Tottering Hotspur? Il campo parla

One of my favourite trips to the old White Hart Lane was when we won 1-0, Spurs fan Chris Powell scoring the goal.

My stepdaughter has undertaken some of the design work for the new stadium.  Although she is more used to working on venues such as airports, she says she has never seen such a high standard of finish.

Building the new stadium, surely the finest in the country, distracted the club from the pitch leading to Spurs only just avoiding relegation last year.   Much the same happened at Arsenal with the move to the Emirates.

Now a change in leadership has seen more investment in the team.  However, it doesn't seem to have paid off at Brentford on Saturday, although there are still signings to come.

The Sunday Times reported: 'Spurs looked worryingly reminiscent of that side that buckled under the first sign of pressure last season.  Brentford pulverised Tottenham from start to finish.   De Zerbi was a little ball of frustration on the side.'

His watchword is 'Il campo parla', the pitch speaks.   Haringey's finest will want to show what they can do on Wednesday.   Charlton could well get thumped, but the more important match is against Preston North End on Saturday.

A defeat will give the pessimists and negativists their first chance this season, but the result will be no reflection of the calibre of the management or the team.

Tyreece Campbell has signed a new four year contract with the club.

Rumour mill links Charlton with Parrott

The rumour mill is linking Charlton with Tottenham's Troy Parrott as a loan target. This story started with the Daily Star and is being copied by other sites, so I don't think it is very credible, although it has a certain plausibility: he is very young and relatively untried. As always, we await a pronouncement from the Vatican, aka the SLP dungeon and His Holiness Richard Cawley.

Parrott is a striker who started his career with Belvedere (the Irish club, not Erith & Belvedere). He signed professional terms with Tottenham Hotspur on his 17th birthday last February: Career details.

With Harry Kane out injured until April and Mourinho looking to sign a new striker, Spurs fans have been calling on the talented teenager to get some minutes from the bench as the team struggles to find goals.

The Special One said earlier this week: 'He is ready to work with us every day like he is doing. He trains with the group, after training he has a special programme of individual development of his qualities as a striker and this club takes very good care of the players,' explained Mourinho.

'That is the only thing I can say,' commented the delphic supremo. 'If he has to play with us, he will. He will do his best, he will show his good qualities, he will show his fragilities because at this moment he is a 17-year-old kid with fragilities in his game.' Make of that what you will, but doesn't sound if he is ready to be exposed to the rigours of the Championship.