Cartilage Free Captain

Welcome back to F***, Marry, Kill: Tottenham Hotspur squad deconstruction.

Today, I’m going to work through Spurs’ defensive foundations: the center backs. It’s been a huge area of concern this season, so we will take an in-depth look at... well, the depth as Spurs look to build to next season.

As said in my goalkeepers piece here, for each of these footballers, we’ll give you our thoughts as to why they should stay (Keep), head out on loan (Loan), or go (Sell - either via an actual sale, or conclusion of their contract); though there may also be a bacon sandwich that pops up here and there also. Spoiler alert: there will be one today!

Editor’s note: this series and a couple of the pieces in it were nearly completed at time of writing, so we will still cover players whose future has already been confirmed (i.e. released players)

Cristian Romero - Keep

Spurs may not have much of choice with this one if Cuti decides to force his way to the Iberian peninsula... but they should be doing everything in their power to keep the World Cup winner in London. Though he had some struggles this season (and there are definitely some concerns around his fitness), the reality is not only is Spurs’ defense worse without him, but their attack is also much worse, such is his quality on the ball. It’s a key part of his game that often goes unnoticed but would be incredibly difficult to replace.

One person in the masthead chat suggested an enticing deal to keep him a bit longer (with his contract up now in 2 years, so getting to the spicy end): a one-year extension with a little pay bump, but incorporating a release clause of around £50 million if Spurs miss out on Champions League. Not the worst idea.

Micky van de Ven - Keep

Do I really need to write a paragraph on why Spurs should keep the fastest player in the Premier League? And that’s without even looking at the stats with and without Micky.

Kevin Danso - Keep - confirmed*

*Unless Spurs decide to do some weird financial jiggery pokery and sell him for a profit

A really solid all-round defender, and an example of some very smart January business by the club. He was huge when he came on in the Europa League final, and while not quite having the pace of Micky or ball skills of Cuti, he offers a calm presence, is assured in possession, and is an excellent backup who will push the two starters to keep their standards high.

Radu Dragusin - Sell

Radu is still young. He’s also just utterly lacking the skills to play modern, attacking football. It’s really a scouting failure at its core, and the question is whether he will have recovered from his ACL injury enough to test the market. Though he has some good defensive skills, he’s just not a fit, and I think I’m ready to move on.

Ben Davies - Bacon Sandwich

The longest-tenured member of this iteration of Spurs. He has been a faithful servant to the club, and largely dependable when called upon; but his ageing really began to show this season and he can no longer be trusted as the chief backup at either fullback or left-sided center back. His contract is also up, with the club holding an option for an extra year (but not publicizing any execution of said clause).

In this scenario, as thanks for his service, I’m actually happy to see whatever scenario works best for Ben, as I mentioned in my season-ending departures piece: Davies to test the market as a free agent, and if he can’t find himself a deal that works for him have the club hand him an extra year to act as break-glass-in-case-of-emergency depth and work on his training badges.

Ashley Phillips - Loan

I very nearly wrote Sell on this one, but last minute I refrained after reviewing both Phillips’ age and his contract situation. What I have seen from Phillips (and the smoke from the Spurs beat reporters) is that Phillips is a pretty athletically gifted defender (you have to be starting in the Championship at 19) who is extremely limited technically on the ball. Basically, he’s Radu 2.0, and as such he probably doesn’t have much of a future at a club of Spurs’ stature (plus he’s never going to qualify as club-trained as he came to the club too old).

He’s a full 3-and-a-bit years younger than Radu, though, and he has three years left on his contract - so if Spurs want to extract maximum value, they might want to give him another season out at a club who doesn’t play struggleball (aka not Stoke City) and potentially see if there is something there. The other option is the club keep him as emergency cover if Davies heads away, but I think that’s unlikely as it’s only going to hinder Phillips’ development.

