Cartilage Free Captain

Good morning, my dearest hoddlers, and welcome to the latest edition of Fitzie’s Track of the Day (Revisited).

This week is all about exploring the 1,000-plus tracks that have made up the track of the day since fitzie assumed hoddling duties in 2022. We’ve had a lot of fun so far with Wet Leg, Charles Mingus and Masayoshi Takanaka.

Today is a challenge, I must say, my dearest hoddlers.

Where am I to go. What am I to do.

I love punk, but sometimes the hoddle takes me to more reflective places. There have been times when this daily blog is less about the N17 football club, and more an exercise in how one escapes his late 20s and enters his early-30s.

Today’s revisited track of the day confronts these crosscurrents.

We know Television were one of the earliest artists to be featured in the TOTD. Lost within this is how soon Carried Away was featured. According to the playlist, the song was added on 7 February 2026. I reckon the first instance of this song came years earlier.

I say this because I remember writing a hoddle about it. I dedicated an entire hoddle to Carried Away. I just cannot find it.

Sometimes your hoddler-in-chief is in a mood. He was in a mood when he wrote that blog post whenever it was. He is in a mood tonight.

So where do I turn to?

I’m tempted with Suede. Animal Nitrate plays through my head, and how could I neglect the many times I would drive to the Stop and Shop in my grandmother’s Volkswagen with Suede playing on my iPhone? Or how about Blondie? Or the Ramones?

The Volvo S-60 carried six CD cartridges. One was for Blondie. Two were for The Ramones. One for The Clash. One for the Stones, and one for Talking Heads. I played them over and over for years until the car ceded its life and, in return, handed me $3,500 to be used to acquire a Subaru Crosstrek. You need an all-wheel drive on the East Coast, don’t ya know.

All of a sudden, I had a chance to plug in my telephone. The word opened up to me. Oh what will I listen to? This Post Malone Fellow? This Taylor Swift character?

Or how about some Television and some 1880 Or So?

I dunno. Sometimes I’d drive just to drive. Maybe I want to listen to Needles and Pins or In the Flesh or Naive Melody. Wherever the music takes me, that’s what I’d do.

And that’s kind of the theme for the day. Punk music isn’t all about these hyper-fast chords. It’s another freewheeling expression of our day-to-day and moment-by-moment feelings. It’s like jazz.

And this is where I leave you all today - with a TOTD whose origin I cannot find but I know exists somewhere in 2022 or 2023. As Marquee Moon plays in the background. As I close my eyes and drive down Connecticut Avenue and I blare Suede in my car.

Fitzie’s track of the day (revisited): Carried Away, by Television

And now for your links:

BBC: “A Golden Boot race for the ages - but who will come out on top?”

ESPN: “Two-time Ballon d’Or winner Alexia Putellas joins WSL side London City Lionesses”

The New York Times (from January): “Tom Verlaine Was a Mystery. His Archives Reveal More of His Story.”

Italy always seems to do transfers differently, and after a well-publicized series of events following Tottenham Hotspur center back Radu Dragusin’s potential shift to Fiorentina, the deal has finally been made official:

The loan includes a €25 million obligation to buy, as previously reported by Alasdair Gold, roughly in-line with Spurs’ initial purchase fee from Genoa. Obligation is potentially putting things a bit loosely however, with Gold indicating certain requirements would need to be met for the triggering of the permanent move. No primary source is reporting exactly what those requirements are as far as I can tell, but Lilywhite_Rose (who does seem to have some insight into movement around the club) via Passione Fiorentina, a fan-run social media account, have indicated the option is triggered upon 22 appearances of 45 minutes or more.

Those sorts of clauses are never great for the club trying to offload a player, because it effectively becomes a try-before-you-buy arrangement, with the destination club able to just stop playing the player if they decide they don’t want him, effectively tanking any transfer value. But hey, we’ll take what we can get at this stage.

