Tottenham Hotspur F.C. season 2008-09

Infobox Football club season
club = Tottenham Hotspur
season = 2008–09
manager = flagicon|ESP Juande Ramos
chairman = flagicon|ENG Daniel Levy
league = Premier League
league result =
cup1 = FA Cup
cup1 result =
cup2 = Carling Cup
cup2 result =
cup4 = UEFA Cup
cup4 result =
league topscorer =
season topscorer =
highest attendance =
lowest attendance =

The 2008-09 Season will be Tottenham Hotspur's 17th season in the Premier League. It will be their 30th successive season in the top division of the English football league system.

eason 2008-2009

At the end of the 2007-08 season, which saw Tottenham finish 11th in the Premier League, the club announced the signing of Luka Modrić [cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/teams/t/tottenham_hotspur/7368463.stm|title=Spurs sign Croatian star Modric|publisher=BBC Sport|date=2008-04-26|accessdate=2008-06-08] and reiterated that any club wishing to sign their striker Dimitar Berbatov would need to offer more than £30 million. [cite news|url=http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/main.jhtml?xml=/sport/2008/04/28/sfntot128.xml|title=Luka Modric joy not shared by Berbatov|last=Wilson|first=Jeremy|coauthors=Miller, David|date=2008-04-28|publisher="Daily Telegraph"|accessdate=2008-06-08]

On 6 May 2008, Tottenham revealed the new kits for the 2008-09 season, The home kit is modified slightly so it is white with navy trim, the away kit is solid light blue and the European kit is Black with white and gold trim.

On the 13 May 2008, Radek Černý moved on a free transfer to QPR. [cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/teams/q/qpr/7398350.stm|title=QPR seal Ramage and Cerny deals|publisher=BBC Sport|date=2008-05-13|accessdate=2008-06-08] Černý's loan deal had expired and was not offered a contract extension by Tottenham nor his parent club Slavia Prague.

On 6 June 2008, Tottenham agreed a deal with Barcelona for 19-year-old Giovani Dos Santos for an initial fee of £4.7million with the fee possibly rising to £8.6million depending on appearances. The signing was officially completed on June 10, 2008. [cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/teams/t/tottenham_hotspur/7440216.stm|title=Tottenham agree Dos Santos deal|date=2008-06-06|publisher=BBC Sport|accessdate=2008-06-08]

On 26 June, 2008, Tottenham reached a deal with Dutch club PSV Eindhoven for Brazilian goalkeeper Heurelho Gomes, valued at around £8 million.

The Premier League fixtures for the 2008-09 season were announced on the 16 June 2008 where Tottenham Hotspur will kick off the new season away to Middlesbrough on 16 August 2008.

As part of their pre-season preparations, Tottenham held training camp in Spain, along with numerous friendlies, in July.cite news|url=http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/sport/football/premier_league/tottenham/article3835647.ece|title=Luka Modric happy to sleep with Spurs' enemy|last=Jacob|first=Gary|date=2008-04-29|publisher="The Times"|accessdate=2008-06-08] They also entered and later won the Feyenoord Jubilee Tournament, held in Rotterdam at the start of August, with victories over Celtic and Borussia Dortmund.

On 18 July 2008, the Club issued a press statement on behalf of Daniel Levy saying that both Manchester United and Liverpool had been reported to the Premier League over comments their respective managers had made which were seen as unsettling both Dimitar Berbatov and Robbie Keane with a view of enticing them away from Spurs". [cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/teams/t/tottenham_hotspur/7514933.stm |title=Spurs report Liverpool & Man Utd|publisher=BBC Sport|date=2008-07-18|accessdate=2008-07-18] Levy said of United boss, Alex Ferguson:

"Today's public comments by Manchester United's manager, announcing that he has made an offer for Dimitar and is confident that the deal will go through with time working in their favour, is a blatant example of sheer arrogance and interference with one of our players. It is also probably one of the worst offences by any manager in the Premier League to date and is unbelievably hypocritical given his recent comments in respect of Cristiano Ronaldo and Real Madrid."

