Jamie O'Hara is convinced Giovani dos Santos will be a hit both on and off the pitch at Spurs.

The midfielder has got to know our summer capture from Barcelona well over the last fortnight at our training camp in Spain.

He explained: "I've been rooming with Gio and he's a great lad.

"We've had a real laugh already and I think we'll become close friends.

"He's always smiling, laughing, having a joke and he's got a heart of gold - he'll help you out with anything.

"His English is getting better and better and he's a great guy to be around. The lads have all taken to him well and he'll be a great player to have around."

It's fair to say Gio has been centre of attention with the locals - alongside Juande Ramos - on his return to Spain for this training camp.

"They love him out here and I keep reminding him of that every time he walks into the room - it's unbelievable!" laughed Jamie. "All the fans say ‘Gio, Gio, we love you' and I've told him that might be the case out here in Spain but back home in England, I'm the main man - just for a laugh!"

Here is your chance to experience our award-winning corporate hospitality, with a Spurs Legend as your host, at The Lane before travelling in style for our big derby match with Chelsea at Stamford Bridge on Sunday August 31.

The VIP Package will include:

• Match Programme & Souvenir Gifts
• Pre match tour including audio-visual presentation
• Brunch
• Coach Transfer to Stamford Bridge
• Best available match seats in the visitors section
• Coach Transfer to White Hart Lane for Post Match Buffet and Complimentary Bar

Total Price:
£220.00 (Adult)
£190.00 (under 16)
(Above Prices include VAT)

Reservations can be made by the following options:

• Phone the Commercial Department on 020 8365 5070 with credit card details
• Email: caroline.durkin@tottenhamhotspur.com with credit card details
• Fax on 0208 365 5061 or post the attached reservation coupon

Spaces will be limited so it is advisable to make your booking as soon as possible...

Gus Poyet feels the serious business of pre-season will kick-off against Hercules CF in Alicante on Thursday night.

We face the La Liga Segunda Division side at the Jose Rico Perez Stadium for a 9.30pm kick-off local time, 8.30pm UK.

It is our third friendly following training ground victories over local sides Tavernes and CD Denia during the two weeks of our training camp in Spain.

"Hercules have a great stadium in a good city in Alicante," stated First Team coach Gus, no stranger to La Liga after seven years at Real Zaragoza. "They were in the Premier League a few years ago and they are trying to get back in there, so it will be a tough game for us.

"They will be looking forward to playing us as well and I'm sure it will be a great occasion.

"For us, it's the first serious friendly of pre-season and a real test. The teams we played before are smaller by comparison to Hercules, so this is the first important one for us.

"The lads know that and they will see on Thursday night how difficult it will be against a team like Hercules in their stadium and in the conditions.

"At the same time, it's important we continue getting fit and to start putting into practice in games what we have been working on in training.

"We play the strongest team available to us as long as they are all fit, of course."

Meanwhile, Gus recalled playing at the Jose Rico Perez Stadium during his time at Zaragoza.

"I remember playing at the stadium in a pre-season tournament. It's an impressive stadium, a big stadium for a team in the Second Division. It will be a good atmosphere and ideal for the lads at this stage."

Ticket details - CLICK HERE...

The lads had one session on Wednesday as they prepare for the friendly against Hercules CF in Alicante on Thursday night.

This session held in the morning at the training camp was naturally all about football with a different array of shooting routines followed by a high-intensity, two-touch match played over half the pitch.

We have one more session at our training base before travelling to Alicante to face Hercules in a match kicking-off at 9.30pm local time (8.30pm UK).

Ticket details for Hercules - CLICK HERE...

The Club can announce that we have reached agreement for the permanent transfer of Teemu Tainio to Sunderland.

Finnish midfielder Teemu made 83 appearances in our colours following his move from Auxerre in July 2005 scoring on three occasions.

We wish him every success for the future.

Jamie O'Hara, Giovani Dos Santos and Radio One DJ Nihal all feature in the August issue of hotspur, out Friday.

What a year it has been for young Jamie, as his 2007/08 campaign took him from a loan spell at League One Millwall all the way to our Young Player of the Season award and England Under-21 honours.

He gives the Club's official monthly magazine an exclusive interview on his Spurs story so far, including all the heart-warming tales from his maiden campaign and his hopes for the coming season.

Also in this issue, we give fans everything you could possibly want to know about one of our latest signings, Giovani, and Nihal is August's Famous Fan.

