Money generated through broadcasting is arguably the most important source of income for a club. It might not be significantly more than match-day or commercial for all clubs but it is the difference between the richest clubs from Europe and those English ones just below them.

The revenue generated by broadcasting is reliant on deals from domestic competitions and European competitions. It is no surprise that the sides who earn the highest broadcasting revenues all play in the Champions League.

The table below shows the total revenue that teams earned the most through broadcasting deals in 2010.

Team

Total Broadcasting Revenue (£m)

1

Barcelona

145.8

2

R.Madrid

129.9

3

AC Milan

115.5

4

Inter

112.9

5

Juventus

108.5

6

Man U

104.8

7

Arsenal

86.5

8

Chelsea

85.9

9

Liverpool

79.5

10

Bayern

68.3

[divider]

Looking at the table, you might be surprised. English teams that are considered as the ‘biggest’ in Europe languish at the bottom of the top ten, below their Spanish and Italian equivalents.

Manchester United may be one of the ‘biggest’ clubs in the world but it only generates the 6th highest broadcasting revenue, and generated £40.1m less than Barcelona in 2010 despite playing in the Champions League and coming runners-up the Premiership. This is because Spanish and Italian leagues allow clubs to organise their own private TV deals for domestic League games. The English and German leagues sell their TV rights collectively and split the money between clubs more equally.

While this arrangement exists, teams in England will never be able to compete with biggest Spanish and Italian clubs in terms of TV revenue. Juventus did not qualify for the Champions League this year, but still had a higher total revenue from broadcasting than Manchester United, Arsenal and Chelsea who have all played in the competition for the last two years.

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In 2005, the gap in revenue from broadcasting between English and Spanish clubs was not severe, but in the last 3 years it has become massive.

2005

2007

2010

1

AC Milan

93.2

1

AC Milan

103.4

1

Barcelona

148.5

2

Juventus

84

2

R. Madrid

89.1

2

R. Madrid

129.9

3

Inter

69.7

3

Inter

86.2

3

AC Milan

115.5

4

R. Madrid

59.5

4

Barcelona

71.8

4

Juventus

108.5

5

Chelsea

55.4

5

Juventus

62.6*

5

Inter

112.9

6

Barcelona

53.4

6

Man U

61.5

6

Man U

104.8

7

Man U

48.8

7

Chelsea

59.6

7

Arsenal

86.5

8

Arsenal

48.6

8

Liverpool

55.2

8

Chelsea

85.9

9

Liverpool

51

9

Arsenal

44.3

9

Liverpool

79.5

*Juventus played in Serie B in 2006/07

[divider]

Since 2005, Real Madrid have increased their revenue by £70m and Barcelona by a staggering £95m. This is because private TV negotiations see these teams benefit from an upward spiral; the more successful they are on the pitch, the richer they become and so the more successful they are likely to be the next year. This is why Barcelona and Real Madrid now find themselves so much richer than any other side in Spain. One of Barcelona’s main attractions is their brand of football, one of Real Madrid’s is their ‘galacticos’, but both of these teams rely on their huge broadcasting revenue to help fund these attractions.

The same is true of England but to a lesser extent because the rewards for success are significantly less. In the last 5 years Manchester United have only increased their broadcasting revenue by £56m and Chelsea by £30m. These are considerable amounts of money, but insignificant in comparison to what Spanish clubs generate.

Since an English side will never receive more than a capped amount of money through broadcasting, its upper limit of revenue is reduced. If clubs in England were allowed to secure private TV deals, it would be interesting to see how much money they received and which team received the most.

Italian sides have not increased their revenue by the same extent as in Spain but that is because they already all had extremely profitable TV deals in place in 2005. In 2007, Juventus had a greater revenue from broadcasting than any side in England despite being in the Serie B. With this in mind you can see the predicament of English clubs.

