Hold your nerve, Mr Levy, or we'll never believe you

By Martin Samuel - Sport for the Daily Mail
Updated: 18:20 EST, 30 August 2011

Just one more day to go. The transfer window closes on Wednesday, August 31 at 11pm, meaning Daniel Levy, chairman of Tottenham Hotspur, has mere hours to stay true to his word that Luka Modric will not be sold.

The saga has murdered Tottenham this summer, but the long-term gains are huge. If Levy holds fast, he can change the perception of his club; if he does not, he will have little credibility left.

It has long been presumed that Levy’s resistance was merely a  bargaining tool. Tottenham always say never, it was argued, then the price goes up and they sell. And that is why Chelsea have been so persistent in their pursuit and Modric so artful in his antics.

Grounded: Luka Modric has done everything he can to force a move out of Tottenham... but will he get his wish on deadline day

Asking not to play on the day of a huge home match with  Manchester City is the act of a man who thinks his employers are weak. All along, the belief has been that if Modric acts up and Chelsea pay up, the deal will get done.

That is how it has been in the past and if Levy does not change the  narrative around Tottenham, it is how it will be in the future, too. If Levy sells Modric after all his protestations, the big clubs will come for Gareth Bale next time or Rafael van der Vaart or Michael Dawson.

And they won’t be put off by rebuttal, however firm, because they will know that, to Levy, ‘no’ is just another way of saying ‘come back with more money’.

Sell Modric and Tottenham will regress from being Champions League contenders to merely the prestige feeder club for the elite, solving the problems of Manchester United or Chelsea by offering up the missing piece in their jigsaw.

There is a political issue here, too. Tottenham have recently earned a judicial review of the award of the Olympic Stadium to West Ham United. Their plans for the site contain a lot of promises and pledges that need to be kept.

They want to knock the stadium down, build the new White Hart Lane in its place, and will finance the  redevelopment of the Crystal Palace athletics arena as compensation.

But what will a robust opponent such as Karren Brady of West Ham make of it if the Tottenham chairman spends all summer saying never over Modric and then sells him? She might argue his word cannot be trusted.

She might point out that last  summer West Ham faced a similar  situation over Scott Parker but resisted all offers after co-owner David Sullivan insisted he would not be sold (Parker has gone now, but only as a result of relegation; just as, if Tottenham were relegated, the sale of Modric would be an obvious consequence).

Levy cannot really afford to be  publicly revealed as two-faced at a time when he desperately needs to be shown as a man of his word. Yes, Modric’s behaviour has poisoned the club, yet get through today and he will have little choice but to settle down.

Standing firm: Much depends on Daniel Levy's desire to stay true to his word

Indeed, it might be argued that it is Tottenham’s sluggishness in the  transfer market that has done the greatest damage. Had the club invested in fresh faces earlier — and what kept them over Parker, who has been available since West Ham’s relegation was confirmed in May? — then the uncertainty around Modric would not have been such a drain on morale.

There is some sympathy for Levy here. He did his best to make clear that Modric was not for sale from the moment Chelsea bid, but early  bravado does not make a sale acceptable just because the player is refusing to take no for an answer.

Levy’s stance was unequivocal: he would not enter into negotiations with any club. That statement was presumed to cover all eventualities: a transfer request, a spectacular hissy fit, even a strike threat.

Clearly a chairman  saying no to a player has to be  prepared for an increased level of  confrontation and is without credence if he folds in the heat of conflict. All Levy will have done then is shown the rest of the squad what needs to be done if a bigger club come calling.

Remember this? Dimitar Berbatov behaved similarly to Modric and finally got his move on deadline day

Levy must demonstrate that this time is different, that he, and Tottenham, have moved on. More importantly,  he must show that his statements have substance and are not just instruments of negotiation. Only  then will the vultures seek their  prey elsewhere in the next transfer window.

If he fails, the big ticket items in Tottenham’s first team will be as vulnerable as goods in the local high street to avaricious looters.

For Levy, today is arguably his most important as Tottenham chairman. If he caves in, his word will not be  taken seriously again: on Modric, on the Olympic Stadium, on anything, really.

Child's play

Some moments are beyond parody. On Monday night, a breathless reporter on Sky Sports News drew attention to a notable development in the Scott Parker transfer story.

