Oleg Artemov is Roman Pavyluchenko’s agent. Yesterday he was telling the Russian press that yes, there had been interest in the player from Stuttgart and no, that this wasn’t amounting to anything because Roman had a contract and his heart, ‘belonged to Tottenham’.
Spurs fans are a strange breed. Despite being one, I wouldn’t want to stuck in a lift with many of them. Pav has unarguably achieved less than was supposed to in his time at Tottenham, but like many before him at The Lane there is a disproportionate love for him. His name rings out even when not on the pitch.
He has in the other hand, scored some crackerjack goals and he is a player that seems to have a genuine rapport with supporters.
And this I guess is the ‘hub’ of this piece. Look at Paul Robinson. There was a player who died a very public death in a Tottenham jersey. Once England’s number one he deteriorated into a barrel rolling shadow of his former self. But the simple, ‘Robbo, Robbo, give us a wave’, routine kept him as a man of the people long after it should have.
At Blackburn away last season the Spurs fans sang, ‘England’s Number One!’ endlessly at him. Initially I thought this was uncalled for nastiness. It was in fact a genuine salute to a guy that should have cringed to hear the words.
His International career was well and truly over at that stage. So what’s the deal with you and Roman? He had an abysmal game against Young Boys. Then he scored a what can only be regarded as a genuine Champions League class goal.
I think he’s great despite most his performances so more proof if it were needed that you wouldn’t want to be stuck in a lift with me. By the by the Gallas Poll was interesting; 62.57% said ‘yes please’ and 37.43% replied, ‘not on my Nelly’.
