Like being punched in the face by God

Latest episode available, innit.

Season 2, Episode 12 - Bareback

Danny Blanchflower's grandson. Chelsea autopsy and positives. Some Crouch loving. Left-back conundrums. Sig and Demps. Rickipedia and Ricky's misadventure. Twitter, Kyle Walker and scapegoating. Bale's baby. Keeper sweeper. A couple of laughable match previews followed by the return of Pr*ck of the Week. Windy and his delicious youth update. Quote of the week. Running order chaos. Footballers sleeping with our girlfriends. Quantifying loving the shirt. Missing games. Being punched in the face by God. And we've got a welder update. We sincerely apologise for all of it. Jousting: Flav, Spooky, Thelonious, Ricky and engineer Al. Ross Blanchflower guesting.

Click on download to listen.

Previous eps: 

Season 2, Episode 11 - Fight the power

This week consists of seriousness, anger and controversy:

Safe standing and EDM, Gareth '3rd best player in the world' Bale, Andre and Chelsea, Rickipedia, racism in football (apparently there's a fair bit but don't shout about it), Windy yoof update, a variety of random questions and not so random, including 'why do some Spurs fans hate Chelsea more than Woolwich'?

Wyclef Jean approves of all of the above.

Panthers: Flav, Spooky, Thelonious, Ricky with guests Lustdoctor and Dave covering for our missing engineer.

Click on download to listen.

Season 2, Episode 10 - Married to Tottenham

Flav had a meeting with Tottenham at the Lane about 1882. If you're attending the Maribor home game and sitting in block J, you're going to want to hear the update on this. Aside from the serious real talk, we look back on our 2-0 win against Villa and the variety of story arcs that encompass our current momentum. We playa hate Noel Gallagher. We playa hate diving but also try to rationalise it. We've got the curious case of Kyle Walker and then to be honest, I'm not sure what happens after that point. Something in the air. Our collective minds wandered into the abyss, all very very confusing. Husband and wife role-play. Beastly midfielders. Cannibalism I think, not literally, that would be hideous. And trikes. I remember trikes. Rickipedia, Meat Men and Windy provide our features this week. Tripping: Flav, Spooky, Thelonious, Ricky and engineer Al.

Click on download to listen.

Season 2, Episode 9 - An audience with Micky Hazard

The lads meet up with Micky Hazard, watch the Panathinaikos game, have a few beers, get to the 'studio' (lol) and record. Organic stuff. Practically orgasmic.

We've got a show jammed and buttered up with news on the next 1882 event (get your singing voices ready) plus a brand new project in the making, the historic OTT win at OT, AVB versus the media part seven hundred and a bunch of other stuff including questions from us and from you for our guest, London's finest black cab driver and not the father of Eden Hazard. Starting line-up: Flav, Thelonious, Ricky with Micky Hazard and Greg.

Click on download to listen.

For the full archive click here.

Or subscribe via itunes.

"They're not supporters, they're consumers"

Civil War! - season 2, episode 5 - The Fighting Cock podcast

Click on image

Spurs in crisis! Meltdown!

We've got all the bloodshed in glorious audio. Norwich autopsy, haters hating, passionate ranting and a call for composure. We look back at the transfer window antics and Moutinho (who?) saga and the media's agenda against Villas-Boas. But it's okay, don't fret, we manage to squeeze in some positivity in amongst the misery. Rickipedia and Windy do their thang and we ask...just what is Daniel Levy like in the bedroom?

By-products of a lifestyle obsession: Flav, Spooky, Ricky, Thelonious, Engineer Al

Love the shirt. 

www.thefightingcock.co.uk
www.thefightingcock.co.uk/forum

Also available to subscribe to on itunes.

Harry Out!

Here's some more pro-Villas-Boas commentary (or should that be pro-Tottenham?) from other apologists, via my Twitter time-line, also taking the balanced approach. No agenda here. Just common sense.

AVB is going to need time. Fixing a "broken" squad, coping with life after King/Modric, introducing new methodology. Can't expect top 4.

The majority of Spurs fans (anyone vaguely level-headed) can see this. The rest expect too much, too soon. We will likely fall back this...

Those "fans" booing Jenas at the first home game, booing at half-time, and booing at full-time need to get a grip & get behind the team IMO.

@WindyCOYS

-

I think its important to remember that we have won 3 league games since that demolition of newcastle in mid february

None of these players were performing before avb took over

And we have weakened the squad by selling 2 out of our 3 best players and arguably the 2 most creative players in our entire squad

"there are rich teams, there are poor teams and then there is us". No not something Daniel Levy said - it's a quote from Moneyball but v apt

@DarrenLA

-

When you look at the squad Redknapp left, he would have needed to majorly overhaul it for this season if he had stayed.

