Terrible Norman still living in the Sky
Tuesday, November 3, 2009 at 12:00PM I know I love to use irony in oh so subtle doses in my blog articles and on occasion some of you don't quite grasp the context of the point being made and react with a four letter word, slating me for being pessimistic or negative, screaming that I'm detrimental to all things Spurs and that I do more harm than good. And blah blah blah. You get the picture. Sometimes writing style or satire or opinions can be lost in translation because what's been written is a little raw and not that obvious at first glance.
I'm not here to appease every single Spurs fan because its nigh impossible thanks to the uniqueness of human kind and the countless levels of humour we possess (or don't). I write for my own sanity and hope that somewhere in the depths of these articles there is something that can stir emotion and discussion. I don't ever expect every single reader to be impressed or agree. Much like I may not bother to concern myself with the opinions of, lets say, one or two cultured folk who frequent the official Tottenham Hotspur message board. Because I can't possibly articulate to their Oracle-esque level of astuteness and insight.
Bloggers/blogs in general are an acquired taste. Much like people you hang around with. Friends. Or acquaintances at home or away games. You like some, you don't like others and some of them you hate and can't even fathom how you even support the same team. Football journalists are in essence bloggers that get paid full-time to write up their educated and respected opinions on the game for national newspapers and their on-line equivalent web-pages. Their writing is more refined. And more professional. And mostly short and concise. And has the safety net of an editor. It has to be because of the targeted audience and the fact that they need to appeal to a wide cross-section of people. Not everyone agrees with them and at times their bias might shine through. And on other occasions there's a far more obvious agenda to their piece. Much like anything in the written press. Much like anything anywhere. Including the blogosphere.
Now we know Tottenham get bad press most of the time, mainly because we are an easy target made easier by the people associated with the club mouthing off or mugging themselves off. And I don't ever expect to read anything pro-Spurs all of the time and there are moments when there is more than enough decent coverage of our never-boring existence. Other fans of other clubs will probably say the same thing about the press and their team. But Spurs tend to get the most negative coverage outside of the Top 4.
Sky are obsessed with just four clubs and we usually find ourselves in for more Mickey Mouse jokes and Keystone Cop mock-ups than we can handle compared to other teams who suffer similar fates. And when things do go right, they have to remain impartial. Although they tend to be clever here by overplaying and overstating the positives because they know it will be easier to write up a damning effort at a later date when we tumble back down.
And then there's Matthew Norman.
This morning, a work colleague walked up and muttered, "Have you read this?", passing me yesterdays edition of the Evening Standard and before he could turn to the page I answered yes. He was laughing, not so much at my expense (the article was a match review of the NLD) but more so at the content of the article, asking why they had allowed an Arsenal fan to take the piss out of Spurs so publicly and blatantly. He laughed even louder when I informed him that Norman is a Spurs fan and that it should be more than obvious to most that only a Spurs fan could take the piss out of Spurs in such a blunt self-deprecating fashion.
"That makes sense" he replied. Bless him, he's a gooner. And French. So some of the subtleties of the English media are still lost on him.
Norman is basically the quintessential representation of what other supporters believe Spurs fans to be most like. Miserable depressive melters, always complaining. He does however make some valid (if more than obvious) points about the game, but they are lost in the midst of some of the usual twaddle we come to expect from the esteemed members of the press.
Its as though Norman is trying so hard not to be biased (in our favour) towards us that he has lost himself at the other end of the spectrum. He hardly ever has a good thing to say about Tottenham (I'm not sure whether he did after our initial 100% start to the season or whether this harks back to the Levy/Standard incident, although his doom and gloom pre-dates that) so when things don't go to plan be certain he'll be there to point and laugh. Because he can. Because he's Spurs. And because we are obviously devoid of other supporters and media-people pointing and laughing at us. Until the club start playing 'Grande Marche Chromatique' at home games when the team trots out, Norman and friends will remain relentless.
