Tottenham Talk on Sunday 5th Sept
Tottenham Talk on Sunday 5th Sept
Hello folks and thanks for all the well wishes.
I have been recycling, yes that's right, I hacked the ice of the back of the fridge (defrosted it!) and put it in the pond.
Well, why pay to throw it down the sink.
It soon melted and saved me filling up the pond as well.
Double whammy.
Next is the water I have stored after the rain, that can be used to fill the pond as well next time, must get the new water butt fitted.
Monday was a great day to wake up, Spurs sitting top of the Premier League, no goals conceded, Arsenal bottom of the table, no goals scored.
And every day since, two weeks of being able to enjoy sitting two points clear with a reason to be happy and positive.
I have been reading up on the Brighton department caring for the mental welfare of their players.
They believe they will produce better performances if they do and Brighton have started the season well.
They sit 8th, 6 points above bottom of the table Arsenal, having won two and lost one.
The name of the department gives a clue, Performance Psychology and Wellbeing Department.
Performance Psychology, something Spurs should have adopted as a part of compulsory weekly training years ago, not as an option if you think you have an issue.
Dele Alli had an issue, yet it took him, on his own, a year to figure out he was the problem, not everyone else.
Danny Rose never figured it out, Tanguy Ndombele hasn't either.
Why weren't these issues tackled?
Why was/has it been allowed to continue for so long?
You heard José Mourinho in All or Nothing tell Dele in his office he has to sort it out, but he was in denial so Dele didn't see any problem to rectify.
He wasn't going to go to a sports psychologist to seek the help he needed to rediscover his desire and motivation and, therefore, his game.
A wasted season that cost us points and a higher grade of European football, cost him a place in the European Championships.
Player wellbeing and performance are connected, everyone has off days, everyone has days where they are not motivated, everyone has family problems or problems outside work.
As we discovered on Saturday, sleep could be the issue for a players performance dropping and worry about something activates the brain to prevent sleep.
It affects your work so why shouldn't the same issues you suffer affect a players performance.
Brighton appointed James Bell as Head of Psychology and Wellbeing and psychologist Cara Lea Moseley as Mental Wellbeing Manager.
They stole a march on the opposition, including us, although we have now followed their lead.
The successful applicant will work between the Enfield training complex and the Lilywhite House offices, attached to The Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.
The Mental Health and Emotional Wellbeing manager will ensure that academy footballers “have access to mental health and wellbeing education so that they are empowered to make healthier life choices”.
That should be ascertained by professionals.
For Tottenham and a naming rights sponsor to get coverage on CNN, NBC, CBS, ABC, Fox, The CW for instance, is huge
The Mental Health and Emotional Wellbeing manager will ensure that academy footballers “have access to mental health and wellbeing education so that they are empowered to make healthier life choices”.
Sevilla have a research and development department with mathematicians, engineers, psychologists looking at every single aspect to enhance performance and they have won the UEFA Europa League multiple times on limited resources.
They are a club who have to develop a player and sell them on, yet they continue to win trophies.
Danny Rose wouldn't be having the mental issues he has had and wouldn't be sulking with an "It's not fair" mentality if we had had a psychologist working with him.
We'd have the excellent player he was, but no longer is because of his mentality.
He felt he was good enough for Bayern Munich or PSG and wanted paying as such, reality kicks in and he is at Watford, nobody wanted that negative mentality in their side.
Dele Alli wouldn't have had his problems.
Tanguy Ndombele wouldn't be so lazy, so unmotivated.
That's three quality players or players who could quality players if their heads were in the right place, if we had been looking after their mental wellbeing properly.
I find it so frustrating that we haven't being, when everyone accepts sport is 95% in the brain, yet we neglect brain training!
Where is the logic in that.
There is still a stigma attached to mental health.
The days of man-up have gone.
No more is it a subject to brush under the table, but the onus is still on the player to take the step, to admit a perceived weakness and they don't want to do that, which is why someone has to spot it and tackle it with them.
As from 2019 the Premier League rules meant clubs have to make their players available for a 45-90 minute session to explain what mental health and wellbeing support is available.
We have all been to these sessions where you turn off and let things go in one ear and out the other.
It needs one-on-one work.
Looking at the players and playing, they need to be having a regular chat with a psychologist.
Brain training professionally or amateurishly, which is going to have the greater results?
Professionally obviously, so why do we do it amateurishly?
It just doesn't make any sense when you are spending £30m, £40m, £50m, £60m on a player.
