If Stratford Hotspur happens, it ends there...
Saturday, January 8, 2011 at 7:10PM Guest blog by Jack aka tehTrunk.
Yes hello, you may remember me, I was the bloke what done them little cartoon things with the voices and stuff. I'm here today in a different capacity, to share my thoughts on the eerily quiet new stadium goings on at Stra...Tottenham Hotspur. I say quiet, but thankfully Karen Brady's constant barking does serve some purpose, if only in reminding us of the fact that we could well, genuinely, be leaving not just White Hart Lane but Tottenham itself.
Yeah, this could actually happen. WTF OMG?!!1! (I'm writing on the internet, it's allowed (lol))
Now, I'm not from Tottenham, I don't even live in North London. My allegiance with Spurs is the age old father son connection familiar with many football fans. You know, when dad creeps into your bedroom at night, gagging you with an Arsenal scarf in order to play hide the magic banana? Since those days, anything bearing the cannon of them lot down the road turns my stomach and reminds me of those mornings where I'd have to swagger into school like a cowboy. This then reminds me of cowboys which I also hate (I always preferred Indians). Suffice to say that sitting through Brokeback Mountain was a nightmare.
Alas, I digress.
Where was I?
Oh yes, I support Tottenham but I'm not from Tottenham, there we go.
These recent mutterings that we could be leaving Tottenham to take up residence in the Millennium Dome (er Olympic Stadium mate?!)have created a strange and uncomfortable conflict within my thoughts, much like when I catch a glimpse of Niko Kranjcar. As I've already covered but will tell you again, Tottenham isn't my home, the team Tottenham Hotspur isn't my local team so why should I care where the team plies it's trade? I don't know really, but I do.
History has always been an important part of this club, given that during the years I've supported them there has been little success, but it's been instilled into me that this is a club with heritage, with tradition. I'm sure most clubs think this way, but we support Spurs, we don't care what myths other clubs supporters perpetuate amongst themselves. We're onto a new chapter now, who knows where it goes. I'm enjoying, while it lasts, us grabbing headlines and having a squad filled with world class players, but this isn't why I support Spurs.
We all know about our cup runs, and double heroics and European glory glory nights so I'll save the maudlin mush.
Football is a business (no sheet Sherlock). It's easy to say, but it's hard to grasp what this actually means. Business' exist to make money. The chairmen, the board, they don't care about you, they don't care about me (they should care about me, I'm awesome. Not you though. D*ckhead) Does the CEO of McDonalds care that your burger doesn't look like it does in the picture on the board?
Daniel Levy is a business man. Don't ever forget that. For all his 'Spurs fan' talk, he's a business man. He's not big Dan from down the pub who wears a Spurs shirt on match days and gets asked to leave the pub when he's had a few too many and is getting loud sweary cross and scaring the couple who just popped in for an ale and glass of house white after finishing shopping, whilst he watches Spurs lose to Wolves at home (all in 3D mind). Levy, and the people surrounding him want to make money. This isn't all a bad thing, money has allowed us to assemble the squad we see before us today. Moving to the Olympic Stadium makes perfect business sense.
It's cheaper than building an entirely new stadium. It has a massive capacity. It looks well nice so will entice new fans. Having a massive, well nice stadium increases the club's prestige both at home and abroad. This will see a rise in the attendance, fan base and the type of investors and players we can attract to the club. Maybe it'll even see us become a more attractive option to a super mega rich foreign owner, who'll buy us Messi and we can win everything and be the best team in the world and even make it onto Sky Sports montages and have our players pictured on the front of the packets of football stickers found on the newsagent's counter.
Spurs, nay, football in general is entering into a dangerously vacuous and shallow era. This potential move to Stratford is a perfect example of that. Forget the history, forget about the locals, forget the name, we're going to move. We'll be Stratford Hotspur, it'll be just the same just we'll make more money and maybe win more stuff and then football will be more better, honest. Yeah, worked well for Wimbledon.
You can scream at me until you're blue faced, the endless clichés that 'we have to do it to compete', 'we want to win stuff what with City getting better now', 'Liverpool will bounce back sooner or later'. I don't care. I didn't support Spurs because they competed, because they were amazing, I support Spurs because they're Spurs. Sacrificing what we are in order to get to what we perceive is a higher level is like the bloke who ditches all his ugly best mates because he wants to be more popular with women. He's a lonely, boring, desperate tool and everyone can see it but him.
