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At the turn of the year, Tottenham were being discussed as genuine title contenders. Now, only a month on, the club have a long way to go to achieve Champions League football next season. Any title challenge would appear to have evaporated.

But what are the reasons for this sudden change? The 4-0 humbling at Craven Cottage in the 4th round of the FA Cup continued a worrying goal drought and was the sort of team performance not seen since Juande Ramos was in charge at White Hart Lane.

Have Spurs’ high-flying players begun to listen to the plaudits directed at them in the press? It seems many of the key protagonists over the last few weeks have really struggled to maintain the standards they set themselves during the autumn.

It is a sad reality of the British media, but the acclaim directed at players such as Gareth Bale, Rafael van der Vaart and Luka Modric has been a little far fetched. Bale in particular has seen his stock rise from an unpredictable left-back, a statistical anomaly on the fringes of the Tottenham squad, to a player rated as one of the best in Europe, almost exclusively because he can run fast.

His hat trick against Inter Milan and performance in the return fixture looks likely to win him a nomination for the PFA player of the year award, even though European exploits shouldn’t strictly be included in consideration for the accolade.

As Bale steamed past the Inter right back, Maicon, that night in the San Siro, pundits were quick to pronounce the Tottenham star as having the beating of “the best right back in the world.” Really? The Brazilian looked that night to possess all the pace and desire of a curry filled Kevin Pressman without hamstrings.

This is of course not Bale’s fault, and he has shown enough growth and promise to suggest he can be something very special, but praise of the nature he has received would affect even the most level-headed of players.

Many of Tottenham’s players have failed to quite deliver in the league games that have mattered most. The come-from-behind win at the Emirates was brilliant, but Spurs should have put a shaky Chelsea side away at White Hart Lane before Christmas and have undone much of their early season work by dropping points at St James’ Park and losing away at Everton.

The biggest disappointment was the negative performance against Manchester United, when the league leaders came to town in January. One Peter Crouch effort aside, Spurs looked listless going forward and in the biggest test of the club’s attacking flair, only Luka Modric’s endeavour and industry came out of the fixture with much credit.

The exultant praise is, however, not limited to the players. Harry Redknapp already appears a nailed on certainty to be Fabio Capello’s successor as England manager, the former concerns about the Spurs boss forgotten in a wave of sycophantic euphoria. Many plaudits have also forgotten the quite incredible amount of money Redknapp has been credited with which to build his squad. Imagine if David Moyes, for example, was allowed half those funds to spend at Goodison Park.

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Fans of the club will point to the lack of goals coming from the team’s front men. Each of Jermain Defoe, Peter Crouch and Roman Pavlyuchenko have failed to match the endeavours of the creative players around them and would suggest it is this rather than the squad’s leading lights resting on their laurels that has cost Spurs over the last few weeks.

Whatever the reason for Tottenham’s recent dip in performance, there remains a massive amount for followers of the North London club to be optimistic about. Whilst the January transfer window may have promised much but delivered little, Spurs have a very fine squad with which to tackle the key fixtures at home and abroad during the remainder of the campaign. This is a group of players capable of significant European glory. Harry Redknapp may do well, however, to stop his players reading the papers over the next few weeks in an effort to keep their feet on the ground, at least for now.

If you would like to keep up to date with my latest posts when I am out and about, feel free to follow me on Twitter.

Newcastle are interested in signing Loic Remy from Marseille, and have made contact with the French club over the 25 year old, reports The Guardian.

Remy is currently one of Ligue 1’s biggest stars, but a move to the Premier League could be likely as North London rivals Tottenham and Arsenal have also declared their interest in the Frenchman.

This summer at St James Park so far has been full of plenty of talk and very little action, and the speculation surrounding Demba Ba and a possible move away from Newcastle has been reignited as Rubin Kazan line up a £7 million for the former West Ham man, with a week left until his release clause expires.