Only Walker, Kaboul, Daws, Caulker, BAE, Bale, Lennon, Parker, Bale, Sandro & Defoe realistically in his plans for next 2 seasons

@fatfish59

-

I've gone into the season expecting a step back before we take 2 forward. The media will use the fans booing as signs of trouble.

@TheBoySeggy

 -

Who was the last high profile big name player Spurs brought? Excluding the reasonably priced fluke of VdV

The likes of Rebrov and Bentley have probably burnt Levy. Truth is that we have never been a club to buy a player at their very peak

Without CL it is perhaps completely understandable that Levy remains tight with purse strings

As fans we perhaps expect too much to keep up with the city's and Utds... But in recent years we have always nurtured young talent...

... Or given a final chance to great players.

This is what saw us finish 5th twice under Jol, and 4th, 5th, 4th under Redknapp

If you were Levy with that success you would probably be rightly cagey to spend money.

However as fans we want the best and want that marquee player

Parker and Friedel. Now Dembele, Sigurdsson, Dempsey. All reasonably priced, all proven in Premiership

If players all had exotic Spanish sounding names or were from Brazil or Portugal and cost 2x as much, I think we would all be delighted

... But we get two players from Fulham and a guy from Iceland (no denying Lloris and Vertonghen are great though)

Maybe Harry had a point? "Never had it so good" - wasn't referring to 61/62, but the 90's - fan expectation high compared to recent success

Wanna play in Premier League or spank all our cash and end up deducted points, playing in League One, or worse, bankrupt?

Levy is tight, likes a bargain. Sometimes it works, sometimes it don't. But we still have a club in the premiership. (Portsmouth Leeds)

@SibsTHFC

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Following tweeted (via TwitLonger) by @EwanRoberts. You'll find it's familar as I've been banging the same drum.

Wrote some stuff about Spurs' form in 2012, pre-AVB:

Many people have said that all AVB had to do to succeed was continue the good work done by Redknapp and build upon healthy foundations. But that’s just not the case. Totally ignoring the players we’ve lost for a moment, AVB’s having to repair rotten foundations, re-build the soul of the team, boost confidence and morale, get a losing team back to winning ways.

Our form now is a hangover from our form at the end of last season. AVB was given a team that was rock bottom in so many respects. We may have finished fourth, but that did not adequately represent just how truly awful we’d been in 2012.

If you take the second half of our season – the second set of 19 games – we won just seven matches. A win percentage of just 36%...and three of those wins (none of which were convincing) came in our final four games. If the league existed just over that period of time we’d have been in 9th position, behind Wigan, Fulham, Everton and the usual suspects.

Those figures include an additional game for us compared to all the other sides (the postponed Everton match @ WHL, because of the riots). If those three points are discounted, we drop to 11th place.

There’s been lots of people saying “mid-table here we come” and such, well mid-table’s been beckoning for a while. We’ve had the form of a mid-table side for 5 months prior to AVB’s arrival. This isn’t his fault, our poor early season form isn’t exclusively of his doing.

If you look at the nine game run from the 5-2 loss at the Emirates in February until the 1-0 loss to QPR in April – a period that represents almost a quarter of the season – we were 19th in the form guide. Played 9, won 1, drew 3, lost 5. 6 points from a possible 27. Goals scored = 9, goals conceded = 14. 0.67 ppg. Only Wolves were worse off. Only two sides (Wolves and Norwich) conceded more goals.

Five teams conceded five goals twice or more in a single game in the league last year, and we were one of them. Norwich, QPR, Bolton and ourselves conceded five goals twice, Wolves conceded five goals three times. Two of the five teams are now in the Championship.

We’ve been crap for a while. Not only is AVB having to prepare for life after King, Modric and van der Vaart, he’s also having to turn around the fortunes of a club that has been in a six month slump. Frankly, given the form of the side it’s easy to see why AVB is happy to undertake wholesale changes to the squad. And it’s also clear that it will take time for AVB to mend a broken team. And that's what AVB inherited: a broken team, not a title-challenger.

Want more of that brooding drum?

From The Fighting Cock forum, via @vadimivich:

On 08/02/12 Harry Redknapp was cleared of tax evasion charges. On 12/02/12 Tottenham absolutely smashed Newcastle 5-0 in front of a delerious crowd at White Hart Lane

Since that night...Spurs have won only 4 of 16 Premier League matches:

That's 18 points from the last 16 league matches, which is barely above the relegation mark. And we're talking about almost half a seasons worth of matches now. The frustration setting in with the crowd isn't just for a few matches under AVB, the entire club has been in a very long, deep funk for quite a while now - and under 2 different managers.

