Mahinda’s Little World

Now, I don’t think I’ve ever made a football-related post on here before. For those of you who don’t know, I’m a Spurs fan. I’m not a massively committed fan — decidedly armchair, to be honest — but they’re my team, and will be through thick (occasionally) and thin (mostly).

At the moment, we’re in the bottom three of the Premiership. A position I got used to back in the mid-90s, but didn’t expect to see this season. At all. This season was going to be a march to glory and the Champions’ League…but then, which season isn’t for Spurs these days?

Last night, Spurs lost to Getafe, a struggling Spanish team, in the UEFA Cup. But that’s not important right now. The most significant event of the day was Martin Jol’s departure. A shad day for Spursh, to use his low countries slur.

During his 3-year tenure, Jol had dragged the club up the league, getting two 5th-place finishes. What’s more, it was largely done with attractive football, often full of breathtaking attacking moves. Tottenham football. When some Spurs fans say that they’d rather lose an incredible game 5-4 than win a dour one 1-0, they mean it. Forget the teacup rides and merry-go-rounds — it’s the the rollercoasters that you remember.

He was also media savvy, always there with a cheeky soundbite. Joyful in victory but also magnanimous in defeat — as anyone who can remember his interview after the 1-0 that never was at Old Trafford. The complete opposite of Hoddle, never mind Gooner George.

Lastly, he was (and still is!) a comedy Dutchman, with accent to match. Not to mention his brothers Cock and Dick. Oh how we laughed!

And now he’s gone. It was probably time for him to go — he’d clearly lost the dressing room, never mind the club’s higher management. He may not have been the main reason for the club’s recent slump (personally, I’d point fingers at a shambolically out-of-form goalkeeper and a perpetually injured defensive leader), but he was the manager.

Good luck to him. I hope that, one day, he manages his beloved Ajax to glory…or even gets the Dutch national manager’s post.

Goodbye Martin Jol