Alfie Dorrington - Loan

Arguably the more talented of Spurs’ academy center back graduates, Alfie #2 (c’mon guys, Devine is the OG) has seen his development hampered by injury, missing a huge amount of the 23/24 season, and the beginning of the 24/25 campaign following surgery on his hamstring. He finally got back onto the pitch for the U21’s in late September, before heading on loan to Aberdeen in the Scottish league where he worked his way into a starting berth. Alfie #2 really just needs minutes at this point, so a loan is a no-brainer.

Luka Vuskovic - Loan

It’s possible the Croatian defender may be ready to contribute immediately at Spurs, but it’s unlikely. Signing for Spurs in late 2023 as one for the future, he spent 24/25 at Westerlo in the Belgian Pro League where he was their third top scorer... strange for a center back! That’s because Vuskovic is an absolute specimen, physically. The guy is a giant and just dominates opposition players - but he’s not slow either!

Spurs will get a look at him in preseason and then will likely send him out on loan. There are two schools of thought as to the approach here. He could head to the Championship, which is often a good proving ground for young players, but that thinking is usually accompanied by the need for youth to physically develop, not something Vuskovic needs; in which case, he could head to the continent to a more skilled team (as Westerlo were very much a “lump it forward” side). A loan in England, however, could help him acclimate to life in London.

That’s it for Spurs’ center backs. In some ways, a reasonably settled lineup, though a lot depends on the Cristian Romero transfer saga this summer. The obvious need is left-sided defensive cover, i.e. a backup for Micky van de Ven, ideally one who can also cover left back... but more on that in the next piece, where we look at the fullbacks.

A year ago, we at Carty Free Towers were wondering if Djed Spence would be sold. Today he is a Europa League champion and an important part of Tottenham Hotspur’s rotation. What a difference a year makes.

Spence, unwanted, unplayed, was coming off of a horrific season on loan last season, first to Leeds United where he suffered a knee injury and missed three months, and then at Genoa in Serie A. Genoa utilized him well and were interested in keeping him but were unable to afford his £8.5m option. Signed in 2022 from Middlesbrough for £20m, Spence looked like a promising young player, despite clashing with then-Boro head coach Neil Warnock. He was impressive enough on loan at Nottingham Forest the prior season to catch Tottenham’s eye as they looked for quality depth at fullback.

But Spence also had a reputation of being moody, difficult to work with, and at times petulant. It didn’t help that Antonio Conte never gave him a sniff, calling him a “club signing” in public, something Spence later said “shattered his confidence.” A lot of people wrote him off as another Marcus Edwards, a player with a poor attitude who would never make it at Spurs.

It took extraordinary circumstances for Spence to break through this season. He was used sparingly by Ange Postecoglou in the first part of the season, but proved himself to Ange in the first few months through his work rate, training, and determination, enough that he earned a contract extension in October.

Here’s what Ange said in the wake of Djed’s new deal:

“I said a couple of days ago and consistently say, most of a players future is in their own hands. They’re as much in control as anyone else. I think sometimes footballers forget that. With Djed, it could have been easy for to go out on loan again. But when he came into preseason, he was determined to make a career for himself here at Tottenham rather than wait to be loaned out.

“He did everything right in training, his attitude was great. He’s a good footballer, I think the way we play suits him and he’s knuckled down to that. And he’s earned himself a spot on the roster in our squad.”

Even so, Spence didn’t make his first Premier League start this season until mid-December, with Spurs in the throes of a massive injury crisis. He played well in the 5-0 win over Southampton and became a regular part of Tottenham’s rotation, both in the league and in the Europa League, after being left out of the squad in the first half of the season. Spence started 10 of Spurs’ last 11 league matches, frequently as a left back, and established himself not just as quality depth, but as a player who can potentially challenge Pedro Porro and Destiny Udogie for quality minutes.

Redemption stories don’t seem to happen often in football, and that’s why it’s been so much fun watching Djed’s arc this season. He was given a chance by Postecoglou, but he also redeemed himself through hard work and perseverance. He has what looks like a bright future at Tottenham ahead of him and got to celebrate lifting a Europa League trophy at the end of the season. You can see it in his face, in his attitude, and in his incredible swagger. This is a guy enjoying his football.