What is Dele Alli worth firing on all cylinders as opposed to the Dele Alli we have had for the last few years?
Spurs have created an environment of fun and happiness, some have perhaps lost focus within that.
They perhaps have been to busy having a fun time and having to knuckle down like winners didn't fit in with their 'play for fun' approach.
At club level in any sport, that's the difference between people, those who play for fun, for their enjoyment, as opposed to those who do more training to be better and perform better for the team.
Mourinho came in with a winners mentality, this is how winners do things, it's black and white, you either do this or you don't.
We don't carry passengers, we are not a charity.
Some were not though, yet they still expected to be picked.
The attitude is, it's your problem, you deal with it, you either do it how winners do it or leave.
Shouldn't there be another step, shouldn't there be a, we can help you regain your focus, drive, motivation, mentality, performance step?
Shouldn't we also create that environment for them too?
The club might argue they do but clearly more could be done.
I maintain, that to train, to motivate, to encourage a player, you must know the player, you must know what motivates him.
If you don't, how can you tap into it?
If you don't know, you are crossing your fingers that the player knows and most people don't actually know what motivates them, not deep down.
Stadium Naming Rights
Stadium naming rights deals are generally long term deals and many fans seem to think you should just take any deal, why?
What is the point in taking a deal like Arsenal's, which I believe is £3m a year for 10 years, while in 2011 Manchester City owners decided to pay themselves £40m a year for 10 years to include shirt sponsorship.
A vast difference and you can see why the authorities have tried to obtain the paperwork that proves financial doping, paperwork that exists it seems, but that thus far they have been unable to obtain by means that allow it to be presented in court.
This is one area where speed is not of the essence but getting the right figure is.
Daniel Levy has wanted something nearer Manchester City's deal than Arsenal's deal.
That was in place before the pandemic which has caused people to struggle, lose their jobs etc so not really the right time from a PR perspective to be announcing a deal.
Thus any deal has been delayed until the wold has returned to some form of normality.
Those discussions have been taking place and as I reported a month ago, there would be a naming rights deal announced after the transfer window had shut and that the figure was dependant upon whether Harry Kane was at the club or not.
We now know the answer to that one so the last vestiges of discussion could take place between the two sides.
That gets scheduled when it is convenient for both sides, it isn't something that is rushed into a week because, well, there is no rush.
The deal is not a simple deal because of our 24 non-footballing events and our potential NFL tie-up, when, not if, a London franchise is given and their home becomes the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.
That opens up an American market for a naming rights sponsor so Daniel Levy can't sell a cheap deal and then the sponsor suddenly get their name in a massive new market, that has to be factored in.
For Tottenham and a naming rights sponsor to get coverage on CNN, NBC, CBS, ABC, Fox, The CW for instance, is huge
Any other naming rights deal has solely been about football, getting their brand promoted through football, but any Spurs deal incorporates these 24 non-footballing events.
We have boxing promotions lined up, there will be music events, we have already had to delay a Bon Jovi concert, there is the Rugby League Cup Final.
Then we also have two NFL football games and the potential there when that grows.
At every one of these 24 non-football events, there is the opportunity for promotion of the event through the use of the Skywalk and thus the sponsors name gaining added promotion.
All of that has to be factored in and negotiated, it is an incredibly complex negotiation which a huge amount of assessment work for each side to price up value.
It is a unique naming rights deal, the like of which has never been negotiated in football circles before.
I don't think some fans appreciate the complexity of it, nor understand how high level negotiations take place, which is over months, not days or weeks.
Both sides discuss, then go away to assess, gather further information, assess again, prepare an approach and then have the next discussion perhaps a month after the first.
This will happen many time over a large deal when there is no time pressure, so 6 months, a year, is nothing.
It is all in the pipeline, with discussions like this it is hard to put a date on an announcement, but a deal will be announced in due course, another step in the right direction.
LATE BREAKING NEWS: A remarkable story is coming out of Brazil that Giovanni Lo Celso, Cristian Romero, Emiliano Martínez (Aston Villa) and Emi Buendia (Aston Villa) have been accused of failing to declare they’ve been in UK.
They should quarantine in Brazil for 14 days and are now under investigation.
Brazil are weakened for their clash with bitter rivals Argentina as their players have been ordered not to travel, but the two Spurs players and two Villa players went.
Government sources in Sao Paulo last night suggested the players were unlikely to be kept in a hotel for 14 days and could instead be ordered to pay a fine and leave the country.
Well that's it folks.
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