Radu leaves Spurs with a Europa League winner’s medal to his name and fond memories of his time at the club, taking to social media to thank fans:

All the best Radu. Enjoy your time back in Serie A!

Good morning! We continue our week of Fitzie’s Track of the day (revisited). So far this week we’ve hit up two favourites of the hoddle: Wet Leg and Charles Mingus.

Today we’re going in a much different direction. When you have more than 1,000 songs on a playlist, you’d like there to be some variety, right? To me this isn’t just about genres or genders, but also featuring the occassional song from a band or artist who aren’t from America or the UK.

This one from Japanese guitar virtuoso Masayoshi Takanaka is one of my favourites. It’s from an album called Seychelles. I haven’t listened to the rest of the album yet because I want to purchase the actual record. It’s a hell of a song. For those who live in Japan or are travelling there soon, good news: He’s currently on tour!

——

Can you believe there is no World Cup football on today? What are we going to do with ourselves?

My dear hoddlers, I present two alternatives:

Tour de France stage 5: We’re all anticipating Tadej Pogacar to wear the yellow jersey at the Champs de Elysee later this month, but he is currently behind Torstein Træen. The Norwegian cyclist surged to the front of the pack in Stage 4, also complicating matters for Pogacar rivals Jonas Vingegaard and Remco Evenpoel. But also keep an eye on the hunt for the green jersey. That appears to be the goal for Team Lidl, whose Mads Pederson won the most recent stage.

Day 5 is all about the need for speed. That’s right, it’s a sprint stage! The course from Lannemezan to Pau will be a speedy one before the cyclists return to the mountains. Hopefully this will lead to a classic sprinter’s finish and some drama towards the end. Jasper Philipsen and Tim Merlier are probably favourites to win the stage, but Pedersen could also win back-to-back stages and further claim his grip on the green jersey. Olav Kooij and Biniam Girmay are also two to watch.

And even though Wimbledon has a curfew, people tend to get tired. And sometimes, when it’s late, you might be watching television or a sporting event by yourself. Kind of like Roger Federer:

Yup, that’s Roger Federer. The lone man in the royal box watching Alexander Zverev take on Jiri Lehecka. You have to love Federer for watching this. It wasn’t the most compelling matchup, but there are very few people who are greater ambassadors to the sport than him.

I also struggle to understand how anyone who would be invited to the royal box not attend this match. Perhaps less so for the match and moreso to sit next to Federer, share a few snacks and maybe a quip or two about the sport.

Wimbledon coverage continues on Thursday with more singles quarterfinals action (plus some fun doubles). Here’s what’s on tap:

Women’s singles quarterfinals

(9) Linda Noskova vs (25) Elise Mertens

(12) Marta Kostyuk vs (13) Jasmine Paolini

Men’s singles quarterfinals

(6) Taylor Friz vs (2) Alex Zverev

(9) Francisco Cobolli vs Arhur Fery

Men’s doubles quarterfinals

(7) Krawietz/Putz vs (13) Reboul/Doumbia

(6) Pavic/Arevalo vs (3) Cash/Glasspool

Women’s doubles quarterfinals

(9) Perez/Schuurs vs (13) Aoyama/Liang

Siskova/Piter vs (2) Gabrowski/Stefani

Fitzie’s track of the day (revisited): トーキョー レギー (Tokyo Reggie), by Masayoshi Takanaka

And now for your links:

BBC: “Fulham appoint Arbeloa as Silva’s successor”

PA Media via The Guardian: “Deloitte review: Premier League clubs’ pre-tax losses surge by 600% to £948m”

ESPN: “Gotham FC moving to ‘world-class’ Etihad Park, home of NYCFC”

A couple of days ago we heard a report from the Glasgow Times that Celtic had a strong interest in taking Tottenham U23 player Alfie Devine. That article made it sound as though Celtic had the edge in purchasing Devine from Spurs.

Guess not! According to Alasdair Gold, Devine is currently at Preston North End, the club where he spent the whole of last season on loan, completing a medical ahead of a permanent transfer.