Who would’ve thought that last June?

Commentariat Choice: Lucas Bergvall

I have to say I’m a little surprised by this — the Commentariat has chosen and has chosen Lucas Bergvall, who also nabbed the Young Player of the Season award. Not that Lucas hasn’t improved — he has, remarkably, and thanks to that same injury crisis that gave Spence his big chance. Lucas will be an important part of Tottenham’s squad next season and has every chance of nailing down a starting role, which is impressive considering he was playing in the Swedish league a year ago.

But at least for me, Bergvall’s “breakout” doesn’t have quite the same impact as Spence. Bergvall came in as a highly-touted, if young and inexperienced, attacking midfielder. I wonder if there’s a bit of recency bias happening here — Lucas didn’t start to really kick on until near the end of the season in the Europa League and just before his unfortunate foot injury. He may have come closer to realizing his potential faster than we expected, but it didn’t feel as much of a surprise. But whatever.

Spence came in an easy second place according to Carty Free readers, with Archie Gray a distant third.

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Tottenham Hotspur Daily Links: The Hoddle Of Coffee

The Hoddle of Coffee: Tottenham Hotspur News and Links for Wednesday, June 4

Recapping fitzie’s EFL Championship predictions

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Every year I like to review my EFL Championship predictions. It keeps me humble, because you know the league never shakes out like you’d expect it to.

This season was no exception. While I got a couple things right, I got a lot wrong. You can check out my predictions from August here.

What went right:

Leeds United: Your hoddler-in-chief correctly predicted Leeds United would return to the Premier League as EFL Championship title-holders. They picked up the second-highest points tally in the Championship in at least the past decade.

Burnley: For the second time I underestimated how Burnley would fare with a new manager in a new league, but I did pick them fourth. I take that as a win.

Sheffield Wednesday: I had a feeling this would be a big step up for Wednesday this season, especially with Dani Rohl in charge. I picked them 11th, they finished 12th. They’ll probably fight it out for the relegation spots next season, unfortunately.

What went wrong:

Relegation candidates: The three clubs I tipped for relegation (Blackburn, Derby and Watford) are all staying up. Instead it’s Cardiff, Argyle and Luton Town who will play in League One next season. Speaking of which ...

Luton Town: I picked them to finish second this season. They finished in the bottom three after holding onto Rob Edwards for far too long. A last-gasp attempt to claw themselves out of the bottom three failed.

West Bromwich Albion: I hedged my prediction for WBA to finish top six on keeping Carlos Cobreran. They didn’t. Albion finished ninth. But WBA will be heading into next season under the direction of Tottenham hero Ryan Mason. Surely they’ll got undefeated, right?

Middlesbrough: How often will I keep picking Boro to make the top six? That’s three years running now.

Sunderland: I thought this year would be a step back for Sunderland after coming so close in the 23-24 season. But, hey, they secured promotion even being one of the youngest clubs in the competition.

Fizie’s final thoughts:

As you can see, I got a lot more wrong than I did right this year. All credit goes to the unpredictable nature of the Championship. It is becoming clearer that there is a huge gap between recently promoted clubs and the rest (Luton Town being the exception).

Burnley went straight back up, Leeds United returned after falling short in the playoffs last year, while Sheffield United bottled it this year. I think we’ll see more recent PL dominance this year. And I’m looking forward to seeing how the transfer window and managerial searches conclude.

Fitzie’s track of the day (by request): Satisfaction, by Television

And now for your links:

Alasdair Gold: “Tottenham’s awkward silence threatens to derail crucial summer transfer push”

The Athletic ($$): “Tottenham Hotspur Transfer DealSheet: Summer window latest, key targets and likely exits”

BBC: “Norwich appoint Bristol City’s Manning as head coach”

The Guardian: “Lessons for Leeds, Burnley and Sunderland as they try to stay up”

Ready for another transfer rumor? You know I am. Here’s one out of my own country: according to New England Revolution blog The Blazing Musket, Tottenham Hotspur has apparently already had talks with the Revs over 17-year-old American striker Peyton Miller. This comes on the heels of previous reports from FOX Sports that suggested “at least one” English club was taking a look at him. One of those clubs is apparently Spurs.