I know my thoughts don't represent those of all Spurs fans, and I don't look down on anyone for feeling differently (I really do to be honest). I just see this as one of many examples of how appalling our society is now. It's like saying that I think my mum is fat and ugly and I want a new one with less droopy wangers that way it'll reflect better on me and then I'll be happier. I don't think you're fat and ugly by the way Mummy, Trunky wuvs woo.
If Stratford Hotspur happens, it ends there for me. FC Hotspur of Tottenham or whoever else likely pops up it'll be. You can take your Gareth Bales, VDVs and whoever else and shove them. Along with your reality TV, IKEA furniture, tabloid newspapers, celebrities, Thomas Cook holidays and most of all your Sky Sports.
If all of you told Levy where he could stick his plan, it wouldn't happen, fact. But you won't.
Think on.
Be sure to visit We are N17 for your anti-Stratford fix and latest news. You can also find them on Twitter and Facebook.
Previous Stratford/N17 articles by Spooky:
N17: Home is where the heart is
A nail in the coffin of Stratford?
For some, it's a brutal interrogation...
Reader Comments (559)
Good article over at the Football Ramble, re: OS battle
http://www.thefootballramble.com/index.php/blog/entry/stratford-hotspur
i think some of the link got cut of yidal - nice to see the thst have broken their silence. clearly they feel this has all gone too far to sit back and hope instead of risking angering the owners who until now they got on so well with
http://www.muswellhilljournal24.co.uk/news/spurs_stadium_don_t_favour_economics_over_emotion_says_supporters_trust_1_776487
okay cut my link of 3/4 of the way too! here is what bernie said;
“The Tottenham Hotspur Supporters’ Trust wants Tottenham Hotspur FC to remain in Tottenham. Our club has a project to build a new stadium at Northumberland Park that we fully support, which we believe the overwhelming majority of Tottenham supporters support, and Haringey Council has granted planning permission to build it.
“Having spent decades labelling Arsenal as the ‘Woolwich Nomads’, moving to Stratford would be giving up north London to our biggest rivals.
“That may be an emotional argument rather than a practical one, but football is a sport that is underpinned by emotion and allegiances. It is about history and tradition every bit as much as it is about the future. As a club and a business Tottenham Hotspur has exploited that, now they expect us to overlook it.
“Claims that Stratford is ‘much closer to the markets that drive hospitality and club revenues’, while possibly true in itself, is the least compelling argument to convince the lifeblood of any football club, the supporters, to move. It represents the rampant over-commercialisation of football. It remains to be seen whether claims that Stratford will be much easier to get to is actually the case.
“The financial attractions of the Olympic site and of tying up with AEG are obvious, and no-one has suggested the club should bankrupt itself, but this debate transcends mere economics. The Trust recently surveyed its members, prior to meeting the club last month. Our survey said members were 2-1 against moving, with just under a fifth still undecided.
“It’s true that nearly two thirds said they would still go to watch the team at the Olympic Stadium, though it’s much like the argument about ticket prices or merchandise – football clubs operate a monopoly and the strength of the THFC brand will always place loyalty and emotion above other considerations. Another reason why the emotional argument is so important.
“If Stratford was the only game in town things might be different, but it isn’t. While the ‘athletics legacy’ is not our major concern, recent talk that THFC may also financially support the redevelopment of Crystal Palace – a south London venue! – seems to contradict the club’s ongoing complaint that it has received insufficient public support to complete the project in Tottenham.
“Daniel Levy’s regime has done much to strengthen Tottenham Hotspur and listened carefully to supporters in its designs for the new stadium in Tottenham – the Trust suggested the single-tier end, for example – and we urge them to listen again in deciding where to build it.”
rational
More footage on protests. You can feel this is going to snowball.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eABsSvetKts
Say no to Stratford
these owners of ours need to pull out of the bidding prior to the decision being made by the OPLC or win or lose the OS and they will have forever damaged their link with the fans.
proposing to kill are club is totally unacceptable and only pulling out now and apologising will save their skins
A move to Stratford will be the death knell for THFC.
Convince yourselves all you like that Stratford Spurs promises glory.
