Taking back what belongs to us
Friday, May 11, 2012 at 8:34PM
I'm looking forward to the summer. I can slowly work towards awakening my sleepy spirit from the narcoleptic nightmare that is modern day football. I've allowed myself to be consumed by expectation. It's not something that's happened over night. It's been a natural progression, one that I've been completely aware of. But in allowing it to play out, I've confused sentiments. Bill Nicholson would want to see Spurs at the very top of their game, competing and challenging, playing the football we were born to play without sacrificing tradition. He'd want us to aim high. Which is something I've been doing. It's something we all do. We've always wanted more, we've always believed. We even believed during dark times when there was next to no chance of our dreams coming true. There is nothing wrong with wearing your heart on your sleeve. Being reserved, bottling it in or not wishing to show raw emotion is no way for a football fan to live his or her life.
That desire drives the club forward. The supporters are the fuel.
The club you support chooses you and you follow with undying loyalty regardless of league, stature or success (although there's always been a trend with some to cherry pick a team themselves based on what will make them look good and feel good). Regardless of how it comes to be, you support the greatest club in the world and nothing will change that. Ask any fan anywhere in the world. Football at its best is beautiful and brings you joyful pleasure as good as any high you get from sex or illegal substances or more natural highs like being in love or seeing the birth of your child. Even when it's painful, it's good. It makes you appreciate what you've got, it makes you love your chosen club even more. Makes you want to fight in spirit and song and support harder. It's pride, it's tribal. It's the most glorified of all escapisms. So much so it then transcends escape and becomes life.
During those dark days we still had our moments. And when you come out of the wilderness to taste glory, be it one particular game or one piece of silverware, it's more than enough. The chase can be better than the catch if you do more chasing than catching. It's more treasured, more memorable, less diluted. That's not to say you'd turn down sustained catches. Football works in cycles, success can surround you one moment and then be a memory, a part of history the next. Much like love, you have your highs and lows, but you never give up on it and if you lose it you go in search for more. Or simply wait for it to find you. Or you just pay for it. Each to their own.
Where it's gone a little wrong with expectation is the pressures of wanting that success, obsessing about life without it before you've even fully achieved it. This has distorted how we strive to make it our own and far more importantly, how we live through that journey.
At the moment, I see fragmentation in support. More so than the past. A lack of enjoyment, a bitter nervous disposition at both home and away games. There is a difference between believing we are good enough and wanting us to achieve success compared to simply expecting it to be delivered on a plate.
There's also the issue of what is defined as success. I've been a strong enforcer of the pragmatism behind finishing top four so that we can consolidate and get stronger with each passing season. This might (might not) reward our endeavour with a genuine seasoned title push. But that would remain the ultimate goal. Modern football preaches this philosophy so intensely that we no longer rate the League Cup and even the FA Cup only becomes important by virtue of reaching the latter rounds rather than what it meant back in the days when finals would become future iconic moments. The 'big' clubs that win it often see it as an afterthought rather than the crowning jewel it once was.
Top four or silverware? I've been shouting top four from the rooftops all season along, for several seasons. I'm not going to change my mind because of this seasons dramatics and because Champions League qualification is in the balance. I don't believe qualifying for this competition every season should be deemed as an honour. A platform perhaps for further adventures and encounters, a platform to grow stronger. But it shouldn't really be anything more than that. Unless you are proud of the fiscal and accountancy. Someone recently stated that winning the Champions League when you finish outside the top three sums up the hyperbole that UEFA and the TV companies have created around the competition. It's now more important to participate in the competition than it is to win it.
Yet having witnessed Chelsea win the FA Cup, I found myself truly underwhelmed when teasing the idea of 'how would I have felt if that was Spurs lifting that grand old cup?'. I hate the fact that it no longer has my heart pacing. It should feel more than a day out, yet that's all it appears to be thanks to the distraction of a Champions league predominately made up of teams that are not champions of their leagues.
My pragmatism is flawed.