Plus you will find all the usual features, with Chris Gunter in the hot-seat for the Over the Moon Q&A and legend Pat Jennings answering your questions once again.

Special features this month include a look back on some of the memorable moments from our opening games of seasons gone-by, and players past and present tell us about their best days in a Spurs shirt.

Don't miss out! Pick up your copy of hotspur this Friday!

Stay up to date with all the latest news from White Hart Lane by downloading our brand new free services, detailed below.

All of the services take just seconds to download and bring you all the latest news directly to your desktop.

1. Zebtab News Alerts give you all the latest Spurs news and video content, plus stats and much more - click here for more...

2. Windows Vista Gadget provides the latest news for Vista PC's only and will soon be bringing video content from Windows Media Centre - click here for more...

3. Mac Widget enables all the latest Spurs news to be sent directly to your desktop - click here for more...

Please note, the Skinker is no longer available so please download the official services above.

Wednesday morning's training session in Spain involved a shooting routine with two goalkeepers in the same goal!

The lads were split into two groups with the players on the left playing a one-two with Juande Ramos before firing at goal and the lads on the right combining with Gus Poyet before letting fly.

Throughout the exercise both Heurelho Gomes and Oscar Jansson provided a formidable barrier defending their respective side of the goal.

Juande Ramos will take a trip down memory lane when we face Hercules CF in Spain on Thursday.

Our Head Coach made his debut as a player in the Primera Division of La Liga for Elche against the Alicante-based side back on January 19, 1975.

It was an early highlight of a playing career that was cut short by injury at the age of 28.

Juande recalled: "It was my first game in the top division of La Liga, I was young and it was a big occasion for me, a big experience.

"I later played for Alicante and they had a very strong rivalry with Hercules, the two teams in the city.

"Hercules was always historically the strongest team and Alicante the second team but last season Alicante was promoted from Segunda Division B and will now play in the same championship as Hercules in the Segunda Division next season. I believe this is very good for the city.

"The rivalry is as strong as anywhere else, especially where you have two teams in the same city."

Juande is well aware of Hercules' history and knows we are in for a test at the Jose Rico Perez Stadium on Thursday night.

"Hercules is a very big team historically in Spain," he said. "They were last in the Premier Division in 1996/97 but at this moment they are in the Second Division.

"They are always playing for promotion. In Spain, that's always difficult but I think it will be possible next season because they have good players.

"For us, we are looking to improve our performance in every match. What is important is that the players and the new players especially know their team-mates and know the system that we will be looking to play next season."

After most of the squad got a run out in training ground friendly wins against local teams Tavernes and Denia, Juande is set to field his strongest side available against Hercules.

"It will be a great friendly for us at this point," said Juande. "We are preparing the team and little by little we need to step up the resistance we'll face in games.

"The players have worked hard and hopefully we'll have everyone available."

Click here for ticket info...

Fancy yourself as a budding Juande Ramos? Tottenham Hotspur Fantasy League, our very own fantasy football game, is back again for the 2008/09 season!

Pick a team of Premier League superstars and compete for £100,000 in prizes, including a VIP trip of a lifetime for you and a mate to the final of the Champions League in Rome!

Get started by spending a £75 million budget on a squad of 16 players, then tactically substitute and transfer your way to the top. And you can take on your local rivals in your own 'Friends & Enemies' League. Plus, with great features like pre-set 'Supersubs', live points updates and transfers right up until kick-off, this is about as real as fantasy football gets!

And this season promises to be better than ever, with a free trophy for Friends & Enemies Leagues and a new competition that will see every Manager of the Week winner in a playoff on the final day of the season with £10,000 in cash at stake!

You can make unlimited changes to your team before the season gets underway, so CLICK HERE and register your team in time for the big kick-off at 12:45 BST on Saturday 16th August.

Clive Allen has challenged his Spurs XI team to bounce back from a heavy defeat at Crawley Town on Tuesday in their up-coming pre-season games.

Our young side were beaten 6-1 by an experienced Conference side at the Broadfield Stadium, but coach Clive was offering up no excuses for the performance.

He is confident his players know they did not perform up to their expected standard on this occasion, but hopes they can show their true colours in next week's friendly at League Two Aldershot Town.

Clive said: "It was a poor evening's work but a short sharp shock as to what the game's all about. I've learnt a lot about my players, which is why this is an important part of the season.

"I don't like getting beat at any time, especially not in this manner. So although this isn't easy to take, sometimes you do get these whacks on the chin like I said to the players after the game.

