Wednesday 22 August 2012

Daniel Levy; Tottenham Chairman. Quantum Leaper. Part 2.

Maybe the next leap will be the leap home. Editors notes in Italics
Our hero finds himself surrounded by some chaps wearing loose fitting clothing, carrying those bendy swords like out of Aladdin and doing that lalalala sound which is very worrying and dramatic.
‘’Not again’’ says Daniel, looking into camera, shrugging his shoulders and making a Stan Laurel face.
‘’We take you to Sheikh Mansour’’
Credits roll showing Daniel being hoisted onto a camel *Producer Amos Leotard* and being led to a really Arabian looking Taj Mahal type castle in the middle of the desert *Executive Producer Shovels O’Toole* then Daniel is thrust before a ‘proper robed up’ Asian bloke. *Directed by Kool Poon*
‘’So Mr Levy. I must say I am honoured to meet such a master negotiator. In fact, I saw @YidLedge say the other day that you were a genius… but then @SpursBwoi1882 says you’re a tight fisted, brainless moron intent on raping Tottenham of all its assets, only satisfied when you see the Spurs playing Sunday league on Hackney Marshes. So, Mr Levy, which is it?’’
‘’Would it suffice to say that I’m just trying to do what I get paid to do?’’ Retorts Daniel, the constant Leaping is currently playing merry hell with his glands. He also wonders where Andre is and looks around nervously.
‘’NO! There must be only extremes. Do you not know how this works? Anyway, do you have that Adebayor contract drawn up yet?’’ Mansour is rather impatient at this point. He is eager to get back to his favourite hobby of backcombing horse hair and drinking oil.
Daniel produces a document entitled ‘OMFG. Can you imagine if he actually signs this?!’ One of Mansours hooded servants takes the contract from Daniels hand and delivers it to Mansour who is sitting on a throne made from gold and chipmunks. Mansour impatiently signs it, but just as he’s about to hand it back…
‘’What’s this?! Manchester City continue to pay £80k a week, even though he’s a Tottenham player! This is an outrage’’
Points contract back at Levy
‘’Guards, seize him!’’
In a flash, the hooded servant takes off his head scarf to reveal Andre Villas Boas who has been here the whole time. He gives the Sheikh a withering look and says in his graveley voice (sort of like Batman if he’d bothered to munch some ‘Tunes’) :
‘’I’ll take that. Fax very much’’ Alluding to Tottenham’s hilarious use of fax machines in transfers despite it being 2012.
The Sheikh is lost in his dark, brooding eyes and hands over the contract without a moment’s hesitation. Meanwhile, Daniels legendary athleticism comes into play again as he leaps out of the way of the grasping guards onto an inappropriately large child, using him as a springboard to join Andre by the Chipmunk throne.
‘’ That Fax line was a bit shit, but they’re getting better. You got that signed contract?’’ Daniel asks, his eyes scouring the room as approximately seven thousand guards close in on he and his sidekicks elevated platform of relative safety.
‘’Yep, all good, just teleporting it off to The Lodge, they can finally announce the Ade deal’’
‘’Thank fuck for that’’ (Necessary swearing? Yes. This is a pressure cooker situation and Daniel is a lithe, powerful man in need of expressing extremes of emotion. I will fight tooth and nail to keep that ‘fuck’ in the final edit). ‘’Never thought I’d say this but when are we leaping?’’
‘’Good news, we’re off to the Ukraine in 8 seconds. @AgentFabricate has us there discussing  a deal for Willian’’
‘’You mean William?’’
‘’No, it’s Willian. He’s Brazilian’’
‘’Sure he’s not BraziliaM? Hahaha. Top  bant’s Andre. Top bloody bant’s. Let’s do one.’’
Guards all pounce to where Daniel and Andre are standing, but the light shards have already appeared, and the guards end up in a heap on the floor where our heroes once stood.
