A Hoddle of Coffee: Tottenham Hotspur news and links April 21, 2016

Good morning!

Today I will remind you all, as you are a semi-captive audience, of one of my favorite yearly talking points. The privilege of being nervous.

Granted, all supporters are relatively nervous about their team on game day, especially if the club is enduring a stretch of bad form or a slew of key injuries, but I am talking of something else. Stoke, for example, is not playing for anything real. There are no nerves for them about garnering real honors or being relegated. At this point of the season, along with a handful of other clubs like Watford, Everton, and West Brom, they are doing there job as professionals, but that's about it.

On the other hand, we have the teams dealing with nerves. The top five or six teams fighting it out for Champions League positions as well as Norwich, Sunderland, and Newcastle at the bottom, trying to beat the drop. The relegation fodder are nervous for obvious reasons, so I will not touch on that. What I will say, however, is how great it is to be entering our the last stretch of the season, the final 10%, still playing for something.

I've heard countless people on this site or on Twitter talk about how terrifying these final matches will be, but it's for all the right reasons. This is what a title race feels like. It's as nerve shattering as the relegation battle, only for all the good reasons. This is what being a supporter is all about. This is what being a player is all about. Earning the right to live and die with the results as the trophies and victory medals become less metaphorical, and very much a reality.

We've got four more to go. Live and die with them. Just be thankful for that instead of dreading it.

And now for the "news":

Tottenham and "half of Europe" are interested in Valencia defender| Sport Witness

What nobody realizes, however, is that under Mauricio's coaching methods he may end up being the striker we need. If this seems far fetched, I'll remind everyone that Eric Dier is the holding midfielder on a title challenging side.

Victor Wanyama wants a Spurs move| Mirror

I mean, sure this makes sense to a degree. This is also a very old rumor that smacks of an agent trying desperately to get his client a move.

Spurs boys are at the head of an English youth movement at the Euros| Independent

Roy thinks it could be a very bright summer. I'll take the "see it to believe it" stance on English glory in a tournament.

Curt Schilling fired| SB Nation

[Redacted]. But seriously, [redacted]. A piece of human [redacted].