Even if it did, would it mean anything knowing you sold the club down the road to become a follower of a new East London club with no heart, formed to make businessmen rich once sold?
Only when the trophies are paraded down Stratford High Street (Do you really think the new club will be welcome in Tottenham?), only then will the shame hit home on how you gave up on THFC for the lure of some quick silverware.
Don’t believe the lies, the NDP is possible.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-1349276/Scott-Parker-insists-West-Ham-perfect-Olympic-Stadium.html
Go on West Ham!!! : )
http://soccerlens.com/afc-wimbledon-quest-for-league-football-grows-ever-closer/27299/
Absorbing read: AFC Wimbledon quest for league football grows ever closer
By Gary Andrews on April 21st, 2009. As AFC Wimbledon fans took in a post-match pint on Saturday, it’s unlikely the hands raising the pint glass had many fingernails left. But Dons fans can now relax somewhat. Bar their promotion rivals Hampton and Richmond Borough going goal crazy on the final day of the season, the fan-owned club is set for a second successive promotion, taking them just one step away from league football.
For fans on non-league, Hampton’s Beveree Stadium was the place to be at the weekend as first traveled to second in the penultimate game of the Blue Square South season. Nothing less than a win would have done for Hampton and for half an hour, after Francis Quarm put the Beavers ahead on 52 minutes, it seemed that the title would go down to the wire.
But with just eight minutes remaining, 33-goal striker Jon Main did what he’s been doing all this season for Wimbledon, and popped up to grab a vital late equaliser to send the traveling support into raptures and, as likely, adding another piece of silverware to the already impressive history of AFC Wimbledon, a club formed out of protest.
Unloved, unwanted and homeless
By now, the story of how Wimbledon were uprooted wholesale to Milton Keynes is written into football folklore and still ranks as one of the most spineless moments in the FA’s history, yet to tell it explains a great deal behind the drive and passion at AFC Wimbledon.
Wimbledon had been homeless since 1991 when then-chairman Sam Hammam moved them out of their old Plough Lane ground and into Selhurst Park as tenants of Crystal Palace. Hammam claimed that this was because the Taylor Report would have reduced Plough Lane’s capacity to 6,000. In reality, the Football League had given them five years to get the ground up to scratch.
Nonetheless, the Dons were now homeless. Hammam again claimed he’d done everything possible to keep the club in Merton but there was nowhere for them to go and the council weren’t willing to help. Needless to say, the Merton Borough Council dispute this version of events.
In 1997, Hammam sold 80% of his stake in Wimbledon to two rich Norwegians, Kjell Inge Rokke and Bjorn Gjelsten. A year later, Hammam sold Plough Lane to supermarket chain Safeway. The exact figure is uncertain, but estimates stand at around £8m, meaning the ex-chairman made a significant profit on the club.
Meanwhile, the Norwegians were coming unstuck. Their original plan had been to tap into the Irish enthusiasm for the Premier League by uprooting the club to Dublin. Fans were up in arms, as were the Irish FA, who blocked the move. The English FA supported their Irish counterparts and the club was left in limbo. A return to Plough Lane was out of the question and there wasn’t enough cash to build a new stadium.
The MK move
Enter, stage left, Pete Winkleman. The music producer had noted that Milton Keynes – a new town born in 1967 – was one of the largest towns in Europe without a professional football club, and had unsuccessfully approached several teams trying to convince them to move to the concrete conurbation (never minding that residents of Milton Keynes had hitherto been uninterested in making a fist of establishing a team in the town).
But for Wimbledon and their new chairman Charles Koppel (appointed by the Norwegians) this presented them with a perfect solution. They had already tried to hawk Wimbledon around as a franchise, so Winkleman’s move made sense.
It took some time for the move to be approved. Fans protested and the Football league initially said no. Koppel appealed and the issue went to an arbitration panel, who handed the problem back to the League, who asked the FA to set up an independent panel to assess the proposed move.
Despite hearing from Merton Borough Council that there was enough space to build a 20,000 seater stadium, the panel voted 2-1 to allow the move, noting that, in their view, it was the only solution to saving Wimbledon. With the deal to move to Milton Keynes done, the club was swiftly dubbed Franchise FC.
