ok, i’ll admit it. i haven’t said much about tottenham yet. and i feel a little bad, because spurs are one of my two favorite teams.

but i had a good reason: not much happened at the club for most of the summer.

normally a loud participant in the summer transfer fodder, tottenham would have made some noise at this point in the summer. it would be about about now that the pundits would start arguing whether or not tottenham had made the right moves this summer to crack the top four this season. and then they would have another awful start, i’d worry for the middle stretch of the season that they could possibly go down, and then they would make their now pattented late-season charge into the top 10. then repeat.

but this summer has gone differently. there were some rumors of harry redknapp having an interest in some of real madrid’s unwanted dutch contingent, especially in ruud van nistelrooy and klaas jan-huntelaar (which he might still be… more on this in a minute). they sold off didier zokora, which i can’t be too upset about as he was never a standout option in the midfield. and they released and sold/loaned off a few others from the reserve ranks, including david hutton on a free transfer to league 2 side cheltenham town and chris gunter to nottingham forrest. they were even linked to figo, who is retired. most of this all happening before the start of july.

then in july someone must have a lit a fire under white hart late chairman daniel levy, as spurs quickly began making moves. first came the signing of the kyles from sheffield united. kyle naughton is a promising defensive winger who can easily push corluka for playing time on the tottenham backline. after just eleven appearances for the blades last season, naughton earned a call up from stuart pearce to the england under-21 squad. the other kyle, kyle walker, is another defensive starlet with a lot of promise. however, he’s already been loaned back to sheffield to get more playing time. with an aging, injury prone backline, tottenham did well to secure long term contracts with two of england’s most promising defensive up-and-commers. good business in my opinion.

then came the least suprising move tottenham have made this summer, especially considering harry redknapp’s fascination with forwards. even less shocking, when harry signed his next forward by bringing in former player–and hired mercenary–peter crouch. a product of the spurs youth academy, crouch has always been willing to make a move to a better situation. and with portsmouth sinking quickly, a move to his hometown and a chance to play for his favorite former manager (at both southampton and portsmouth) was too opportunistic for the robot to turn down. will he provide some offensive spark that the yids lack? i have my doubts, as crouch’s goal record hovers around a goal every three appearances. not exactly jaw dropping, and he could find himeslf on the bench a bit.

next come’s the on again, off again sale of darren bent to sunderland. bent obviously wants the move to happen, and i can’t really blame him. when darren arrived at white hart lane, he was a promising goal scoring talent fresh off goal sprees at charlton and ipswich. he was a rising star in the england fold. darren bent was to become the next great english striker, and was therefore a major signing for spurs. but after a goal scoring drought at the beginning of his stay, and was subsequently benched by martin jol, juande ramos and harry redknapp. though in limited appearances under ‘arry, he’s shown he still has a nose for goal. the guy wants to play, can you blame him for wanting to leave? though, bent venting through twitter over his frustration with the lack of progress on the move might have been the wrong move.

so with bent most likely leaving, it means harry redknapp would have a four established strikers. which for harry it just isn’t enough, which is why he has admitted to still being interested in signing huntelaar. nothing like bringing in another large egoed star striker who will expect lots of playing time to keep team chemistry balanced.

but with a minor trophy in the bag already this season, after winning the preseason barclays asia cup, there are signs of continued improvement with harry steering the ship. i’m expecting a big season for luka modric, who has had his season to adjust to the EPL and has shown glimpses of brilliance. wilson palacios should also be adjusted to his new surroundings this season. jenas and aaron lennon will hopefully continue to show improvement, if the backline stays healthy, and if gareth bale and john bostock finally show the promise that earned their moves to the lane, this season could be interesting.

but, honestly, they’ll probably suck at the beginning of the season as always. and like all of my fellow yids out there, i’ll be riding the emotional rollercoaster just waiting to see if we can make it back to a european spot or fend off the drop. those spurs always find a way to make it interesting, and i’m sure it will be.