23. A number synonymous with many things. David Beckham, Michael Jordan, even The Butterfly Stomper from the Beatles wonderfully level minded Yellow Submarine, wore a number 23 shirt as he destroyed all things beautiful. However, when that number indicates the number of Managers (if you include caretakers and respawns) that Tottenham Hotspur has had in the 22 years since the inception of the Premier League, it doesn’t make for great reading.
Now it would seem that many Tottenham greats, such as Gary Mabbutt, Gerry Francis and even, Darren Anderton *ahem* concur that incoming Manager, Mauricio Pochettino requires time to succeed at the Lane.
The trouble is that a long term contract really does not mean anything nowadays and it is really down to the money men at the top to hire and fire as they see fit. We all know Daniel Levy has a reputation for being a hard-nosed business man, but surely it has come to the point now where he realises that Pochettino, needs a couple of years and four transfer windows to either make his mark or screw it up. If his 18 months at Southampton is anything to go by, then the Spurs fans should be looking forward to the Argentine’s style of play which is typical of the history of their club.
Erik Lamela, who is so injured he had to pull out of an autograph session at the Spurs shop recently (God knows what injury prevents you from sitting down and moving a pen about?), may be the biggest beneficiary of the new Manager. He has a huge price tag on his back, is struggling (apparently) with life and language in England and maybe this will give him the boot he needs to show the doubters (this writer included) his obvious talent and pull his flagging career back into the fore.
As the late, great Maya Angelou told us, ‘All great achievements require time’.
It just seems that some people’s clocks work at different speeds to others!
Source: DSG