"The players know what's expected of them and they let themselves down, I've told them that, and now they have to bounce back and show everyone what they're capable of.

"I've said to them that this might not be the last time in their careers that this happens, and you wouldn't like to think that any of them will enjoy being in this situation again.

"There's a lot to work on, but the positives are that many of the players got 90 minutes under their belts against a very energetic and enthusiastic Crawley side.

"We have to move on. I've said my bit, they understand, they don't become bad players overnight, but they did show the poorer side of what they're capable of."

Tuesday marked the final three-session day at our Spanish training camp with the friendly against Hercules CF looming.

With the temperature soaring - well into the 30s on Tuesday - the lads began the day at 8.15am local time with a sprinting routine at the golf course. This included two sets of six-successive sprints of 150 metres.

From there it was to the beach for further sprinting work in the sand before lunch and the evening's football session, a tactical session as Juande Ramos prepares to face Hercules in Alicante on Thursday night.

A young Spurs XI side suffered a heavy pre-season defeat at the hands of Conference side Crawley Town at Broadfield Stadium.

Clive Allen's team were hoping to build on a 2-1 friendly win over St Albans City last week, but found it difficult against a well-organised and experienced outfit.

The home side had by far the better of the first half and applied the pressure on our defence from the opening minute.

Early chances fell to Danny Forrest and Lewis Killeen before Chris Giles crashed a header against the bar from a free-kick on 21 minutes.

It seemed only a matter of time before Crawley took the lead, and it happened on 25 minutes when Isaiah Rankin latched onto a long ball, got the better of Calum Butcher, and slammed home from 10 yards.

This was shortly followed by our hosts' second of the night eight minutes later, when Cian Hughton misjudged a Forrest cross at the back post and Jamie Cook tapped home.

Our best first-half chances fell to Charlie Daniels and Danny Hutchins, while Ryan Mason forced keeper Nicky Morgan into a good save just before the break.

We continued to look for a way back into the game once the second half started. Andy Barcham went through on goal soon after the interval, but lost control of the ball as he tried to take it past Morgan.

However, it wasn't long before the striker got another chance, and he made no mistake when he was put through by Yuri Berchiche on 52 minutes, taking the ball inside a defender and finishing confidently from eight yards.

The goal seemed to give us the confidence to take control of the game, with Barcham looking particularly threatening up-front. He forced another good save out of Morgan on 56 minutes.

But unfortunately, our spell of pressure was short-lived, and Crawley restored their two-goal cushion on 62 minutes.

Some good work by Forrest was rewarded when Killeen got in-front of Lee Butcher to connect with his cross and send it looping into our goal.

This goal knocked the stuffing out of our young side, and the Conference side edged 4-1 ahead when we failed to clear our lines at a corner and Glenn Wilson swept home.

Further damage was done in the last 10 minutes when Killeen slammed home the goal of the night from the edge of the box and Cook helped himself to another tap-in to make the scoreline harsh reading.

Spurs:
L Butcher; Mtandari (Smith, 46), C Butcher (Berchiche, 46), Dervite, Hughton; D Hutton, Hutchins, Daniels, Obika (Fraser-Allen, 46); Mason (Olsen, 46); Barcham
Subs: Dalton

Crawley:
Morgan (Rayner, 79); Wilson, Thomas, Giles (Rents, 78), Wright; Forrest, Weatherstone (Stevens, 65), Pinault, Kileen; Rankin (Bulman, 65), Cook
Subs: Carter, Nayee

Tickets for our eagerly-awaited pre season friendly against Italian giants AS Roma on Sunday, August 10 are set to sell out.

This could be your final opportunity to book tickets for this fixture. There are only a limited amount of tickets left, so hurry and book now to avoid any disappointment.

At the moment, tickets are on General Sale and up to six tickets can be purchased per transaction.

With tickets for under 16s and over 65s priced at £10 many supporters are using this as an opportunity to bring the whole family to the Lane. We urge fans to secure their tickets now.

Don't miss out on the action, click below to book tickets.

Juande Ramos expressed his delight at the prospect of a friendly against Hercules CF in Alicante on Thursday - a place he knows so well.

The high-profile match of our two-week Spanish training camp is against a team sixth in La Liga's Segunda Division last season.

It kicks-off at the Jose Rico Perez Stadium at 9.30pm local time (8.30pm UK) - CLICK HERE for ticket details.