Continue to the NEXT PAGE…

But the sharing of broadcasting money is, by no means, entirely negative for English football. While there may be no English clubs in the top 5; there are 8 in the top 20. This is a higher representation than any other League. In England the television rights are sold collectively and therefore divided in a more equal fashion. This means English clubs Aston Villa, Fulham and Manchester City who have not played Champions League football in 2010, feature in the top 20 ahead of clubs who have. The 7th richest side in England, due to broadcasting revenue (Tottenham), makes more than the 3rd most in Spain (Atletico Madrid).

For the year 2010, both the 08/09 league position and 09/10 have a contribution on broadcasting revenue as they dictate whether a side played European football in 2010. For example, a side like Bordeaux may have finished 6th last year, but it also played in the Champions League because of its success in 2008/09 domestic season.

Team

2010 Total Broadcasting Revenue (£m)

Position  in domestic League 09/10

Position  in domestic League 08/09

1

Barcelona

145.8

1

1

8

Premier League

2

Real Madrid

129.9

2

2

5

Serie A

3

AC Milan

115.5

3

3

3

La Liga

4

Inter

112.9

1

1

3

Ligue 1

5

Juventus

108.5

7

2

1

Bundesliga

6

Man U

104.8

2

1

7

Arsenal

86.5

3

4

8

Chelsea

85.9

1

3

9

Liverpool

79.5

7

2

10

Bayern

68.3

1

2

11

Lyon

64.2

2

3

12

Marseille

58.0

1

2

13

Fiorentina

57.1

11

4

14

Man City

54.0

5

10

15

Roma

53.7

2

6

16

Bordeaux

53.5

6

1

17

Aston Villa

52.1

6

6

18

Tottenham

51.5

4

8

19

Atletico

50.9

9

4

20

Fulham

50.9

12

7

[divider]

Interestingly enough, the German league also organise their television rights collectively. However they negotiate significantly less lucrative deals than in England, Italy or Spain. Deloitte’s indicate that this is because of the ‘lack of an established Pay-TV market in Germany’, rather than because of the way they distribute the money.

The Premier League on the other hand generates more money than any other League in Europe. The League is more marketable largely due to the competitive nature of the Premier League which results from strength in depth. The non-elite teams in England generate more income than their Italian and Spanish equivalents and therefore can spend more money on players and wages and produce better teams.

Last year in La Liga, Barcelona and Real Madrid collected 99 and 96 points respectively. They lost just 5 games between them. Valencia, who finished third, won only 71 points. There was a gap of 25 points between 2nd and 3rd, and 33 points between 4th placed Sevilla and 2nd.

In comparison, in the Premier League the champions (Chelsea) and runners-up (Manchester United) lost 13 games between them. A 24 point gap separated Manchester United and Everton, who finished 8th, while a 33 point gap existed between 2nd and 13th (Sunderland). This shows the difference in the two leagues. The non-elite teams in England are able to compete more closely with the top sides. Therefore the overall standard Premier League is higher.

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This strength in depth in England may initially begin due to the non-elite clubs receiving more TV money, but it also affects match-day revenue and this is reflected in the average attendances.

Below are the average attendances, per League game, of the European domestic leagues, excluding the three sides with the highest average attendance. In England this is Manchester United, Arsenal and Newcastle, In Spain; Barcelona, R. Madrid and Atletico Madrid, In Italy; AC Milan, Inter, Napoli, and in Germany; Borussia Dortmund, Bayern Munich, Schalke.

Competition

Average Attendance (excluding big 3)

Bundesliga

24,513

Premiership

20,494

Serie A

12,251

La Liga

11,928

[divider]

On average, a Premier League game sees almost double the amount of supporters than in Spain. So while the elite clubs in Spain and Italy prosper from individual broadcasting deals, the smaller clubs dwindle. The smaller clubs receive such minor broadcasting revenue that they cannot field sides that compete with the best and as a result people don’t want to go and watch them play, this is obviousl not the case in England or Germany.

