Bentley "I'll give my all"

Courtesy of Official Site-

David Bentley says he will ‘give everything' to succeed at Spurs.

The England midfielder was unveiled as our latest summer signing to the media on Thursday morning before joining the rest of the squad for his first training session.

David, 23, brought up locally at Cheshunt, says he's delighted to be back 'home' after his switch from Blackburn Rovers.

"I want to be as successful as possible at Spurs and I'll give my all every day to do that," he insisted in his first interview at Spurs Lodge.

"The club has paid a lot of money for me and I want to repay that. I've never been happy with second best and I will give everything to succeed.

"If I do that and everyone else does that in the dressing room we'll be going places because the talent is here.

"I want to be part of something special, something that will grow and grow. A club like this deserves it."

Linked here.

Could become my favorite if he has 3/4 the heart Tainio did.

Bentley transfer to WHL

Courtesy of Official Site-

We are delighted to announce that we have reached agreement with Blackburn Rovers for the transfer of David Bentley.

The England international made 133 appearances for the Ewood Park side - scoring 21 goals - after initially joining on loan from Arsenal in August 2005, the move being made permanent in January 2006.

The 23-year-old has now won six senior England caps after previously representing his country at B, Under-21 and Under-20 level.

Linked here.

JJ and Dawson sign Extensions

Courtesy of Official Site-

Jermaine Jenas and Michael Dawson have expressed their delight at signing contract extensions at the Club until 2013.

Both players have been instrumental in our recent progress, including last season's Carling Cup success.

Midfielder Jermaine, whose form in 2007/08 earned him a recall to the England squad, said: "I'm delighted to have signed a new deal at the Club. These are exciting times with new players coming in so I was keen to commit myself to Spurs for another five years.

"We got a taste of success by winning the Carling Cup last season and I believe there is more to come. I definitely want to be part of a bright future for Tottenham Hotspur."

Defender Daws added: "Spurs is a great place to be. I've been at the Club for three and a half years now and loved every minute of it. When I was offered a new deal I didn't think twice about signing.

"The Club has progressed since I've been here. We won our first trophy in nine years and, hopefully, we'll add some more silverware and finish a lot higher in the league next season."

Linked here.

Steed transfer to Sunderland

Courtesy of the Official Site-

The Club can announce that we have reached agreement for the permanent transfer of Steed Malbranque to Sunderland.

Midfielder Steed featured 96 times for the Club, scoring 12 goals, following his move across London from Fulham in August 2006.

We wish Steed well for the future.

Linked here.

Gardner loan to Hull

Courtesy of Official Site-

The Club can announce that we have reached agreement for the loan of Anthony Gardner to Hull City.

Anthony joined from Port Vale in January 2000, and the defender has appeared for us on 144 occasions, scoring three goals.

Linked here.

Keane forced sale to Liverpool

Courtesy of SkySports-

Liverpool have announced the signing of Robbie Keane from Tottenham.

The 28-year-old was on Merseyside on Monday for a medical and to discuss personal terms after Liverpool agreed a fee which could rise to £20.3million for the Irishman.

Liverpool have quickly concluded the deal and Keane has signed a four-year deal at Anfield to end his six years at White Hart Lane.

Reds boss Rafa Benitez has been chasing Keane all summer as he sees him as the ideal partner for Fernando Torres in attack and the Republic of Ireland international will fill the void created by Peter Crouch's departure to Portsmouth.

Keane is Liverpool's fifth signing of the summer following the arrivals of Philipp Degen, Andrea Dossena, Diego Cavalieri and David Ngog.

Former Leeds and Coventry ace Keane could make his debut for his boyhood heroes in their pre-season friendly with Villarreal on Wednesday, a game that can be seen live on Sky Sports 1.

Liverpool's pursuit of Keane upset Spurs chairman Daniel Levy with the club reporting the Reds to the Premier League over their interest in the Irishman.

Spurs were unhappy with Benitez for publicly declaring his interest in Keane earlier this summer, believing it unsettled the player.

Complaint withdrawn

Now the move has gone through Tottenham have announced they will not pursue their official complaint to the Premier League, but Levy did reveal Keane had handed in a transfer request in a bid to secure a move to Anfield.

"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," Levy told the club's official website.

"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."

Tottenham also revealed the official complaint was withdrawn after an apology and a donation to the club's main charity, the Tottenham Hotspur Foundation were made by Liverpool.

A club statement read: "Liverpool FC has also acknowledged that the way its website reported comments of its manager, which were widely covered by the media, was inappropriate and in light of that acknowledgement has apologised and agreed to make a donation to our club's main charity, the Tottenham Hotspur Foundation.

"Tottenham Hotspur has therefore agreed not to pursue its official complaint to the Premier League."

Thanks

Keane also issued a statement, to express his thanks to Tottenham for his time at White Hart Lane.

"I would like to place on record my thanks to the board, players and fans of Tottenham for the past six years, which were the best and most enjoyable of my career to date," read the statement.

"I will never forget them. I would specifically like to thank chairman Daniel Levy for understanding, that, as a fan, joining Liverpool is a lifelong dream of mine and one I couldn't let pass me by.

"I hope one day the Spurs fans, who have been brilliant to me, can understand this too.

"I have only good things to say about my time at Tottenham and expect them to go from strength to strength under Juande Ramos and Daniel Levy."

Linked here.

Chimbo transfer to Sunderland

Courtesy of Official Site-

The Club can announce that we have reached agreement for the permanent transfer of Pascal Chimbonda to Sunderland.

Defender Pascal joined us from Wigan Athletic in August 2006, going on to make 98 appearances, scoring four goals.