He could have quite easily made all the points he needed to make without it sounding so arse-kissy. Or maybe he does hate us for the torture of failure the club have put him through over the years. Perhaps this is akin to a comedian taking the piss out of a certain type of person and being able to get away with it because he is of the same ilk. I have to be careful here because I could be called a hypocrite, mainly because my letters to the chairman are not too dissimilar in self-deprecation. There's a number of Spurs fans that went into melt-down over the weekend who were far more angry and upset. But Norman will be read by many. Angry Spurs fans on a message board by few in comparison.
Like I said, his opinions are valid. His delivery is questionable because of the arena it sits in. If I'm being blind to the fact that there are journalists out there who do the very same thing to their own team, then name names.
I know I'm not the only person who laughed out loud at his description of Huddlestone (an oak tree in central midfield) and lambasting Robbie Keane's pre-match fighting talk. But to dismiss all the progress we've made under Redknapp - unquestionable progress - well, this reeks of institutionalised hack-talk as though he was contractually obliged to always be on hand to slaughter us.
I'm not requesting Norman or anyone else for that matter write up something complimentary when there is nothing complementary to write. And I'm also fully aware that if he was a Chelsea or West Ham fan writing up articles of this manner about Spurs, then people would bemoan the blatant agenda. So what we have in Norman is the token eternal Spurs sufferer exaggerated tenfold who has been beaten down season upon season by transitional and false dawns. He would make a far better Spooky than me. But he ruins it all by appeasing to the consensus (sponsored by Sky Sports) and is left drowning in a sea of typical stereotypes. It's the way he conforms that blights him every single time.
The first gem:
Every win this season, apart from the increasingly devalued opener against Liverpool, have come against weak opposition, with all three away victories at bottom three clubs.
Does Andy Gray ghost write for Norman? So basically, the Liverpool win no longer matters because everyone is beating them, well, everyone apart from Manchester United. And our away wins, given to us by virtue of the Prem League fixture list computer, are not relevant because the opposition are considered unworthy and happen to find themselves bottom of the table, including West Ham who managed to secure a point against Arsenal, when we took all three off them (WH that is) when we visited Upton Park. Are we meant to only beat weak teams who are mid-table or above because the rest of them don't truly count?
Traditionally, we hardly ever have success away and get dicked over by weak opposition all the time. Yet this season, we've lost twice away - both at Top 4 clubs when we know the likelihood of that happening is fairly likely. But have faired more than decent since Harry's arrival and had the best away record going into Saturdays match.
In addition there is no mention (much like Andy Gray failed to do so) of Arsenal's opposition at the Emirates thus far this season: Pompey (20th), Wigan (12th), Blackburn (17th) and Birmingham (14th). But it would be blasphemous for anyone to point this out. I'm guessing the reason why we never do well in the league is because we never beat the weak teams, and when we do its not considered good enough because we still can't beat the strong teams. We beat Chelsea at home last season. But that doesn't mean anything if we don't follow it up with wins against the likes of West Ham or Hull. Something is definitely lost in translation. Because the suggestion is, Spurs are up in 5th place because we've flattered to deceive by defeating the shit teams that reside in the Prem therefore the fixture list has created another illusion that came to a sudden and final abrupt ending at the Emirates. Arsenal have lost to Man Utd away and Man City away and have beaten a host of shit teams at home. Including crappy Tottenham. So I guess they're also flattering to deceive too and their dream is soon to be over.
Perhaps the paradox is too much for the likes of Norman and we should resume acceptable service. Harry, I suggest two points every eight games will do the trick.
His second nugget concerns a curious nod towards Martin Jol's tenure at White Hart Lane.
This time there is no hotel chef to scapegoat, and the question posed by their lily-livered capitulation concerns not how far Tottenham have progressed under Redknapp, but how far they've regressed since the comparative glory days of Martin Jol.
