Football.London

Former Tottenham Hotspur midfielder Christian Eriksen has insisted he has a lot of respect for his ex-manager Jose Mourinho despite his hasty exit from North London in 2020.

Mourinho was appointed the new manager of Tottenham in November 2019 and by the end of January 2020, Eriksen had departed the club for a new challenge at Inter. The Dane racked up a highly respectable 305 appearances for Spurs during his six and a half year stint at Tottenham and many fans were disappointed to see him leave when he felt the time was right to move on.

Discussing his departure in a press conference, Mourinho said: "We knew it for a long time. We didn't reveal it because we had respect for him and I knew it the first day I came here, he told me he won't sign the new contract.

"So, it was a situation that I left in the hands of Mr Levy to manage. For me, it is more important to have players who want to play for this club and that is important."

While Mourinho may have handled Eriksen's exit frostily, the midfielder has shown no ill-will towards the former Tottenham and Chelsea boss ahead of tonight's meeting between the pair's current clubs, Fenerbahce and Manchester United, in the Europa League. Speaking to TNT Sports about the prospect of facing Mourinho, Eriksen said: "He has a few old teams. He has a long and very respected career, so hats off.

"But he’s still Mourinho... so it’s special to play against him. He is a massive, massive name in the football world and what he’s achieved as a manager is incredible."

Leading sports lawyer Nick De Marko has delivered his verdict on the latest update on the New Football Governance Bill, which will impact Premier League outfits including Arsenal, Chelsea and Tottenham. A new strengthened bill has been announced and is set to return to parliament on Thursday.

The changes to the original bill include the inclusion of parachute payments. There will also be greater fan engagement, with clubs requires to engage more effectively with fans on ticket prices.

The bill, however, will not be involved in the league’s financial control regulations, including the Profitability and Sustainability Rules (PSRs) that have been in the headlines over the last 12 months. Everton and Nottingham Forest received points deductions last season after being found guilty of being in breach of the regulations.

Newly promoted Leicester City also faced a charge for an alleged breach of the rules. But they won an appeal due to their relegation in 2023 and the rules not applying to them. They will therefore now not receive a points deduction.

The lawyer who represented Leicester in the case against the Premier League, Nick De Marco KC, has now taken to social media to deliver some strong thoughts on the new Football Governance bill. He pointed out the positives from the bill, including the parachute payments, the fan engagement and the regulation of equality, diversity and inclusion in football.

However, De Marko has also pointed the ‘elephant in the room’ in the new regulations as being their reluctance to be involved in the financial controls put in place by the Premier League.

“The (understandable) reluctance of the regulator to get involved in the league’s various financial control regulations is inconsistent with the key justifications for the independent regulation in the first place for three main reasons,” he wrote on his X (formerly Twitter) account.

“First, the main justification for the Independent Regulator is to promote financial sustainably. That is also the main justification for the various Profit & Sustainability rules now in place, and those the leagues are considering replacing them with. To have at least two entirely different financial regulation regimes operating on clubs at the same time is irrational and wasteful, may lead to contradiction, and does not address some of the key problems of existing and proposed league financial control schemes.

“Second, the justification for staying out of league financial controls, that the leagues must be responsible for competition rules, does not withstand scrutiny when the existing financial rules are justified on sustainability and not competition grounds, and in many respect can be seen as anti-competitive, where they discourage investment and re-enforce the status quo in terms of bigger established clubs against others.

“Third, most of the significant problems with self-regulation involve those financial rules - including the recent ATP issues, issues arising in the various PSR cases, and the non-alignment of financial rules between the PL and the EFL. There is always a risk that where clubs make the financial control rules in their particular league they shall vote based on individual self-interest, which may involve attempts to hold back competitor clubs. An independent regulator capable of making rational and fair financial control rules to be applied across the leagues, in an aligned and proportionate way, that reflect the Bill’s “light touch” approach seeking to take preventative steps to protect vulnerable clubs from overspending when they cannot afford to do so, rather than seeking to punish clubs with points deductions at the end of every season, would be in wider interests of football.”