*Kaleidoscopic whoosh through the universe*
Daniel lands on his backside on an immaculately manicured lawn.
‘’Where am I now?’’ Questions Daniel forlornly. The camera pans out to reveal he has landed underneath a ‘Welcome To Glorious Donbass Arena. Home of Masterful Shakhtar Donetsk (check that we can replace that sign with all the funny Russian writing on it with an English one).
Credits roll. Daniel is dusted off by a kindly Ukrainian wearing an ‘I *heart* Socialism’ t-shirt *Producer Brenda Cream* and led up to the Shakhtar corridors of power *Executive Producer Flaps Piping* The kindly Ukrainian shows Daniel to the directors bathroom as he’s dying for a piss, and then kindly Ukrainian phones his local despotic councillor to donate all of his life savings to build a crocodile-sized bookcase for his local school to underline how much he loves education/crocodiles/socialism *Director Swastika Stool*
Daniel unzips, a moment of calm at last for the leaping Tottenham director.
‘’Ur-in(e) for some work here boss’’ Says Andre, appearing from one of the marbled cubicles. Check appropriateness of piss gag, although, to be fair, we’re in a men’s toilet, there must be at least one or people are just going to switch over and look for them elsewhere.
‘’Wheeeeeeey, nice one Andre. They’re getting better’’ says Daniel, his mood elevated with every pube rinsed away from the backboard. (Check approximately how pubic each Ukrainian is to ensure this would tally up)
‘’According to twitter, many clubs have tried to prize Willian away from Shakhtar. None have succeeded’’ says Andre; nervously but handsomely.
‘’None have been Daniel Levy; Tottenham Chairman, Quantum Leaper’’ Just to anchor back to the programme title ‘’and besides, I’ve never heard of this guy. The itk’s have only been talking about him for a couple of days. It’s not like Ade or Modric. This one’s a wildcard, so let’s spring a surprise’’
*Cuts to Shakhtar boardroom with 5 men who all look like Ivan Drago wearing Shevchenko hats*
‘’So chaps, what are you after for your boy?’’ Enquires Daniel.
‘’Twenty million British pounds’’ Insert extra borderline xenophobic typical Eastern block dialogue.
‘’For a lad who can’t even spell his own name? I’ll give you Jenas, a Ford Capri and half a pot of tiger balm. Take it or leave it you slaaaaaaaaaaaags’’
Andre shakes his head and worries that the leaping is causing some serious brain malfunctions. He holds the twitter synched handlink up and accesses the brain scanning function, revealing that Daniel has unfortunately channelled Danny Dyer and his knowledge of Ukrainian ‘firms’. This could spell disaster. Meanwhile the Shev-hatted board members begin to bristle at Daniels tone and begin to crack their knuckles.
‘’Will you excuse us momentarily, gentlemen’’ Says Andre, grabbing Daniels arm and dragging him out of the boardroom.
Out in the hallway, Andre shouts ‘’GET A GRIP’’ really dramatically
‘’Leave it aaaaahhhhttttt saaahhhhnnnn’’ Replies Daniel
In a furious flurry of violence, Andre slaps Daniel upside the chops, in a manner only appropriate between the very best of friends. This goes to show that despite a bit of bickering every now and again, they really are as close as 2 frogs in a bag.
‘’Thanks Andre, don’t know what came over me’’ Says Daniel, apologetically, but in a way where he knows that Andre doesn’t really need an apology because they’re such great mates and it doesn’t matter
‘’That’s ok Dan, it’s this constant leaping. It’s whomping up your thought box. Besides, we’re such great mates, it doesn’t matter’’ Replies Andre, confirming the tone of Daniels previous line of dialogue.
‘’Let’s get out of here. We need to get this Damiao deal finalised before anything else anyway’’
‘’Well that’s a bit of luck, @AgentOracle has you haggling a fee in 3, 2, 1…’’
*Kaleidoscopic whoosh through the universe*
To be continued...