I’m not a MLS Watcher™. I have precious little time in my life for more than one football club, and I’ve made my decision in that regard already. So I can’t really tell you much about Peyton Miller, but from what I can glean from people who track the league and the Revs a lot closer than I do, Miller is a talented teenage forward with some pretty big upsides to his game. We’re about midway through the MLS season, and thus far Miller has played 11 matches, ten of them starts, for about 815 minutes of action, in which he has 1G+3A. His FBRef profile looks pretty decent as well — he definitely has some skills and looks like he could be a player who could develop into a solid professional. Or maybe not, but he’s the kind of young player whom someone is going to take a punt on, so why not Spurs?

One main reason to consider bringing him in now is so that he can establish himself as a home- and association-grown player for Spurs. That would mean that even if he doesn’t turn out to be a Champions League-caliber starter down the road, he’d still have significant value to other English teams if Spurs eventually opt to cut bait. Miller is very much a buy-and-loan kind of player — I wouldn’t expect him to feature now or for the next couple of years.

I know the idea of buying another teenager with promise isn’t going to appeal to some segments of the fan base, especially when we clearly have so many holes to fill already in the squad. But the truth is, Tottenham should be taking chances on a couple of these kinds of guys every season. Some, or even most of them won’t work out, but unless they crash and burn Spurs should be able to at least turn a small profit over them in a few years. And if we’re lucky maybe we end up hitting the jackpot once in a while.

There’s nothing about price or how well the negotiations have gone. Who knows if this will happen or not. But this does feel like a plausible move, and if it happens I’d be all for it.

Tottenham Hotspur club captain and Europa League champion (did you know?) Son Heung-Min is a target for a few clubs in the Saudi Premier League, according to the Telegraph.

And look — that’s about all the interesting info in that article, which has the headline, in super large print, of “SON HEUNG-MIN SET TO LEAVE TOTTENHAM.” Did you read that and panic? I know I did. The article uhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh doesn’t really say that.

Read through the article (which is paywalled) and you’ll see a whole lot of speculation on Son’s future at the club as he enters into the last year of his Tottenham contract and after he delivered the first Spurs trophy in 17 years. Tottenham need to generate funds! There’s a chance they can get a fee for him this summer! Saudi clubs are interested in him! He would leave as the arguably the most important Spurs signing in the modern era!

But here’s the thing — out of all of that, the only really interesting thing there is the interest from Saudi clubs. Even that isn’t new — Saudi clubs were reportedly in for Son the past two years, and both the club and Son essentially told them, rightfully, to piss off. We have no evidence that Son would want to leave. We have no evidence that Spurs are keen to sell him. This article is, almost entirely, a big ol’ nothingburger.

Now look — Tottenham are going to need to do something about Sonny eventually. If Son were ready for a new challenge somewhere else, he’s certainly earned the right to ask the club to find him a new club. It wouldn’t surprise me in the slightest if, at the conclusion of his contract, he would decide to leave, maybe to MLS, or back home to South Korea, to see out the twilight years of his career. It also wouldn’t surprise me if he stays on and retires at Tottenham. That’s his choice, and the club should pretty much let him do whatever he wants.

So could Spurs potentially sell Sonny this summer? Well, yeah, I guess they could. But despite the headline and the Telegraph broaching the possibility here, there sure isn’t much actual evidence (yet) that they will. Everyone chill out for now.

Hey, something to distract us from the looming #Decisange2025! Tottenham Hotspur have filled the news void by dropping the brand-new home kit for next season:

This new strip had been rumored / leaked for a little while now, and it’s a reasonably simplistic design (as home kits generally should be, in my opinion) with a couple of additional flourishes.

