Posts Tagged ‘Tottenham Hotspur’

Bruce takes satisfaction in managing ‘big club’

• Manager has chance to fulfil his high ambitions
• Bruce buoyed by club’s sound financial footing

Steve Bruce has thanked Wigan Athletic for twice saving his career as a manager but argues he had to leave in the summer to join Sunderland to fulfil his ambitions.

Bruce had been sacked by Sheffield United and Huddersfield when he took the manager’s job at Wigan for the first time in 2001 and was becoming disillusioned with life in the dug-out again when he returned to Lancashire following an acrimonious split with Birmingham City six years later.

However, the former Manchester United defender is unapologetic about leaving Wigan in June and insists he would never have been able to further his career there because it was impossible to keep his best players. That helped to persuade the lifelong Newcastle United fan that an offer from Sunderland was too good to turn down and he has enjoyed an excellent start at the Stadium of Light, guiding the club to eighth in the Premier League ahead of his return to Wigan tomorrow.

“The first time I went to Wigan, we were in the old second division,” Bruce said. “I was only there for a few weeks but when I went there I was questioning myself. I was seriously thinking I didn’t want to go into management after what happened in Huddersfield and Sheffield.

“Birmingham had become such a mess that going there [to Wigan] second time around did reinvigorate me a little bit. I was fed up with all the infighting and whether the club was going to be sold.”

However, it was the sale of Wilson Palacios to Tottenham Hotspur in January which convinced Bruce that, if another club offered him a job without such tight constraints, he would take it.

He said: “For a calendar year I think we got 60-odd points, which would have qualified us for Europe. But you know, if you’re going into January and losing your best players, it’s going to be tough. It was. We still managed to finish the season 11th but it could have been something better.”

At Sunderland, Bruce feels that, whatever he builds, he will be able to keep intact thanks to the financial backing of the American billionaire Ellis Short, who took control of the club just before he arrived as manager.

“I don’t have to sell anymore, that’s one of the big reasons why I came to Sunderland,” he said. “We are trying to be a big club in the signings we’ve made. Of course, if it’s really good business, everyone sells one now and again – Mr Wenger does it regularly [at Arsenal].

“Last Christmas I think there was a bid for Kenwyne Jones and they turned it down, which goes to show you. I came here not just because of a big crowd but because it has a big-club feel.”

Tottenham optimistic for Cudicini after surgery

Doctors expect a good recovery, say Tottenham
Keeper to remain on forearm crutches for 12 weeks

Carlo Cudicini is making a good recovery following surgery on injuries sustained in a motorcycle crash but the Tottenham goalkeeper faces 12 weeks in forearm crutches.

The 36-year-old Italian was hospitalised on Thursday after his BMW motorbike collided with a Ford Fiesta in Walthamstow. He suffered injuries described by police as “potentially life-changing”, and underwent surgery last night on his right wrist and pelvis.

Tottenham’s head of medical services Wayne Diesel today told the club’s website: “Both specialists are extremely pleased with the result and expect a good recovery. Carlo is in a lot less discomfort than before the operations and is in good spirits.”

Cudicini fractured both wrists in the accident, but Diesel added: “The splint on his left wrist has been removed and he now has full use of this wrist. He will remain in hospital for a few more days and then be on forearm crutches for about 12 weeks.”

Cudicini arrived at White Hart Lane last January on a free transfer following a decade at Chelsea. The Italian has made eight appearances and only last month said he was keen to stay beyond the end of the campaign, when his contract expires.

Bendtner undergoes groin surgery

• Striker facing four weeks out after minor operation
• Injury sustained in last month’s win over Tottenham

Arsenal have confirmed that the striker Nicklas Bendtner has undergone surgery on his injured groin.

The 21-year-old Dane picked up the injury in last month’s 3-0 derby win over Tottenham Hotspur. The injury was at first thought to be a strain but, following an operation in Germany, the player is now likely to be out of action until early December.

Bendtner had just come back from a similar problem when he played against Spurs. Speaking at the time the injury was sustained, the Arsenal manager, Arsène Wenger, said: “Losing Bendtner is a big blow. I played him against Tottenham because he is strong in the air.

