It's been nearly three weeks since the sacking of Glenn Hoddle, and the intense speculation surrounding the new boss has disappeared. With two wins and one draw from his three games in charge, David Pleat has steadied the sinking ship at White Hart Lane and is now one of the hot favourites to land the job. With the international week now over, all minds will be fully concentrated on Tottenham's league situation , and with a caretaker boss in place , the media will be waiting like vultures to re-ignite the stories. Within days of Hoddle's exit, the usual names wre thrown in into the hat; the likes of Martin O'Neill, Alex Mcleish and Graeme Souness all moved swiftly to play down the rumours, although O'Neill tended to skirt around the subject, admitting that he will be at Celtic 'until the chairman tells me otherwise'. Other major candidates were Raddy Antic who is an old friend of David Pleat from their days at Luton Town, Guus Hiddink who steered South Korea to the World Cup semi-finals and Alan Curbishley, probably the most likely of all names mentioned, who took the Martin O'Neill route and never really denied an interest. As always, there were the rank outsiders, and in this case they were Ginaluca Vialli and David Ginola. While Ginola was a hero on the pitch, he has never managed before, and the baggage that comes with the Tottenham managerial post would probably be too much for the Gallic star, who's defensive abilities, or lack of them, would reform once again.
If Pleat's side perform well over the next few weeks, starting with a win at Leicester City on Sunday, Daniel Levy will be hard pushed to find a man more willing and more able to steer the club out of their current troubles. Pleat has been around White Hart Lane for many many years and knows it better than anyone. He is fully aware of the job in hand as has been a major figure in some recent transfers including the acquasition of Simon Davies and Robbie Keane. If Levy can stay patient, Pleat's experience may well pay off.