2006 was special because the side ticked over consistently and arguably had it been for a more active Jan transfer window we would have had 4th spot wrapped up long before the last game of the season. But where exactly is the sense made by comparing Harry (who has only recently made it past 12 months) to Martin Jol? Considering that Jol's teams choked on so many occasions I'd say that it's a little premature to start comparisons. How on earth have we regressed exactly considering the mess the club was in under Ramos? And Ramos won us a Cup, but you'd be hard pressed to find anyone who rates his time at Spurs and even less people who would have him back. Our points accumulation thanks to Harry has been more than impressive. But who cares for stats when the lack of performance proves that it’s the same old Tottenham and the Top 4 monopoly remain completely uncontested once more. Which has the vast majority of Normans counterparts across the country wiping away the single drop of sweat that had hoped to begin a journey downwards across their forehead.
Perhaps in another parallel dimension where Prem games are live on terrestrial TV and Richard Keys has no hair, Spurs visited the Emirates last weekend with Modric, Lennon, Woodgate and Defoe in their line-up. Arsenal however had Fabregas, van Persie, Gallas and Arshavin all out through injury and suspension.
If we won we'd not actually read about it in the press the following day because Norman would probably spend the best part of the match review telling us how under-strength Arsenal were and how they were missing key players in key positions and that a side lacking the best forward and their main creative outlet along with their playmaker and seasoned centre-back stood no real chance. And that this one game, this collection of 90 minutes found within the blow of a whistle at both ends is not season defining nor conclusive or relevant to the past or future in the manner it is being depicted in.
Who am I kidding? He'd never find himself in that position. Probably because we'd still manage to lose the game. Altogether now...
doot doot doodle oodle OOT doot do do
doot doot doodle oodle oot doot do do
doot-doodle oot oot
doot-doodle oot oot
doodle-oodle-oodle-oodle-oodle-oodle doot doot...
Reader Comments (61)
Norman is a misery. Even his face is a misery. He makes me miserable.
Don't worry about it dude, the Evening Standard will not be with us for too much longer!
I quite enjoy Matthew Norman's sour summing up of Spurs, even though I tend to take it with a pinch of salt. I think that being banned from White Hart Lane has made him even more bitter.
I thought Norman was spot on and I am a Spurs fan and was there on Saturday. We were awful and Harry should not pretend that we werent. He should gag the likes of Keane and King who talk a load of crap and then dont deliver. And if were Harry I would be forgetting the top 4 or even the top 6 we are simply not good enough, 9 goals against the top 3, and 1 response from Defoe. Pathetic!
I agree with Spooky. Norman made several valid and obvious statements and poured scorn on us but there is hardly a ray of sunshine anywhere in anything he writes.
He's banned? Go go Levy!
I feel I should now offer the following apology. For some time I, in common with most other commentators, may have given the impression that we considered Ledley King to be a great centre back, with thoughts such as "would definitely be playing for England if it weren't for his knee", "best centre back in the league", "only one who could contain Torres", and other similar views.
We now realise that actually he is completely washed out, should be dropped, is obviously incapable of maintaining his place in the squad given that he can't train, is a liability to the club, and that actually our defensive record at the end of last season was in no way due to him.
Sorry for this oversight.
The idiot norman should (like all spurs fans) have looked beyond the result and second half display, to see how lucky the goons were that the freak occurence in the final few minutes of the first half happened at all. We werent great for the first 40 mins - we gave the ball away enough times and keane didnt look like snapping up the half chances that came his way BUT the goons were also crap until the freak occurence - so why didnt he do a headline bringing into perspective all the hype about so called 'wonderful arsanal' GRRRRRRRRRRR
This is the most maddening to me:
"Mediocre teams are often adept at stifling the creativity of a good one and Spurs adroitly rendered the game anaemic for a while."
What?
Was he watching the game at all?