Having been valued at £15 million, Remy would no doubt prove to be a fantastic attacking option for the Magpies, and Alan Pardew is looking to negotiate getting the Marseille man for a cheaper price as he enters the last year of his contract at Stade Velodrome.

Arsenal and Spurs are also interested however, and both have done significant strengthening attacking wise already this summer, as the battle for a top four place could become even more hotly contested in the upcoming season.

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The 31st of August. Just another day in the football calendar, albeit one without any actual football, but distinguished slightly by the ending of the time period allotted to register new players. Little more than a necessary logistical failsafe, to cross the i’s and dot the t’s and generally make sure all the cumbersome bureaucratic paper work is completed before we exit the first month of the season. Right? WRONG Bitches! For this is Super Awesome Magic Transfer Deadline Day! Woooo! Only the wickedest frickin’ day of the year! Like Christmas mixed with New Year, sprinkled with Easter, only with Jim White  – That’s right, JIM WHITE!!! – That bloke you might recognize off Sky Sports News if you watch it enough, PLUS that one who’s going out with Ant & Dec. OMG!!!

Yes, Transfer Deadline Day indeed. The one day of the year when Sky Sports News’ anchors get to pretend they’re rock stars in their own heads whilst shivering, terrified reporters stand around in car parks like idiot beacons, attracting only the dimmest and ugliest people from around the country to swarm around them doing silly things while they report that something’s probably happening in a building quite nearby.

Sky have always been hyperbole whores of course. Never ones to shun bombast for understated subtlety and perspective, but I’d forgotten just how important they considered themselves in the scheme of all this. Very early on it became apparent that this wasn’t going to be as exciting or headline grabbing as last January’s window, with Luka Modric in Malta, Wesley Snejider in Holland, and Manchester City revealing their main interest of the day was making sure Owen Hargreaves reached their medical facility in one piece. This wasn’t going to stop Sky Sports News from making it exciting though. Hell no. Even if this solely involved telling us how exciting it was every 5 minutes.

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At some point between the great Robinho & Berbatov window of ‘08 and the infamous Torres & Carroll Christmas of ’11, Sky Sports decided their own reporting of the transfers was almost as important as the transfers themselves. And so gradually the reporting of Deadline Day became less a standard rolling news item and more a one off, high-end entertainment event, complete with its own headline act superstar – Jim White. Yes, THE Jim White (well no, not actually, he plays snooker) who we were told at regular intervals was “on his way” or “in the building” whilst inter-cut with promo cards advertising his evening anchorship featuring his ominous, pouting visage along side Natalie Sawyer. This was even more disconcerting as they were done in the style of a boxing promo card, with both protagonists on either side of the screen between big lettering of their names, which made it look just a little bit like Jim White was going to fight Natalie Sawyer at 8pm, which at least might have gone some way to explaining why they were all treating him like such a big shot.

At one particular high point, SSN even returned from an advert break with footage of Jim walking into the building on his phone, which could have been a brilliant, sophisticated parody of the endlessly recycled unenlightening footage of players wandering in and out of places on their phones they play on Sky hourly, but which I’m pretty sure was merely an actual desperate bit of cannibalized reporting. Sky had gone meta. They were now reporting on their own reporters turning up to do some reporting. When they weren’t trying to hawk us their new mobile SkyGo service that is.

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So excited were they all getting at their own excitement that Georgie Thompson – preceding the mighty White and sporting the hair of a Lion, – on noticing that there weren’t nearly enough local idiots wandering outside of Eastlands annoying Vinny O’Connor like there were at Melwood and the Britannia, began to actually encourage people watching to “get down to Eastlands and support him.” Yes, support a reporter. Perhaps with an I Heart Vinny banner? Or maybe she was imagining swarms of diehards trotting down in solidarity to thank Ol’ Vin for his years of top class reporting. “I was there back in ’03 when you covered the signing of Robbie Fowler. Fantastic reporting that, I just want you to know how much that meant to me, lad. Can you sign this?”

