TOTTENHAM HOTSPUR have held preliminary discussions with Newcastle United about playing a pre-season friendly in China in the weeks before the Beijing Olympic Games get under way on August 8th. Although the talks were far from wide-ranging, and the prospect of the match being staged at this stage are slim, the move reflects the desire of Premier League clubs to make in-roads into far-flung markets.
The league's proposal for Game 39 might have been placed into cold storage, principally because of Fifa's objections, but the pre-season this year promises exotic friendlies. Discussions have taken place between several top-flight clubs about the possibility of staging matches overseas and, with an eye on Game 39, the league will follow the ventures closely.
Tottenham have been cleared to begin planning for their pre-season because they have already qualified for the Uefa Cup, after their League Cup final success against Chelsea last Sunday, and they will have no distractions in the summer, such as the InterToto Cup.
Their links with Newcastle stem from the friendship between their former vice-chairman, Paul Kemsley, and Mike Ashley, the St James' Park owner, and others have developed since. Dennis Wise and Tony Jimenez, recently appointed as Newcastle directors, are close friends of Gus Poyet, the Tottenham assistant manager, and Chris Hughton, the former Tottenham assistant manager, has joined Kevin Keegan's coaching staff at Newcastle. Jimenez had previously worked with Ashley and Kemsley.
Ashley's company, Sport Direct, has bought a stake in the ITAT Group, the Chinese retail company and Tottenham have ties to China through their shirt sponsors Mansion, the online gambling operator.
Poyet has revealed the club could "try to do a deal" for the Espanyol pair Dani Jarque and Carlos Kameni. The Cameroon goalkeeper Kameni is on the director of football Damien Comolli's list to challenge Paul Robinson and Radek Cerny, and the Spanish defender Jarque, 24, is also being watched. The Spurs manager, Juande Ramos, knows both players from his time managing in La Liga.
Guardian Service