The inequality of TV deals is not the only reason for a less competitive domestic League in Spain, but it has a major effect. Not only do the smaller clubs receive less money through TV deals, but they also generate a comparatively insignificant amount of money through match-day revenue as their average attendances are so low.

If the money made from broadcasting was divided more equally, as it is in England and Germany, the strength and depth of La Liga would be higher and the smaller clubs would be better sides. One affect would be that the smaller clubs would increase their average attendances. The Spanish League would be more competitive and the chances are that as a League they could generate more money.

It is because of broadcasting revenue that English clubs are not among the richest in Europe. Even so, an English side has appeared in 4 of the last 5 Champions League Finals.

Tottenham booked their place in the quarter-finals of the Champions League after holding AC Milan to a goalless draw at White Hart Lane.Peter Crouch’s late goal at the San Siro in the first leg proved enough for the north London club to reach the last eight of the competition.After beating the holders Inter Milan earlier in the season, Harry Redknapp’s side made it another memorable night in north London by beating their arch rivals.Milan will count themselves unlucky to have lost the tie after creating the best chances in the second leg, but Tottenham showed all their fighting spirit to keep alive their chances of winning the Champions League in their first ever season in the competition.Milan were determined to force their way back into the game and came close to opening the scoring on 15 minutes when Zlatan Ibrahimovic saw his free-kick beaten away by Heurelho Gomes.Tottenham were still lucky to be on level terms on 25 minutes when Michael Dawson made a crucial mistake which resulted in Gomes racing out of his goal. Pato took the ball around the Tottenham keeper and crossed in for Robinho whose shot hit Benoit Assou-Ekotto and the ball was cleared off the line by William Gallas.Tottenham finally started to wake up and created their first major chance on the half hour mark when Rafael van der Vaart saw his free-kick go just over the bar.But Milan kept putting pressure on the Tottenham goal and Pato saw his fierce shot produce a fine save from Gomes.Tottenham were certainly living on the edge and must have thought it was going to be their night after Milan wasted another golden chance on 65 minutes.Pato’s pass picked out Robinho whose low shot produced another excellent save from Gomes. The rebound fell to the former Manchester City forward but he fired his shot wide of the post.Redknapp knew it was time for a change and brought on Gareth Bale to try to give his side a much needed boost.But it was Milan fans who thought the deadlock was finally broken on 77 minutes when Pato’s low drive from the edge of the box beat Gomes in the Tottenham goal, but his effort went into the side-netting, much to the relief of the home supporters.Pato again tested Gomes in th first minute of stoppage time with a stinging volley that went just over the crossbar, but Tottenham held on will now be eagerly awaiting the draw for the quarter-final stage of the competition as they look to reach the final at Wembley at the end of May.

A subject that is bound to cause debate but one that should not be easily dismissed, with the FA Cup losing its prestige over the last two decades should the winners receive a place in the following season’s UEFA Champions League? Of course it would mean that finishing 4th in the Premier League would equal qualification into the Europa League instead, thus shifting more importance on the famous domestic cup as a competition.

In 2008 UEFA President, Michel Platini started the debate that winners of the main domestic cup tournaments across Europe should qualify for the Champions League, but the idea was quickly rejected. Since then, Platini has focused on seeing league champions from smaller countries enter the tournament. He feels that the winners of the domestic cup competitions are champions in their own right and it would be fitting for them enter the main European tournament.

However, there is a long list of pro’s and con’s to this idea. Since the formation and rebranding of the Premier League in 1992 and also the Champions League competition from the old knock-out style cup competition, the FA Cup has suffered as a result. Where two decades ago, winning the FA Cup was viewed as a major trophy, today it’s seen as more of a nuisance to managers who are either trying to save their club from Premier League relegation or aiming to finish in the top four.

Whilst we’ve not seen the treatment of fielding reserve teams for FA Cup games, like the League Cup, managers, players and fans would be more in favour of qualifying for the Champions League than winning the FA Cup. Especially with the money involved for clubs participating in what is now, the most prestigious tournament in world football.