I have some mixed feelings on this instance of the Lilywhite kit. What’s strange is the things I thought I would like, I don’t, and vice versa. For instance, I thought I would HATE the centered Spurs badge and Nike logo; but I think on the plain white body of the shirt, it actually works quite well. I also thought I would like the standard crew collar, just keeping things clean; but it almost seems to make the shirt not sit right on the players, and makes the sleeve coloring stand out more than it should.

Speaking of... I’m really not sure on that second color under the sleeves. I almost think some sort of accent color might have worked better, but the two shades of blue just feel a little off. And that’s without even going into the super weird “Take a Vow” marketing spiel, which... sure, let’s cult the place up, shall we?

But hey - the bonus of this one is IT’S GOING TO HAVE THE CHAMPIONS LEAGUE BADGE ON IT next season. Take that, haters.

Tottenham Hotspur Women were not exactly a joy to watch this year. Uninspired performances, injuries to Beth England and Eveliina Summanen, and poor recruitment all saw Spurs end the 2024-25 season in 11th, their lowest ever finish in the Women’s Super League. The team ended the 2023-24 season on a high note, so how did it all go wrong? Why are Spurs still ping ponging around the WSL midtable, unable to solidify themselves as “best of the rest”?

The season’s been over for a few weeks now, and I’ve had a bit of time to process it all. Let’s try to make some sense of how it all went down. Fair warning, this is not going to be a very happy article. A few good things did happen this season—some players had good seasons, but chief among them was Ella Morris, and we’ve just lost her to an ACL tear. If misery isn’t for you, turn around now before I get into it!

Recruitment Issues

Our recruitment has been a problem for a while now. There was some vague hope that Scott Munn might fix things up, given his previous experience in women’s football, but this was all in vain. In the end, this season ended up a perfect testament to how severely we’ve failed to identify and recruit players for the kind of football we’re trying to play.

Alarm bells started ringing over the summer when we lost Grace Clinton and Celin Bizet to Manchester United. Grace and Celin did a huge amount of ball progression (according to fbref, they topped our 2023-24 stats in both progressive carries and progressive passes received, and Grace tallied our second most progressive passes after Eveliina Summanen). Their replacements—Hayley Raso and Maite Oroz—only showed modest promise in this area before joining Tottenham, and both ended up missing huge swaths of the season anyway. We also lost Kit Graham to an ACL injury before the season even started. Robert used Kit as a sort of all-purpose midfield sub to great effect. Summer signing Anna Csiki took on this role in her stead, but at no point did Anna actually look capable of filling Kit’s shoes.

To make matters worse, goalkeeper Becky Spencer’s shot stopping abilities took a nosedive, and we had no suitable backup in place. Of course it was really bad luck that the goalkeeper market was so thin when Becky’s dropoff happened. But also, we’ve known this moment was coming for years. Time really does come for everyone, and it’s baffling to me that the club weren’t more prepared. At the time, word on the street was we had someone in mind who wouldn’t be available until January. I can only assume that was Lize Kop, who we have since signed. Maybe waiting three months to get her seemed a fair risk to those in charge, I don’t know, but it sure doesn’t look too good in hindsight. A half-season on, it’s still not clear whether she’s good enough. Though it’s largely been due to poor performances elsewhere, we’ve only won one game since she’s joined.

Unfortunately, none of this is very surprising. Since Robert joined, almost every player we’ve signed has either been from his home country or home league (Swedish, or from the Damallsvensken), which makes me think he’s doing all the talent ID himself. This should not be part of his job! I don’t think it’s too much to ask for Tottenham Hotspur to hire a person (or people, even) whose job it is to identify talent around the world for Spurs Women.

There is a bit of good news on this front—Spurs Women have reportedly been looking for a Director of Football-type figure for a while, although at the time of writing no one has been hired. There’s also talk that Vinai Venkateshem, Tottenham’s new CEO, may be able to repeat the work he did to strengthen Arsenal Women at Spurs. But, well, people said Scott Munn would fix us too. Maybe Vinai will prove to be a key part of our front office, but I’ll believe it when I see it.