Watched it while texting a gooner co-worker and we both agreed while it wasn't the greatest match of all time the first 30 mins or so were fun to watch and that both sides seemed pretty well matched.
excellent post- was also taken back by his article- right in almost everything he said but not in the way he said it. imo harry got it all wrong vs the scum- we needed to attack them and commit players into their half - which we didnt and hence played into their hands. poor poor performance- we simply didnt show up but again despite the huddle no one seemed to want to go for it which must have come from harry- Reminded me of the weak rolling over in the fac cup vs man u away last year. Sometimes harry just doesnt seem to think we can win away to the top 4 and tells the players to just contain which never works. As a club that doesnt work for us. Id rather we had a 5-4 defeat than a 1-0 where we didnt have a shot on goal.
hey guys , we should put all our excuses aside ,we were totally outclassed on saturday and talk about our players missing is total crap (they were available last season and where exactly we finished) we should realize that our players even modric and lennon dont match our ambitions,look at scumsl there two players nasri and rosciky who are better than modric(my opininon) were even not involved and we got thrased, so time to realize for harry to do something bcoz each season starts with hopes and then we all remain plunged inside excuses and harry admitted that he made huge mistake not to sign vermaelen and what a great defender he is turning out to be for the scums
All this article needs is a comment from everyone's favourite shit peddler, DAVPSURS and we've got a fucking party going on!
I'm sure Dav will be here any minute now to tell us about how Matthew Norman is addicted to energy drinks...
Can you imagine those two on a desert island together?
I am surprised that someone by the name of Norman should be one of our detractors.When I used to watch Spurs many years ago a 'Norman' used to be our very good centre half.Perhaps this Spurs detractor had better be careful of what he says or he will be having visitations and nightmares from the ghost of his relative.
He writes in character always with point to make but always managing to sound condescending as though he wants readers to assume dislikes Spurs. Bundle of joy to sit next I would guess.
Oracle, you talking about Norman or Spooky?
;)
Whatever your denomination Yid, Goon, Red, Blue etc, to validly claim to be a supporter you must support. Whats wonderful about our lot (in general) is that we can take a joke and laugh at ourselves. It's only when self depreciation turns into self mutilation must we re-examine our raison d'etre. I like your sarcasm Spooky, your tounge in cheek, but I also like what I perceive to be your honesty. The latter is what Norman is missing. I think he is far too long down that particular road that he's hoodwinked himself.
What's up Spooky? What's happened to you? Treat the berk with the utter contempt he deserves. Snap out of it. Or does it go deeper?
(Posttraumatic stress disorder is an anxiety disorder that can develop after exposure to one or more traumatic events that threatened or caused great physical harm. It is a severe and ongoing emotional reaction to an extreme psychological trauma. This stressor may involve serious physical injury, an unwanted sexual act, or a threat to physical or psychological integrity, overwhelming psychological defences.
Diagnostic symptoms include re-experiencing original trauma(s), by means of flashbacks or nightmares; avoidance of stimuli associated with the trauma; and increased arousal, such as difficulty falling or staying asleep, anger, and hyper-vigilance. Formal diagnostic criteria require that the symptoms last more than one month and cause significant impairment in social, occupational, or other important areas of functioning e.g. problems with work and/or relationships.)
Sunderland at home Saturday.... (note the omission)
Time Machine...... hahahahahaha. boom, boom
If I were more compassionate I would feel sorry for 'norm' that he has to live his miserable life writing stuff about a team he can no longer support because he screwed up his opporutnity to ever go back to WHL (how quite he thought he'd get away wit hslating levy so publicly and not being banned just goes to show the mental dexterity of the chap).
As I was say, if I were more compassionate I would feel sorry, but I'm not, the man's an arse who doesn't have subtlety in his repetoire, nor irony, just a shit book of crap analogys and his bitternes.
He'd have been better off being a hammer (I'm sure there's some twisted irony in that!) or worse, given he clearly likes the sound of his own voice, a politician.
The Evening Standard is a horrid read. They seem to have softened it up recently. Looks more like one of those free papers they dish out in the morning and afternoons.
Norman writes for a free paper. He is clearly not capable of getting a job for a decent paper . He's pretty much like a kid writing in his school paper and should be treated with the same amount of disdain.
Great article, by the way.
I make gay man love to ol' Normski. Leave him alone as i'll tap that ass later and give him a good telling off.
