Naybet the spur for new-look Tottenham

With precious little to crow about since the last time England looked to a cocky young Tottenham player for inspiration, those who have spent the post-Gazza years traipsing to White Hart Lane will this season be excused for skipping all the way.

Maybe the years of miserable mediocrity are coming to an end. After all the different methods tried in the past decade (the European route, which lost something in Christian Gross’s translation; the old-school toughie act of George Graham; the holistic ideas of prodigal son Glenn Hoddle; the firefighting of a caretaker who had overseen it all before in David Pleat), there was only one thing for it: revolution.

Maybe, just maybe, Spurs have hit upon a strategy to shunt them out of neutral.

The club’s infrastructure has been overhauled to such an extent that the squad poster from last year plastered to a wall at Spurs Lodge has black crosses over 20 of the 36 smiling faces. From the moment Frank Arnesen took on the role of sporting director, Tottenham have traded in the transfer market with a clear plan about the kind of squad they want.

The recruitment drive was based on three key areas — young British talent, mid-20s foreign imports who could bring continental experience (Erik Edman is an established Sweden player, Miguel Pedro Mendes played for Porto in last season’s victorious Champions League run, Timothée Atouba gained useful European experience with Basel) and a handful for the future. With the exception of one of their many signings, they are all in the 18-to-25 age bracket.

Which brings us to the exception to the rule. Noureddine Naybet carries his hulking 34-year-old frame with a touch more heaviness and languor than the whippersnappers around him. His seasoned features bear traces of the stories and lessons that have marked a nomadic career that began at his hometown club of WAC Casablanca two decades ago.

Arnesen was reluctant to buy veterans, but Naybet — every inch the wise old pro — was too good to pass up. With so many youngsters about, there had to be room for a player Arnesen describes as ‘a natural leader”.

Twenty-four hours after joining Spurs, the Morocco captain led a youthful rearguard, most of whom had not met each other before this season. What Naybet lacks in pace he makes up for in intuition and in his first two matches he made sure that the Liverpool pair of Milan Baros and Djibril Cissé and the Newcastle duo of Alan Shearer and Craig Bellamy would not find Tottenham a pushover.

‘You mustn’t look at age,” Naybet says. ‘You must look at what someone does on the pitch.”

His performances are the result, he says, of absorbing lessons that were multicultural from a young age. As a junior at Casablanca, he came across coaches from Holland, France and England. But it was a Welshman who made the deepest impression on him. Naybet moved to Europe and enjoyed spells with Nantes and then Sporting Lisbon, where he came upon John Toshack.

‘He is my idol,” Naybet purrs. ‘Thanks to him I signed for Deportivo la Coruna and had eight wonderful years there. He’s more than a friend to me.”

The Deportivo experience is something Naybet insists can be an example to his new club. Depor proved how an unfashionable club without a lot of money can conquer one of Europe’s most challenging leagues.

‘It’s difficult to win the league if you are Depor when you are up against Real Madrid and Barcelona,” Naybet says. ‘But Depor is an example for all clubs who want to buck the trend.

‘What I experienced there was a team who wanted to work as a group, who created a fantastic team because we stayed together for a long time. That was the key. The same guys played together for five or six years before winning trophies. At Tottenham, we have to try to find a similar stability. It needs time and it needs everyone to have confidence in each other. Here, for now, we just have to think about winning each match.”

Naybet, whose first language is Arabic, gets by in faltering French and has work to do to establish even basic communication with his new teammates.

‘I don’t speak much English, but on the pitch we speak the same language,” he says with a shrug.

Naybet grabbed the chance to sign for Tottenham, even though he was also offered a lucrative contract in Qatar. In the end, he did not feel particularly torn.

‘You can’t compare England and Qatar,” Naybet says. ‘Football was born here and this is a big club in the history of English football. Here football is passionate, but it is also correct and noble.”

Naybet is impressed with the England starlets at White Hart Lane. ‘I have played against the biggest stars in Spain and Jermain [Defoe] is a very good player. Ledley King has top qualities, too, and Paul Robinson has a lot of promise. They can be the future of England. But we always talk too much about young players. You need to give them time.

”I am used to being with young players now. I’m always with them, for my club and also for my national team, who have some very talented teenagers. I am aware it is my responsibility to help them.”

Naybet is a footballing king in Morocco. With well over 100 caps, he intends to continue leading his country until the 2006 African Nations Cup in Egypt and the World Cup finals in Germany the same year.

Wonderfully proud of his country, he was delighted to entertain Rio Ferdinand and John Carew during a 10-day holiday in Casablanca and Marrakesh in the off-season.

‘I didn’t know English people went to Morocco,” Naybet says. ‘I thought they went to places like Marbella. Morocco is another world, another culture, but it’s changing so much. It’s a country of the future.”

Whether Spurs are a club of the future remains to be seen, but their enthusiasm to extend a five-match unbeaten run — one match at a time, now — is a decent place to start. —