The madness of Queen Georgie continued as an hour later she casually, and possibly accidentally, dropped the bombshell that she was “for sale, but it’ll cost you.” Which was presumably received with relish by the multi-millionaire footballers watching (whose tweets telling us they were watching were being read out frequently to boost Sky’s already bulging self importance and fill the gap in lieu of any actual news) but probably came as quite a surprise to Ant and/or Dec.

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Eventually, at about nine, after around eighteen hours of telling us exciting things were happening, some exciting things started actually happening. These were not, unfortunately, of the record breaking exciting variety, and focused mainly on how long it would take Peter Crouch to pass a medical test designed for a normal man, what number Craig Bellamy would wear in his second stint at Liverpool and whether Arteta and Benayoun would make it in time to complete their last minute (read last couple of hours) deals at Arsenal. They obviously would, but Sky’d be damned if this would dampen the hyperbole.

At one point earlier in the day we’d been promised “exciting news if you’re a Manchester United fan after the break” which was then bafflingly never returned to ever again, and as the day drew to a close someone desperately made up a rumor about Kaka to Spurs, which gave us a good forty minutes of excited discussion about how crazy this all was, and typical of crazy ol’ deadline day, before Harry Redknapp, who’d only left his car once in 36 hours and only then to go to the loo, appeared from his car window (naturally) to laugh it off. Before presumably driving out of shot and kicking himself for not thinking of it first.

As we finally reached the tortuous end of this ridiculous day, the drama having been wrenched up even higher in the final hours by intermittent shots of Big Ben coupled with Sky’s mandatory serving of inappropriately aggressive music, the camera cut to black and fireworks – yes, f***ing FIREWORKS! – filled the screen to announce the end of the window.

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Flying ninja Jesus on a bicycle. If there was ever a good argument for scrapping the Transfer Window it’s Sky’s coverage of it’s own coverage of Deadline Day. You know they’d have this on pay-per-view if they could get the figures.

I’m off to sit at my desk in a suit pretending to be Jim White. Beats playing football.

You can follow Oscar on Twitter here, Twitter/oscarpyejeary  or you can follow him around in real life, but don’t expect him to buy you a pint.

Sunderland boss Steve Bruce has ruled out breaking the bank on a big-name replacement for Darren Bent.

Bent, the club’s leading goal-scorer so far this season, left Sunderland for Aston Villa on Tuesday in a record transfer worth an initial 17 million pounds, rising to 24 million with add-ons.

And Bruce has moved quickly to quash expectations that the bulk of the funds will be reinvested in a direct replacement for the former Charlton and Tottenham Hotspur striker.

“I have to tell all the Sunderland fans if they think I am going to go out for a marquee signing and spend 20 million pounds, it’s not going to happen,” Bruce said.

“We have got to look and make sure we are patient and hope. I will try to bring in a couple of bodies that will help us in the short term, and look to go again in the summer.”

“We are looking … but it is like puppies at Christmas – you don’t just go and buy one for the sake of it because they do need nurturing and looking after.”

“We will make sure we try to do our homework. We have got a couple of irons in the fire and we will bring the right people to the club.”

“Of course, people will try to take my pants down and try to give me a smacking, but we will be okay with that.”

“I am sure people will try it on, but I’m a bit long in the tooth for that.”

Bruce has been closely linked with a move for Stoke City forward Ricardo Fuller, who may struggle for first-team opportunities if Villa’s John Carew arrives at the Britannia Stadium.

“To be fair, we are putting the net far and we know there are certain individuals who could be available.”

“Ricardo Fuller could be one of those, but we have got the irons in the fire, four or five as we speak.”

“I like Ricardo Fuller, I think he has been a very good player in the Premier League, and we will see.”

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“Just watch this space for the next 24, 48 hours.”

Bruce also confirmed that Paris Saint-Germaine forward Stephane Sessegnon could be on his way to the Stadium of Light.

“That is a possibility as we speak – but it has been a possibility for two weeks, so we are hoping.”

“We are trying now to exhaust every avenue and see what is available at this particular time.”