He ended with a clear warning to the Premier League over the self-regulation way that rules are currently made. “Despite my reservations, and the concerns others have expressed about the Independent Regulator having the resources to do much in what has become such an expensive business, I remain of the view that the idea of independent regulation has become even more of a necessity today than when the proposals were first discussed,” De Marco added.

“Don’t get me wrong, the Premier League in particular ought to be heavily praised for the commercial product it has developed, one of the best UK exports there is, the richest and most popular football league in the world. Regulation that interferes with that commercial success should be avoided. But the league, its success, and the English pyramid system of football are all threatened by the increasingly abject failure of self-regulation.”

A number of Tottenham Hotspur players have dropped hints about the potential starting XI ahead of tonight's Europa League clash against AZ Alkmaar.

Spurs will face the Eredivisie club in their third fixture of this season's new look league phase. Ange Postecoglou's team already have six points from their first two matches, with wins over Qarabag and Ferencvaros before the recent international break.

Tottenham go into the game on the back of a 4-1 win over West Ham in the London derby in the Premier League at the weekend.

In terms of team selection, Postecoglou has already confirmed that club captain Son Heung-Min will not be involved in the fixture due to a fitness issue, having only recently returned from a hamstring injury.

There was positive news, though, with Richarlison and Wilson Odobert both available for the Europa League clash this evening, having spent time on the sidelines over the last few weeks.

It's common for players who are involved either in the starting line-up or a matchday squad to post pre-match graphics on their social media platforms in the hours leading up to games, and four Tottenham players have done just that.

Destiny Udogie, Pedro Porro, Micky van de Ven and Radu Dragusin all posted pre-match graphics on their Instagram stories on Wednesday night and Thursday morning. Given all four players occupy a position in Spurs' defence, the hints on social media could reveal the back four that Postecoglou has chosen for the clash against the Dutch side.

If that is the case, then it would represent one change from defence that beat West Ham at the weekend, with Cristian Romero the man to make way from that back four.

Back in 2018 it was announced that Tottenham Hotspur had signed a 15-year deal with US sportswear giant Nike for them to be the club’s kit partner for the long-term.

The figure on the deal at the time was reported to be around £30m per year, a total sum of £450m in guaranteed revenue, which six years ago wasn’t too much in the shadow of what some of their rivals were earning.

What the deal did bring was long-term guaranteed revenue at a time when the club had borrowed considerable funds to complete the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium. Having such money that can be relied up for such a long period of time, and from such a blue-chip company as Nike, was comforting to lenders, and remains so whenever the club might need to access credit.

Spurs chairman Daniel Levy, addressing the Tottenham Hotspur Supporters Trust back in 2018, pointed out that the value of deals was different for Spurs than some of their rivals as they opted to keep their merchandising rights in-house. Other clubs sold theirs and added that to the headline figure.

There was also the acknowledgement that Spurs don’t sell as many shirts as some of their rivals globally, such as Liverpool and Manchester United, and that was impactful as to how much the club could realistically generate from kit partners.

It was a sensible move that allowed Spurs to partner with the world’s biggest sports manufacturer, one that could deliver at scale and had a strong direct-to-consumer focus, something that was core for Spurs given their desire to satisfy demand for merchandise overseas, particularly the East Asian market, one that had boomed through the popularity of Heung-min Son.

The drawback from such a move, however, was that the club had to take the risk of leaving money on the table if the kit partner market continued to boom, which has been the case.

Earlier this week it was revealed that Liverpool were to make the switch from Nike to Adidas next season, a sum of around £60m mooted, although that figure does not include the incentivised nature of the deal that could drive the sum up to some £90m. That won’t be over 15 years or so, more likely five, but it hands the Reds a big financial boost, one that Nike felt they could not match.

Elsewhere, Manchester United have a £90m-per-year, decade-long deal with Adidas in place, albeit one with plenty of caveats attached related to supporting performance that could see that figure reduced. Arsenal have a deal of around £75m in place with Adidas, and Manchester City a long-term deal with Puma at around £65m per season.