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But Platini’s idea for expanding the access for the tournament, could see it lose the prestige it holds. After all, the origin of the European Cup was for the best teams from each country to compete against each other to determine who the kings of Europe are. There are positives to expanding the access of the tournament as it helps the clubs from smaller nations to progress financially and on the pitch.

The pro’s for the FA Cup winners achieving Champions League qualification would see a more competitive tournament with teams who would usually compete for the 4th place position in the EPL putting their emphasis on winning the FA Cup. Plus, other teams in mid-table would see the cup as an excellent opportunity to break into the Champions League, without spending years on progressing in the league.

On the flip side, the Premier League may lose out in terms of quality. Since the 4th place Champions League place has been available we’ve seen competition for places down to the last games of the season, without this, teams outside the top 3 would only have Europa League places to compete for, thus making the idea a lesser of two evils.

Alternatively, a better system for this to work would be for a play-off tie between the team who finishes in 4th place in the EPL and the FA Cup winners at the end of the season. This would also put people’s fears of the possibility of a lower league team winning the competition, where not only would they have to win the FA Cup, they’d have to defeat the 4th best team in the Premier League, thus increasing the odds against.

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Personally I can only see the play-off system working. Without it, you would be taking competition from the league into the FA Cup, whilst the play-off system would see both competitions be equally cut-throat. There is also the argument that finishing 4th is much harder to accomplish than winning a cup competition, although if Platini pushes harder for it to happen across Europe it will be something for us to consider realistically rather than hypothetically.

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It’s a well known fact that Fabio Capello prefers to use the 4-4-2 system, however we all know the limitations of this system and it’s debatable if it suits England’s best players. The best alternative systems are 4-5-1 and 4-3-3. The potential limitation of either of these systems is the lack of striking support for Wayne Rooney.

It has been suggested that after the recent friendly against Ghana, 4-3-3 has become the new favoured formation. Therefore, it seems logical to discuss this first. Based on the Ghana game it seems the idea is to play two wide players with a central striker. Players like Ashley Young, Adam Johnson, Stewart Downing and other wide players would be in contention to support Rooney. If the formation doesn’t work it can be altered by bringing on another striker.

The 4-5-1 system is generally considered a negative and defensive system, however with the right players it can also be considered a very attacking way to play. The key to this formation is getting the midfielders to push up and support the loan striker.

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The 4-4-2 system is something English players will be used to and is still favoured by a lot of managers who prefer this system; Capello being one of them. It can make teams a bit overly predictable; however it is hard to beat, if a team has a lot of good strikers.

It’s important to remember that it’s players that win games and not formations, but managers need to pick their best players and find the right formation. Rather than pick a formation and then try and find the players that fit into that system. So Capello has to decide who his best players are?

In many ways strikers are a weakness for England at the moment. In particular, Peter Crouch and Jermain Defoe have had poor seasons in the Premier League. England could probably do well to build the team around players like Ashley Young and Adam Johnson. Therefore, you can understand the appeal of the 4-3-3 system. But is Wayne Rooney suited to playing the lone role up front? Especially as he often plays more as an attacking midfielder rather than an out and out striker.

These questions will need to be answered and England will need to decide on the best system going forward. So that’s my view, but what do you think? What system is most suited to the England players? Can Wayne Rooney play as a lone striker?

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Heard the one about the “family man” Premier League footballer who had an affair with an ex-“star” of Big Brother? Well you probably have if you are able to master an internet search engine, but details of their tryst cannot be reported in the mainstream press due to him successfully obtaining an injunction preventing the fully story from being revealed.

Leaving aside the issue of whether this tawdry tale should be considered newsworthy, why was this footballer able to stop the story from being published when the likes of John Terry, Peter Crouch and (for those with longer memories) Garry Flitcroft were not so successful?