We know there's quality out there on the pitch, but it's been a long time since it showed itself. The club is mired playing relegation level football and something needs to happen to snap everyone out of it. I'm not sure what that needs to be, but this isn't just a few games under a new manager kind of funk...it's set in deep at this point.

I think the point is that it's not really all on the manager - there's a group of talented players that for whatever reason haven't been playing to their talent level for some time now.

Frankly, it looks like a confidence thing ... the players on the pitch look tentative and lost, not just attacking but also defending. There's not the assertiveness and aggression we saw when this group was playing at their best. I'm sure the nervous home fans aren't helping, I'm sure the negative press isn't helping, but what this teams needs more than anything else is to just go out and smash someone and get that confidence back.

Notice the trend? It's in there. I promise if you look deep enough you'll see it.

It's the international break now, so this civil war is going to drag on for a little while longer. With any luck I'll find something else to blog about by the time the weekend arrives. If you want the flip side of the argument, then please read the comments section on the last few articles published on this blog.

Follow @Spooky23 on Twitter.

Go on then, let's flirt with a very reliable source

Bale

It's too humid to think. Got just about enough energy to smile at the news Gareth Bale has signed a new contract. He will progress this season I'm sure of it, with far greater discipline tactically than he experienced last time out. Nothing wrong with switching flanks, cutting in, playing like an inside forward but has to remain effective from the wings with his crossing. With more men in the box, we'll score more goals. Football is simple. He just needs to be controlled and developed for the good of the team, because if he plays well in a team playing great he'll get better. Football really is simple.

Sorry, really obvious statements shared there that we're lost in the hyperbole of season 2012.

A win win for the club. We keep our most potent of weapons and if the CL dream fails to materialise at the end of next season then Barca/Madrid can pay up to buy out the worth of his contract. But let's not think too far ahead. Especially with thoughts of such a negative type. Bale signing a new contract will shatter some of the tabloid hacks who haven't stopped crying their eyes out and spewing spite towards us for the disgraceful sacking of Redknapp. Carry on lads. You'll have plenty to sick your teeth into in the coming months.

ITK INNIT

It's all actually very quiet at the moment aside from all the predictions and rumours of when x y and z will happen. The new manager and new players have been perpetually predicted to happen every week for weeks now. So law of averages, any day now. It's like a competition with the ITK's and club insiders. Twenty blokes all standing feet away from a dart board all wearing masks all throwing for the bullseye.

Can I play too?

I saw this posted over at the epic ITK collection thread (clicky click) at The Fighting Cock (the actual source is 'Ryan' via FTL). I feel cheap and dirty doing this. Probably should have added a question mark to the article heading.

"Some ITK news for you from a VERY reliable source:
Vertonghen WILL be a Spurs player come July 1st
Sig WILL be a Spurs player come July 1st
Loic Remy WILL be a spurs player come July 10th (delays in agreeing terms)
Modric WILL be sold to Real Madrid (?30m + Sahin) by July 9th
AVB WILL be Spurs manager on July 1st
we WILL be signing with our MAJOR sponsor/investor for naming rights on July 15th
Stadium work WILL be commencing July 27th after the signing of the final contracts.
2 x more MAJOR signings WILL be made before July 18th"

Covers practically everything being discussed currently.

My thoughts?

Vert will end up signing. Predicting something that everyone knows is 99% done is hardly ITK. The player, Ajax, everyone involved (apart from Spurs) have more or less confirmed it's happening but there are snags to do with money owed. Well, money the player believes to be owed, his current club disagreeing. I'll favour it happening because in principle, it's done. The technicality is pretty much bullied into the corner (99% v 1%) and Spurs, as quiet and professional as they are on this saga, won't allow the deal to die if we are truly serious about making him one of us.

Sig is a done deal. Again, it's been shared publicly. Okay, so you might argue it's been shared by foreign websites equally as dubious as some of our English based red tops, but it all fits in quite well with one or two official feeds confirming the deal. Quite happy with this one. Young, attacking midfielder. Cracking shot, forward rather than deep and gives us options. Rotation when required is imperative this time out. We need the quality to sustain it.

Remy. Don't know. He's been linked all summer, it's probably worth a punt. Steady that hand when throwing that dart. I personally think (as per the usual template of surprise) that any further signings will come from left-field and surprise us. No, no, when I say left-field I don't mean left-footed by the way. No cryptics here. Just a gut feeling. Then again, once the manager is appointed, our targets might become far more apparent and with any luck happen far quicker than how the summer has crawled along so far. More likely Adebayor than Remy (I'm using the logic of 'he played for us last season' as my reasoning there).