Daniel Levy; Tottenham Chairman. Quantum Leaper. Part 1.

Maybe the next leap will be the leap home. Editors notes in Italics
*Kaleidoscopic whoosh through the universe*
Our hero finds himself in a bull ring in Madrid. Credits roll. *Producer Abigail Liquorice* We can tell it’s Spain because there are lots of Spanish flags everywhere, and nobody working in the afternoon. *Executive Producer Calculator Seaman* A small child with a moustache holds up an ‘I *heart* Madrid’ sign to narrow down the geographical location.*Directed by Alan Whore*
‘’What’s this red cloth doing in my hands? And why do I have this funny coat on?’’
Daniel looks up and see’s a bull charging at him.
‘’Yikes, time for me to get outta (out of) here’’
Daniel, surprisingly fleet of foot, throws down the cloth and performs miraculous somersaults to escape the charging bull and manages to escape over safety hoardings, made mostly of straw and the shattered dreams of orphans, to great boos from the crowd.
‘’Glad I didn’t get the horn’’ Daniel remarks, hoping Andre is around to hear it. Turns out it doesn’t really make much sense and isn’t particularly funny.
‘’I heard it boss’’ says Andre, appearing from behind a parked tricycle, no hint of a smile.
‘’Oh there you are Andre. Sorry, not much good with double entendres’’
‘’How about ‘I really lost my rag’? You know, because you threw the cloth away’’.
‘’Bit shit though’’
‘’True enough. Anyway, the Handlink has been synched to twitter. According to this, @AgentSeatSniffer has you in Madrid for the next 17 minutes to get the Modric deal completed’’
‘’Fuck me!’’- Daniel is not averse to swearing. Also, he doesn’t have to worry about getting in trouble with NewsNow for swearing. Because he’s a rebel.
‘’To The Bernebau quick-smart. We’ll get the deal finished for Modric, then I can tell all of the ITK’s who I know personally so that the full and accurate account of all our dealings are reported’’, quips the confusingly handsome Andre.
*cuts to Bernebau boardroom with about 10 blokes who all look like Rafa Benitez*
‘So it’s agreed then’, sighs Daniel, ‘We’ll take £35 million, you can report it at £30m to make it sound like you’ve got a bargain, and we’ll report it at £40m to make it sound like we haven’t been rolled over by Johnny Foreigner’ Daniel now has a hint of annoyance in his voice; this is at least his 14th leap to Madrid. He senses that it won’t be his last.
‘There was just one more thing…’ says Rafa Benitez #4 ‘I was speaking to Rafa #7 about the installments’
‘Installments!’ Booms Daniel. Andre turns away, such is his chairman’s wrath. But before things can escalate, Daniel is discombobulated (check meaning!) in a shower of low budget spikey light shards, as he and Andre are transported to…
*Kaleidoscopic whoosh through the universe*
Our hero finds himself thrust into a compromising position with the FC Porto chief transfer negotiators wife in the groundmans wash room, covered in ham.
‘’Woh’’ says Daniel, but as the title music begins, the 30 second montage of him completing deals for Kaka, Benzema and Patrick Kluivert presumes enough time to have elapsed for the whole misunderstanding to be put to put to rest.
Daniel and chief negotiator shake hands while opening credits roll *producer Aristotle Shoepolish*, sweeping the whole wife/bathroom/ham affair under the carpet with a firm handshake. *Executive producer Cornelius Gelatine*Mrs Negotiator goes and has tea with Eusebio and his wife (or something). *Directed by Tim Shit*
‘’Are we FINALLY getting my Mouty Call’’ asks Andre, appearing from behind a used apricot.
‘’Don’t call him that, it sounds well weird. I prefer it when you talk about his dimensions, although I have to say that doesn’t sit too comfortably either. How come we had to leap, we were just about to close the deal with Madrid for Modric!? Again!’’ Daniel is VERY flangey at this point
‘’It’s syncing the handlink to twitter that’s done it. @AgentWebTrawler has you in Porto finalising the deal for Moutinho. We’ve only got another 11 minutes before the next leap, so let’s get it done’’
‘’Agreed’’
*cuts to boardroom with chief negotiator and Chairman Pablo Untrustworthio*
‘’So Monsieur Untrustworthio (check language), despite the fact that you are a chairman much like myself, and you want the best deal for your player, I’m afraid I’ve been shouted at in block capitals over twitter about not signing anybody, so let’s get this done at £20m and say no more about it’’
‘’No, I think Moutinho is worth £25m. There’s still some work to do’’ Chairman and negotiator twiddle the ends of their moustaches mischievously and rearrage their  sombreros (check cultural relevance)
‘’I don’t think you’re quite getting this mate/bruv’’ Dropping Ray Winstone impressions into negotiations is a tactic often employed to bamboozle rival chairman and transfer negotiators ‘’@BiggestSpursFanEver has just tweeted saying, and I quote, ‘’FFS LEVY! JUST GO AND SIGN A GOALKEEPER/ DEFENDER/ MIDFIELDER/FORWARD’’
‘’I understand, but…’’ attempts by the chief negotiator to break Daniel off while he meticulously scours fan tweets (at least 90% of his working day) does not go down well.
‘’HASHTAG COYS HASHTAG INLEVYITRUST HASHTAG GETITFACKINDONEYOUTIGHTTWAT. I am going to stand here belligerently shouting, crying and throwing money about until this is done.’’
‘’Erm, boss’’ chirps Andre, looking worriedly down at the Handlink
‘’Not now, I’ve got these guys on the rack. Just watch and learn. This is how a master negotiator rolls’’
‘’But boss, @AgentScrote has you in Abu Dhabi in 3,2, 1’’
*Kaleidoscopic whoosh through the universe*
To be continued…

