Tottenham - a drink too far?

Filed in archive General on March 3, 2008

When Jonathan Woodgate scored the winner for Tottenham in the Carling Cup Final the celebrations began.

Disciplinarian manager Juande Ramos told the players that they could ignore his strict new rules and have a few drinks. I wonder if Ramos had any idea what he was doing? If he didn't know about the drinking culture in English football he certainly does now!

All last week we were inundated with tabloid stories and photos of Tottenham players being drunk and getting involved in fights. Jermaine Jenas was pictured in the early hours not knowing who he was and Ledley King was involved in a scuffle with nightclub bouncers. (If you saw the size of the bouncers Ledley must have been drunk to take them on!)

This article in the Telegraph is typical of many others.

So what was the result of this week of endless partying and fun? A 4-1 defeat at Birmingham.

After the game an unhappy Ramos told the BBC, "But we have to be strong mentally and be better than we were today which frankly wasn't good enough."

The starting line-up for Spurs at St Andrews revealed an interesting fact. Woodgate, King, Jenas, Lennon and Keane, four Englishmen and an Irishman were 'rested' and the overseas players Chimbonda, Malbranque and Berbatov all started. Coincidence?

I suspect that Juande Ramos will have been a little surprised and disappointed by the extreme lengths his British players went to when he let them off the leash. I very much doubt whether he will be quick to do so again.

Tottenham did fantastically well to win that trophy and their performances in the semi-final against Arsenal and the final against Chelsea were excellent. It is a shame that these professional players couldn't just enjoy a quiet few beers to celebrate and then get on with their lives as professional sportsmen.