10 years may seem like a long time to our younger followers, but in reality a decade may pass quicker for a seasoned Tottenham fan. Just 10 years separate our club from a scrap for middle-table obscurity to 4th placed finishes and regular European football. I think perhaps we should have a closer look at just how far we've come.
2002/3 season
 |
| A disappointing day at the office |
This wasn't an entirely unusual result for Tottenham at this time. Our squad was, dare I say... Lacking. In several departments. Of any good players. Sure, we had Ledley and the late Dean Richards, both brilliant players on their day, but who would slot in if one were injured? Anthony Gardner? Chris Perry? Nowadays, we complain if Gallas starts a game. We would have loved for someone of Gallas' quality back then. Up front we had the mercurial Teddy Sheringham, but this was after his legs had gone. We were still heavily reliant on him before we splashed out on Robbie Keane in January 2003 (that's right, Levy actually spent money!)
 |
| The awe-inspiring talent that was Chris Perry. |
Our starting line-up wasn't the worst. We had some alright players. But our squad depth... That was the difference. Take a look at our squad list:
I'll just leave that for a moment to sink in.
Jonathan Blondel and Milenko Acimovic were our substitute midfielders. Today, they wouldn't even make Reading's bench. Or QPR's 25 man squad. Granted, this is because football has changed to a large extent. But players like Acimovic made up the meat of our squad in the 2002/2003 season. Sometimes I think we forget just how far we've come.
2012/13 season
Take a look at our current squad:
| Goalkeepers | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 24 | Brad Friedel |  | GK | 41 | Non-EU | |
| 25 | Hugo Lloris |  | GK | 26 | EU | |
| Center Backs | ||||||
| 4 | Younès Kaboul | | CB/RB | 27 | EU | |
| 5 | Jan Vertonghen |  | CB/LB | 25 | EU | |
| 13 | William Gallas | | CB | 35 | EU | |
| 20 | Michael Dawson |  | CB | 29 | HG | |
| 33 | Steven Caulker | | CB | 21 | U-21 | |
| Full Backs | ||||||
| 16 | Kyle Naughton | | RB/LB | 24 | HG | |
| 28 | Kyle Walker | | RB | 22 | HG | |
| 32 | Benoît Assou-Ekotto |  | LB | 28 | Non-EU | |
| Central Midfielders | ||||||
| 6 | Tom Huddlestone | | CM/DM | 26 | HG | |
| 8 | Scott Parker | | CM/DM | 32 | HG | |
| 19 | Mousa Dembélé | | CM/AM | 25 | EU | |
| 23 | Lewis Holtby* |  | CM/AM | 22 | EU | |
| 29 | Jake Livermore | | CM/DM | 23 | HG | |
| 30 | Sandro |  | CM/DM | 23 | Non-EU | |
| 46 | Tom Carroll | | CM | 20 | U-21 | |
| Attacking Midfielders | ||||||
| 2 | Clint Dempsey | | AM/W/ST | 29 | Non-EU | |
| 22 | Gylfi Sigurðsson |  | AM/W | 23 | HG | |
| Wingers | ||||||
| 7 | Aaron Lennon | | W | 25 | HG | |
| 11 | Gareth Bale |  | W/LB | 23 | HG | |
| Forwards | ||||||
| 10 | Emmanuel Adebayor |  | ST | 28 | Non-EU | |
| 18 | Jermain Defoe | |||||
*joined in January
Nearly every single one of these is a full international. We've got genuine world-class players in Hugo Lloris and Gareth Bale. I think it's safe to say that these two would walk into nearly any team in the world. We've got players such as Sandro and the recently acquired Lewis Holtby that most teams around the world would love to have. Even our bench includes players like Sigurdsson who, last year, was a key player at a team who finished higher than we did 10 years ago.
This squad doesn't even include David Bentley, once signed for a club record fee. He's seen as surplus to requirements by most, but 10 years ago we would have been amazed by this signing. It was, and perhaps still is a reminder of the intent Daniel Levy has; the intent to become one of Europe's elite. And today, we aren't far off joining them.
Last decade we would have only been able to dream about attracting players of Holtby's caliber; under-21 German captain with bags of potential going at a rate that virtually all of Europe's elite could afford. But we moved quickest and managed to persuade him to join AVB's revolution. Our club ethos has changed; the average age of our squad is now 27 years old, but this is brought up considerably by Brad Friedel. We are a younger side than we were 10 years ago. We're signing players while they're hungry for success, not trying to secure has-beens or never will-be's. With a new stadium on the way, a state of the art training complex already in place and some excellent young players in our ranks, who would have thought we'd be on the brink of a potential title challenge 10 years ago.
 |
| I fully expect these two to become world-class players |
I wonder what the next 10 years will bring.
Don't forget to follow @OneHotspurWay on Twitter for more of the same!
No comments:
Post a Comment