Scottish Mag 3 Posted May 9, 2006 Share Posted May 9, 2006 On SSN, Spurs have asked for their match against West Ham to be replayed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gemmill 46095 Posted May 9, 2006 Share Posted May 9, 2006 The whinging bunch of scrotes. I hope they get told where to stick their appeal tbh. We've played most of the season with half our squad missing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MattM4 0 Posted May 9, 2006 Share Posted May 9, 2006 I really like Spurs and hate Arsenal with a passion ... but that is embarrassing tbh. It's over. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gemmill 46095 Posted May 9, 2006 Share Posted May 9, 2006 Mr Dave Richards Chairman The FA Premier League, 30 Gloucester Place London W1U 8PL 9 May 2006 Dear Dave Re: Protest and request for the match between West Ham United and Tottenham Hotspur FC on 7/5/06 to be replayed As you are aware, Sunday could have been a momentous day for our Club and our fans. It was the first time since the inception of the UEFA Champions League that we were in a position to qualify for European club football’s most prestigious competition. After such a successful League campaign, the excitement and expectation of our fans was simply enormous. Our match at West Ham was effectively a Cup Final. However, we believe that our chances of success were significantly reduced by the exceptional circumstances brought about by the sudden illness of the majority of players in our First Team squad in the early hours of Sunday morning. In being given no viable option to postpone the match other than a 2-hour delay to kick-off, our players were denied the possible opportunity of competing in the Champions League, while our fans have been left with a sense of suspicion and injustice at the way subsequent events unfolded. We contacted the FAPL early on Sunday morning and, after a series of conversations, the FAPL called for the England Team Doctor and the FAPL Company Secretary to attend our Team Hotel to assess the situation. We believed that the FAPL were examining the situation in good faith and were seeking to obtain all relevant information before coming to a decision. Indeed, in those early conversations the FAPL’s Chief Executive had given us every reason to believe the match could be postponed to allow our players some extra time to recover from a lack of sleep, vomiting, diarrhoea and dehydration. At this time, myself, Board members and other key decision makers joined the players at their hotel. Whilst waiting for the opinion of the England Team Doctor, who was yet to arrive at our Team Hotel, I was contacted from a distance by the FAPL and told that we had to play the game that day or suffer the consequences. This, by implication, may have meant a significant loss of points and the denial of participation in any European competition – a situation I could not sanction. This threat was made by the FAPL despite the fact that West Ham United, acting honourably and fairly as would be expected from that club, had consented to the postponement of the match provided that any re-match did not interfere with their FA Cup Final preparations. The FAPL’s Chief Executive then said he would consider the match being delayed to later on Sunday evening, but unfortunately the Police would not sanction a kick off time beyond 5pm. Our medical staff advised that a delay of at least 3 hours would be necessary to have any impact on the players and therefore it was Martin Jol’s view that, in the absence of a postponement or a much later kick-off, we had no choice whatsoever but to proceed to play at 3pm. What puzzles us is why the FAPL were prepared to sanction a 4 hour delay but not a 24 hour delay. If the integrity of all matches kicking off at the same time was your primary concern, why sanction a delay of any kind? Our next issue was team selection. Martin Jol and his staff, having originally selected their squad of 17 players for the match, were then left in the invidious position of choosing between starting the match with their original 17 players, 10 of whom were feeling very unwell, or drafting in Reserve Team players, the majority of whom have not played for the First Team this season or are untried and untested at First Team level. In any case, having ended their season, our Reserve Team players were scattered across various parts of London and the South East, would not have been prepared to play in a Premier League (or any other) match at such short notice and would rarely, if ever, have played together. This was an impossible position for our coaching staff to find themselves in on the morning of what was our most important match for many years. Playing a make-shift, inexperienced and ill-prepared team in such a high profile game could have turned the match into a farce, resulting in an embarrassment for the players, the coaches, the Club, our fans and the Premier League competition as a