The problem for Spurs is that right now, Nike are likely to have only Spurs and Chelsea on their books as part of the Premier League’s ‘big six’, and in losing Liverpool to their German competitors Adidas, they likely wouldn’t be keen to reduce their footprint in the world’s biggest domestic football league.

What that would have meant is that Nike would have been more willing to raise the stakes in terms of what was on offer to ensure that they had a significant footprint in the Premier League with top sides, particularly given the global appeal of the competition and how many shirts are sold around the world by the biggest clubs.

But there is little that Spurs can do now. There was wisdom in locking in guaranteed revenue at that level for such a long period of time, but the downside was that it didn’t allow the club to maximise the potential of the growth in the market, with their rivals having all renegotiated significant deals in the past two years.

It means that Spurs have had to leave money on the table in the short to medium term, but they have been able to sensibly plot a course for what the next 15 to 20 years looks like at the club and not be at the whim of booming markets that could also nosedive at any point. A long deal protects against that, even if it means missing out on some of the riches that may have been on offer.

Tottenham will be looking to secure a third consecutive Europa League victory when they host AZ Alkmaar on Thursday evening. Spurs have already beaten FK Qarabag and Ferencvaros and another win is the target against the Dutch side heading to Tottenham Hotspur Stadium with former striker Troy Parrott.

The 22-year-old left Tottenham this past summer and will be out to prove his worth on his return to north London. As for the Lilywhites, a dominant victory over bitter rivals West Ham arrived last time out with Ange Postecoglou and his players firmly putting a disappointing result against Brighton behind them.

In terms of the latest injury news, Wilson Odobert was back in training, though Son Heung-min and Djed Spence were both missing with Postecoglou on hand to explain their absence. "Sonny was a bit sore after the weekend, he was never going to be involved tomorrow anyway because he missed a bit," he revealed on Wednesday.

"So we are just leaving him out of tomorrow and see how he is from there. Djed Spence trained individually today and everyone else was out there." With the Lilywhites back in action just a few days later, rotation is expected with Destiny Udogie, Dominic Solanke and Dejan Kulusevski among those that could be rested.

With that said, football.london has compiled everything you need to know on how to follow the clash between Spurs and AZ Alkmaar.

When is Spurs vs AZ and what time is kick off?

Spurs face AZ Alkmaar on Thursday, 24 October, with kick off set for 8pm in north London (BST). The game will take place at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.

Is Spurs vs AZ on TV?

Yes, there will be a live broadcast of the Europa League fixture for UK viewers with TNT Sports 1 providing coverage from 7pm. International streams are listed below:

US - CBS Sports

Australia - Stan Sport

Canada - DAZN

Nigeria - Super Sport

India - Sony Sports Network

Spain - Movistar Plus+

How else can I follow Spurs vs Qarabag?

As always, football.london will be providing all the pre-match build-up, team news, live match action, and analysis from the Tottenham press box in our live blog.

Listen to the latest episode of Gold & Guest Talk Tottenham! Click here for in-depth Spurs chat on your preferred podcast platform.

Tottenham star Brennan Johnson has reversed a huge decision made in mid-September with a scintillating run of form following as a result. A winning goal against Coventry in the Carabao Cup last month saw the Wales international then score in six consecutive games with that run coming to an end against West Ham.

Nonetheless, Johnson's confidence levels will certainly be through the roof with his impressive run of goals starting in the wake of the Tottenham attacker deactivating his Instagram account. After a struggling display against Arsenal, Johnson received barrages of uncalled for abuse.

In response to that though, he has absolutely proven his worth and with nearly six weeks having passed, Johnson, as quoted in an interview published in the official Tottenham vs West Ham matchday programme, explained his decision take a break from social media.

"It was just a split decision in the moment where I thought 'I'll just delete it'," he revealed. "I have kind of done it before when I deleted the app, and this time I thought I'd just deactivate my account, but it wasn't a massive deal for me.

