The Spurs Pies 2007/08 Season Review: August
With the 2007/08 season now at an end, we can finally look back at one of the most eventful seasons in the history of Tottenham Hotspur.
We'll be reviewing each month of the season individually, and we start, predictably, at the beginning. Here are all the events that mattered in August.
Wednesday 1st August
Leyton Orient 2 Spurs 4
The month began on something of a high note, as our impressive pre-season continued with a victory over League One Orient. More important than the result was the fact that three of our four strikers got on the scoresheet, with a Robbie Keane double, adding to goals from Darren Bent and a scorcher from Jermain Defoe.
Thursday 2nd August
King out til October
As we were soon to realise though, good news would prove few and far between in the early months of the season, and Ledley King's latest setback was very bad news indeed. King would eventually return to the first team in December, making his first appearance of the season against Fulham on Boxing Day. The defence struggled hugely in his absence, with the likes of Younes Kaboul and Anthony Gardner proving to be utterly inadequate deputies.
Friday 3rd August
Ghaly rejects BirminghamA truly astonishing turn of events saw Hossam Ghaly fall out with Birmingham manager Steve Bruce before Spurs had even had a chance to finalise his sale. Ghaly's attitude issues forced him into a self-imposed exile, and he was eventually loaned out to Derby in January. Reports that he demanded to be sent back to exile soon after were never confirmed.
Saturday 4th August
Spurs 2 Torino 0
Yet again, a seemingly positive pre-season victory which, with the benefit of hindsight, only served to underline the poor quality of our summer opposition. Win after win filled us fans with hope only for it to be cruelly destroyed some seven days later.
Saturday 11th August
Sunderland 1 Spurs 0
Michael Chopra's injury-time winner still haunts me in my sleep. With the game chosen as the opening fixture of the new season, the first goal of the Premier League campaign came not from the much-hyped Spurs side, but the new boys' new signing. Spurs' habit of conceding crucial late goals is yet to be adequately remedied.
Tuesday 14th August
Spurs 1 Everton 3
If Sunderland fired the warning shots, Everton set the natives into a mortal panic. Having narrowly beaten the Merseyside club to fifth place last season, this match was seen as a more tangible measuring stick for Spurs' progress. As it turned out, they were found well and truly wanting, the only bright spot came when Anthony Gardner briefly brought us back on level terms. Little did any of us know that Gardner would finish the season struggling to earn a spot on Everton's bench, and be grateful for it.
Thursday 16th August
Mido signs for Middlesbrough
Jol summoned by Levy
A bad day for fans of likeable but overweight footballing personalities. If Mido's exit was inevitable and justified, Martin Jol's sudden fall from grace was anything but. Only the most ignorant of club chairmen would consider two defeats to be the stuff of crisis and panic, and I need not expand any further on my contempt for our fearless leader Daniel Levy. Mido would prove to be the answer to precisely no one's prayers at Middlesbrough, whilst Jol lasted just two more months before the axe fell.
Saturday 18th August
Spurs 4 Derby County 0
Derby's start to the season had offered little hint of the disaster lurking around the corner, and so this thrashing was, at the time, seen more as evidence of a Spurs revival than a Derby disaster. Darren Bent scored his first goal for the club; Steed Malbranque scored two and ran the show. Malbranque would end the season as our most consistent performer, Bent a reminder of a summer of folly.
Sunday 19th August
Tabloids reveal meetings with Ramos
If Levy's "summoning" three days earlier was the warning sign of a marriage on the rocks, the following Sunday's tabloid reports were the sex tape featuring your beloved and your best friend. Graphic images of Spurs directors meeting Sevilla manager Juande Ramos were plastered all over the red tops, and we knew immediately both Jol's fate and the identity of the next in line.
Tuesday 21st August
Club issue statement
Like a little boy's finger desperately trying to fix a leak in a dam, Levy and co did all that they could to stem the tide, but the damage was very much done. A statement said all the right things, but came across very much like the proverbial Tory MP whose affair has just been harshly exposed, with Jol cast in the role of woman scorned.
Thursday 23rd August
Robinson backs Jol
Cynics may suggest that Paul Robinson's comments were designed to deflect from his latest blunder, made whilst wearing the England Number 1 jersey. Despite this, his sentiments were still appreciated by fans still trying to take in what was happening at their club.
Sunday 26th August
Manchester United 1 Spurs 0
With reports suggesting Jol had been fortunate even to make it to the fourth game of the season, his side put on a brave and determined display that could and should have earned them at least a point at Old Trafford against a United side also struggling for form. The difference being that Alex Ferguson had some nine Premier League titles in his favour, and hence his position was never in any doubt. A spectacular Nani goal was the difference in the end, and for all our chances, we were unable to find a way past Edwin Van der Sar, Rio Ferdinand and Wes Brown, all of whom made spectacular stops to prevent certain goals.
Tuesday 28th August
Spurs ban Evening Standard
The day the club proved shameless in their attempts to silence the deafening whispers. After Standard columnist Matthew Norman had the temerity to criticise the almighty Levy, the club responded in the only way that a laughing stock can, by doing all they can not to hear the guffawing. The ban was met with unanimous criticism, and the status of the ban is unclear at the present time.
Friday 31st August
Danny Murphy sold to Fulham
A relatively quiet transfer deadline day saw only one departure and no further signings. Having been effectively frozen out just 18 months after joining the club, Murphy was left with no choice but to make the short hop across London. Fast forward nine months later, and Fulham fans must be thanking their lucky stars.
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