Robert Vilahamn

Emma Sanders reported that Spurs are considering sacking Vilahamn off the back of the 2024-25 season. Personally, I think we should. It comes down to this—Robert was good when he had good talent in his squad that fit his exact footballing needs, but that man does not have a plan B.

Without Grace Clinton and Celin Bizet, and as injuries started to hit the squad and heavy defeats to top sides started to pile up, I lost all sense of what Robert Vilahamn was trying to accomplish on the pitch. The identity that felt so strong in 2023-24 only peeked through a few times, and never for long enough to actually win matches. I often think back to Martha Thomas’ iconic winning goal in December 2023’s North London Derby—a gorgeous and clever and perfectly executed team goal. I’ve hardly even seen us try anything like that this season, let alone pull it off.

I can’t remember one of his substitutions or tactical adjustments ever actually changing a game, and quite often, his inability to accommodate the specific strengths and weaknesses of the squad at hand got him into trouble. For example, Drew Spence has been excellent at times this season, but it’s clear she can only give 50-60 good minutes. Robert insists on keeping her on the pitch for much longer, which results in late game midfield breakdowns. I don’t think a manager this inflexible is a good fit for the WSL.

I also have qualms with Robert’s player development. A number of once-promising players have stagnated under him. After a strong 2023-24, Martha Thomas failed to score a single goal in the WSL on 4.4 xG. Jess Naz, Matilda Vinberg, Amanda Nildén and Olga Ahtinen have failed to hit the highs they reached last year, and Robert has even made Ash Neville look quiet. In years past, Ash has been one of our best attacking players. Yet for most of this season, Robert hasn’t allowed her past the halfway line (because she’s Ash Neville, she still did do a lot of ball progression for us, while also leading the league in tackles). I’m not suggesting that Robert is entirely responsible for all these players’ lackluster performances—there are obviously compounding issues. But the fact that I can’t point to a single player Robert has improved (except for Ella Morris who is so good she may have burst onto the scene anyway) seems like a big problem!

You could argue that we should keep Robert and just try to do better at building him a squad. But there’s no guarantee we’re going to get the front office stuff right this year. If we don’t, I’d rather have a manager who seems remotely capable of elevating an average squad. Even if we do get recruitment right, it’s not like Robert is never going to need to be flexible again. We might sign better players, but so will the rest of the WSL. The league is constantly progressing, and I’ve seen no evidence he’s capable of keeping up with it. We should fire him and take a punt on someone new.

Investment in women’s football

My biggest gripe of all is, as always, that the club just doesn’t seem to care much about the women’s team. While the top Premier League teams in England have all begun to invest in their women’s side, Spurs have trailed behind. Spurs’ investment has come in fits and starts, all under the guise of doing things “sustainably.” This would be a lot more believable if Daniel Levy himself hadn’t effectively said he didn’t think there was a market for women’s football.

“If you look at the economics of women’s football at the moment, there is not the consumer interest compared to men’s,” Levy said in 2023, speaking to Cambridge Union in 2023. “Ticket pricing is exceedingly low, TV rights are very low. Sponsor interest is limited. And as a consequence, every single club in the Premier League’s women’s [team] is losing money. And then long-term, that’s not sustainable. So, something is going to have to change.”

This was, by the way, a non-answer to a question he was asked about his strategy for investing in Spurs Women. I won’t begrudge him that last bit. He is technically correct that pricing is low, that every PL club is losing money and that it’s not sustainable. He says that something needs to change, but he–and every other football exec who thinks like him—refuses to be that change. I find it difficult to believe he and a few other enterprising businessmen couldn’t whip up a good base of support for women’s football in London, of all places, if they really wanted to.

But he apparently doesn’t see consumer interest in women’s football as something one can generate, and he certainly doesn’t see the club’s own role in why the consumer interest is not there. Some of the things the club does actively discourage people who badly want to support Spurs Women—big things, like lack of investment in players, staff and facilities, but also small ones. They schedule women’s and men’s games at the same time, they fail to advertise women’s games, the team only plays games at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium against clubs guaranteed to absolutely ruin us, and when those games happen, they don’t even bother putting Spurs Women-specific merch in the store. When I go to watch Spurs Women content on Spursplay, I have to scroll down so far, I forget why I’m even there in the first place!

