A case to change allegiances
Thursday, July 14, 2011 at 8:01PM A CASE TO CHANGE ALLEGIANCES
By (a somewhat frustrated) Forza Huddlestone
A mate here in Florida supports Fulham, which I've never quite understood and he's never listened to my pleas over the years outlining the futility of such a gesture. Fulham is not a team in the Premier League an American would obviously gravitate toward – for that, see Manchester United, Chelsea, Liverpool, etc. But then, Tottenham isn't a team that has that sort of allure, either.
Or it didn't when I started following them.
That was in the beleaguered last days of Glenn Hoddle, trying to make a team work with players such as Teddy Sheringham, Les Ferdinand and Gus Poyet on their last legs. Make a team work? In those not-so-halcyon days, just not being relegated was a minor feat. I watched my first game in the West Stand, saw Spurs beat West Brom 3-1, heard the Park Lane Stand singing their lungs out and fell in love.
In the time since then, Tottenham found ambition. Or perhaps rediscovered it. We qualified for Europe for the first time in an age, we fired a manager when he looked to be incapable of leading us to the Champions League, we won silverware (the Carling Cup, which to be fair, Birmingham captured this past year so it’s not anything more than a nicety), finished in the top four and finally qualified for the Champions League (where we played in famous glamorous stadia such as the San Siro and Bernabeau). Off the pitch, we shifted our attentions from the NDP across to East London and the OS. Our charming (to us, mostly) White Hart Lane simply isn’t big enough but Stratford will not be our destination with the club looking to make the project in N17 viable.
During this time, the prices of season tickets crept upward. Say this for our chairman, Daniel Levy – he knows how to make a buck (or pound, rather). He also knows we would pay that extra pound(s).
We were sold on the idea we were a big club. We finally broke the hold of the Sky Four and the bank account of Manchester City. Big things are ahead, they claimed, we claimed. Players will clamour to put on a Lilywhite shirt! Glory Glory!
That hasn't quite happened as we drop back into the chasing pack. But then Levy did warns us Champions League would not be a given every single season thanks to the renewed competitiveness of the Prem. But there were more personal reasons for our failure second time round.
The big-time striker never surfaced, whether Harry Redknapp felt we didn't need him, we never seriously tried to land one or we were just inept when the transfer market turned to high stakes. When Tottenham obviously (and desperately) needed a striker last January, Spurs tried to bring in non-striker David Beckham (failed), then in the final days of the window, reportedly threw around big-money bids for players that were never coming to White Hart Lane – Aguero, Rossi, Llorente and the likes.
Rafael Van Der Vaart was our consolation prize.
They say you can't win if you don't try, but...
The season ended with a fifth-place finish, a tiny bit of bitterness after the taste of Champions League ambrosia from the year before. The Europa League beckoned again. Luka Modric, the heart of much of what we do on the pitch, apparently decided he'd rather play for a real “big club.”
We're still no closer to that elusive striker, while trying to convince ourselves that Tottenham is a big club, while the price of my ticket in the East Stand creeps to the four-digit mark. We’re a big club in terms of support. But then one or two others could claim that also.
So my thoughts return to my Fulham-supporting mate. His reason for supporting them are less complicated than mine (his ex-wife's granddad supports them) and he wears his Cottager heart on his sleeve, bless him. (I've offered for years to pay for him to put PANTSIL 4 on the back of one of his shirts and he always refused.)
I have history at Fulham. I remember going to my first game at Craven Cottage and one of my pack sidled up to me as we walked with the supporters through Bishop's Park and said with a grin, “Be prepared to have your breath taken away…with underwhelmedness.” But what the hell, it's a better neighborhood than the N17 to be sure.
I saw the reserves play there when Ledley King was on his way back, after many of us had written him off with arthritic knees (some things will never change).
So why not support Fulham anyway? (Admittedly, I say this from the perspective of a Yank who comes over to see 2-3 games a year, not someone who was brought up watching Hoddle, Lineker and Gazza.) After sitting down and thinking about it, I decided to play around with the idea (not that swapping affiliations is something I’m serious about…but what if for the sake of argument...?).
I found a few reasons that supporting the Cottagers could/would be appealing. No seriously, I did.
There is no illusion that's you'll ever be a big club.