Howsit folks. So, at the time of writing we’ve got 44 sleeps (not that I’m counting) until our first season back in The Championship begins with an away game against Derby County. And frankly, I can’t wait.

However, along with the excitement that comes with having a new season on the horizon, is the lingering dread that comes as part and parcel of being a Wednesdayite. That lingering dread that, for some inexplicable reason, we’re going to balls things up somehow.

Now listen, I was very happy with the boys last season, I listened from my Cape Town apartment, watched the highlights and followed all the news as it happened and can frankly say that I was impressed with some of the football that our boys played.

As far as I’m concerned we deserved to go up and, credit to Milan Mandaric and Dave Jones, we’ve bought well up to now as they try and prepare us for next season.

But, and it’s a big but, what sort of chance do we really stand?

I mean I can sit here and harp on about our good signings, about our performances last season and how, as Wednesday fans, we’ll always stay optimistic no matter what the odds. However, we need to remember that we’re going up a weight class, we’re going to be playing a different standard of player next season and, truth be told, it’s going to be tough.

The question I’m asking is… how unrealistic am I being in thinking that we have a genuine chance of pushing for the playoffs? I know the bookies seem to think we can do it, as do a large number of our loyal fans, however we know what it’s like to support The Owls and we know that, in the recent past at least, despair is rearing it’s ugly head just around the corner.

Like I say, we’ve signed very well in my opinion. Personally I think we have a side that is definitely worthy of a respectable league position in next year’s Championship bout, I even think that there’s a chance that we could sneak into the top six. However, in general terms, this rarely happens to a newly promoted club.

Yet there are glimmers of hope. Norwich City and Southampton have shown it’s possible, they’ve completed dream runs in English league football and now have Premier League credentials to match their fine achievements.

Can we be next? Can we fathom enough quality, enough goals and, most importantly, enough luck to make our stay in England’s second tier nothing but a stepping-stone to the Premier League? I’m not too sure, but do you know what, you never know.

I’m going to sound like a broken record, actually a damaged MP3 in this day and age, but there’s no doubt that our fans deserve Premier League football. To get the amount of backing that we had last year in the third division is crazy and we all know that there’s going to be even more blue and white shirts cram into Hillsborough this time around.

However, good fans and a strong heritage is not enough to build a top tier outfit. For that we need a structure, we need a strong, knowledgeable manager and a team that features a nice mix of youth, experience and sheer hard workers. Sound familiar?

You know what, I started this piece of writing genuinely trying to play down our chances next year in an attempt to not get away ahead of a season that, for all we know, end in relegation. Yet I can’t seem to let go of the glimmer of hope that idles in the back of my mind like the memory of a penalty kick missed by a Manchester United player, and do you know what, maybe we can do this.

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Before you roll your eyes and sigh at this stupidly optimistic Owl, I’m not saying that we’re going to steamroller the league or achieve automatic promotion. All I’m saying is that with a bit of luck on our side, we could take this one to the wire.

And guess what, I’ll continue believing just that until a few weeks into the season when things naturally take a turn for the worst and we end up battling our arses off in a relegation fight. Sigh.

Can We Kick It? @YesWeCrann

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Newcastle United is reportedly looking to ban players and staff from tweeting, in light of Joey Barton’s recent outburst. Alan Pardew did hint that there could still be a future for Barton at St James Park next season and that he could well be restored to the first team training set-up in the coming week.

In the papers this morning there have been a mixed bag of stories that include Sven hits out at Manchester City grumblers; Capello set to call up Phil Jones to the England set-up, while Peter Kenyon awaits call for breakaway league.

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Newcastle issue legal warning after Barton tweets – Guardian

Sven: City’s grumblers are there for work not holidays – Independent

Gunners snub new Cesc bid from Barca – Mirror

We want £12m for Samba! Blackburn want to keep defender at Ewood Park – Daily Mail

Capello to call-up Jones against Holland – Guardian

Kenyon awaits call for breakaway league – Guardian

Stoke join Spurs and Chelsea in £8m chase for West Ham midfielder Parker – Daily Mail

Newcastle weigh up move for unsettled United winger Obertan – Daily Mail

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Cole: Judge me on the pitch – Sun

Liverpool line up new Lucas  – Mirror

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Reigning champions Chelsea were forced to an FA Cup fourth-round replay after being held to a 1-1 draw by Everton on Saturday.