whole. To add insult to injury, the FAPL’s announcement that our game would not be postponed was made live on Sky TV from the pitch side at Highbury. In light of the obvious sensitivities and the competition for 4th place between Arsenal and Spurs this was, to say the least, an unfortunate choice. We simply do not understand why the FAPL failed to appraise itself of all of the facts before turning down our request that the fixture be postponed under rule E 13.4. We were surprised that the FAPL’s Chief Executive did not make the short journey from Highbury to the Team Hotel at Canary Wharf to assess such a serious issue first hand. We also fail to understand why the England Team Doctor, having been sent to the Team Hotel, was not even consulted before an announcement was made (in fact, he did not even arrive at our hotel before the decision was made or even before our players had to leave the Team Hotel to travel to Upton Park for the match). As a result we played the game with players who were unwell but who were desperate not to let their fans and colleagues down. Clearly, our governing body put us in an impossible situation and gave a significant advantage to Arsenal in competing for that 4th position. With this in mind we contacted those Premier League Chairmen and Chief Executives we were able to locate to establish what fellow members feel is an appropriate way forward given the unorthodox decision made by the FAPL prior to receiving objective information on the situation. We now have confirmation from a majority of Premier League clubs that they would support a replay and in similar circumstances would expect the game to have been postponed. This is a gesture made by fellow clubs which supports the Charter’s aims of running a professional league in a manner in which all of its member Clubs are treated equally and in a professional, fair and objective way. Additionally, from comments made by Sepp Blatter in the media in the past 24 hours, even FIFA would support the idea of a postponement provided the match was played on or before 15 May 2006. We therefore formally request that you order that the game be replayed. It is regrettable that we have been put in this position, but we feel let down by the FAPL’s abdication of its responsibility to consider the request for a postponement fairly and after due consideration of all relevant factors. Where such significant commercial and competitive interests are jeopardised it is only reasonable that our governing body ensures we play on a level playing field and supports us by making decisions based on the facts of the situation which has to include all relevant information. We feel sure that the FAPL, along with most reasonable minded people, would not have wanted such a controversial outcome to the final day of the Premier League season. Furthermore, the FAPL was inconsistent in its approach in being prepared to consider the kick-off to be delayed but not allowing the match to be played on a different day. Finally, whilst our primary concern here is for our own Club, the situation we find ourselves in highlights what could have been an even bigger issue for a Club facing relegation from the FAPL. Similarly, it is hard to believe that, faced with an identical issue on the morning of a Champions League Final, a club would not seek a postponement (with the opposing team consenting) and that, given the importance of such an occasion, such a request would not be granted by UEFA in the interests of fairness and good sporting practice. In our view, and regardless of the outcome of our case, the FAPL’s decision making process and lines of communication in such a situation need thorough and urgent review in order to ensure that no other club is similarly disadvantaged in the future. Yours sincerely DANIEL LEVY Chairman of Tottenham Hotspur Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lazarus 0 Posted May 9, 2006 Share Posted May 9, 2006 There s a spurs fan in my office - christ he got some stick the last couple of days ! Someone ( ) brought in some toilet roll for him in case he was 'caught short'. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gemmill 46095 Posted May 9, 2006 Share Posted May 9, 2006 "Our next issue was team selection. Martin Jol and his staff, having originally selected their squad of 17 players for the match, were then left in the invidious position of choosing between starting the match with their original 17 players, 10 of whom were feeling very unwell, or drafting in Reserve Team players, the majority of whom have not played for the First Team this season or are untried and untested at First Team level." Errrr, that's football, tosser! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David Kelly 1260 Posted May 9, 2006 Share Posted May 9, 2006 I have to admit while I do hate them and am glad Arse got 4th ahead of them, I do feel sympathy with their situation. There whole season just about goes up in smoke because of a totally non footballing proble. I'm sure we would be devistated if we were in similar position. That said the games been played and they lost so I'm afraid that's the end of it as far as I'm concerned. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LeazesMag 0 Posted May 9, 2006 Share Posted May 9, 2006 Arseholes. We should have the 1976 League Cup Final replayed then .... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Isegrim 9906 Posted May 9, 2006 Share Posted May 9, 2006 I hope they get their replay... ... and get a 6-0 tonking. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ugly Mackems 134 Posted May 9, 2006 Share Posted May 9, 2006 If I write a nice letter do you think they'll let the Toon replay the first half of our season - that Scottish cunt made 52,000 sick every game. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dr Kenneth Noisewater 0 Posted May 9, 2006 Share Posted May 9, 2006 Would they want it replayed if they won? No. Will they want it replayed if Arsenal win the CL? No. The season is decided over 38 games, not just the last 90 minutes. Tough (or in the players concerned case, sloppy) shit. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MattM4 0 Posted May 9, 2006 Share Posted May 9, 2006 Would they want it replayed if they won? No. what a stupid thing to say. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Meenzer 15740 Posted May 9, 2006 Share Posted May 9, 2006 The season is decided over 38 games, not just the last 90 minutes. 134125[/snapback] Aye, why didn't they think of trotting out this kind of excuse when they drew against Sunderland? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Craig 6700 Posted May 9, 2006 Share Posted May 9, 2006 They were hardly shite against West Ham though, were they? They put up a decent game and only lost by the odd goal. If they'd got thumped 5-0 I can understand their grievance somewhat, but a narrow 2-1 defeat?? Go fuck yourselves! The highest order of bad losing IMO. Over 38 games, you were not better than Arsenal - forget about it and move on. Anyone hear Alan Sugar talking about it this morning? He was pissing himself at the thought of a conspiracy! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dr Kenneth Noisewater 0 Posted May 9, 2006 Share Posted May 9, 2006 Would they want it replayed if they won? No. what a stupid thing to say. 134129[/snapback] Alright, alright. What I meant was, it's not the principal they're bothered about, purely the (potential) Champions League cash. I bet any talk of legal action is dropped if Arsenal win the CL. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shearergol 0 Posted May 9, 2006 Share Posted May 9, 2006 Anyone who has said in this thread that they like Spurs should be shot IMO Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JawD 99 Posted May 9, 2006 Share Posted May 9, 2006 Imagine if they gave in and said yes? what president would that set for the future? "Oh, dyer stubbed his toe on the way in to the game, can we replay?" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chaser 1267 Posted May 9, 2006 Share Posted May 9, 2006 Sore losers. Ran out of luck in the end, thats football Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Greg 6 Posted May 9, 2006 Share Posted May 9, 2006 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bombadil 0 Posted May 9, 2006 Share Posted May 9, 2006 Anyone who has said in this thread that they like Spurs should be shot IMO 134172[/snapback] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sweetleftpeg 0 Posted May 10, 2006 Share Posted May 10, 2006 Well, if they do get a reply it'll show which side the FA's bread is buttered. As much as I dislike Boro, they got relegated for the same kind of problem and were totally dismissed when they asked for the game to be rearanged. If Spurs get a replay, then it's London bias. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gemmill 46095 Posted May 10, 2006 Share Posted May 10, 2006 With David Dein on the scene, there's no chance of them getting a replay. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Craig 6700 Posted May 10, 2006 Share Posted May 10, 2006 As they pointed out on the radio this morning, the domestic season has to be wrapped up by Monday morning. WTF do Spurs expect West Ham to do? Play them the day after the cup final?? Fucking jokers! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest alex Posted May 10, 2006 Share Posted May 10, 2006 The Premier League could theoretically apply to have the season extended as has happened in Spain this year (although that was due to fixture congestion). However, while I have some sympathy for Spurs, there is no way the PL would want to open that can of worms. I just think Spurs should have to take it like we've had to take all the injuries we've had practically all season. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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