In a 20-team league, how many “big clubs” can there be? Four, maybe five? This puts Fulham in a difficult spot to ever breathe such rarefied air. Even if they hit a purple patch where everything went right, they'd need to hope not only that one of the big boys stumbled, but that one of the chasing pack weren't prepared to catch them as Tottenham and City were the past two years. Sort of like the golfer in the middle of the pack who shoots a 65 on the final day of the Open – you need to hope that nobody in front of you plays well. In Fulham's terms, that pack includes Spurs, Liverpool and Everton – and at least two of them will be spending money to keep them close.
This is not to say there won't be big moments. Remember, Fulham are two years removed from a ‘European’ Cup final – one of five English teams to do so in this decade, whether Fulham's was a Mickey Mouse cup or not. And unlike Spurs, they do seem to be capable of beating Man United when the mood strikes.
But you wouldn't expect to see, say, Chelsea getting nervous over a trip to the Cottage. Or any other team in England, really.
On the other hand, if you don't have the expectations of being a big club, you won't be let down when you don't become one. Surely that's worth something.
Bluntly speaking, your games are in a better part of London.
You walk through a lovely, leafy park to go to Fulham games. To be polite, Tottenham is not a garden spot. Yes, the Chick King is a fixture, but could you see yourself going there on a day when there wasn't a match?
Fulham has the Thames to admire on a sunny day. Tottenham has pubs that are slightly seedy. As a community, it's a Premier League team away from being Hackney. The toughest thing about the area around Craven Cottage is the crush of supporters trying to make the train at Putney Bridge.
But then, Fulham actually does have an Underground station. Point Fulham.
Big Martin Jol is now managing Fulham.
You remember the big man, don't you? The lovable Dutchman that took Tottenham to European football for the first time in years, then was surplus to requirements when Levy's crack football mind decided he wasn't good enough to get us into the top four? (Where did we finish last season, by the way? Damn that Comolli).
You remember the big man squaring up to Wenger on the touchline, then saying afterwards, “He doesn't know how strong I am.” I've never been so proud to be a Yid.
He's now at Fulham. Judging by some comments on various message boards, he might get a bigger cheer than Harry Redknapp when the two teams meet at White Hart Lane next May. Assuming Redknapp is still at Tottenham, of course.
When has Fulham ever lost a tug-of-war over one of its own players?
These battles to keep players seems to occur with Tottenham every other year, at least. It's not as if Modric was the first. He follows a long distinguished line of players who have used Spurs as a training club before moving on to greener pastures. (Note to the more romantic of supporters: Skip to the next paragraph as the next few sentences will stir bitter memories.) Dimitar Berbatov. Robbie Keane. We couldn't even hang onto Stephen Carr, once upon a time. Since then, Carr has proven to be dogsh*t, but did we know that at the time?
(The “big club” Carr went to so he could win trophies? Newcastle United, speaking of dogsh*t. No offence.)
Notice how you don't see Ferguson bigging up Bobby Zamora the week of the Fulham match, talking about how lovely he'd look in a United shirt. Or Roman Abramovich having Clint Dempsey on his yacht for a few cocktails. Or Jonathan Greening telling the press how Levy promised he would let him go to a big club if an offer ever came in. Yes, they're not up to so-called Tottenham standards, but you know they're going to be there next year.
Who was the last player Fulham lost*? Louis Saha? How many teams has Saha played for since then?
*Yes, okay, Smalling. But that doesn’t fit into the standard template akin to the one at Spurs re: losing players.
Lastly, season tickets are half the price of Tottenham's.
Of course, this doesn't mean as much as it should because Tottenham season tickets generally aren't available unless you already have one. According to seasonticketwaitinglist.com (which might be as useful as redtube.com, you never know), the paid waiting list for a season ticket at Tottenham is more than 30,000 strong. In other words, you could fit the entire waiting list in Craven Cottage and still have about 5,000 left over.
On the other hand, you can get a season ticket at Fulham for as little as ₤379. Or ₤415 will get you a seat in the Hammersmith End, where you can “enjoy the fantastic atmosphere created by the Fulham faithful.” (Insert snarky comment here.)