Devine clearly had a nice time at Preston, and they could I’m sure say the same. Devine had 8 goals and 6 assists last season in the championship — pretty good numbers. Devine is now 21 and at the point where he either needs to break through into Spurs’ first team thoughts, or consider a move elsewhere. Clearly both parties have decided that a permanent move is the way to go.

Alasdair Gold doesn’t mention wages or a transfer fee. The previous report said Spurs value Devine at £6m, and I’d have to think there will probably be a modest be a sell-on clause inserted in there as well, though I don’t have any evidence to prove it yet. That’ll no doubt come out with time. It’s clear however that with a path to the first team now blocked, Devine’s future lies a division down. It wouldn’t surprise me one bit however if we eventually see him playing in the Premier League in the future.

It’s a busy day in Tottenham Hotspur Transfer Land, just one county over from Bat Country, with multiple exits from the club now being reported via various outlets. The latest of these is Mikey Moore, according to a report by The Athletic’s German correspondent, Sebastian Stafford-Bloor.

Reportedly, a number of sides are interested in signing the Spurs teenager on loan - which, of course they are - and one of those suitors is German club Borussia Dortmund. It’s yet another report very light on detail (with more to be forthcoming, I’m sure), but even so, Stafford-Bloor tends to be pretty strong on German clubs, so if he’s reporting interest, it’s likely concrete.

Dortmund presents as an intriguing loan destination for Moore. Following a topsy-turvy loan experience in Scotland at Rangers, where he saw himself in and out of the side before a change in manager saw him become a key part of the Light Blues’ charge up the Scottish Premiership table, a step-up in league is a logical next phase in Moore’s development.

Unafraid to bring through young players and with a similar ethos around attacking football to Spurs (though that has faltered somewhat in recent years), Die Borussen could be a solid landing spot for Moore to grow, with plenty of minutes likely to be going around given Dortmund’s qualification for Europa League. That said, there are a couple of hitches here, the first of which is that Dortmund tend to not do loan deals to develop other teams’ players without getting something in return. So what is the catch? A purchase option is out of the question, so how do Spurs guarantee minutes for their starlet in a competitive Bundesliga environment?

The second is the fact that Dortmund coach Niko Kovac doesn’t really play with classical wingers. He operates with a 3-4-2-1, with the two in behind the striker deployed narrower and the wingbacks providing width. That then asks the question of where Spurs eventually see Moore playing. The thinking up until recently was that Moore was a winger, though he did spend some time in the lower youth levels deployed centrally. There are some questions though as to his pace not suiting a winger role at the top level, and Moore did spend some time in a central attacking midfield role at Rangers last season with moderate success.

What is most important for Moore at this stage though is that he gets minutes. That means he probably needs a loan, with Spurs linked with starting winger signings and Mathys Tel likely to be kept around as rotation, with his versatility and capability to play up top a bonus.

Whether or not the place he gets those minutes is Borussia Dortmund is still anyone’s guess.

One of the heroes of Tottenham Hotspur’s narrow escape from relegation was Djed Spence. Reportedly approaching coach Roberto De Zerbi directly and declaring his willingness and ability to fight tooth and nail, it was in part that attitude and the attitude of players like him that saved Spurs from the ignominy of descent into the second division.

That, plus a couple of key involvements in the World Cup, and it’s no wonder that other clubs might be interested in Djed. Enter Everton:

The report comes from The Athletic, lending some credence to its veracity, but it is light on detail. The long and short of it is largely covered in the tweet above, with Harris and Boyland mentioning Arsenal’s Ben White and Strasbourg’s Guela Doue as alternative targets.

On the face of it, selling Djed seems very much like a bad idea. He’s homegrown, able to cover both sides of the defense, and offers a point of difference to the other fullbacks in the squad with his pace and defensive solidity. Fullback also is an area of the squad that seems somewhat settled, and with problems elsewhere in the side it seems smart to keep the focus on those areas.