"I think, naturally, it can be a distraction and everyone's probably guilty of scrolling for too long and things like that. It wasn't anything too tactical and it definitely wasn't to try to enhance and improve my game or add something different - it was just a personal decision I made instead.

"All the training and hard work never stopped throughout. I didn't change my approach as I always come in and try to do the best I can here because l love this team."

Following that honest admission, Johnson has opted to activate his Instagram account and start posting again with his first message to followers a picture of teammate Pape Matar Sarr on his story.

Though his goal streak ended on Saturday, Johnson will be out to prove it was not a purple patch with Spurs facing AZ Alkmaar in the Europa League on Thursday. Following that, the Lilywhites visit Crystal Palace with Johnson having had previous success at Selhurst Park where he assisted Son Heung-min in the 2-0 win last season.

Listen to the latest episode of Gold & Guest Talk Tottenham! Click here for in-depth Spurs chat on your preferred podcast platform.

Tottenham will be looking to make it three wins from three in the Europa League later today when they take on Dutch side AZ Alkmaar.

After suffering a 3-2 loss to Brighton before the international break, Spurs bounced back in style with a 4-1 win over West Ham United in the Premier League last weekend. Son Heung-min returned from injury with a goal, but attention now turns to the Europa League where the Lilywhites welcome AZ to north London.

Spurs are one of six sides to have won both their opening games in the Europa League this season, with Ange Postecoglou's side picking up a 2-1 win on the road against Ferencvaros last time out. Spurs are expected to heavily rotate again when they take on AZ, with Mikey Moore expected to get some more minutes in the bag.

So, can Spurs kick off their Europa League campaign with three points? Let's take a look.

We simulated Tottenham vs AZ Alkmaar to get a score prediction

To complete this simulation, we used EA FC 25 and updated the squads with the latest injuries and suspensions.

We predict that Tottenham could line up in a 4-3-3 formation, with their starting XI as follows: Vicario; Porro, Dragusin, Van de Ven, Gray; Bentancur, Sarr, Maddison; Moore, Richarlison, Werner.

We predict that the visitors could set up in a 4-2-3-1 formation, with their line-up as follows: Owusu-Oduro; Maikuma, Penetra, Dekker, Wolfe; Koopmeiners, Clasie; Sadiq, Mijnans, Van Bommel; Parrot.

Moore almost made himself even more popular amongst the Spurs fanbase just two minutes in when he fantastically rounded the 'keeper, but the angle was too tight, and his strike could only find the side netting. After the early chance, Spurs struggled to get forward, but after a strong start in the second half, Postecoglou's side were gifted the opener.

A Spurs attack broke down on the edge of the AZ box, but Maxim Dekker played a blind back pass to his goalkeeper, not realising Timo Werner was ready to pounce. Werner was at the feet of the 'keeper at the same time the ball arrived at his feet, and the German tackled the ball into the net to make it 1-0.

AZ thought they had levelled the score nine minutes later through ex-Spurs striker Troy Parrot sliding in at the far post to tap home, but the flag was raised, and the goal was ruled out. As the game went on, the visitors started to gain confidence with just one goal separating the sides, but in the 85th minute, the Lilywhites put the game to bed.

Substitute Brennan Johnson picked up the ball on the right before using his pace to burn past his defender, and a smart pass from the Welshman played Richarlison through on goal. One-on-one, the Brazilian opted to shoot at the 'keepers near post from a tight angle, but his strike was fantastic as it arrowed into the top corner to confirm the three points.

Ange Postecoglou has some decisions to make when it comes to his Tottenham team to face AZ Alkmaar. Thursday evening sees Spurs return to Europa League action as the Dutch club make the trip to Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.

Postecoglou's side have started off well in Europe so far this term and have two wins to their name from their first two games. The European fixtures have allowed the head coach to rotate his team and give his Premier League regulars a rare breather.

Making six changes for the first league phase game against Qarabag, Postecoglou then made seven alterations for the win at Ferencvaros last time out. Things have improved for Spurs on the injury front since domestic action resumed, with Son Heung-min and Richarlison returning to the pitch last weekend and Wilson Odobert making his comeback in training.