Say what you want, but ₤415 will only get you halfway to a Spurs season ticket, if that. But then, Spurs season tickets aren't widely available, and the waiting list means Levy and Co. don't really give a toss if you renew anyway. That new stadium so imperative to so many waiting patiently in the wings.
Of course, the natural reaction is to say, “Football isn't about money.” Sort of like Levy tells prospective transfer targets during the window, just before, “Yeah, but we won the double in 1961. Isn't that marvelous?”
Football's not about money? Try telling that to Chelsea or Manchester City. I'm not saying you have to like it, but it's as much a part of the game as Jermain Defoe getting caught offside is.
Having said all this, I'm not sure I have it in me to chuck in my Spurs season 'ticket' card and support Fulham. We (Yanks) are not all akin to Bill Simmons, swapping teams like an American football franchise swaps states. I couldn't possibly look elsewhere. Would doing so mean that I had to disavow the memory of a 5-1 victory over Arsenal at the Lane or the lasting memory of watching Edgar Davids score his only Spurs goal at Wigan? Or even Woodgate's game-winner in the Carling Cup against Chelsea?
Well, no. Memories are forever. Great moments are great moments. They stay with you. Whether you stay with a club is another story. And paying Champions League money for a team that balks at going after Champions League talent might make me think twice.
Besides, I still have a shirt or two bearing Jol's likeness. I wouldn't mind wearing them again. And their colours aren't that dissimilar to Spurs, at least when they don't have a red away shirt.
On the downside, I would be watching home games – I shuddered just now typing that – at a ground featuring a statue not of a great player in its history (Fulham does have one of those, right?), but of Michael Jackson.
That's probably the point sending me back to N17. And feeling just a little bit like a sucker in doing so.
But hand on heart…all that emotion, anger, disappointment, déjà vu, the head shaking and the air punching I get watching Spurs, the perpetual ‘almost’ team…is what makes supporting them so impossible not to. I’d rather take the pain with the pockets of glory than sitting by the river.
The quiet life is not for me.
Forza Huddlestone has been a season-ticket holder at Tottenham Hotspur since 2006.
Reader Comments (30)
"Jol might get a bigger cheer than Harry Redknapp when the two teams meet at White Hart Lane next May."
I'd say that's a definite.
Nice read.
great piece - a nice read whilst we all wait for the ssn update on luke running away to west london with his teddy bear and a jam sandwich cos he hates us all
I bet Harry wishes that he had the foresight that certain "FANS" have!.....soooooo wise after the event....ha ha
Great post, I actually live in Fulham but have been a Spurs fan for 50+ years.
Football today is no longer a game it is big business!
Money talks,money buys success, that is derived from "Billionaire sugar daddies" and ground size or both.
Lets put Spurs into perspective we had the 3rd smallest ground in the Premier leagues top 10 teams of last season, I don't think that was a failure, we still qualified for Europe all be it the 2nd tier competition but still more revenue
Until the ground fiasco is sorted out we have to be realistic and not have our head in the clouds and try to compete financially with some of the other clubs, I remember the demise of Leeds.
We are knocking on the door, and I genuinely believe our day will come sooner rather than later.
Patience will prevail!
I met a bartender in a "soccer bar" in Brooklyn who supported Fulham. I didn't ask her why, but later a friend who knows her said Fulham is a popular team to support because of Dempse (well, not Dempsey, but the glut of Americans who played there about four or five years ago). So it makes a little sense.
As for Simmons, he is vocally against switching allegiances or even being a "sports bigamist." But for all the fanfare with which he chose to support Spurs, nothing much has come of it at all, except occasional odd tweets in the spring and conversation topics when Steve Nash comes on his show. He did, to be fair, speculate about becoming a Liverpool Fan after the Fenway Group bought it, and used as a possible justification the fact that he never really proved his Spurs fandom--never bought a shirt, say, so it would have been emotionally easy to start from square 1.
How nice to read a blog that does'nt mention Luka... good on ya spooks nice one.
Big MJ will definately get a bigger cheer than HR us fans adored him, that big bald bastard especially the moment he squared up to the paedophile, that will never be forgotten.
For me he is spurs through and through and i will also never forget how badly we parted company, one of the few very bad moments in DL reign as chairman..... he's got no hair but we dont care Martin Martin Jol COYS !