Sidenote: As a quick note, Wimbledon weren’t the first club to uproot and move from their community because a chairman scented money. Back in 1913, struggling Woolwich Arsenal were moved from South East London up to Highbury and renamed Arsenal as chairman Henry Norris looked to exploit an the fanbase north of the river.
While preparations were made to move, crowds at Slehurst Park fell drastically for the Wimbledon games, with fans of both Wimbledon and away sides boycotting the games. In 2002 just 849 turned up to watch the Dons play Rotherham.
A year later, the club were playing at the National Hockey Stadium at Milton Keynes and renamed the MK Dons. Wimbledon FC, as a club, was dead.
Rising from the ashes
In South London, meanwhile, the hardcore 4,000 fans had faced up to the prospect of not having a team to support by simply creating their own side: AFC Wimbledon.
Led by Wimbledon Independent Supporters’ Association chair Kris Stewart, the newly formed Wimbledon joined the pyramid at the Combined Counties League level in 2002. Two years after joining, they were promoted to the Isthmian League 1st Division after going the season unbeaten. A year later they were in the Isthmian Premier after a second successive promotion.
The next two seasons saw them push hard for promotion to the Conference South, losing out twice in succession in the playoff semis. Finally, last season, they finished third and finally made it to step two, beating Staines Town in the final.
The difference in quality between the Step Three league and the Conference South isn’t much and AFC Wimbledon, along with big-spending Chelmsford City, who ran away with the Ryman Premier, were expected to push for the playoffs at the very least.
But the two sides went better than the playoffs. Halfway through the season, it seemed it was a two-horse race between the two, but after the Dons defeated Chelmsford in a first vs second clash at Kingsmeadow at the end of January, the Essex side dropped off badly, beset by internal fights. The title, it seemed, was Wimbledon’s to throw away.
Womble wobbles
And throw it away they nearly did (although their wobble has been nowhere near as bad as Burton Albion in the league above). A goalless draw against struggling Havant and Waterlooville set a slight stutter in motion that saw the Dons take just three wins in ten games.
Meanwhile, last season’s defeated playoff finalists Hampton and Richmond Borough hit form at just the right time. Try as they could, Wimbledon just couldn’t make the finish line.
As the season counted down, Hampton moved within three points of AFC, setting the title up for a grandstand finish – the teams were set to play each other in last weekend’s penultimate game of the season.
Wimbledon’s match before that Hampton game – away at Bromley on Easter Monday – came complete with one of those controversial moments that have the potential to win or lose titles.
Leading 2-1 in a tightly fought game, AFC put the ball out of play to treat an injury. From the throw-in, Bromley’s Ryan Hall volleyed the ball back. It was almost certainly unintended but rather than going out for a goal kick, the ball flew into the back of the net. Hall celebrated like he’d socred the goal of his career and the Bromley bench refused to let Wimbledon walk the ball into the back of the net, resulting in angry scenes at the final whistle a few minutes later.
The title decider
The pressure was still on as AFC travelled to Hampton, who were three points behind. The Beavers needed a win to take the title down to the final day, while Wimbledon, who a superior goal difference, needed just a point to be 99% sure of wrapping matters up.
What followed was one of those games full of drama that proves you don’t need the Premier League to get excited about football. Francis Quarm put the home side ahead on 52 minutes and as the minutes ticked by it seemed as if the title could be lost.
And then, with seven minutes left on the clock, another moment of controversy. Two Hampton players collided, one of them, John Scarborough, suffering a serious leg injury in the process.
But the referee waved play on, and Wimbledon threw the ball in close to the stricken Scarborough, the ball’s fizzed across the box and the prolific Jon Main nets the equaliser. Ten minutes later, at full time, AFC fans invaded the pitch in the knowledge that their club had all but sealed promotion to the Conference.
Assuming all goes to plan this weekend, AFC Wimbledon will be one step away from league football, a remarkable achievement in such a short space of time, and ever closer to meeting the MK Dons in a competitive match, although ‘Franchise FC’ could well gain promotion to the Championship this season.
But it’s AFC who have greater claim to the history and connections to the departed original Wimbledon. However, AFC Wimbledon are very much a new club and are already creating their own memories and history. Come 5pm on Saturday, they’ll probably have added another.
Read more: http://soccerlens.com/afc-wimbledon-quest-for-league-football-grows-ever-closer/27299/#ixzz1Bybxoerq