Levy’s way of thinking, if it follows what he said in that interview, is cowardly and unimaginitive. I’m admittedly very neutral on the man, but I will take this opportunity to yell at him: The club motto is To Dare is to Do, Daniel. Dare to build a stellar women’s side with a dedicated fan base! If you’d like to read a longer and more thorough takedown of Levy’s statement, I’ll now direct you over to an issue of fellow Spurs Women supporter Caroline’s excellent newsletter, Spurs Across the Pond.

As tempting as it is to paint this as a Levy problem, it’s not that simple. These attitudes are endemic to women’s football and endemic to the WSL (Just look at what Jim Ratcliffe is currently doing at Manchester United, a team with resources so much greater than ours they’re still able to tempt one or two of our players away every season). Women’s football was banned in England until 1970, and there’s still ground to actively make up.

Even if Spurs do choose to invest in the women’s side right this second, they’ve got an uphill battle to face because the WSL is a flawed product. There are four “rich” teams, and each year they fight for three Champions League spots. On the other end, there’s one relegation spot. Many years, the side promoted from the Championship goes straight back down. So what’s left for the eight teams that make up 4th-11th? There are two domestic cups, but those almost always go to one of those four richest teams as well. If you’re not in the Champions League and you misstep in the cups, things become very sparse very quickly. A team might go weeks at a time without playing any games, and when they finally do play, the stakes are low. How are they meant to drum up new support under these circumstances?

There have been a variety of suggestions on how to reform the league—temporarily pausing relegation for a few years, merging with the Championship, or introducing Europa League-like competitions for non-Champions league teams (note that a Europa League has been instituted, but it only exists for teams that have been knocked out of the Champions League already so it’s not relevant to the rest of the WSL). They’ve all got pros and cons, and so far, nothing concrete has taken hold.

I don’t have an answer here either, but I do know that what the WSL has done so far is not it. The league has recently announced a low-effort, low-quality rebrand. WSL, if you’re reading this, please leave your ChatGPT-ass rebrand at home and take some real action. On a serious note, the rebrand campaign is sprinkled with the word “female” throughout. This is a word that tends to pop up a lot when someone’s doing transphobia or misogyny. In the context of the FA’s reprehensible ban on transgender athletes in women’s football, it makes me extremely concerned about the people in charge. In general, this ban is terrible and harmful for players and for the whole sport, and no league anywhere should do it.

So where do we go from here?

It’s ecstasy for Oldham Athletic and heartbreak for Southend United!

The Latics were promoted back into the EFL League after a dramatic 3-2 win against the Shrimpers in the Vanarama National League playoff final on Sunday.

Dramatic is an understatement, frankly.

Oldham were down 2-1 in the 110th minute until an incredible turnaround within a two-minute span saw them escape the fifth tier of English football. First was the equaliser from James Norwood, and then Kian Harratt scored from an improbable cross in the 112th.

It’s a devastating turn of events for Southend United, who started the game brightly with a goal in the fifth minute. And then began extra time with a goal as well.

Heartwrenching as this is for Southend, I am quite pleased for Oldham Athletic. They were in League One only a few years ago before falling as low as the National League.

Oldham alsoh has ties to Tottenham, even if those ties are loose. Former Spurs academy player was loaned out to Oldham in the 2021 season, where he made 17 appaearances.

You’ve got to fance Oldham’s chances of staying up in League Two next year. Perhaps they’ll be bottom six, but I hope they’ll be safe.

Fitzie’s track of the day: Real Wild Child, by Iggy Pop

And now for your links:

Matt Law: “Exit of Daniel Levy’s right-hand woman signals biggest Tottenham shake-up under ENIC”

Alasdair Gold: “Thomas Frank, Marco Silva and Daniel Levy’s huge Ange Postecoglou Tottenham decision”

The end-of-season awards are here at Cartilage Free Captain, and over the following few articles, Carty fans will get the chance to see the results they voted for.

