some canadian guys writing about soccer

It wasn’t long ago that I was consoling myself for Arsenal’s failings this season by sniggering at Tottenham’s calamitous campaign. Dead last and without a win after eight games, Tottenham was off to their worst start ever. There were grumblings of dressing-room dissent and a lack of faith in superstar manager Juande Ramos. There were mutterings of a lack of team cohesion and a huge black hole where there the goalkeeper should be. Hell, there was open talk of relegation, of the eleventh-richest club in the world reduced to enduring regular fixtures against the likes of Doncaster and Swansea.

But then, in a sudden flush of headlines, came Harry Redknapp, the London boy come home to make good with his

Hands up if you can't pronounce the letter H.

former club. First up: A win at Bolton. Then Arsenal, the biggest fixture of the year, and with a last minute comeback Spurs stole a precious point. Then another win, against top-form Liverpool. And, just like that, it was all good news: the team was revitalized, the supporters were excited and a new day had dawned. All was well in the blue-and-white half of North London – ‘Arry was the King of White Hart Lane. And so the story ends.

Except it doesn’t end there, and it hasn’t ended yet.

For all the hype around the “Harry Redknapp Effect” there is one salient truth: under his tenure, Tottenham has moved from dead last to third last, and is still very much in danger of dropping out of the Premiership. As last week’s loss at West Brom, and Sunday’s failure against Wigan showed, the Lillywhites have not been magically transformed: they are still being outplayed and outrun, and they still have huge problems with goalkeeping. In fact, since the initial flush of Rednapp-inspired success, Tottenham have only won two of their last nine league games, taking a limp eight points of a possible 27.

What’s more, the dressing room isn’t all smooth sailing: ‘Arry’s latest stroke of genius – yoo-hooing Jermain Defoe over from Portsmouth – has thus far fallen flat, and now the media has turned against Spurs,with reports of rumbling dissent that led to Jermaine Jenas being stripped of his captaincy.

The simple fact is that, for all the hype and attention and talk of a resurgent Tottenham side, Harry Redknapp’s Spurs have only accomplished two things in the League: a win against Liverpool (which is not an easy thing this year, granted), and a tie at Arsenal (which was more to do with Arsenal’s inability to close out games this year than anything else).

But the myth seems to remain, the idea that Spurs are out of trouble, that things are better now that ‘Arry’s at the ‘elm. Now, beyond being an Arsenal fan taking a chance to point out that Spurs are having a terrible season, I think that this story is a good example of the way that soccer is reported on in Britain, that is: with an excess of energy, but a deficiency of consideration. Stories get pumped up with little or no apparent regard for their being at all grounded, then the focus shifts to another inflatible story, and there’s no looking back.

And now the transfer window is wide open, and the media is jumping headlong through it, with journalists literally making up juicy rumours (to be fair, I only suspect this to be true, but I think at least Grant agrees with me) to get public interest up. (Andrei Arshavin is going to Arsenal, no, wait – to Man City! And so is Craig Bellamy! And Roque Santa Cruz! And Kaka!) The British media is all a-titter with rumours, conjecture and hype about big money for big names, even though, so far, only one transfer of note (Jermain Defoe’s) has actually happened. (Though Grant may say that Wayne Bridge’s move – to, you guessed it, Man City – is a pretty big deal, too. Whatever, Grant.) It doesn’t matter if the rumours are true, it doesn’t matter if the deals are ever going to happen: this is all just a great way to generate interest and grab attention. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not against journalists (given that, y’know, I am one), I just think that there’s something wrong when there’s more action in the paper than on the pitch.

So, dear reader(s), I’m just going to keep enjoying the one benefit of being a Canadian soccer fan: When you see a soccer story in the news, you know it’s a big deal – if only because Canada’s press can’t be bothered to stir up any hype.