If you squint, though, there’s a world in which a sale could make sense. As mentioned above, he’s homegrown, which commands a premium, at the peak of his value, and probably not really threatening the starting XI. That means there is potentially an opportunity here to sell high and reinvest. There’s also rumors (and they are very much only that, rumors) that RDZ isn’t a huge fan of Djed’s ability.

Spurs have been terrible over the last decade or so when it comes to knowing when to shift a player on, and have been horrendously poor at securing deals for player exits to refresh and reinvest in the squad as a whole. I’m not saying this is definitely one of those times - I don’t have a crystal ball, and I really, really like Djed - but it could be.

To make it clear, though, this writer’s preference is to keep Djed Spence very much where he is; and maybe that’s what happens. We’ll see!

Tottenham Hotspur’s transfer window thus far has been largely characterized by significant incomings, but that doesn’t mean there aren’t going to be players departing the club, too. Once such potential departure is that of Radu Dragusin, with the Romanian center back linked in recent days with a move to Fiorentina in Serie A, the club of former Spurs sporting director Fabio Paratici.

That move now appears to be accelerating, with Italian transfer guru Gianluca Di Marzio reporting Dragusin’s arrival in Florence to undergo his medical and finalize the remaining details of the deal:

The arrangement appears to be the previously reported loan-to-buy deal, with an obligation for around €25 million as well as a sell-on percentage. It’s a pretty solid deal, albeit a small hit on the initial payment Spurs made to Genoa for Dragusin’s services, especially given his lack of game time and his recovery from a serious knee injury.

It never quite worked out for Radu at Spurs. He seemed something of a square peg in a round hole, a physical, towering, old-school center back at a time when Spurs were looking for quality on the ball. It meant he often looked uncomfortable on the pitch, unable to provide the quality on the ball the Lilywhites required and struggling to adapt to the faster pace of the English game.

That said, he had some good moments as well, including on his debut where he came into the side for Micky van de Ven and helped marshal Spurs to a 4-0 win against Aston Villa, and the courage he showed to fight his way back to fitness following his ACL injury was admirable.

It just wasn’t meant to be; and now Radu Dragusin’s time at Spurs appears to be nearly over.

good morning everyone! For today’s revisited Track of the Day, we’re throwing it back to Charles Mingus. No artist has been featured more than Mingus (40 times). In fact, Mingus Mondays are a regular feature here in the hoddle.

While I might not always do an in-depth “Mingus Mondays” anymore, I still want to feature my all-time favourite jazz musician. Today’s Mingus TOTD revisited comes from the album that sealed my love for the bass player and composer: Mingus Mingus Mingus Mingus Mingus.

——

Great news, everyone: Harry Kane’s voice is back!

The England striker and Tottenham legend had an all-timer of an interview the other night after defeating Mexico at the Azteca. Apparently all those shouts and singing Wonderwall by Oasis takes its toll on a man.

So, too, must an embrace from fellow Spurs alum Peter Crouch:

If you haven’t been keeping up with the football, then you might not know that England next play Norway in the quarterfinals. And who wouldn’t want to a see the firepower battle between Kane and Erling Haaland?

Either way, we’re going to get some sort of fun celebration in the quarterfinals: either England’s Wonderwall song or the Norwegian row.

Both classics, but only one will prevail.

Fitzies’ track of the day (revisited): Mood Indigo, by Charles Mingus

And now for your links:

The Athletic ($$): “How are Tottenham able to spend so much on Van Hecke, Tonali and Fernandes this summer?”

Alasdair Gold: “Djed Spence redemption and the truth Tottenham know about England full-back”

BBC: “Mbappe condemns racist posts from Paraguay senator”

The Telegraph: “Tearful Ronaldo a passenger as World Cup dream slips away”

The transfer window keeps on rolling and the deals keep on flowing as Tottenham Hotspur this morning announced the club record signing of midfielder Sandro Tonali:

The Italian midfielder has signed with Spurs for a deal purported to be around £100 million, a huge fee that anybody who has been following the club for some time will scarcely be able to comprehend.