“It gives us more variety in our games because we can lose possession, yet still win the next header with Bendtner. He makes us dangerous at set-pieces and so we can change our game a little bit.”

Arsenal have won their last four games in all competitions, and have not been beaten since losing at Manchester City in the league on 12 September.

Redknapp keen for Old Firm to go south

• Tottenham manager backs plan to admit Rangers and Celtic
• ‘They are great clubs … it would be good for the English game’

The Tottenham Hotspur manager Harry Redknapp has become the latest Premier League manager to back the Old Firm’s bid to join England’s top flight.

Everton’s David Moyes and Aston Villa’s Martin O’Neill last week endorsed the Bolton chairman Phil Gartside’s plan for Celtic and Rangers to be included in a new two-tier top flight. Gartside’s proposal is expected to be discussed at a meeting of Premier League clubs this week and Redknapp has become the first English manager to publicly back the concept.

“Absolutely, I would welcome Celtic and Rangers to English football if they wanted to play down here. No doubt about it. I’m sure they would be good for the English game,” he told the Daily Record.

“We are talking about two huge football clubs and if they were to join our league you would be looking at great games in great stadiums. I was up in Scotland only a couple of months ago to watch Celtic play Arsenal in the Champions League qualifiers and the atmosphere was out of this world.

“It was incredible and I’d love to see games like that on a more regular basis. The one worry I would have is what happens to the rest of Scottish football if the two of them are allowed to leave but only the people up there know the answer to that. If you’re asking me if it would be good for the English game then the answer is yes.”

Former Celtic player Moyes and ex-Parkhead manager O’Neill have emotional ties to their former club but Redknapp is a more dispassionate observer. Despite acknowledging the Old Firm could become a threat to Spurs, he would still welcome them.

“It’s true, with the extra money they would get down here the two of them probably would end up challenging clubs such as ourselves for European places but that’s nothing something we should be scared of,” he said. “We are talking here about two great clubs and it would be fantastic to compete against them. It would only make the game in this country stronger if we had two clubs with their tradition operating in our league.”

Lennon out again for Tottenham but Modric trains

• Croatian had been out for two months with fractured fibula
• Lennon misses visit of Sunderland with ankle injury

Aaron Lennon is expected to miss Tottenham Hotspur’s Premier League match against Sunderland on Saturday but there was better news for the manager, Harry Redknapp, when Luka Modric returned to light training.

Modric has been out for two months with a fractured fibula, suffered in the 2-1 win against Birmingham at the end of August. The 24-year-old is still considered a long-term absentee, though, and will certainly be out for longer than Lennon, who has been earmarked for a return from his ankle injury after the international break, making him a doubt for England’s friendly against Brazil in Qatar.

Jermain Defoe, meanwhile, is available for the visit of Sunderland after serving a three-match suspension, but Sébastien Bassong will miss out with a hamstring problem. Jonathan Woodgate could deputise after returning from a head injury suffered in the recent 1-0 defeat to Stoke, when Lennon also picked up his knock.

“He [Woodgate] has been pretty unlucky against Stoke to take a bang,” Joe Jordan, Tottenham’s assistant manager, said. “But he’ll be back in contention.”

Redknapp is delighted to have Defoe back as he feels his side has suffered in the absence of the striker, as well as that of Modric and Lennon. Spurs have lost two of their last three matches – the defeat to Stoke and Saturday’s 3-0 hammering at Arsenal.

“They are three of my best players,” Redknapp said. “Modric is a world-class player. Lennon is a threat when he has the ball and goes at people. Defoe has been in incredible form. Suddenly we miss him for three games. It’s cost us dearly when he got sent off at Portsmouth.”

Meanwhile, Spurs have announced an initial two-year official club partnership with the Hong Kong club South China. “The relationship with the Hong Kong-based football club will look to focus on football and commercial development,” a Spurs statement read. “This will include a shared knowledge of coaching methods and techniques as well as coach visits.”

According to reports in Hong Kong, the South China striker Chan Siu-ki will undergo a 10-day trial at Spurs.