Lads Lads Lads why are you ripping our team apart what Robbie said is true we do have a strong Squad. But the problem is they don't play enough to keep match sharp and there lies the problem lets go through our first team squad ( Naughton) not played many games.( Bentley) not played many games and low on confidants( Dawson) limited through injury in and out and is now Kings understudy( Dosantos) unlucky on the verge of playing injured.Hutton suffers with is confident s because he is( Corlukas) understudy.( Ohara) starring for Pompy.( Bale) just starting to get back to form and is showing why we bought him he should get more games for the out of form Ekotto.( Kranjcar) should have come on when tom who had played Wednesday and scored went off .Bostock and parrett should have bean on the bench while we have injury's. The problem with having no reserves is there is no competitive games only the cup games .This is why in the Arsenal game is all to clear our replacements were not match fit and low on confident s for such a big game.If you have a good squad like Robbie and others have highlighted you must use them every week has replacements or has substitutes so if required they are match fit and confident . Harry is scared to make three changes now because of the Stoke fiasco .He went on record and said he doe sent like using all is subs in case of injury it dont matter how many players are on the pitch if one goes to sleep like Ekotto Stoke and King at Arsenal you can get beat. So if you can hear this Harry don't be afraid to gamble with your subs . And don't pick names if palacios bassong Ekotto King are not in form let them come on has subs and build there confident back up and when you are chasing a game 3-0 down don't bring a full back on or a forward for a forward leave them all the forwards on and we may just win A good squad should be able to rotate all the players and keep them match fit and high in confidants. Ledley had missed two games and Wenger new he wouldn't t have that sharpness from playing weekly and Sadly that was the case.This would have bean my team GOMES - NAUGHTON DAWSON HUDDLESTONE BASSONG BENTLEY CORLUKA KRANKJAR BALE PAVLYUCHENCO KEANE SUBS CROUCH HUTTON KING WOODGATE JENAS PALACIOS CUDICINI . if we went behind bassong could have made way for crouch bale could go to left back and we would have a three prong attack.
There he is! The legend himself...thats made my tuesday, although sadly, his grasp of English seems to have improved and no drug rant this time. Still...highlight of my day...*sigh*
Far to much distress and negative responses to are 2nd bad performence, 10 games in 2 bad performences to many fickle fans!were 5th weve played the sky 4 so why the panic anyone would think the only points you get are from the sky 4!fuck it sack redknapp retire king cause they aint up it bring back jol cause he knew what he was doing like 1 win in 2 and a half seasons against the top 4 fuckin melts get over it and look ahead!RANT OVER oh and that norman chap is a cunt
COYS
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1ObTFr1RQ5s
Dav you are a rambling lunatic , but i for one love you for it
COYS
This might cheer you all up:
“Newcastle United have announced their stadium will be known as the sportsdirect.com @ St James’ Park Stadium for the immediate future.”
See, it could be worse.
Must Read
http://www.tottenhamjournal.co.uk/content/haringey/tottenhamjournal/Tottenhamhotspur/story.aspx?brand=TWGJOnline&category=THFCNews&tBrand=TWGJOnline&tCategory=defaultTHFC&itemid=WeED04+Nov+2009+15%3A28%3A31%3A233
"Other fans of other clubs will probably say the same thing about the press and their team. But Spurs tend to get the most negative coverage outside of the Top 4."
LMAO. Help me out mate... is this that subtle irony thing or not? You really need to move past this thicko obsession that everyone is out to get Spurs fella. Go google confirmation bias or sumink eh? LOL
Jake..It should embarrass, nay SICKEN you that Davspurs makes more sense then yourself...
You can't see the irony Jake because you're a humourless goon with no sense of any kind.
There's also a tendency on the part of the yes men now passing as football commentators to adopt a somewhat patronising tone and manner when commentating on a match between one of the so-called big four and a team outside that group, particularly if the opposition are a 'smaller' club, as in terms of their historical standing in the game.
