Graham at the Hart of the matter

Stability: if there is one characteristic that defines Arsenal Football Club, it is stability. Highbury marble, Herbert Chapman, the Arsenal back four. Alone in English football, Arsenal have never been relegated. You could say, therefore, that the job of managing Arsenal is somewhat pressurised, living up to the past and all that. It is one of the reasons why Arsene Wenger has done so well. Not only has he not buckled under the expectation since succeeding Bruce Rioch in the job, Wenger has added a dimension to Arsenal's play. Suddenly there was style as well as substance.

Nothing encapsulated this more than Tony Adams' charge upfield on the decisive day of the 1997-98 season when Arsenal won the title in a frenzy of attacking football against Everton. Wenger, the consensus said, had made Adams a player.

Until then Adams had been a mere defender, albeit one good enough to be considered "great" in English football's over-inflated view of itself, a trait noticeable particularly when it comes to defending. Self-interest dictates that George Graham might actually agree with that assessment of Adams, as it was under Graham that Adams became the rock upon which Graham's Arsenal was founded. Wenger might agree too: after all, without Graham and Adams, Wenger's position at Highbury would have been a much less comfortable one. It was Adams and Graham who gave Wenger stability, Arsenal stability.

Tottenham Hotspur fans waking up already nervous about tonight's north London derby with Arsenal, now finding their club being hawked around the City by their chairman, Alan Sugar, would do well to remember Graham's relationship with stability.

But in N17 most do not love him, and many do not even like him, yet Graham may well become the most significant personality at White Hart Lane if, as seems likely, the club enters another period of turbulence less than a decade after Sugar and Terry Venables dragged it through the High Court.

The widespread perception surrounding Graham's three-year tenure at Spurs is that despite stemming the outward flow of credibility caused by Christian Gross' comical appointment, and winning the League Cup, Graham will never - repeat, never - find a way into the glory, glory folklore of Nicholson, Blanchflower, Hoddle, Villa. Whether that is a totally accurate perception is debatable. Having had one of the Tottenham Action Group's (TAG) leaflets stuffed into the palm on Bill Nicholson Way a few weeks ago, it was made clear that it is Sugar the fans have a gripe with, not Graham.

It would appear TAG have won their battle with Sugar. It has been rumoured for weeks that Sugar was seeking what politicians call an "exit strategy" - in this case a serious bundle of money - and on Saturday night he said: "I'm definitely moving out of my position. A decision has been made. We are looking for a good custodian to replace me as chairman and owner. We will be looking for someone else to take my place in the next month."

Presumably Sugar has looked already, though whether that adds weight to the name of Stelios Haji-Ioannou is another matter. The man who owns the Easyjet airline currently has no interest in Spurs - literally - but his brother Polys owns six per cent of the club. Stelios said he was not intending to use his brother's share as a gateway into Spurs, but then he would say that. Do they have business class on Easyjet?

Because it is easy to imagine this being a bumpy flight from here on in. Sugar's tailwind will not help, and with the most identifiably Tottenham player, Sol Campbell, refusing even to discuss a new contract, Graham will be left as the figure that represents continuity. Even Graham's harshest opponent could not deny the importance of continuity at football clubs.

"I think there's a hardcore at every club," Graham said of his critics yesterday morning. "I don't think I'll be accepted by some of them. But I think a lot accept that it will not be a quick fix at Tottenham."

We are into his third year at the Lane and possibly successfully into the third stage of what he hopes to achieve. The first two - "avoiding relegation and winning something" - are done. Now it is time for Spurs to become a top-six club again. In young players such as Alton Thelwell and Ledley King, Graham thinks Spurs have a future.

But there is a cloud over Graham himself. His health. His arthritis is not as painless as he makes out, so much so that Sugar doubted if Graham could last a winter on the training ground. That would be real instability if both went.

Or alternatively, if you're a diehard Spurs fan, real interest. Just think, a new owner and a new manager - Glenn Hoddle. Watch the space at White Hart Lane.