"I don't believe qualifying for this competition every season should be deemed as an honour"
It's not an honour in the way of silverware, but it is one to participate in even if it's a creation to appease the rich and make them richer. It's still the only way to compete against the very best in Europe. When you remember our début season in the CL and the memories created off the back of our qualification and group games, how can you possibly wish to turn your back on any of it? Some of those memories are already iconic in terms of our own history. If modern football is saying this is the new bread and butter, then feed on it we shall.
But still my pragmatism is flawed.
Although there is nothing wrong with wanting to play against the elite of Europe there is plenty of hypocrisy that you can easily disguise behind that pragmatism that ends up confusing what football should be about. But then what is football? It's always going to be perceived differently depending on the individual. To you want to be entertained or do you want success above all things? Our priorities as supporters have shifted because football has shifted. Some want success no matter what at any cost whilst others look at long term progression and a cup win every so often. We might fall into different categories here but I'm sure (as Spurs fans) we want to see our side play the football that is synonymous with our history. It's important to hold onto one's identity. So how do you compliment one's identity?
By winning things.
Of course I'm going to be underwhelmed to see Chelsea win the FA Cup. I'm reminded of when we beat them to claim the League Cup. How can any cup final win be discounted? Surely it can't? It goes down in history forever. You have stories on and off the pitch associated with the occasion, with the football and the support. It's meaningful, it's tangible, it writes another chapter into your clubs life story. It's a true honour. And yet my flawed pragmatism still pushes me back and away from it as the shadow of UEFA casts down on me from above.
Football is not the same beast it was decades ago. But we are still aiming high. Bill Nicholson would possibly adopt to a similar outlook we're embracing now. Top four > Champions League > title push > champions > European Cup final. That's what every club at the very top of the tier would find agreeable as targets, even if very few are currently in that position to achieve it. That's just the way modern football has been set up to work. We don't care for the fiscal but our owners do because it's the only way to sustain such an ambitious challenge. In fact it's the only way to compete for any ilk of silverware, such (has been) the power of the dominant clubs in England in the past decade or so. I'm sure Bill would still not have frowned at the cups on offer. Unlike I have.
Glory can't be measured. As stated, it can be a one off game, a piece of silverware or sustained success. We have always believed. When we sat in mid-table, we wanted Europe, when we got Europe we aimed for top five, we then pushed for fourth and we continue to strive for more. You're hardly going to be this grand olde swashbuckling side whilst stuck in the middle of the league table. But that doesn't mean you'll turn away the cameos or support the side any less if you are.
Do you love Spurs any more now than you did when we were abject? Does your love depend on the success on the pitch? Of course it doesn't. It shouldn't. Perhaps deep down winning something every so often makes you feel more alive. Not knowing if you're going to win or not, punching above your weight or playing the role of the underdog. Perhaps being fatalistic is a better comfort zone than possessing a sense of entitlement. But then all fans are fatalistic at heart regardless of stature. And if you take entitlement and ever so slightly strip it of it's arrogance you are left with simply wanting the very best for your club. Every underdog can have its day.
The epiphany is simply this; why do we have to ask theoretical questions about what matters more? Why do I feel the need to be pragmatic? Why does football have to be dictated by what others dictate to be acceptable standards? Is it really necessary to be so complex and analytical, dissecting every second of football played? Whether it's that one piece of silverware in ten years or ten years of winning silverware. With regards to the team its self, there might be a lack of consistency due to rotation, tactics, injuries which means they can't treat every game the same, they can't treat every game like a cup final. It's unavoidable for them. But my excuse? Our excuse? We have no excuse. We can be consistent all of the time and support the club unequivocally. That's not to say you smile and take everything on the chin without question or criticism. Doesn't mean you can't complain or disagree or object to something you feel strongly about. Like in any relationship a good bust-up or argument is sometimes required to clear the air. You shout because you care. As long as Tottenham is Tottenham, does it matter what everyone else thinks and does?