Jack Sullivan, son of West Ham United chairman David, had said on Twitter that his dad was doing all he could to keep the player at the club. This was top information, obviously, and was duly relayed as such: the tweet was displayed boldly, held up as  an impeccable source.

And it is certainly fair to say Jack is a regular in the West Ham boardroom. In fact, it was the venue for his 11th birthday party, against Blackpool last season.

Oh, well if you say so, Jack: Scott Parker looks set to join Tottenham

Coe-operation

Sebastian Coe made a staunch defence of the punitive false-start rules in athletics, but he missed the point about the frustrations felt by paying spectators when a major runner is disqualified.

The chairman of London 2012 said starting the race legally is part of an athlete’s skill set and it is only right that those failing to master this pay the price. Yet if it has always been such a vital component, why was the rule not in place from the start? Is it important or not?

Coe voted for it, but the IAAF’s motivation for giving no second chances was driven by money, not excellence. The rule exists to tidy up television schedules.

Bolted too early: The crowd in Daegu were robbed of the chance to see Usain Bolt

Coe argues that to bemoan Usain Bolt’s disqualification in a blue riband event like the Olympic Games or World Championships is akin to complaining because a fighter is knocked out in the first round, or Wayne Rooney gets sent off and cannot play for England.

But it is not. Everyone with a ticket to see Bolt next summer knows he could get injured or even fail to qualify. All accept sport carries no guarantees. The concern is that the rule that prevented Bolt running in Daegu on Sunday seems almost wilfully strict.

It is the equivalent of sitting ringside in Las Vegas, only for the champion to be disqualified for having his shorts pulled up too high; or have Rooney shown a straight red card for taking a quick free-kick. A sense of proportion is required. The punishment must always fit the crime.

Arsene and Arsenal have shot themselves in the foot this time

What a difference eight goals make. First, nobody was good enough for Arsenal then, suddenly, everybody was.

Per Mertesacker, Andre Santos, Gary Cahill, Park Chu-young, Mikel Arteta, Marouane Fellaini, Yossi Benayoun, Wesley Sneijder, Lucho Gonzalez, Alex, Yann M’Vila, Juan, Florent Malouda, Marvin Martin, Starvin Marvin.

I don't know! Arsene Wenger has had the look of a desperate man in the last few days of the transfer window

Actually, that last one definitely isn’t true. Starvin Marvin was the famished Ethiopian adopted by accident in an episode of South Park but, let’s face it, he could be Arsenal’s new centre half. So could anyone, really, now reality has hit. It is clear increasingly intense conversations are being had.

Anyone who thinks there has been a grand plan at Arsenal this summer is deluded. Wenger has long been insistent that there are so few players available of Arsenal calibre until now, deadline day, when it seems a busload of previously obscure talent has appeared on the horizon.

Some of the links will be misinformation, others the result of agents getting busy, but take Cahill, Santos and Mertesacker as examples. Has Cahill become a better player in the last two weeks? No. Then why was this business not done in May, rather than attempted once a horrid start to the season had been made?

Take your time: Why wasn't Per Mertesacker signed up in May?

Mertesacker will be 27 next month and has made 75 appearances for Germany. Santos is 28 with 22 Brazilian caps, including four this year. It is not as if these players are now demonstrating talent that was undetectable at the end of last season.

The club got it wrong; Wenger got it wrong. The priority had to be players capable of instant introduction to Arsenal’s first team, particularly defenders.
Instead, Wenger secured the expensive recruitment of a long-term prospect in Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, who looked pitifully raw in his brief time on the pitch at the weekend, and pressing weaknesses went unresolved.

There is no point blaming injuries, as unfortunate as they have been. Gary Neville rightly pointed out that any player in the squad at an elite club has to be ready for first-team duty. Manchester United have defenders missing, too, but those stepping up are good enough; Arsenal’s are not.

There was a significant miscalculation: either in Wenger’s assessment of fringe talent such as Armand Traore, or the boardroom gamble that an inadequate second string would not be needed.

It is pointless now blaming wage structures or criticising Manchester City for inflating the market. It was not City who paid £12m for a winger who had not kicked a ball outside League One.