And while you don't expect a non-Spurs fan posting gibberish on this site to agree with any of our sentiments regarding press and media coverage of Spurs, if you take what I'd heard was, I believe, Hansen's comments regarding Stoke's win at Spurs, and imagine Stoke pulling off a similar win against one of those four untouchables, Hansen would have been crapping on about Stoke pulling off something akin to the Great Train Robbery or using up a whole season's luck in one game.
That's not to discredit Stoke's win - good luck to them - but at Everton a few seasons ago, when we were saddled with Santini, we pulled off a similar win against all the odds and you can guess the media reactions for yourself.
great than
ROFL. More irony from Cliffyclown! Yep your situation back then is so similar to Stoke's now aint it mate. Poor old Spurs, can't win owt cos of nasty old Sky and Alan Hansen. ROFLMAO.
and "great than"??? Say what fella??? "posting gibberish"??? PMSL
I see our resident lurker, Jerk-Off-Jake is still offering his words of wisdom, straw in one hand, shovel in the other to dig the holes he so frequently digs for himself. Talking about hoisting yourself on your own petard!
You know, since you're not the only non-Spurs fan posting on this site, any reference to my gibberish comment is yours to make, feel free, because in aligning yourself with those words - out of the mouths of babes and Gooner Jake - comes irony - yeah, you said it all right. What, saw it as a reference to you, did you? Well, yes, now you come to mention it.
But I'd condemn you and others of your thinking, for not truly loving this great sport, yes I would. Lacking in depth, imagination and subtlety, you can only cling to the childish and imbecilic insults, the crutches of emotional pygmies, as for you, the game has long become, and maybe always was, really, simply a vehcile for all things Arsenal. You see nothing beyond that, which is why:
(a) You have chosen a Spurs site to vent your emotional spleen, and
(b) Your arguments and comments are black and white, the either/or thinking of limited minds.
But for many of us who love this sport, and even some Arsenal fans this applies to, the wins such as Stoke achieved at Spurs, reflect one of the great characteristics of this sport, that the winning team is not always the one who had:
(1) Most of the possession,
(2) Most corners,
(3) Most chances,
(4) Goalmouth scrambles and incidents in the opposition' half,
(5) Shots off the lines, posts, cross bars, goalies saves, etc.
Sometimes a player can play out of his skin and be inspired beyond what even his manager might have thought he was capable of, and that can even inspire other players on that team to push themselves beyond their norm. Stoke's reserve goalie, for example, could hardly ever have played a better game, just like Sunderland's goalie, I think it was Montogomery, did against Leeds at Wembley all those years ago.
But in analysing Stoke's win against Spurs, all you can offer are the words of a jerk, the words of one who has lost all imagination and ability to thnik outside of their own team's interests. Subtlety and depth don't come into it because all you can see, all you want to see, is that Spurs lost.
One of the most interesting things about any sport, be it ball or otherwise, individual or team, is the need to be so pushed by the opposition that they also have the to potemtial to win. Like most Spurs' fans, I'd imagine, I couldn't believe Stoke beat us, but truth to say, when football loses the ability to produce such results, it's on the road to sounding its own death-knell.
You can't, won't or don't see any of this, Gooner Jake, it doesn't seem to enter your thinking for even a split second, but whether you want to call it a generalistion or not, when the so-called top four and the bought yes-men masquerading as football coomentators on Sky and fXXX knows where else today, think they are automatically the best, like the 'expert' football pundits, a la Grey and Hansen, automatically entitled to win, like Wenger and Ferguson, and so on and so forth, you can kiss this sport goodbye.
Listen to Martin Tyler commenting on Denmark's great European Championship win against Germany a few years ago and compare it with him commenting now on one involving one of these so-called elite teams and I suppose what the likes of you would call a minnow, and you see just how much this sport has lost in its heart.
^ That was a great post.
pwnd
pwnd? help me!