Son was not spotted in Tottenham's open training session on Wednesday and Postecoglou mentioned in his press conference that the captain will play no part against AZ. The absence of the experienced attacker could potentially open the door for Mikey Moore to start his second successive European game for Tottenham.

Micky van de Ven has offered his verdict on the altercation with Mohammed Kudus during Tottenham's 4-1 win against West Ham. The Netherlands international was fouled, kicked and then struck in the face by the Hammers attacker, which resulted in him being shown a straight red card for violent conduct.

Kudus had initially given his side the lead at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium but his afternoon ended very differently after Spurs scored three times in eight minutes. In the wake of that action, a chaotic brawl ensued which also saw Pape Matar Sarr hit in the face.

The FA have charged both London clubs with Van de Ven now issuing his thoughts on the brawl. "What I can remember is that I had a duel with Kudus and I fell down on the ground and I had the feeling that he kicked too much through on the ball," he said in a press conference before the Europa League clash against AZ Alkmaar.

"He tried to kick the ball, but hit me twice, three times. I was obviously a bit mad in this situation and I stood up and I pushed him and then the situation happened from his side.

"He literally punched me in the face as I went down!

"To be honest, I don't know what happened afterwards, I didn't really see what happened afterwards, but that is the situation. The FA said we need to get fined for this. It is not how I think about it. If I think about, it would be a different situation."

It has since been revealed that the club have been fined £20,000 by the FA after accepting a charge of failing to control their players with players from both clubs deemed they 'didn't behave in an improper and/or provocative and/or violent way'.

Van de Ven was also booked for his role in the incident after he pushed Kudus, with Postecoglou hit by a fresh worry as a result. That caution was his third of the season already which will see him walk a suspension tightrope for the next few months before bookings are wiped after game week 19, which isn't until late-December.

Listen to the latest episode of Gold & Guest Talk Tottenham! Click here for in-depth Spurs chat on your preferred podcast platform.

Micky van de Ven was in front of the media at Hotspur Way on Wednesday afternoon to preview Tottenham's Europa League tie against AZ Alkmaar. Hailing from the Netherlands, the centre-back grew up not too far away from Alkmaar and did in fact play for the Dutch club as a youngster.

Van de Ven had the opportunity to discuss his time with AZ and his subsequent move to Volendam, with the Dutch media at Hotspur Way keen to get more of an insight into the early years of his career. As well as reflecting on the past, Van de Ven also spoke about the incident involving West Ham's Mohammed Kudus at the weekend.

The Tottenham defender was shown a yellow card for his part in the scuffle and Kudus was eventually dismissed from the field of play following a VAR check. Spurs have been fined £20,000 for the fracas and that was put to the Netherlands international in his pre-match press conference.

You can read every word of what the defender had to say to the media below:

What was your take on the West Ham melee?

What I can remember is that I had a duel with Mohammed Kudus and I fell down on the ground and I had the feeling that he kicked too much through on the ball. He tried to kick the ball but he hit me twice, three times. I was obviously a bit mad in this situation and I stood up and I pushed him and then the situation happened from his side. He literally punched me in the face and I went down.

To be honest, I don’t know what happened afterwards - I didn’t really see what happened afterwards - but that is the situation. The FA said we need to get fined for this. It is not how I think about it. If I think about, it would be a different situation.

Where do you get your speed from?

Yeah. When I was young, I was also really fast. And when I got older and taller, I started to struggle with my running so that was the moment that I really trained on it. You need to run properly - I was so tall and everything looks like it is in slow motion. So that was the point that I was really training on it and the speed came back. Since I was young I was always really fast so it is not something I have trained on.

How enjoyable is it to play with that high line?

I really enjoy it because I have the speed also to recover a lot of big spaces. I also really enjoy the offensive football we play. With a high pressing team, I think if you want to play a high press, you need a high line because otherwise the distance between the attackers and the defence is going to be too big. So I really enough playing this high line and this offensive football.

Is there a feeling in the dressing room that you're getting closer to winning a trophy?