Thursday 16 August 2012

ITK's and Other Cliched Pre-Season Rubbish

Blogtacular salutations old chums. It’s been a while.
So what’s been happening since I last updated? AVB appointed, a mad rush of signings in consecutive days (erm…2), and then lots of chatterboxing. We also played some games of football that we either won, drew or lost, that apparently mean nothing but are also great indicators of who will be starring for us this season. Got it? Laments on ITK’s are perhaps duller than the characters who promote themselves as said oracles, but let’s not pretend we don’t all love it, and that without it, it would just be a summer of the OS and F4. There’s only so many times one can hear about some youngster in the academy being out to ‘Earn His Spurs’ *eeeuuuurrrrggggghhhhh*, before you have to accept what wonderful background music it provides to this crazy footballing orchestra who assemble on timelines and forums throughout the land.
Still, there’s only so many times you can hear that it’s Ade’s/Citeh’s/Spurs’ fault that that particular Festival de Snooze hasn’t sparked into action, or that discussions with Madrid are ‘ongoing’, before the temples need a serious massaging, and a step away from the info boxes to get back to reali…
… ooooooh, Soldado! Now that sounds interesting *haemorrhages from ears* *dies*
With Modric finally being off (hopefully), my prediction, for what it’s worth, is that being fans of the good news/bad news management sandwich, his ‘we wish him all the best for the future’ will be buried somewhere between someone ‘earning his spurs’, Defoe once again being really brilliant at goal getting for the mighty English (but still ignoring the fact that he’s a bit rubbish), and further trampled by announcements of incomings. In other words, it’ll all be done at once. Also, expect someone that nobody has mentioned coming along, followed by ‘I knew there was something going on, but this is another ‘rabbit out of the hat’ and they have been very secretive about this’. Maybe a  ‘even MY source wasn’t privy to this’. And with all the RVP nonsense, it might be a good day to get this one sewn up and buried asap. Just hearing that AVB will be holding a press conference this afternoon. Will this be to discuss the Newcastle game, OR HAVE WE SIGNED EVERYONE WE’VE BEEN PROMISED?!?!?
But more important than all of this is just how we’ll end up doing this season, and a few predictions. A point on Saturday would do, and if we’re not top 3 after 6 games, expect mass panic. At close of play in May 2013, top 4 is doable, and should be the aim. You’ll hear talk of being happy with 6th as long as there are signs of improvement, but this isn’t a fantasy land, and while it won’t be a sackable offense, won’t be tolerated to the levels that many are already alluding to. Get it right now or get out. I just hope the powers that be are brave enough to stick to their convictions and at least give him a chance to top 2 from 8.
Other than that: goals will be scored, others conceded, there will be poor refereeing decisions and ‘I can’t wait for video technolog-ies’, with some liberal measures of footballers airing their dirty undies on the twitbox and being told off for doing so. And Di Matteo looking like someone drew a face on a balloon.
Rio’s Premier Prediction: Di Matteo to sacked before Christmas, Redknapp, who has already been lined up as cover, then acts as caretaker until next summer when Guardiola is finally appointed. You heard it here at some point.