Levy reiterated it was not the intention to sell either player, but remarked that it could result in a negative influence in the dressing room, with both players indicating they wished to leave the club. [cite news|url=http://www.tottenhamhotspur.com/news/articles/chairmanspeaksout180708.html|title=Chairman Speaks Out|publisher=tottenhamhotspur.com|date=2008-07-18|accessdate=2008-07-18]

On 23rd July 2008, it was announced that the club had parted company with Teemu Tainio. The Finnish midfielder joined Sunderland on a three-year contract. He was Roy Keane's first summer signing for the Black Cats. [cite news|url=http://www.tottenhamhotspur.com/news/articles/teemutransfer230708.html|title=Teemu transfer|publisher=tottenhamhotspur.com|date=2008-07-23|accessdate=2008-07-26]

On 25th July 2008, news broke that England international goalkeeper Paul Robinson had signed a five-year contract with Blackburn, having been with Spurs for four years. Robinson joined the club from Leeds United in May 2004 and went on to make 175 appearances for the club in all competitions, managing to score against Watford in 2007. The fee was reported as being £3,500,000. [cite news|url=http://www.tottenhamhotspur.com/news/articles/robbotorovers.html|title=Robbo to Rovers|publisher=tottenhamhotspur.com|date=2008-07-25|accessdate=2008-07-26]

On 26th July 2008 Pascal Chimbonda followed Tainio by joining Sunderland for an undisclosed fee [ cite web
url=http://www.tottenhamhotspur.com/news/articles/chimbondatosunderland260708.html |title=chimbonda leaves |date= 26 July 2008 |publisher=spurs.co.uk]

On 28th July 2008, Tottenham agreed to sell Robbie Keane to Liverpool for a total that could amount to £20.3 million. The move marks the end of speculation that he would join the team he supported as a child. With the sale, Tottenham also agreed to drop its official complaint to the Premier League about Liverpool's pursuit of Keane after Liverpool issued a formal apology and made a donation to The Tottenham Foundation. [cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/football/teams/l/liverpool/7528735.stm|title=Liverpool complete Keane transfer|publisher=bbc.co.uk|date=2008-07-28|accessdate=2008-07-28] Levy issued a statement coinciding with the confirmation of the Keane transfer:

"I was incredibly disappointed when I first heard, not only that Liverpool had been working behind the scenes to bring Robbie to Anfield, but that Robbie himself wanted to go and he submitted a transfer request to this effect. I have already made my opinion clear on the nature of this transaction. I don't regard it as a transfer deal - that is something which happens between two clubs when they both agree to trade - this is very much an enforced sale, for which we have agreed a sum of £19m as compensation plus a potential further £1.3m in additional compensation."

On 30th July 2008, Steed Malbranque became the third player in a week following his former team mates, Tainio and Chimbonda and joining Sunderland for a fee of £7.8 million. [ cite web
url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/teams/s/sunderland/7530274.stm |title=Malbranque signs Sunderland deal |date= 30 July 2008 |publisher=bbc.co.uk] . Later the same day Tottenham announced they had reached agreement with Blackburn Rovers for the transfer of David Bentley to the club for a ₤15 million fee. [cite news | title = Bentley to the Lane | publisher = Tottenham Hotspur F.C. date = 2008-07-30 | url = http://www.tottenhamhotspur.com/news/articles/bentleytothelane.html | accessdate=2008-07-30]

Totttenham made their first transfer move in the month of August with the signing of veteran goalkeeper César Sánchez from Real Zaragoza on 8 August 2008, The deal is initially a season long loan but with the permanent signing being completed at the end of the 2008-09 season, and the first Tottenham departure in the month of August was Younes Kaboul, when on 11 August 2008, he joined Portsmouth for an undisclosed fee.

Tottenham finished their pre-season preparations with a 5-0 victory over Serie A giants Roma which ensured they stayed unbeaten, scoring thirty-three goals and conceded five in a total of seven games, with Darren Bent scoring 13 goals.

Tottenham's league season got off to a bad start with a loss to Middlesbrough, followed by a second defeat to Sunderland, but they got their first point of the season in a 1-1 draw at Stamford Bridge against Chelsea. However, after suffering a loss at home to Aston Villa, they were rooted to the bottom of the table and suffered their worst start to a Premier League season. Further disappointing results arrived, as a 0-0 home draw against Wigan Athletic and a 2-0 away defeat to Portsmouth kept them rooted to the foot of the league table, a further loss to Hull condemned Tottenham to their worst start since 1912. The club were able to make a successful start to the defence of their Carling Cup title however, defeating Newcastle United 2-1 at St James' Park to progress to the fourth round of the competition, to play at home against Liverpool.

Team kit

Out

Loaned in

Completed Loans

Match results

Pre-Season

FA Cup

UEFA Cup Group Stage

*Last Update: 05 October 2008
*Data includes all competitions

Top scorer

As of 05 October 2008

Most appearances

As of 05 October 2008

References

External links

* [http://www.tottenhamhotspur.com/ Official Club site]
* [http://www.spursodyssey.com/ Spurs Odyssey]
* [http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/teams/t/tottenham_hotspur/default.stm/ BBC - Tottenham club news]