Tottenham might be having a great season under Mauricio Pochettino and they seem destined to finish at least second in the Premier League but there was a time when Spurs would struggle to finish in the top four and playing in the Champions League was a dream.
That was something that happened a decade ago as well as many of their top players swapped the White of Tottenham for other colours. Players such as Gareth Bale, Luka Modric, Dimitar Berbatov and Michael Carrick all left to play for teams that were better placed than Spurs.
Carrick, who left Spurs to join Manchester United in 2006, spoke out about the move which gave Manchester United a good sum of money. As with any transfer saga, the rumours dragged on for weeks before Martin Jol, the then manager had to deal with the loss of one of the most talented players in the team.
Speaking to Sky Sports, the five-time Premier League winner said: “It dragged through the summer and I ended up going back to train with Tottenham for a couple of weeks. Daniel Levy to be fair to him got top dollar for me. It was way more than they should have paid really. I went to Tottenham and trained for a couple of weeks and in the end we got it done. It was about a week or two before the start of the season. I was delighted.”
The former West Ham player also highlighted how different the training sessions under Sir Alex Ferguson were after he made the switch to Old Trafford.
“The difference I found was it was relentless. Every day was relentless and the training sessions were generally harder than the matches.”
Carrick certainly seems to have enjoyed his time at Manchester United over the years but right now, the time seems to be great for Tottenham fans and they could be celebrating the Premier League title come the end of the season should Chelsea drop a few more points.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XF2OcOO82WE
He was talking retrospectively about the perception when he switched clubs. The hope is that Pochettino has removed this black dog from the club’s back. United, on the other hand, only developed that attitude under Fergie. Before his time, they were fairly average for a few decades. With two clubs who can outspend them, Citeh and Chelsea, Arsenal closer to them financially ( and in the table…LoL ), Spurs better than them on the pitch, a better youth set-up and, soon, a stadium to match them, Liverpool improving under Klopp ( if they only had a defence )and, apparently, Everton the latest club to hit pay dirt, they might not find it so easy to regain that preeminent position or the attitude that comes with it.