At a sunny Goodison Park, a tight first half saw scores remain deadlocked before David Moyes’ side came out firing in the second period.

Former Manchester United striker Louis Saha gave the hosts a deserved lead after 62 minutes and they could have gone two in front moments later, but Michael Essien produced a superb block to keep Everton’s lead at just one goal.

Essien’s intervention proved crucial as Chelsea quickly re-grouped and snared a 75th minute equaliser, with Salomon Kalou coming off the bench to keep his side’s FA Cup hopes alive.

Brazilian midfielder Ramires hit the post with a stunning shot from distance in the dying stages, but Everton clung on for a replay at Stamford Bridge, which will cause further congestion in Chelsea’s fixture as they look to mount a title push.

Crawley Town became the first non-league side to reach the fifth round in 17 years after a 1-0 away win at League Two side Torquay.

After a victory over Championship outfit Derby County in the fourth round, Matthew Tubbs kept Crawley’s fairytale run alive with a 39th minute goal, his eighth strike in just seven games.

When Torquay striker Chris Zebroski was given a second yellow card in as many minutes and sent off, Tubbs had the chance to double Crawley’s lead from the penalty spot.

But the striker, who has scored 23 goals in 22 Conference matches for his club this season, missed his penalty and kept the match alive.

Despite Crawley defender Dean Howell’s 83rd minute sending off, Torquay could not muster a late equaliser as 1200 travelling fans celebrated a famous victory.

In other games, Robert Pires was on the scoresheet as Aston Villa defeated Blackburn Rovers 3-1, while in the day’s other all-Premier League tie Bolton and Wigan played out a goalless draw at the Reebok Stadium.

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Kevin Phillips struck the winner as Birmingham came from two goals down to defeat Coventry City 3-2, while a Chris Eagles double helped Burnley to a 3-1 home win over League Two strugglers Burton Albion.

League One leaders Brighton and Hove Albion surprised Championship high-flyers Watford with a 1-0 away win, while another League One side caused an upset with Leyton Orient toppling Swansea 2-1 thanks to Alan Tate’s 88th minute own goal.

Shane Long scored with just three minutes remaining to give Reading a 2-1 away win at Stevenage and Clinton Morrison scored two second-half penalties in Sheffield Wednesday’s come-from-behind 4-1 win over Hereford United.

Norwich have appointed Chris Hughton as their new manager, who joins the club from Championship side Birmingham City.

The Carrow Road outfit were looking for a new boss after Paul Lambert left to join Aston Villa, and have confirmed that the role has been filled.

Hughton led the St Andrews club to the playoffs in 2011-12, but lost out to Blackpool in the semi-finals.

The new man has admitted that he is excited by the opportunity and is grateful for the chance to manage back in the Premier League.

“It’s a good feeling. It’s something I’ve been very excited about and something that has materialised over the last couple of days – it’s been very speedily dealt with, which I’m delighted about. I’m looking forward to the challenge in front of me,” he told Sky Sports.

“It’s a wonderful job in the Premier League and is one that very much excited me. But I shall forever be grateful to Birmingham for the time I spent there.

“The job that Paul has done here and the club have done here in the last few years, it’s a wonderful achievement to rise from the third division, through the Championship and into the Premier League.

“For somebody in management, it’s a tough task and everyone appreciates the job he has done here. It’s a hard act to follow but it’s about a challenge and it’s about making progress as football club.

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“It’s about stability in this division, making progress and with every new manager and new player comes a new challenge. That’s what I have got to look forward to,” he admitted.