Great piece, thanks.
Lovely stuff.
Has a very retro feel to it I'm afraid.
Lets try to resist the
'If you can't beat em, join em brigade'
No sugar Daddies in N17.
Why one supports a club is not a always a rational decision, but often an emotional one built on childhood socialization, not unlike the large % of the population who will always vote right wing or vote left wing because that is how their parents voted. When I was very young I was taken by the name Queen of the South, and despite never having seen them play or even knowing the town they play in they were the Scottish team I followed. My gran lived a stonethrow from WHL and so it was natural Spurs were the team. Come what may we all went on Saturdays and watched Tommy Harmer creating magic on a heap of mud. Arsenal of course were the hated enemy even today, when arguably they play the best soccer in the Premiership. So Spurs are and always will be 'my team' whether it was the glory days of Blanchflower and John White or the miserable years when they struggled. Why? Because thats the way it is. Yes it easier to support Man U or Barcelona now we are truly global, but each saturday I tune in to Setanta or Sky for the emotional up or down that results from finding out the score and I pine for yesteryear when I could go to the boys end for 5P. That is what being a Spurs fan is about.
Nah, Sratford's where it's at.
How did you get a season in 2006? I was on some kind of fictitious waiting list for a ticket for a very very very very long time. Hmmmmm
^^ season ticket
ForzaHudd - if you don't use all of your season tix, a couple of fellow yanks who recently adopted Spurs are looking to make it over for our first ever game. Would be happy to buy some off you.
"then was surplus to requirements when I said I wasn't good enough to get you into the top four?"
Fixed
Some good points here and a good read.
I think probably the majority of fans were born into spurs or have supported them since childhood.
Crooks and Archibald will always have a magic for me. Archibald went to barca, couldn't understand that, and I probably still have a VHS somewhere with crooks goal at anfield. First win in 90 years or something crazy. Really at that point my young mind should have caught on supporting spurs was never going to be easy.
Harry Redknapp V Martin Jol?.. Matin Jol wins hands down, Loved spurs fans, Redknapp calls us Idiots! Jol produced much of the side we still have, Redknapp couldent bring anyone to Spurs (I wonder if his huge interest in the England job and how he stated on live TV how it would be an honour for him to be asked to manage them has anything to do with it) Afterall who would want to sign for a manager who has publicly admitted he would walk from Spurs if England offer him the job?.. I can't think of a single one!
In my mind what he said is very much Gross Misconduct, and a sacking offense as it has such dramatic negative inpact for the club! Yet he was allowed to get away with it???? Yet Martin Jol wanted to create and put together a Spurs side with ambition and a side cappable of challanging for honours, and thats exactly what he was doing when sacked by Spurs, he broght in Berbatov, an outstanding player, he broght in Bale, also Lennon! Then look at what he went on to achieve after leaving Spurs! .. It makes me sick that we treated him so bad, he has all my respect and yes i will be following Fulham while hes there, And i'll even place a bet that Fulham finish above Spurs this season and next, As i rate him far far superior to Redknapp!, It aint even a close choice, Martin Jol over Redknapp every day of the week!
We'll take good care of you Archiebold...
The reply from the chavs was - 'You're just a Scottish jew, Archibald, Archibald'.
I don't think I'd ever be able to support another team. If Spurs broke my heart, I'd stop watching footie altogether.
A note about my season ticket for those who have asked...
Chiefy: I got my season ticket in the summer of 2006 after applying for a ticket in the South Stand, which was already sold out. The ticket office emailed me and said they could offer me a seat in the East or West stands if I wanted, so I went for the East stand. (I would try to relocate, but it's too much of a pain to deal with the ticket office from this side of the Atlantic.) I think that was the last time tickets were generally available.
JoePas_Doghouse: Since 2008, I've been able to share my ticket with a bloke I knew in London, where we essentially split the cost and I pick out a few games I want to attend. If I could think of an easy way to let you use the ticket, I would do so.
Thanks for the feedback.
One thing I havent seen mentioned too much in most of these blogs is that yes we did drop out of the top four this year and our strikers didnt do much and the er ... rush goalie did stupid things. In a way this could be mitigated by the reality of the fact we played more games under pressure than usual and as a result copped a lot more injury problems. Half the time towards the end of the season we were wondering who could cover for who. This was a result of a combination bad rotation and keeping players in the squad that are brilliant but generally absent. We could have more players than we have but we have to face the reality that players that can only play for a little while are of no use when the team becomes stretched.
