Tottenham will get it right at some stage

14 April 2012

Martin Jol's first evening engagement as Tottenham's head coach illustrates perfectly just how big a challenge he faces in restoring credibility to White Hart Lane.

While Spurs are scrapping for respectability in the Carling Cup at Burnley tonight, their traditional rivals in North London will face Everton with a team drawn from the ranks of Highbury's reserves and youth players.

Arsene Wenger will rest his best players - they face Spurs of course on Saturday - while Jol will use his to try to secure some sort of toehold in this season's race for the minor trophies. The major trophies slipped from Tottenham's area of operation long ago.

When Jol was playing for West Brom and Coventry in the mid-Eighties, Spurs and Arsenal were bracketed together among the elite of the old First Division.

In fact, in the days when the Premiership was still in the blueprint stage and TV contracts were scribbled on the backs of envelopes the 'big five' in the First Division were Liverpool, Everton, Manchester United, Arsenal and, yes, Tottenham. Nothing happened without the agreement of those five elite clubs.

In the capital the bragging rights belonged to Tottenham and Arsenal. That is no longer the case. Arsenal, with five Championship titles in 15 years, stand alone with Chelsea now emerging as their most serious challenger. Tottenham? Once potential trophy winners, they now seek consolation in avoiding the drop and retaining their Premiership status. Spurs loyalists, many of whom still dream of past glories, scoff at the merest suggestion of relegation.

Such a prospect is not unthinkable. Many clubs, having enjoyed far greater success than Spurs in recent years, have slipped from the Premiership. Supporters at Nottingham Forest, Leeds, Derby and Sheffield Wednesday will tell you that they never thought they'd see their teams relegated.

Only once in the last eight seasons have Tottenham finished above halfway. In that period of time they've had seven different managers while Arsenal and Manchester United have had just one each.

Will Jol last longer than the average of a year or two? Appointed by Frank Arnesen in the summer to help Jacques Santini, he'll be mindful of the lessons of the recent past. He'll know, for instance, that the Hoddle-Pleat relationship was a torturous affair but at least he'll enjoy the full support of Arnesen, the club's sporting director.

These partnerships, often fundamental to the success of clubs on the Continent, are designed to ensure a continuity of playing policy but rarely work here. Traditionally, the boss in English football likes complete control. He wants to pick the team and sign the players.

It's no coincidence that Wenger and Sir Alex Ferguson stand and fall by their own decisions. There is no blurring of responsibility, no division of authority, no risk of treachery at either Highbury or Old Trafford.

Nor should there be at White Hart Lane. Arnesen headhunted Jol and admires his work. They are friends. They are of a similar persuasion in matters of strategy and players. They both understand the great legacy left to Spurs by Bill Nicholson.

They will be given time to get it right. Apart from anything else, it will cost the club a fortune to pay them both off if it doesn't work out. But let's be positive. The law of averages says that Spurs will get it right one day.

Arnesen and Jol may be the pair who finally tip the scales back in Tottenham's favour. At least they both speak good English which means the players can no longer claim not to understand their instructions.

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