By Gareth McKnight

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In recent months we have seen a number of clubs clashing with their local councils. Tottenham are one side who have had trouble with their local council, Haringey. After coming up with an ambitious plan to redevelop White Hart Lane and the surrounding area, they have faced numerous objections and obstacles which have hampered the development. The council at first embraced the idea, but seemed to not provide the support and constructive help along the way to get the project off the ground. The project has the potential to develop and regenerate local commerce and habitation in a long neglected area, bringing in more business on match days and creating more jobs. Spurs are an important aspect of Haringey and a vital source of revenue for the council so should the council be willing to do more to help?

Due to the problems Spurs have been forced to look elsewhere, and could still leave the Haringey area altogether. They were in the running for the Olympic stadium, but lost out to West Ham. When they announced they were interested in moving to the Olympic stadium, Haringey council quickly objected to the plans, so it seems Spurs can’t win with the council neither supporting their bid to stay and regenerate, or the option of them moving away.

Liverpool are another who have run up against obstacles in their development of a new stadium. They have faced ongoing problems for the last 10 years. Their project faces continued delays, as the council obstructed plans for a redeveloped Anfield due to legislation which means that you cannot build in an area which blocks natural light getting into peoples homes, which is understandable as it a legal requirement. However, the council has been less than supportive through the process in helping Liverpool to get their plans off the ground. Considering the opportunity to regenerate the whole of north Liverpool, should the council have done more to help out with certain conditions, making it easier for the club to get the finances it requires? The council have now forced Liverpool into a deadline which means they can’t explore either the option of regeneration, or moving to Stanley Park fully. They have forced Liverpool into a corner, with the people set to lose out being fans and local residents. Of course the delays aren’t only the councils fault, the plans were originally put back because of the clubs previous owners as well. However, it seems as if the council is unwilling to do more to help Liverpool out.

Stockport County, are another side, currently struggling with their local council. There is controversy over whether or not they should be given money by the local council to sort out their ailing finances. On the one hand, the side are a vital aspect of the community, putting the area on the map, and bringing in vital business for the local area. However, we are in a recession and with cuts by the local council to schools and health budgets, it does seem difficult to justify the argument that the local council should be helping out County more. A football club is a business like any other, so it should be able to stand on its own two feet, rather than relying on the council and taxpayers money.

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As well as the bigger teams, smaller grass roots teams are also struggling, many like Tower Hamlets have had their funding cut by local councils, and are now struggling to survive. Too many councils have sat by as their community clubs have died. The benefits of a local side in the community cannot be understated, they promote the neighbourhood, and provide employment and enjoyment for all.

There are some councils who have done more to help out their local clubs. Oldham Athletic, Stevenage and Tranmere are just a few who have received the full support and backing of their local councils. It seems not all local councils are unwilling to go the extra mile to help their local side, when they see what they bring to the area.

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It’s tough to weigh up whether councils should do more to help. On the one hand a football club is likely to be the biggest source of revenue for the council, as well as a centre of community life. However, in the harsh economic climate we are in, it is difficult to see what more local councils can do without sacrificing vital services elsewhere. Local councils have a duty to their residents as well as to their football clubs and that is something they have to balance.

Let me know your thoughts below or follow me on Twitter @LaurenRutter

It was a case of déjà vu for Newcastle at St James’ Park today as for the second time in a week Alan Pardew’s men were denied all three points by an injury time equaliser. Last week it was Sunderland’s Asamoah Gyan who spoiled the party, and Tottenham’s Aaron Lennon took on that role today as Newcastle drew 1-1 with Spurs.

After a fairly tight first half, Newcastle went ahead just before the hour mark as Fabricio Coloccini chested down a Danny Guthrie cross-field pass and slammed it into the back of the net. Tottenham had a fair amount of possession without creating a great deal, and first Peter Lovenkrands, then Shola Ameobi and finally Nile Ranger had a chance to make it 2-0, before the inevitable happened and Lennon went down the other end in stoppage time to equalise.

So what were the FIVE things we learnt about Newcastle today?

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