As the week now draws to a close, am I more confused than I was before last Saturday's game against Derby? No, not really - I've learned to read between the lines when it comes to sensational headlines.

In a week of denials, alleged sackings, bets of indecent proportion on the outcome of the said sacking, job offers to  a manager already in employment, and to one currently looking for a post, we find ourselves seven days on exactly where we were last week. Where is Martin Jol? What is his position in the club? Does Daniel Levy still want him as manager? Did he offer the position to Juande Ramos or Fabio Capello? Did Jol and Dimitar Berbatov fall out? Did the 'insider' get his fingers burnt after laying the bet? It reads like an episode of Soap.

Harry Redknapp, there's another name to add to the pot  - only Harry hasn't been approached or asked about the position, has he? Ramos denied either being approached or receiving an offer and Capello said he was in London for a completely different reason altogether. So in the light of such denials, I bet they are all telling porkies because there's no smoke without fire, is there?

'I've learned to read between the lines when it comes to sensational headlines'


Now we have the second instalment, whereby Berbatov's agent has alleged that Manchester United have made overtures about his player, but United have refuted the claim. So who is right? Probably the same 'insider' source that said Berbatov and Jol had fallen out, or that Ramos had been offered Jol's job. The same 'insider' that is now saying Jol and Levy are at odds over the Newcastle position pre-Sam Allardyce.

If Newcastle approached Jol or vice-versa, why were Tottenham not informed, and why did they not protest about it? Perhaps it didn't happen, but there's no smoke without fire, is there?

Now The Sun, that well-known fighter for truth and justice, have a headline about Jermaine Defoe 'Doing a Sol [Campbell]' and saying he MAY be sold if he doesn't sign a new contract.

Defoe has been a model professional in his time at Spurs, a credit to himself and the club, and has stated on numerous occasions his desire to stay and fight for his place. Berbatov's agent has stated time and time again of his players' desire to see out his contract. The point is, where do these stories emanate from? Newspapers, that's where, an outdated pointless source of 'information' that is of no value as by the time you buy it, the real news has already been on the airwaves or the net for hours. So why do we fall for it time and time again? And why do Tottenham Hotspur get such a hard time in them?

We are not a team of thugs, we try to play the right way - how many teams have been applauded off in Turkey or have been top of the Fair Play League twice in a row? We have a great fan base, we are profitable and affluent. Our manager is direct but honest  and our chairman's efforts to raise the profile of the club has been nothing short of miraculous, given the time scale. What is it about our club that fills newspapers and the airwaves with such negativity?

You only have to read the articles on this site to see how they have divided our club, with Paul Robinson's statement against Levy and the board. Now the inference is that Levy is lying over the whole affair - there's no smoke without fire, is there? Why have Sevilla not made any protests about us approaching their manager when he still has a year of his contract to run?

Why do the media appear to use the same tactics to undermine our ambition as they did with England during the World Cup last year. And why do tabloids think they have the right to put things in print that are patently untrue or  merely inferred? Simple, so you as the reader will then think 'there's no smoke without fire'. But there is! And there's normally a newspaper man holding a smoke bomb behind most of them.  When reading these stories, just watch out for the following words - 'insider', 'close friend', 'would' and 'could'. Better still, stop reading them altogether, as you'll end up more irate and less informed.

Wouldn't it be nice if reporters actually wrote articles about the game, the tactics, the players - and used facts, not fiction? Incidentally, I heard that a leading newspaper is going out of business because of falling readership, and with it, less revenue from advertising. It could be true, because there's no smoke without fire, is there?