I've allowed the thought police to tell me what to think. It doesn't have to be so complicated. You might prefer it to be like that. But not for me.
What you have, outside of win, lose, draw is the ability to love Tottenham and show that love without reservation. Players come and go, the ones that matter are the ones that leave their mark on the club and your heart. Custodians of the shirt. Our shirt. I don't want to spend another second fretting about who might sign or leave. What will be will be. If x player doesn't want to wear the shirt, then why would I want him to stay? Why have I wasted so much time trying to fool myself that loyalty exists and money hasn't consumed the game? Loyalty shouldn't be something you need to prove. The role of the custodians is to honour the traditions that the fans live and die by. Supporters are often criticised for having a detrimental influence on clubs, pressuring the board and chairman. Surely that's our right? It's our money and our loyalty that has built the club to what it is now alongside the footballing innovators in the dug outs and in Lilywhite shirts that birthed push and run and everything that followed.
I don't expect modern day footballers to love the shirt like we do, but I do expect them to play like they love it when they wear it. The ones that do this are the ones more likely to succeed.
The true essence of the epiphany is that I have to accept football is no longer this sweet innocent girl with a shy smile. She's now a flirtatious woman in hot pants seductively teasing and rarely allowing you to reach out and touch her. But when she does, the hairs on the back of your neck stand up. So all we do is follow. Because that's all we can do. Follow. The dream is to see those hot pants on our bedroom floor. And if it doesn't happen a touch once in a while will have to do.
Top four, silverware, last game of the season dramatics. Every second of every game, win/draw/lose, it all matters because it's Tottenham Hotspur. I want us to be the very best but I'll be damned if I'm going to spend my time dreaming about it with ample nervous bites at my fingernails. There is no club like our own and for all our faults and fragmentation I would still not change a single thing about it.
Echo of glory. Never forget that. If desire drives the club forward and the supporters are the fuel, then emotion is the fuel that drives me.
Play the Spurs way. That's all I need, all I want. I'm not having people who don't love my club dictate how I should feel about it. The FA, UEFA, the Premier League, the media, television. I don't want to be constrained and contained. I don't want this relentless want for success define me, I want us to define it. I want to believe and I want to follow and I want to support.
Tottenham is my club. I'm taking it back.
Come on you Spurs.
Reader Comments (37)
COYS indeed!
On Sunday I will sing from the first minute until the last. We will win, of that I am certain. Can't wait.
I agree 100%,this is the best article i have read in years.I feel exactly the same way.Spurs are my club,and a massive part of my everyday life,sure i get the usual abuse from other fans,taking the piss about how we blew this and that.To be honest ,i wouldn't have it any other way.As you said ,players come and go,but in the end,SPURS will always be SPURS,and thats what i love about them,totally unpredictable.SPURS TILL I DIE.
But methinks the boy doth protest too much.Of course we want authenticity.Not for us the purchased glory;the band of Tevez mercenaries (though "Arry would have him in his side).We also want the downfall of our opponents. I'd be ok if we were mid table but only if Arsenal are bottom 3.Its a game>no point if you don"t play to win.Third is glory.
I'm taking it back....I'm taking it all back.
Finishing above CFC and LFC and not guaranteed a CL spot. Things have changed. Can't see woolwich slipping up and most likely imo it is us nervously watching the CL final. Munich should win the CL anyway, the better side and at home too.
All in all very good season by our standards in the EPL but it could have been better. Whatever happens against Fulham I hope we get our summer transfer window targets sorted and bought. Not getting Parker/Ade until we were smashed by the Manchester clubs cost us points at the start of the season and if we had bought Tevez+Cahill in January rather than Saha/Nelsen we would surely have been far stronger in the second half of the season. If we get the ins and outs done before pre season starts then the new arrivals have time to settle. COYS and come on you baggies !!
COYS!
