Is Ledley King A Simpleton?

Some disturbing comments emerged this week from Club Ambassador Ledley King, talking to PA Sport.

Former Tottenham captain Ledley King insists the club do not need to win a trophy this season for the campaign to be a success.

This is frankly mindless guff about competing. The same shtick that Pochettino fed us in pressers last season – to media rooms full of people trying not to laugh.

“No, it is important just to improve,” he told PA when asked if it was vital for Tottenham to break their trophy duck.

A ridiculous position the manager has thankfully since done a 180 turn upon.

“We all want to win trophies, every team wants to win trophies, but it is not a given. It is very difficult and no-one has a given right to win anything.

We all realise how difficult it is to win trophies at the moment – Manchester City won three last year, so the competition is very tough.“

Is the lesson from this particular example that competition is very tough, or that if you plough your resources into building a stellar squad, with strength and depth, winning becomes second nature?

Sure, ignore that, and just steam in asking me if I’m comparing Financial Fair Play swerving oil money, with humble and modest THFC.

The problem you’ll run into, is that the FFP has much in common with the HMRC.

At which point does tax avoidance become tax evasion? Instead of whining like a bitch about the laws, when are you going to change them? Or do you simply not understand either?

It’s not outrageous to suggest that had ENIC pumped a billion into players, they could have been sitting on a pile of shiny pots and pans right now.

Kindly note the use of basic language, ‘could have’. There are no guarantees, and we’re back to the flea brained business of, “no-one has a given right to win anything”.

“We will be able to look at the season as a whole and see what we have done. Last season was great for the club, but we didn’t win a trophy, so I don’t think it can be judged like that.

The season as a whole, and not just the trophy tally are two separate things in Ledder’s mind. Which is alarming.

Using this logic, the McCann’s may have lost one daughter whilst on holiday in Portugal, but taking a broader and perhaps more pragmatic view, they did retain possession of their other two children, so the trip wasn’t a total write-off.

King is undoubtedly a lovely guy, with a big heart. However, it might be an idea if he stuck to waving and signing autographs.

Mauricio Pochettino will not be here in a few seasons’ from now, if we are still having stupid discussions about ‘competing’.

Winning is the metric. Which is why in generations to come, Bill Nicholson’s name will still be spoken with reverence, and Harry Redknapp will be a remembered as a bloke that won a TV show.