The answer can be found in the European Convention on Human Rights which the UK signed up to in 1998. Article 10 of the Convention protects the “right to freedom of expression” including the “freedom to impart information”. However, under Article 8, an individual has the right to “respect for his private and family life”. Clearly there is a conflict between these two Articles, and the Courts will generally be required to weigh up which of these competing interests is more legitimate in deciding whether to grant an injunction or not.

In the case of John Terry, despite initially being granted a temporary “super injunction” (which prevented the press from reporting that an injunction had even been obtained), the Judge lifted the injunction as he deemed it “not necessary or proportionate having regard to the level of gravity of interference with the private life of the applicant”. That is to say that freedom of expression (of the press) was more legitimate than the possible interference with Terry’s private life. It seems that the key factor in making this decision was that Terry was less concerned with “personal distress” than the impact of adverse publicity on his reputation and more particularly, the commercial effect that the revelations would have on his sponsorship deals.

In the case of our unnamed footballer mentioned above, however, the Judge must have believed that the main motivation in seeking an injunction was to protect the player’s family and not his own image. This is particularly the case where a player’s children are likely to suffer bullying at school if details of the story are revealed.

It remains to be seen how this area of law will develop in the future. The furore surrounding the latest raft of injunctions and political unease at the judiciary “establishing a new privacy law via the back door” has put this issue at the forefront of the media agenda. David Cameron himself has waded in to question whether Judges should have the power to issue “super injunctions”. It is unlikely that the government will seek to introduce a new privacy law in the near future, but it may be that the new Defamation Bill (currently in consultation until June 2011) is used to re-assert the legislature’s authority over the judiciary.

*

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Adam Leadercramer is a senior lawyer at onside law, a boutique law firm specialising in the sport and entertainment sectors. Adam regularly advises players, clubs, third party investors, agents and others involved in the football industry, and is a Millwall season ticket holder.

A disastrous World Cup campaign in South Africa which included player revolts and walkouts left French football in disarray. Since then the French Football Federation replaced the unpopular Raymond Domenech with Laurent Blanc. Things have improved dramatically since the World Cup winner took over. There has been an influx of young French talent to the squad and players such as Samir Nasri and Karim Benzema, who were overlooked for the tournament have come back into the fold. France are currently top of their European Championship qualifying group and took the scalp of England at Wembley recently. Just when things were starting to look rosy for our friends from across the Channel, the French media is awash with revelations of racist remarks from Laurent Blanc, casting his future as manager into doubt.

There have been huge efforts from world football governing bodies to implement various campaigns into football to help fight the ugly side of the beautiful game. So for this latest scandal to come to light from what is one of the most multicultural nations in the world is not only a disgrace, but a step backwards.  The comments from Blanc came from a meeting in November where he and French Football Federation technical director François Blaquart, Under-21 coach Erick Mombaerts and Under-20 coach Francis Smerecki were discussing recruitment of French youngsters. The contentious comments arose when discussing the best way to develop young French players – should they go for the strong athletic players, or the technical players? Blanc was championing the latter but his words were poorly chosen, Blanc is alleged to have said, “The Spaniards, they don’t have a problem because they don’t have any blacks’ or ‘What is there that is big, strong, powerful? The blacks.” This comes from the recording leaked by French football official Mohammed Belkacemi to Mediapart.

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This scandal has an immediate impact on French football, but also has a worldwide impact on football in general. It shows that after everything that has been done over the years to stamp racism out of the game, it still persists. There are also claims that restricting the number of black and North African players that can enter French academies was discussed, something which Blanc strongly denies. The worrying thing from this allegation is that it shows there is still a long way to go in the fight against racism if it’s present within National football federations. What hope is there to completely eradicate racism from the terraces, when it’s prevalent in board rooms of major sporting nations? I don’t actually believe Laurent Blanc is a racist, however his comments show a lack of intelligence if he feels talking in such a manner is acceptable.