Juande played for Alicante during his career in Spain between 1973-82 and there is another significant link with Hercules - he made his Spanish Premier League debut against Thursday's opponents for his first club Elche in 1975.

"I'm very happy to be here," stated Juande at last week's press conference at the stadium. "It's a place I know well.

"I'm not from Alicante, but I've always been familiar with the area and it's always great to come back. My brother and parents live here so I like to be here. It's a place I like a lot. The roots are always there and you can never forget them.

"Preparation is the most important thing and having a friendly against a team like Hercules is good for us at this stage.

"We've had a high tempo of training and we will see against Hercules just how the players are understanding what we are working on.

"It is the last game we play in Spain and we play it with great happiness. I hope everyone enjoys it."

Have you spent your summer longing to see your beloved Spurs in action again? How desperate are you to see our latest signings pull on the famous Lilywhite shirt?

Well we are giving you the chance to see exactly how Juande Ramos' men are shaping up for the 2008/09 season by screening next Monday's pre-season friendly with Norwich City live on Spurs TV Online.

The lads will be fresh off their Spanish training camp and ready to get back into action on these shores with a tough trip to Carrow Road.

All you have to do to watch the likes of Luka Modric and Giovani Dos Santos get their first taste of English football is subscribe today for just £3.99 a month.

The match is less than a week away, Monday July 28, with kick-off at 7.45pm. Coverage on the night will be available in the ‘Match Live' area of the console.

Don't miss out on this opportunity, as well as all the latest interviews and features from around the Club as they happen.

CLICK HERE to subscribe today...

First team coach Marcos Alvarez gives us the inside track as pre-season preparations continue in Spain.

Marcos will give us the rundown on what the lads are up to on the training ground as they prepare for the big one - the Barclays Premier League kick-off at Middlesbrough on August 16.

Day 19, July 21

"THE players recovered well after the game against Denia on Saturday and we therefore put more intensity into the running on Monday morning," reported Marcos.

"The sprints were all about power and strength work. You have to time this work right in pre-season because it's tough and the players can get tired very quickly. Now is the right time to do it rather than too close to the start of the season.

"It's difficult to say where the players are in terms of their overall fitness but for us, it's about reaching that peak fitness at the right time.

"Tuesday will be the last day of three sessions out here. We have a good game against Hercules on Thursday night, a team in the Spanish Second Division and we have to prepare in the right way for that."

Clive Allen expects a real test for his Spurs XI side when they take on Crawley Town at the Broadfield Stadium tonight, kick-off 7.45pm.

The Reserve group got their pre-season campaign off to a winning start with a 2-1 win over Blue Square South side St Albans City last week, but now step up a level against a tough Conference outfit.

But coach Clive believes his squad are getting fitter every day as they build up their summer preparations ahead of the new season.

He said: "The intention has been for the quality of opposition to be strong and gradually the intensity of the friendlies will undoubtedly build up.

"I know about Crawley. They're a good Conference side and their manager Steve Evans will definitely have them motivated.

"The intensity of training has picked up with the speed and agility work getting sharper. It will be a progression as we go through pre-season.

"The tempo of this game will be a little bit higher, and with the boys getting fitter and fitter, I'll be looking for them to run the game out well."

Tonight's Spurs XI squad:
L Butcher, Dalton, Smith, Mtandari, Hughton, Berchiche, Dervite, C Butcher, Daniels, Hutchins, D Hutton, Fraser-Allen, Mason, Barcham, Olsen, Obika

Intensity was the key word at our Spanish training camp on Monday - not least the weather!

The first of three training sessions kicked-off with tough morning sprints at the golf course at 815am local time. These were sprints of varying distances but all involving running up hills.

With temperatures again tipping 30 degrees, the mid-morning session was in the gym and after lunch, the evening session was back to football at high pace.

The squad was split into two initially with Juande Ramos taking tactical work and Gus Poyet overlooking a one and two-touch possession exercise. The session finished with a game over a three-quarter pitch.

Following the huge success of the initial four Multi-Ticket Packages for One Hotspur Bronze Members which have now all sold out, we are delighted to announce the availability of an additional package of Premier League matches that is available exclusively to Bronze Members.

This final package includes tickets for our key home fixtures against West Ham United and Newcastle United.

Bronze members are advised to apply quickly for the limited number of tickets that are now available through the packages. As before all tickets in this package will be sold on a first come - first served basis.

Please note that the closing date for applications for this package is next Monday, 28 July at 5.00pm.

For full details and to download an application form please CLICK HERE.