In this article, you, the fans, voted in favor of Lucas Bergvall being crowned the young player of the season for Tottenham Hotspur. The club had an allotment of young talent this year who helped the side snap the 17-year and 41-year European trophy drought. Aside from Bergvall — who featured in 45 of the club's 60 matches this season — Archie Gray, Mikey Moore, Wilson Odobert, and Mathys Tel all received votes for the award.

Bergvall ran away with the award in a landslide as the 19-year-old midfielder became undroppable for Ange Postecoglou’s side. From making his debut for the club at Leicester City on Match Day 1 to bagging the lone goal in the 1-0 first-leg semi-final Carabao Cup tie against Liverpool, Bergvall proved that he had something special as he decided to join Tottenham over FC Barcelona last February.

In the 45 matches he was featured in, Bergvall scored his lone goal against Liverpool and added three assists. The numbers might not scream crazy success for the Swedish International, but many saw weekly growth on the pitch. From looking like a young teenager trying to find himself to controlling portions of matches, Bergvall helped Spurs through Europa League play, with two of his assists coming in Europe.

Unfortunately, Bergvall, like many others this season, was dealt with a significant injury that knocked the firey midfielder out for the final month of the season as he had to watch the side not only reach the Europa League final but hold on in the final minutes to secure the 1-0 victory over Manchester United.

Despite missing out on being on the pitch for the final in Bilbao, Bergvall and others who were sidelined had the chance to celebrate when that final whistle blew to achieve history for the club as they stand tied for second in all-time UEFA Cup/Europa League titles.

Initially joining the club for a rumored fee of £8.5 million from Djurgården last summer, Bergvall has eclipsed all the escalators in the deal between the two clubs with football.london sighting Djurgården sporting director Bosse Andersson as the agreement reached closer to £17 million.

Awarded Spurs’ Official Supporters’ Clubs (OSC) Player of the Season and both Player of the Season awards from One Hotspur Members and One Hotspur Juniors, Bergvall not only gained all the recognition for his play on the pitch but was awarded a new contract that sees him as a Lilywhite through the 2031 season.

Commentariat choice: Lucas Bergvall

Tottenham Hotspur have an agreement with Bayern Munich through which they have an option to purchase on-loan striker Mathys Tel. However, if Tel does join the club permanently this summer, it could be for a significantly lower fee.

Tel’s loan contract, signed in January, had a purchase option for £50m, but there has been lots of background murmurs that Spurs would try and negotiate with Bayern for a lower fee. The German giants clearly have no plans for Tel and are keen to get rid of him. He has played well for Spurs in his loan stint, but £50m is by any measure a lot of £.

Now, according to Bayern blog cfbayern and German journalist Christian Falk, Bayern are apparently willing to negotiate for Tel, with his price potentially dropping as low as £30m.

I’ve been quite happy with Tel’s loan, considering where he started from. He apparently arrived at Spurs low on fitness and it took some time for him to get up to speed. While hardly a prolific scorer, by the end of the season Tel was showing a familiarity with Spurs’ tactics and was regularly putting in positive performances.

Is that worth £50m? Probably not, and even I was pulling a face at the prospect of spending that much money for Tel. But £30m? That’s a much more palatable option for a player that is still very young (just 20 years old) and has a high ceiling. I do not know if I’d want to go into a season of Champions League football with just Dominic Solanke, Mathys Tel, Son Heung-Min, and (maybe) Dane Scarlett as our striking options, but in a season that promises, like this year, a lot of football, Tel would have plenty of opportunities to play and hopefully continue to improve.

But hanging over this potential move is the continued uncertainty over Ange Postecoglu’s tenure as head coach. It’s not clear yet whether any potential purchase of Tel, discounted or otherwise, is contingent on Postecoglou staying at the club for another year, or if any new head coach would want him, even for £30m.