Unfortunately I think racism is something that will continue to mar football, sometimes no matter how much effort is put into campaigns to remove it from the game, you can’t change the mindset of certain people. What’s worrying is that if a scandal like this is coming out of a multinational nation such as France, what is potentially going on in Eastern European countries where racism still rears its head regularly?  It was only a few months ago that Lokomotiv Moscow fans celebrated Peter Odemwingie’s sale to West Brom with a banner showing a banana and the message: “Thanks West Brom”.

The allegations in France are just another example that kicking racism out of football is a never ending task. Luckily in our country racist incidents are few and far between, although there are still isolated incidents, so it’s something that continually needs addressing in the sport of football.

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Listen to the latest episode of our award nominee podcast – The Football FanCast. – Featuring Razor Ruddock, Gary O’Reilly and King Jacks! Don’t forget to help Razor and O’Reilly become award winners in the 2011 EPL Awards

Kashiwa Reysol have regained top spot in the J-League after a 3-1 win over Urawa Red Diamonds on Saturday.Forward Hideaki Kitajima opened the scoring for the home side in the first minute before Brazilian Jorge Wagner doubled the lead in the 21st.

Kitajima grabbed his second in the 83rd to seal the points before Genki Haraguchi fired a consolation for the 2006 champions in the final minute of normal time.

Kashiwa now have four wins and one loss for the season to lead the league by one points from Yokohama F Marinos and Vegalta Sendai.

Yokohama F Marinos climbed to second after fighting back from two goals down in the first half to beat Avispa Fukuoka 3-2.

Avispa raced to a 2-0 lead as Hisashi Jogo netted in the 31st and 42nd minutes, but Kazushi Kimura’s men managed to overturned the lead in the second half.

Kazuma Watanabe pulled a goal back almost immediately after the break before Yuji Ono’s brace snatched victory for Yokohama.

Sanfrecce Hiroshima and Ventforet Kofu played out a 1-1 draw as did champions Nagoya Grampus and Shimizu S-Pulse.

Japan international Ryoichi Maeda bagged a brace as Jubilo Iwata comprehensively defeated Montedio Yamagata 4-0 to move into seventh.

Vissel Kobe also climbed on the table after they edged out Kawasaki Frontale 1-0 courtesy of Kang-Jo Park’s 68th-minute strike.

Elsewhere, Omiya Ardija and Albirex Niigata had a scoreless stalemate while Cerezo Osaka held high-flying Vegalta Sendai to a 1-1 draw.

The 25 man squad rule came into place at the beginning of this season to encourage the use of more home-grown players in the Premier League with the long term aim of helping the England team. But does such a rule remove the need for another Premier League rule that states “in every Premier League match each participating club shall field a full-strength team”?

I would say that it should do and which of those 25 players are selected on a match-day is purely managerial preference and the team that he feels is right for that particular game. However, it appears that it’s not as clear cut as that as far as the Premier League are concerned because they fined Blackpool £25,000 for fielding a “weakened” side earlier this season, after making 10 changes from their previous side. Therefore, it will certainly be interesting to see what happened if as expected Manchester United put out an under strength side in their final Premier League match.

Quite how the Premier League decides what a “weakened” side is, I will never know and it’s worth noting that the Manchester United’s fringe players are considerably stronger than the squad players available to Blackpool or Wolves. But that doesn’t mean that Manchester United should be able to get away with it while teams like Blackpool and Wolves get punished.

I think now that the 25 man squad rule has been introduced there is really no need to have a rule punishing teams for playing “weakened” sides and no selection within that 25 man squad should ever be considered a weakened team. The other side of it if teams are always punished for using youth/fringe players then when can these players gain experience?

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I also feel that to some extent teams can govern themselves. Generally speaking managers send a team out to win a game and are not going put out a weak side for no good reason. Yes, sometimes players need to be rested but I don’t think there would ever be a situation when managers would constantly play a weak team. The 25 man rule should ensure that teams keep a close and compact squad and youth players get plenty of opportunities and surely it’s a managers right to pick and choose between that squad on any match-day.