That must of taken some time to write! From the Man City game with the Balotelli stamp and penalty and the Defoe miss up until a few weeks ago Tottenham made me more angry and depressed with them than ever before. It felt as bad as being raped by Jack Sms Wilshere. If we win Sunday and get 3rd all will be forgiven, apart from Harry!
Labour of love. Went through a dozen write ups, still not happy with it.
"Spooky" — love the comment, "even when it's painful, it's good" kind of like life as you suggest. "coys" — always like your positive attitude, as there seem to be a number of DQs who get overly dramatic and even vitriolic at times. Personally, I don't like to speak ill of others. But that's me out here in sunny LA. A big shout out from us Spurs fans here on the Left coast of America (a lot of ex-pats, including myself) to the boys/girls heading to the Lane for this weekend's final curtain — let's hope for a command performance, and a lil bit of GLORY to end the season. COYS!
Is 'pragmatism' the new 'Machiavellian'?
As each season passes I find myself caring less.
Sensational writing. Really really superb. The lilywhite & blue antidote to moneybags & moneyballs. COYS
"It's pride, it's tribal. It's the most glorified of all escapisms. So much so it then transcends escape and becomes life."
A great piece of writing, Spooky. COYS!
TMWNN: Is 'pragmatism' the new 'Machiavellian'? As each season passes I find myself caring less.
Ha! To answer your question, no. Just for the benefit of this article.
As for caring less, I guess the point is, just care for the football and fuck all the baggage it comes with.
There you go yet another great post by yours truly... still don't know where you get the time to write such masterpieces. Your so right about how football has changed so much, the FA cup how it used to be, some of my fondest memories of being a Spurs fan 1981 semi final against Wolves at the Library what a night ! followed by the replay against City in the final... etched on my memory for ever... 91 semi final against you know who, one of the most memorable games along with the city replay that i have witnessed in all the years of supporting our great club... I don't think the FA cup will ever stir my emotions in the same way that those games did... it just aint the same any more and never will be. Now it's all about CL football and we have tasted it and all want more, this is where it's at now, and we have to be in it, simply because all the top players wnat to play in it, so if we arnt in it the top players will be playing for a club that is, its so important we qualify for next years competition to retain our top players and to attract a few new ones. We have to beat Fulham on Sunday and please WBA give Roy a great going away present, then i can sit back and enjoy the CL final safe in the knowledge that we are in it next term regardless of the outcome. Raise the roof all you Spurs fans and make it a memorable end to the season COYS !!!
Beautifully written piece that is pretty much the exact description of how I feel.
What would be interesting to think about is a little tweak to CL qualification:
1. An auto spot for 1-2 in the league, and the two Cup winners?
2. An auto spot for 1-3 in the league and the FA Cup?
3. An auto spot for 1-2 in the league and a play-off including 3&4 and the 2 cup winners?
I can see this being lobbied for an hard if Bluescum and Liverwurst keep falling 5th and lower.
But more importantly, Spurs 7, Fulham 0. WBA 2, Wanderers 1. COOS (inspired by the article, is now come on our spurs)
Yet another first class and inspiring article Spooky, well done. It is all so true, family aside, ''Greater love hath no man, than the love of his club''. I have loved Spurs since 1958 when I was just seven years old, and I still love them today, but now from far away Canada. You go through so many emotions when you follow our club, like supporters of all clubs I guess, but no doubt about it we are different. Not for us a United, a City, a Town or Wanderers, the name Tottenham Hotspur itself is unique, it even sounds as if it should be etched with greatness and glory as it rolls off the tounge. Everything about the club has a certain regality to it that no matter how sometimes she may treat you, you cannot help but love her.
Give it everything on Sunday lads, and as for you fantastic fans, I swear when the skies are clear your magnificent support can be heard across the ocean that divides us.
COYS
The FA Cup lost its magic when it became just another sponsored trophy. The oldest domestic cup competition in the world, it was once an almost mythical piece of silverware, and the FA treated it like it's just another commodity to be sold off and bought by the highest bidder. They devalued it by putting a price on it.
