Exciting times, but loyalty cuts both ways

View at The Lane, Spurs v Swansea

Agatha and Mildred love the tingling anticipation that is the start of a new season. Great opening games in the League and Europa: four wins, a clean sheet, and new players. Lots of new players. The Magnificent Seven (so far): Paulinho, Soldado, Chadli, Capoue, Lamela, Chiriches and Eriksen. We are excited at the prospect of these considerable talents joining the squad. It already feels a very different team. Amidst the anticipation and the excitement, two important questions are nagging Agatha:

1. How long will it take us to compose chants for all the new players?
2. What effect will it have on the club and our tradition of growing young talent internally, that the balance of foreign and British players has shifted significantly?

There has long been discussion about foreign players in the Premier League. Paul Wilson reports on Roy Hodgson's expressed concern about highly rated young players, like Tom Carroll, not getting enough play in the first team. One of the reasons we've always loved supporting Spurs is that we're not like Chelsea or Man U, who simply buy their way to the top. Success is so much sweeter when it's hard won. And the satisfaction of competing at the top with home-grown players is hard to beat.

And there's also the associated question of loyalty. Not only the loyalty of players to clubs (consider our own Ledley King, and see Stephen Gerrard's interview comments in today's Observer), which comes to form part of a club's spirit, but the loyalty of fans to players. Where should fans' loyalties lie, when hard-working, long-serving, still-talented Spurs stalwarts lose their place to expensive new players? We will not be the only Spurs fans sorry to have said goodbye to players like Tom Huddlestone and Jake Livermore, although you could argue they had their chance to really shine last season and maybe didn't quite cut it. And it's true that Jermain Defoe - who we have always staunchly supported above Adebayor - just seemed to stop scoring midway through last season. However, Agatha is already fretting most on behalf of Aaron Lennon, who has been such a solid, skilful, loyal player for Spurs. And Dawson?

Don't misunderstand: we are hugely looking forward to seeing our fabulous new players at White Hart Lane and anticipating the joys of a successful season. Let's just make sure that we duly appreciate the loyal service our lads have shown over many years, and that we continue to value and nurture our young talent and our very ethos.

This is going to be an amazing season for Spurs. AVB has been given the goods, and surely it is not just a Champions League place but a serious title challenge he will be expected to deliver?

Bye bye Bale
At the beginning of last season we said goodbye to Luka Modric on our blog. This year he will joined at Real Madrid by Gareth Bale, and we can't let that departure go without comment. In a brilliant piece, @spursblogger Alan Fisher says goodbye and good luck to Bale, expressing our thoughts far more eloquently than we could. In his first matches at White Hart Lane, we remarked how he was like a super keen wee boy at school sports day, legs and arms pumping as he ran up and down the wing, leaving everyone else standing. The level of natural skill he demonstrated begged early comparison with Gazza. It has been an honour to watch him develop into the world-class player he has become. All best wishes Gareth. xx

Agatha and Mildred