Enjoyed that piece very much...echoed many of my own recent thoughts regarding what I would do should the move to Stratford have gone through. Briefly thought about switching to Fulham, even before Martin Jol joined them, for many of the reasons Forza Huddlestone (excellent name, btw) listed. Actually, I'd say the majority of non-plastic US prem fans either support or have a definite soft spot for Fulham, or Fulhamerica as they were known a few years ago.
But decided, should the unthinkable happen, I would be giving up on the Premier League altogether and choose a Bundesliga team to follow instead. Frankly, it's a much more entertaining league and Germany is a much more enjoyable country to visit than England.
Had to laugh when all the pro-stratford folks were declaring what a shithole N17 is, when after my most recent visit, which was for close to a week, rather than the usual squeezing in a Spurs match before/after a holiday or business trip in Europe, my rather shocked and disappointed thought was what an overpriced shithole all of London had become. Mind you, I used to love London and as a 20+ year NYC resident, I've got nothing against a few rough edges. Maybe it's an age thing, but the glorification/acceptance of Chav "culture"/ASBO as the accepted norm is repellent.
But I digress...I'm willing to bet Martin Jol will get a bigger cheer from the visiting Spurs fans in November than from the Fulham supporters themselves...Harry who?
Good read that was, thanks
Fulham? Nice park,and memories of Johnny Haynes ,Bedford Jezzard ( what a great name) and Jimmy Hill.
Since then a retirement home for Danny Murphy and a work permit venue for wannabe "soccer "stars from the other side of the pond.If your going to have another team pick someone really bland with a hint of madness now Orient thats a proper side and only a stones throw from the Olympic Stadium for those disenchanted with life in N17.
Gee, that sneering at US Soccer players never gets old, does it? Comedy gold every time.
Remind me, who was it that finished ahead of England in their group at the World Cup?
I'm sure it was the team that 'beat' shitty old England 1-1 after a cockup by a keeper.
Nice read anyway Forza.
Do you go to Red Bull New York games Ziege? Because I can't be arsed with Toronto FC. Feels like watching league one!
Canada Yid,
Only now and again. Never really connected with the team and either the stadium was an unspeakable schlepp (no car) with zero atmosphere or they were promoting cheating scum Henri. Have to say though I have attended some really enjoyable USL (lower league) matches around the country, e.g. charleston battery, pittsburgh riverhounds. Yeah, the standard wasn't great, but the atmosphere was both informal and strangely personal, real sense of ownership/family from the fans. Saw a barn burner of a match in Seattle once and you can't fault the support that team is getting, beautiful stadium, great attendance and fans, lots of chants and banter.
Yeah, north american football, excepting mexico, is still a work in progress but it is progressing. The knee-jerk sneering gets right up my nose: "wannabe "soccer "stars from the other side of the pond" got Fulham to the finals of the Europa Cup, which is further than Spurs ever got.
I don't think it's further than we "ever" got but I hear your point. US players deserve respect just like any other nation. However, what gets my goat is people on 'this side of the pond' who think that American sports are the best in the world and footy (soccer) is boring. They clearly ignore the facts.
I recently had someone tell me that he thought watching paint dry was more interesting than footy and then attempt to bestow the virtues of baseball to me. I wanted to punch him. Each to their own I guess.
Further then we got in our two recent appearances in that competition.
For such a big continent, (north) Americans are awfully insular. Any "sport" that can be played at the highest professional level while in possession of a massive beer gut e.g. baseball, isn't a sport at all. It's a game, like darts. Most of soccer's harshest critics here have never made the slightest attempt to understand the game. Whether it's short attention spans or small bladders to blame, a lot of folks just can't manage to stay focused for 45 minutes at a stretch. Their loss.
Still, more converts every world cup, including the women's game. Got a lot of questions (largely from guys) at work last week from non-fans who had watched some, if not all, of the US Brazil match and wanted to know more about the rules of the game. As we know, once the beautiful game sinks its hooks into you, it never lets go.