sound of ‘I love Martin Jol, Martin Jol loves me. I love Martin Jol, Martin Jol loves me’ ringing around the stadium, the big man waved goodbye to a once proud club.

sorry, it’s been a while since i last posted. i’ve been finding it difficult to find the time - it seems like there’s always something important to do...

Just yesterday, Radiohead released their latest album - someone i read said that it’s possibly their finest work yet.  Now he’s reserved his judgement and this is usually a good thing, but experience says that radiohead albums only get better the more you listen. Let me say without equivocation - this is a GOOD album. Inspired by the early stuff, made room for by Kid A and Amnesiac, what Hail to the Thief was trying to be and what The Eraser couldn’t be - ‘In Rainbows’ is a gem.

And if the music isn’t cool enough - what only to adds to the coolness is that they’ve skipped the middle man and are offering it through their own website. This means that no one had access to the music before anyone else. AND it’s all for the price of… well, whatever you want to pay! That’s right, they’re mavericks, breaking social conventions. Cool.

Here are the lyrics for one of the songs that I really like - Faust ARP. Don’t ask me what the title means or, for that matter, what any of the lyrics really mean; they’re notoriously impenetrable. But, if you cross your eyes a little, I think you’ll get the idea. They serve, I think, as a collage of words and spell out experiences that people all relate to.

Have a read. But even better download (if you can) and have a listen: www.radiohead.com. I’d love to hear your comments!

Wakey wakey
rise and shine
it’s on again, off again, on again
watch me fall
like dominos
in pretty patterns
Fingers in the blackbird pie
i’m tingling tingling tingling
it’s what you feel now
what you ought to, what you ought to
reasonable and sensible
dead from the neck up
because im stuffed, stuffed, stuffed
we thought you had it in you
but no, no, no
for no real reason

Squeeze the tubes and empty bottles
take a bow take a bow take a bow
it’s what you feel now
what you ought to
what you ought to
an elephant thats in the room is
tumbling tumbling tumbling
in duplicate and duplicate
plastic bags and
duplicate and triplicate
dead from the neck up
guess im stuffed, stuffed, stuffed
we thought you had it in you
but no, no, no
exactly where do you get off
Is enough is enough is enough
I love you but enough is enough, enough
a last stop
There’s no real reason

you’ve got a head full of feathers
you got melted to butter