Modric? Of course he's going to Madrid. Where else is he going to go? No chance Levy will let him sign for another English club. Madrid only possible club that can afford him. Levy won his battle with Chelsea and with the Croatian being at his prime to be sold on for a massive profit, the club will take that quite easily. It's a massive shame we're losing him. Honestly think retaining him + new manager and new players would galvanise us. But new beginning, the player wants his wage packet and CL football now, so selling him abroad makes it easier to swallow.

Sahin as part of the deal? Think this is probably based on the fact that Luka would push Sahin further down the pecking order and what with our 'relationship' with Madrid, 1+1 calculators are working over time. Think we need someone far more prominent and high profile as our 'new playmaker'. Very much dependent on the style of football we play next season. Do like us being Madrid's feeder side though. Better than selling our best players to Utd.

AVB on the first of July? Again, very well documented. Plenty of whispers about contractual obligations and such. The silence is deafening. Worst kept secret in football. I'll welcome him, I'm buzzing about it. As long as he scraps the side line squatting, I'll welcome him with open arms. Just make sure you're not squatting because I'm not bending down to hug you. He likes his three up top, two inside forwards with a lone striker. Holding midfielder (or two), Sandro could play a massive part this up and coming season. Some media training, a few post-match smiles and the pressure won't be half as as bad as long as the Lane sing a song or two in his name. We've got the quality, we'll consolidate it with new blood. We just need to learn to be shrewd, heartless and cut throat, killing teams off.

Sponsor/investor and stadium, would welcome it. Haven't got much to say on this other than its fairly imperative the club outline times-cales for the NDP. We know it's going to happen but it's not quite happening but it can't not happen. So here we are waiting.

Two more major signings? No sh** Sherlock. You think Levy isn't going to give AVB a war chest? I'm sure in the coming weeks we'll be linked with every other top star at Porto.

That was fun. I might do this again.

Always look on the bright side of Spurs

Made to soothe those post season blues and warm your lovely Tottenham hearts…

There’s always next season after all…

Written by Charlotte ‘Peachy’ Hamilton @charlottepeachy and tehTrunk @tehTrunk

Further credit and thanks to our wonderful cast Rakesh Makwana, Matt Slocombe, Sarah Gallen, Tim Grigg, Thelonious Filth, Tom Fisher and Eric Dahms.

tehTrunk - Someone like 'arry

tehTrunk TV

thefightingcock.co.uk

Hello, Hello, we are the Tottenham boys

This is The Fighting Cock.

THE PODCAST

Episode 34 - "Unleashing hell...blindfolded"

Oh look, it's us again. Big whoop for ep 34. O drum, drum! Wherefore art thou drum? We talk up the crusade to get the Shelf Side drummer back in the stands. An update on another crusade, this one to get the Fighting Cock emblem tattooed on Chicago Dan's bum to raise money for a new mic. We do football as well. Our third successive sobbing on the trot (wherefore art thou three points?). Bolton in the cup for Tottingham. Stoke under the lights. We then tackle knee-jerking with two feet, studs up. We've also got questions via the forum along with Rickipedia, Windy blowing sh*t up, ZoC with an exclusive interview with Arsene Wenger and a Meat Men update.

Round the table today: Flav, Spooky, tehTrunk, Ricky, Thelonious, engineer Al and some bloke called Richard with a beard and a camera crew that plan to follow us around for a while. The stalkers.

 

Click on above image for the podcast or use itunes to subscribe/download.

FEATURE OF THE WEEK

International Spurs fans of Mystery

via Ricky (from the podcast)

The Fighting Cock has a new feature that needs the help of you! We all, as fans, go to ridiculous lengths to watch or listen to Tottenham. Whether you live in Tottenham or Thailand, we all have one thing in common, our love for TOTTENHAM HOTSPUR! We want to hear how much effort it takes you to catch the game.

Tottenham have a lot of fans around the world and a number of you tune into The Fighting Cock podcast every week, so this is your chance to have your voice heard as an international Tottenham fan. We are truly taken back with the amount of fans that listen to The Fighting Cock on foreign land ranging from America; China, Germany, South Africa, Norway, Ireland, Canada, Singapore, Nepal, Djibouti, Bermuda, Vietnam etc!

What do we want you may ask? Either a recording of yourself or an email, simple!