So is it time for the Premier League to stop punishing teams for fielding a “weakened” side and trust the 25 man squad rule will work?

Join the conversation on Twitter and tell me what you think about the 25 man squad rule and if teams should be punished for “weakened” sides.

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Any club that has Harry Redknapp at the helm is always going to be busy in the transfer market, and Tottenham Hotspur is no different. The Lilywhites ended up having a mixed season after a disappointing run in, which culminated in missing out on Champions League qualification. No doubt the Spurs players’ will find it hard not playing Champions League football next season after such a memorable debut campaign for the club. Meaning it is only natural that the likes of Luka Modric and Gareth Bale are linked with moves away, but with ‘Arry’s insistent that the two stars are not for sale and that he wants “Daniel (Levy) to go out and get three fantastic players”, who should Tottenham be looking to bring in to mount a push for Champions League qualification again next season?

Emmanuel Adebayor

Spurs are in major need of a consistent striker after a diabolical goal return from their so called forwards this season. Although signing a former Arsenal player who had a penchant for scoring a goal against them would normally be forbidden, I think this time Spurs fans’ should make an exception. The Togolese forward carries the aerial prowess that Peter Crouch should have, an eye for goal and has continually performed well at the top level. ‘Arry loves a bargain and the Manchester City striker is available at a snip of the price that City paid the Gunners in 2009.

Leandro Damiao

The 21 year old has been in formidable form of late with 22 goals in his last 24 matches for Internacional (that’s more league goals than Tottenham’s forwards managed in nearly 100 games combined in the league last season). The youngster’s pace and trickery will add a new dimension to a rather stale Spurs front line, and could form an impressive partnership with Adebayor (should Spurs take my advice). The Brazilian forward is also being watched by Barcelona, Benfica and Juventus, but Spurs could use there relationship they built up with Internacional when they signed Sandro last summer to get their man. Should Spurs sign the Brazilian star, it will be a major coup.

Gary Cahill

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Rather surprisingly Tottenham haven’t been strongly linked with the Bolton man, but with Manchester United close to signing Phil Jones, Arsenal (as usual) unwilling to pay with anything other than chocolate coins and Manchester City no longer in need for a centre back (as Toure will be back early September), Spurs could have a good chance at signing the former Aston Villa player. With Woodgate and King practically wheelchair bound and Bassong reportedly heading for the exit door, there is definitely room at the heart of the defence at White Hart Lane. Cahill has a surprising eye for goal, something Spurs haven’t really had in a defender since Sol Campbell, as well a successful tackler and a commanding defending, the Englishman would be an ideal signing for the Lilywhites.

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New Chelsea manager Andre Villas Boas has stated that his players must commit to and be willing to die for the club cause if the London side are to be successful in 2011/12.

The Stamford Bridge outfit relinquished their Premier League crown last term, and the ex-Porto coach is eager for his squad to show their commitment to winning it back.

“You can be successful in the game in various different ways. The most important thing is that the idea you want to sell, the players are able to buy it; that it doesn’t seem something so out of the ordinary that they are not able to commit and die for you and for the cause,” the 33-year-old told Chelsea Magazine.

The Portuguese also stated that his team would look to attack and score goals in the next campaign.

“It’s not just a case of the manager arriving, changing things and that’s why they score. You free them from the limitations that they might have in a different kind of system but, in the end, you make them believe in their qualities and this is the most important thing.

“For you to exploit the potential of every player to the full, you have to give them a certain amount of freedom, or else they will never test it. So we encourage them to make better decisions, give them freedom of choice a lot.

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“Once you go towards finding that talent, you can end up with players transcending themselves and doing things they thought they could never do,” he concluded.

Chelsea start their Premier League campaign against Stoke City at the Brittania Stadium on August 13th.