Yeah of course we want to win a trophy. That is something we all want and we are working towards every day. We are still in tournaments this year so we are going to do about it to win a trophy.

How have you settled in at the club so fast?

When I came here, to be honest, the guys were really important for me. So straight from the beginning when I was here, I also started I had three training sessions and then I started already. So the guys were really important and gave me the trust. The gaffer also gave me the trust that I had the qualities to play in this team at Spurs and to play at this high level.

I think from the beginning this helped me a lot. And I think ever since then, everything has gone well and they keep trusting me. Also, when you are a player and have trust, you play more free and that also helps me a lot.

Your favourite restaurant in Alkmaar, is your discount in danger?

Yeah the owner of this restaurant is a good mate of my dad's - my dad lives in Alkmaar. I don't think I will get a discount if I play well tomorrow because then probably we will beat them.

What is the biggest area of Spurs improvement from last season?

This season we have more control of the games. Last season you saw in a lot of games that we lost control a little bit. Also when we lost the ball we were quite open and got a lot of counter attacks. We know better positions for the players and I think players help each other more than maybe we did last season.

What is it like training against Dominic Solanke and how much of a difference has he made to the team?

Dom has been unbelievable since he joined, he is working so hard. Even as a striker you see offensive, defensive - he keeps running the whole game and I am watching him and thinking 'phwoar, how are you even doing this, keeping sprinting over and over again'. Also he is getting his goals and his assists and hopefully he can keep going like this.

Your assists against Everton and Man United were they instinctive or is that something Ange has told you to do?

I feel free to run and do what I want because the gaffer always tells us that what pops up in your mind you can do. Of course you can't shoot from the halfway line all the time but when you have the trust and the situation says you can do it, you can do it.

Against Everton I saw the gap and the pitch was open and against Man United I just saw the gap and thought 'if I start sprinting now it is going to be difficult for the defenders to stop me'.

Is it fair for the club to be fined for the West Ham incident?

It's difficult to say, my reaction was not good and also I was a bit mad so from my side it was not really good but I think it was from both ways.

Does Angeball feel like playing Dutch football?

Yeah Dutch teams like to play out form the back and we do exactly the same. Even when I was in Germany they always said it was the 'Dutch School' but most of the time they said that the Dutch like playing football but they don't like to run. When you see the defensive part you see people shirking a bit and not really running. I really enjoy playing here for Ange.

Dutch question: Yes, I think so. Our manager has a very good understanding of the Dutch game. He looks at the game in a very tactical way, in a similar fashion.

I don’t really have a strong connotation with AZ. It’s just a coincidence that my dad lives there but I don’t necessarily have a strong connection with Alkmaar.

Dutch question: I did play as a teenager for AZ. How come I didn’t stay there? I think I must have started around 12 years old when I was at AZ. At the time I was being turned down and I moved to Volendam. Even in my younger years, I think Volendam had some doubts as well. Now, of course, when I was playing at Volendam, AZ did come and see me when I broke through, it was nice to have AZ and other teams come and have a look. I don’t think it was all that AZ didn’t really see me – because I don’t think I had the qualities that at that time that I believe I have now. I was a bit of a latecomer. I came on steam a bit late.

Maybe me playing against AZ tomorrow night is more special for the people around me. Not so much for me. Of course, I have friends who support AZ. For me, it’s like playing against each other team. Of course, I do know some of the guys who play for AZ, I know from the national team.

The team want to win trophies. The manager said he always wins trophies in his second season. He thinks you guys can. How much belief does that give you? Especially after a defeat.

I think even if the gaffer didn’t say this, we still had the same belief as a group. We know our quality. We know we have some unbelievable players in the team and an unbelievable group of players. Yeah, we all trust in the process and the system that the gaffer wants to play. We all trust in each other and we know we can achieve some beautiful things. Yeah, hopefully we can win a prize. That’s a big thing for us, yeah.

Listen to the latest episode of Gold & Guest Talk Tottenham! Click here for in-depth Spurs chat on your preferred podcast platform.