We wish Pascal well for the future.

Linked here.

Robinson transfer to Blackburn

Courtesy of Official Site-

The Club can announce that we have reached agreement for the permanent transfer of Paul Robinson to Blackburn Rovers.

The goalkeeper joined us from Leeds United in May 2004 and went on to make 175 appearances for us in all competitions and scored one goal against Watford.

We wish Paul all the best for the future.

Linked here.

Teemu transfer to Sunderland

Courtesy of Official Site-

The Club can announce that we have reached agreement for the permanent transfer of Teemu Tainio to Sunderland.

Finnish midfielder Teemu made 83 appearances in our colours following his move from Auxerre in July 2005 scoring on three occasions.

We wish him every success for the future.

Teemu Legend

Linked here.


Sad to see you go Teemu. Good luck at Sunderland.

The Shirt/Badge

Bill Nicholson said it best:

“Any player coming to Spurs whether he’s a big signing or just a ground staff boy must be dedicated to the game and to the club. He must be prepared to work at his game. He must never be satisfied with his last performance, and he must hate losing.”

Only players who want to wear the Shirt need stay/sign. If you want to leave the club, leave. The badge is more important than any name on it. That is why the badge is on the front and the name on the back.

Glory Glory Tottenham Hotspur!

Levy Speaks Out

Courtesy of Official Site-

There has been substantial speculation in respect of the futures of Dimitar Berbatov and Robbie Keane, including press comment from both Sir Alex Ferguson and Rafa Benitez. In response our Chairman, Daniel Levy has made the following statement:

"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.

"This comes after a series of events, dating back to last summer, which have shown Manchester United to be in breach of Premier League (PL) rules. As a result, we have today made an official complaint to the PL about the conduct of Manchester United. Benitez made similar comments in respect of Robbie recently and we made an official complaint to the PL about the conduct of Liverpool earlier this week.

"The behaviour of both clubs has been disgraceful. We told both clubs very early on that we had no interest in selling Robbie or Dimitar, respectively, and that they should refrain from pursuing the player. Both clubs arrogantly chose to ignore this request and we now have evidence that both clubs have systematically been working to prise the players away from us, outside of PL rules of conduct.

"Our subsequent position has been severely compromised by both clubs making their intentions widely known and indeed making contact with the players and their agents, without the Club's permission.

"I have absolutely no wish to sell either player and to date we have not accepted any offer for either. However, when a player's head is turned and their commitment is absent, particularly when they occupy key positions such as that of striker, they become a negative influence in a team dressing room in which they were once a positive addition and influence. This is the situation we now have on our hands, with both Dimitar and Robbie having made it clear that they wish to leave for Manchester Utd and Liverpool respectively.

"Irrespective of the outcome and futures of Robbie and Dimitar, we are continuing to seek to bring in quality, talented players for the future, who want to play in a Spurs shirt."

Linked here.

Tranfer: Forecast to Saints

Courtesy of Official Site-

We have reached agreement for the transfer of Tommy Forecast to Southampton.

A product of our Academy system, goalkeeper Tommy has been a regular in our reserve squad for the past three seasons and took his place on the First Team bench on six occasions last term.

We wish him every success for the future.

Linked here.

Pre-Season Begins

Courtesy of Official Site-

Our first team squad returned for their first day of pre-season training on Thursday.

Coach Marcos Alvarez put the lads through their paces at Spurs Lodge under the watchful eye of Head Coach Juande Ramos and our new goalkeeping coach, Hans Leitert.

Running and stretching exercises were the order of the day with the hard work of the summer all to come!

Linked here.

Simon Dawkins loan to Leyton Orient

Courtesy of Official Site-

Simon Dawkins has joined League One side Leyton Orient on loan until January.

The striker, a Reserve Team regular, made fourteen appearances for Clive Allen's side last season in a welcome return to action after injury curtailed his involvement in the previous campaign to five outings.

A product of our Academy, the 20-year-old was named as a substitute for the UEFA Cup away leg against Anorthosis Famagusta in October.

Linked here.

Joe Martin to Blackpool

Courtesy of Official Site-

We have reached agreement with Blackpool for the permanent transfer of Joe Martin.

Joe joined our Academy in 2005-06 and made 21 appearances for our reserves between 2005-08. He joined the Seasiders on loan at the end of last season and made his league debut against Watford in the Championship on May 4, 2008.

The player will now discuss personal terms with Blackpool.

Linked here.

Huddlestone signs new contract

Courtesy of Official Site-

The Club is delighted to announce that Tom Huddlestone has signed a new five-year contract, committing his future to the Club until 2013.

The midfielder, called up to the full England squad for the end-of-season internationals against the USA and Trinidad and Tobago, made 43 appearances in all competitions last season, scoring four goals.

Tom also played a big part in our League Cup success at Wembley - coming on as substitute and forcing Wayne Bridge into the handball for the penalty that brought us back into the game.

Now 21, Tom has represented his country from Under-15 level through to Under-21s and is one of the most experienced players in the current U21 squad - earning his 26th cap and scoring against Wales in May, 2008.

Linked here.

Ranieri joins Academy

Courtesy of Official Site-

We are delighted to announce that agreement has been reached with Perugia for the signing of Italian youth international Mirko Ranieri.

The 16-year-old goalkeeper has represented Italy at Under-16 level and will now join up with our Academy group of players, coached by Alex Inglethorpe.

"Mirko is 6ft 2" and an excellent shot stopper," said Sporting Director Damien Comolli. "His distribution and decision making is improving all the time.

"He is a highly-intelligent individual and another very good young goalkeeper we have attracted to the Club."

Linked here.