The asking price for Cahill at Bolton Wanderers is believed to be £17m. Surely that transfer should have been prioritised before some mythical future was secured?

Rewind to 2008, a time when many began to doubt Wenger’s ability to indefinitely pull off the miracle of success and Champions League football on a budget.

Eventually, players like Cesc Fabregas and Emmanuel Adebayor would do the maths, calculate what they could earn elsewhere and act accordingly.

Ran out of patience: Cesc Fabregas finally got his wish of a return to Barcelona

Adebayor’s salary was widely reported as £35,000 a week. Cue a telephone call from a club official, wanting to set the record straight on Arsenal’s wage structure. Very competitive, it was insisted. Arsenal might not buy as big as other clubs, but they paid well and at the market rate.

And while this conversation predated the Abu Dhabi takeover at Manchester City, even now the difference between Arsenal’s top salary and that at Manchester United should not equate to six goals on the field.

Maybe Arsenal can’t pay Wayne Rooney, but they should at least be able to attract someone who can stop him running through their defence at will.

Pipped to the post: Phil Jones was contacted, but chose Manchester United

Phil Jones, Chris Smalling, Phil Jagielka, Cahill, all were within Arsenal’s grasp. As long as the club are telling the truth.

Again, the brief is that the money is there but Wenger will not spend it. Yet from inside comes an alternate version, one that claims that Wenger had to sell to buy and is again taking criticism for decisions that were beyond his control.

Certainly, Wenger wanted Jones but lost out to Manchester United. Why? Because they have better prospects. Trophies do matter; fourth place and first place might end up in the same European competition, but there the similarity ends. These various strands are related. If Arsenal don’t get the best players, they won’t win the trophies; if they don’t win the trophies, they won’t get the players.

Round and round it goes, a vicious circle, not a perfect one. Do not be fooled. There was no cunning plan. If these players are the answer now, they were the answer in May.

Arsenal messed up, Wenger messed up, but there is no mileage in demanding a confession from either side; the events of this week are admission enough.

That's rich, Michel

When is a red, flashing light not a red, flashing light? For UEFA president Michel Platini, when it illuminates Paris.

Platini has been banging on about warning signs for football, particularly the presence of wealthy, foreign owners buying up clubs like Chelsea and Manchester City.

Yet the same has happened to Paris Saint-Germain, a club in Platini’s native France now controlled from Qatar, and his stance is rather different.

MIxed messages: Mr 'Financial Fair Play' has welcomed the Qatari money at PSG

Platini expressed initial disquiet but later told France Football that PSG’s spending leaves him happy as it makes French football more attractive. Platini has known the Emir of Qatar for a long time and says he is a big fan of football.

Nice to know that only England’s nasty Arabs and Russians are ruining the game. Truly, Platini is the Peter Mandelson of football. He is very comfortable with the rich, just as long as they are French; or Qatari.

Boxing (not very) clever

Who is the WBA heavyweight champion? Those who answered Wladimir Klitschko, following his defeat of David Haye, sorry, you are wrong. The wonderful world of modern boxing has outstripped your puny imaginations once again.

From Russia with love: Alexander Powetkin is the world heavyweight boxing champion

The WBA heavyweight champion is Alexander Povetkin, from Russia, who won the title in a unanimous points decision over Ruslan Chagaev in Erfurt, Germany, on Saturday.

What happened to Klitschko? Well, he was arbitrarily made a Super Champion by the WBA to create this vacant, sham, title. No matter that Povetkin has spent a career on the run from Klitschko, even pulling out of a mandatory fight for a career-high purse of £1.22million, or that Chagaev was beaten badly by Klitschko in 2009.

The great belts of boxing are being devalued. Last October, the WBA similarly promoted Felix Sturm in the middleweight division, leaving Hassan N’Dam N’Jikam and Avtandil Khurtsidze to contest a newly vacant title in Paris.

Those still concerned with the career of Haye after the battle of wounded toe in Hamburg say Povetkin would be a perfect opponent, clumsy and immobile. It would be a worthless crown to regain, however, an empty triumph.

And early indications are  that Povetkin intends to make  his first defence against  48-year-old Evander Holyfield anyway. Some say this will be boxing’s joke to end them all, but the WBA would appear to have already told that one.