Oh bloody hell, Harmer, your post....something is in my eye...
i miss Galvanised.... see ya'll sunday for some hair raising "Oh When the Spurs"....
glory glory spooky....
This article inspires pride in an infectious way. Brilliantly written. In all walks of life, there is always a way to better ones self for the motivated and ones morals will dictate what you are willing to do to achieve set goals. All so clearly true in the sporting community.
It makes me proud we are a club that is financially prudent, it makes me proud we play attractive football with the fluency and flair our heritage demands. As a club, we have not forgotten our roots and have gone out to achieve in a way that is a compliment to our upbringing.
Success for me, in life and as a football fan, would bring little sence of achievement should my morals and upbringing be forgotten. I love spurs for their flair, which has not always been there, but I'd be damned if I was to watch my team turn out the physical stoke city/long ball villa on a weekly basis.
Salute the article! Well played sir.
COYS
Great post as always Spooky. To tell you the truth Spooky, I can not wait for the Summer. No more football will be a rest up, from those very highs to the very lows of our team. The stress of loosing our 3rd spot to the Arses has caused me to be a serious moany git, especially towards our manager. Even if we finish 3rd, I feel it is because the Arses were very poor. If we do finish 3rd it will be less points than when we finished 4th on 70 pts.. What does that tell you about our season.
Great article...how rare to find a read like that on the web - let alone a football site! When you love the club and have been initiated to it amongst the surging masses of supporters from a young age, from the days when the wooden terraces seemed to have soaked up the angst/euphoria of the game - by a generations long Spurs supporting family, it feels like you have a right to expect everyone at the club to carry an awareness of that aleigance. They should respect it and enact their roles at the club with a sense of duty because of it. I think that is why I find it hard to assimilate comments like those of Bae last week (although not that bad in context - love the player). The mercenary attitude which I can understand for a young man trying to make a career, still doesn't gel with the Alleigance I mentioned above; rather than a sentimental 'sepia' image of the game and unrealistic expectations of 'loyalty'. I can forgive players their upwardly mobile aspirations so long as not hypocritical - but the issue of old twitchies 'head turning' - poor interviews and lack of out and out statement was a disgrace to the alleigance of us fans. The manager is a slightly different case from a player in my opinion; to lead you must show more alleigance , more love. Is Redknap/Redcrap a 'Spurs man'? is he loyal to anyone except himself? I always had my suspicions about this (no doubt he loves the game - but our club?) but after the head turning and consequences I dislike the guy even more than I did before - and I aint no fan of his. Although will not bitch against him if we get CL this season, and will even get behind him (with a grimace) out of repect for that achievement. But this isn't a HR bashing post - the head turning issue provoked a real sense of betrayal, that made me want to take Spurs back - back from the fetid unworthy hands of a judas? or was it just the circumstances that he handled badly/clumsily - is that even an excuse. It was the strength and emotional reaction to this before I even thought about the details of it, a sense of protectiveness for our great club.
Spooky - we can but bow. Fantastic piece,just when I was unravelling you came along and hit the nail on the head. You`ve shown us all that we`re not alone.
Your pragmatism is not flawed. It is your, all of our most beautiful trait. as it is that that makes us Spurs fans. Without it we may as well support a soulless franchise and wear sickly red. It is what makes us disbelieve, curse the FA for scheduling the final game on a Sunday thereby prolonging our agony, with no sense of god given right, just a fear of unchievement.
And you are spot on. Now is a time for us to stop whinging, put our differences aside and remember that above all else we are all spurs fans. Support them, believe in them and applaud them off the pitch. One single `boo` at full time will signal the start of the end - will be the sign that we have turned the corner into spoilt brats who expect rather than respect, who want to achieve through failure (CL) rather than genuinely support.
As pragmatists we must all realise that although the FA cup was a non event for us, had we been there it would have been vitally important. Let`s not fall out of love with an occasion that has given us so many great memories - regardless of what anyone else may think of it.
