A Hoddle of Coffee: Tottenham Hotspur news and links June 17, 2016

Good morning!

I am a bit unsure of something and need help clarifying. What qualifies as a big club in today's game? Keep in mind this is all relative. Most football clubs do not play in their country's top flight, nor have any illusions of ever being able to reach those heights. Tottenham, compared to a team from the Conference, or even a team like Leyton Orient, are a bona fide giant, but that's not what I'm really getting at.

I'm asking who we view as the world's big teams. I still tend to hold on to the teams I view as big despite the movement and trends of recent years. Manchester United, Liverpool, AC Milan, Juventus, Real Madrid, Barcelona, and Bayern Munich all come to mind when thinking of the big teams among a few others. Success and ambition, as well as a fat paycheck for the players, were all part of that deal. What we've seen, however, is that teams like PSG, Manchester City, Chelsea, Borussia Dortmund, and Atletico Madrid have wedged themselves into these conversations either by astute coaching and transfer business or pure purchasing power.

Trusting players to delineate is silly. They'll call Norwich City a big club if they're bought out tomorrow and start paying silly wages. So we must ask ourselves, the true experts: how long does a team have to be at the top to be truly "big"?

And now for the "news":

Rio Ferdinand says something about Dele Alli moving to a big club| Goal.com

And, in the process, prompted a rant from me.

Joey Barton thinks Harry Kane needs a rest, but Rooney is fine| The Sport Review

When told he should give his Twitter a rest, Barton failed to the humor.

Bill Walton plays "Street Fighter"| SB Nation Lookit

There is no chance smoking weed and playing video games with Bill Walton isn't the best Friday night any of us would ever have.

10 Premier League games that are "must watch"| NBC Sports

Manchester United, yes that boring outfit from a year ago, are listed five times in ten games. Pandering much, NBC?