Tonali is yet another player to join from a fellow English club, joining from Newcastle United after spending three years on Tyneside. That stint was a mixed one, with Tonali’s time on the field interrupted by a suspension due to breaches of both the Italian Football Federation’s and English FA’s gambling regulations. Despite this, on the pitch he was largely a success, endearing himself to their fans and they to him, with Tonali posting an emotional farewell post via social media:

It’s a transfer that is something of a puzzling one for Spurs. Though the Lilywhites have desperately needed investment in their midfield for some time, Tonali’s profile is relatively similar to those already on Spurs’ books: a do-everything midfielder who is a dynamic runner and aggressive presser. He’s just a bit better at all of the above, which includes Spurs’ missing secret sauce in the form of passing, while not really being a playmaker. He also benefitted from playing next to the excellent Bruno Guimaraes in Newcastle’s midfield, which made up for some of Tonali’s weaknesses.

With that in mind, his past controversies, and his age meaning it’s unlikely Spurs will be able to recoup the cost, £100 million feels very much an overpay. Don’t get me wrong - Tonali is a GOOD player - but £100 million good? That’s probably pushing it, and in some ways feels a bit like another Conor Gallagher deal, whereby Spurs are spending big for a recognizable name.

That said: it’s not my money, and Spurs have shown no willingness this summer to stop spending. My concern in years gone by would be largely around opportunity cost: who do we miss out on due to pushing this deal through? But this new version of the club seems to be very happy to throw cash around like it’s confetti, so in this case that concern may be largely unfounded.

Tonali was clearly a player identified early in the summer, with Roberto De Zerbi reportedly a huge fan of the midfielder. The two apparently were in regular conversation following the end of the season, with Spurs’ head coach key in convincing Tonali to join, perhaps capitalizing on a point of familiarity with the two coming from the same town in Italy.

This means an all-new midfield duo for the coming season, with Mateus Fernandes also already locked in. It’s an exciting prospect for any Spurs fan, who will be hopeful this season will be a significant turnaround from the last.

Welcome to the club, Sandro! (Can we call him Sandro #2?)

It’s a packed preseason campaign for Tottenham Hotspur as we look towards the 2026/27 season, with six fixtures and a trip down under to New Zealand and Australia for a Vegemite sandwich; but apparently not packed enough, as Spurs have now added a seventh match, against Getafe CF:

As covered in the release above, Spurs will play the La Liga side in a behind-closed-doors friendly at Hotspur Way in early August, a week after their match against Chelsea in Sydney. Getafe finished seventh in the Spanish top flight last season, which *checks notes* is somewhat higher than Spurs’ 17th-place finish. With that in mind, the clash presents as a tough challenge as the Lilywhites look on combinations, fitness, and match preparedness in the run-in to kick-off on August 22nd.

Perhaps too tough.

The thing about Getafe is that they are known as an extremely physical, gritty (some would say dirty) side. They often rank highly for fouls committed amongst Europe’s top leagues, and they play an extremely rigid, defensive style while treating matches not unlike an MMA bout. In short, they are essentially Spain’s Millwall; and with that in mind, it’s an odd choice for a preseason friendly opponent. Paraguay vs France? Yeah, that’s probably along the lines of what you can expect.

The last thing you want to risk right before the season gets underway is injuries to your players, and this fixture seems like a ripe opportunity for such an eventuality. Many Spurs fans will remember Gareth Bale famously being clattered by Charlie Adam in a preseason match against Liverpool in USA; the last thing we want is something similar.

There’s little history between the two clubs, thankfully, so hopefully that will ensure proceedings stay friendly. Spurs have only taken on Getafe on one prior occasion, losing to them at White Hart Lane in the Europa League, almost 20 years ago. Given the above, here’s hoping it will be another 20 years until the next time.