What a great shame it is that we sit here with our pragmatic traditions, presided over by a reactionary manager.
There exists one great pragmatic manager - who currently holds a cushy position in Madrid. Match made in heaven.........it couldn`t possibly happen could it? Of course not, simply because `We are Tottenham`etc etc.
Forgive me if none of this makes sense. As well as having a belly full of beer, I have been in bits all week, not knowing whether I`m coming or going. Do these multi millionaire prima donnas have any idea of the effect they have on the masses? Surely they were football fans when they were young weren`t they?
Just come on you Spurs. For god`s sake come on you Spurs.
PS- Bobby - yes one of my favourite nights at the library, having hauled arse up to Hillsborough only to be cheated by Kenny Hibbit diving and that nonce Clive Thomas pointing to the spot.
Almost the most perfect night of my life, if only that crossbar had snapped eh?
God damn, this is an excellent blog. Cheers Spooky!
@bobby - `Thank you very much for the north bank Highbury thank you very much thank you very very very much` Second time we occupied the north bank that season, if memory seves me! I saw Ricky`s shot right off his foot - swerved to the left faded to the right and nestled into the top corner. Do you think we could convince Eden that Micky is his long lost uncle.........................?
Don't worry about the dozen write-ups Spooky it reads very well, must say that was a darn good read. Completely agree, what iv always thought to be honest, and its what makes me not give a shit about the modrics and the bales of this world. If they want to leave the club, fuck them. Fuck them and their barca/Chelsea/city/Madrid wages. I would rather a Van see Vaart any day, a player who plays with heart and feeling and puts up with Harry's tactical ineptness. I will sing for spurs regardless of who wears the shirt, as long as those players play their socks off. And players like Corluka, who seem to love undermining the club at every opportunity (fucking donkey if you ask me, has not right to complain about rotation since he's useless when he plays anyway), those players can leave the lane with their tails between their legs.
Btw spooky, always wanted to know, do you actually send any letters to Daniel? Is it even possible to contact him?
Spooky, there is a book inside of you that is desperate to be writtern. Beautufully written piece. Thank you.
Not even a Spurs fan but that was brilliant
Spence
I have to agree with everything you said about Corluka. Bang on. Can't understand why anyone rates that sulky tw*t.
Brilliant Spooky. Sums it up nicely. A piece every Spurs player should read before the game on Sunday. Would certainly give them some 'Heol' . COYFS!!
Top table dining has perverted the minds of the needy & set a precedent in minds of the young. It will continue to win out over tangible Glory, despite the clear danger of leaving no memories. Dig in or do one. True Fans don't walk. "The beauty walk on and on with the beast tonight".
@ Bobby and Moe
Yep, I was also at Highbury for the semi-final replay. I was about 7 at the time, remember being in the north bank but couldn't really see much of the game, due to being pretty much near the back. But I do remember Ricky's goal, and also the chant of "Kenny Hibbit Is A Wanker!"
Went to the Wembley replay too, and also got onto the pitch in '82 for the lap of honour. The QPR fans were chucking stuff and causing trouble so the coppers just allowed the kids to climb over the fence and then run onto the pitch. Doesn't get much better than that!
COYS!
Great blog, Spooky.
Stirring words. At my Spurs mad son's baseball game in NJ with a tear in my eye ref Harmer the Charmer's post. Will be cheering along tomorrow morning. Hope you can here us too. COYS!
Encouraging stat: They have not won a game without Arteta since he's joined.
Believe
Scum:
Despite the wrongheaded claim that this was the worst Arseanal club in years you
1) Have a better squad than we do
2) Have a better manager.
You finished ONE POINT ahead of us.
You haven't won anything in years.
You really have sunk to the level of measuring success as scraping by ahead of winkle spuds.
Now fuck off and have a think about that.
A delight to read Spooky. Emotive. Passionate. Invoking.
"Echoes of glory" & "You are custodians of the shirt. Our Shirt."
A fine reminder for supporters who truely follow to remember what it is they follow.