LMFAO. Yeah I got pwned... well if by pwned you mean I raised a salient point and cliffycock's response was to write about 1,000 words of verbose but unsubstantiated waffle that was totally unrelated to what I said. Mind you, it's better than the poems.
We've been down this road before chaps, and we all saw how that ended up. After you've googled confirmation bias check out filibustering.
See, I'm here to help lads? To educate you innit? LOL
PEACE OUT YIDDOS!
He's back. Again. Without fail. You got a crush on us pikey? You slag.
Mate I am without fail, that much is true. Unlike our friend cliffster who is most definitely with EPIC FAIL. LMFAO.
No crushes tho blud, ya bloody perv!!! LOLOL
Cracking stuff Jake. Keep bringing it. Somewhere there's an Arsenal message board with tumbleweed.
Jake is tumbleweed.
Oh dear lads, talking about me instead of the point I raised. Sad, cliffyclown 101, and probably one of those "lacking in depth, imagination and subtlety ... cling[ing] to ... childish and imbecilic insults, the crutches of emotional pygmies" things I guess.
Like how the fact that I am on a Spurs site, talking about Spurs, proves that "the game has long become, and maybe always was, really, simply a vehcile [sic] for all things Arsenal. [I] see nothing beyond that..." btw. Interesting logic.
Anyways, enough of this. Gonna ignore the insults from now on chaps. Happy to join in if anyone wants to interrupt the circle jerk and apply some critical thought though. TTFN!
anyway...
I think this is hilarious...he obviously thinks he's Sol Campbell. Darren, no-one cares mate...
http://www.skysports.com/story/0,19528,11675_5678517,00.html
YAWN BORE @ goonjake
There's a couple of gooners who post over at GG and guess what? They also come out of the woodwork after a few wins and then disappear the moment a game is lost, unlike most other fans of most other clubs who stand up and take it.
That's it, ilk, that's so right, because they've become so used to winning that defeats aren't greeted and accepted as being part of the sport but, as Wenger and Ferguson so often show, nearly always undeserved or as a result of referee incompetence.
By all means indulge in banter between fans of different clubs - there's nothing wrong with that - but when that's all you offer, as with most of the Arsenal fans who post their ridicule of Spurs on this site - the banter is not only crude and infantile, they miserably fail to analyse the game and where it's heading, and reveal little or no sense of the bigger picture of football. All that swims before their childish eyes is Arsenal being better than Spurs.
Thus, for example, and this even in unsolicited replies, some Arsenal fan would seize on a relatively trivial part or aspect of a person's post, usually where they can fire off a self-comforting anti-Spurs dig, but ignore, or more likely not even see, something in that same post that is far more serious about the sport. The media bias is one good example.
I now live in Australia and it amazes me that many Aussies who haven't been raised on the game and aren't anywere near as aware of the sport, the teams and history, show far more awareness of the dangers of a small group of clubs dominating matters than the superficial responses you get from Arsenal fans on this site.
Just look at what happened when we beat Chelsea in the Carling Cup Final. I read on football sites many comments from people not living in Engalnd and not brought up on football in the way many of us were and are, just pleased that one of the so-called big four had lost a final. If neutral fans outside England can easily see this, what price the intellectual bufoonery of the anti-Spurs posters to this site? Yet virtually all the comments made by the fans of this precious group regarding our Carling Cup win, became piss-taking, either denigrating the competition, like the crutch of many Arsenal fans following their semi-final loss at Spurs - you beat our 'reserve' team - or mocking us for bringing our victories out on DVD.
They have the inability to laugh at themselves. Which makes them quite tragic folk. They are more concerned about losing face than anything.Tiresome bunch of cretins.
"The media bias is one good example."
Which was exactly what my initial comment was about pal. Do you chaps actually read what I write, or just see the Gooner part in my name and fire off a load of tripe about Big 4 this that and the other? For a bunch who talk a lot about intelligent discourse the lack of introspection and critical thinking is pretty astounding.
Looking forward to another 10,000 word essay that's nothing to do with anything I typed! Ciao 4 now!
See what I mean, us chaps?