We want to hear and experience your journey which can include your town/country, time difference, chosen bar, your superstitions, if you snuck in a crafty ***k before the game, what transport you took, the whole lot.

For a three O’clock kick off, I roll off tehTrunk’s mum four times, watch Sky Sports News until 11 and whilst popping in and out of the kitchen I make myself a fry up and get changed. I meet Flav for 11:30 (but it always ends up being 12 because I’m late for everything), get the W3 bus from Crouch End to WHL station and go straight to the Bell & Hare pub for a beer.

Not very exciting I know, but we want to hear what YOU DO, whilst we’re doing that. I literally have sleepless nights thinking of your routine as I carry out my routine from across the globe.

Love, Ricky

“Love the shirt” (and the lengths you go to watch that shirt)

Email your stories to thefightingcock@gmail.com

Updates will be appearing here (as well as features on future pods).

THE PROJECT

Project tattoo Chicago Dan's arse

Hello one and all.

We’ve got another appeal. Now we know we’ve asked for money before, and we’re very grateful for everything that has been donated so far this season. There was the Botswana Christmas Appeal. And there was the drum that the FC forumites clubbed together to sort for the Ultras event. And lets not forget that we raised over £600 for Movember last year.

We need a new mic to record the show. What we use currently, although sounds alright, isn’t fit for purpose. Plus it’s Engineer Al’s personal Mic and he doesn’t really like carting it about all over the place, he gets angry, and well, he isn’t a very nice person at the best of times so, and he is very ugly even when he’s happy.

The cost of the mic we’re looking at is £340. That’s a lot of dough. We’re looking to raise £250 of this through your donation. The rest we’ll raise ourselves.

Now, we don’t just simply expect you to give us the money. We want to give you something in return, more than just the podcast each week. For your donation, Chicago Dan has agreed to get The Fighting Cock emblem tattooed on his arse. We’re talking as much of the cheek as possible. We will film the event, and edit it, and stick it on the website.

One day The Fighting Cock will cease to exist, but we will live on, immortal, by way of Dan’s arse tattoo.

To make a donation send it sibsthfc@gmail.com via paypal or use the following link: https://www.paypal.com/uk/sendmoney

More discussion on this here.

60% thus far so ta muchly for that.

THE FORUM - TOP THREADS

Top threads this week from the message board...

When is Harry going to STFU about England?

The squirrel chaser - (Berbatov anyone?)

I'll be happy with fourth

Polish Under-8's Game Abandoned (Ultras Style)

Your most akward moment

FORUM CONTROVERSY

By any means necessary (cheering for Woolwich)

THREAD OF THE WEEK

Éperons and Belgian Spurs travelled from the continent to the Valley to join in with the Tottenham Ultras supporting the youth team in the FA Cup.

Here's their photo-diary of the journey. Essential stuff.

#TottenhamUltras Travel Diary

Love the shirt.

Seven more wins

Sibs and the maths of Tottenham.

Played 26
Won 16

Win rate = 61.54%

61.54% of 38= 23(.4) games won
23 wins = 69 points

61.54% of 114 = 70.2 points

This should be a fourth place finish.

However obviously the teams below are playing at a lower win rate (logically) - so as it stands it should still be good enough for 3rd by the time the points for a few draws are added

Chelsea away to WBA next weekend.
a***nal away to Liverpool

Us home to Man U - can't see too many points for us or the two teams below.

Not including Man Utd we have 5 home games against beatable opposition.

36 points to play
Points to reach secure CL: 72
7 Wins

If you account for a few draws we can afford to lose another 3 games and should still be reasonably comfortable for 3rd/4th without getting sucked in to a fight for 4th

For crunching of numbers keep this page bookmarked.

In short:

DON'T PANIC.

'Follow'

by Flav

We: The Yid Army

For many years the atmosphere in modern football has been on a steady decline. Sky Sports took over the broadcast rights of top flight football, the Premier League was formed, and we have seen the type of vocal support, once synonymous with football clubs, suffer ever since. Football had become sterilised, the fan experience less important. The key was money, and making lots of it. Football in England became a commodity, and the fans with it – easily taxable for a chance to see players of ‘world’s most exciting league’ in the flesh. Clubs would hire expensive branding consultants to redesign and re-launch the badge – it should be sleeker, advertiser friendly, free of symbolism that would confuse potential fans from far off lands, the latin slogans translated into English or dropped altogether.

Sky Sports pumped vulgar amounts of cash and launched news channels; the Premier League allowed them to reschedule football matches to make them easier to market. We had Grand Slam Sunday and Monday Night Football. Supporters suffered, while players, club owners, agents, and television stations reaped the reward. And so, fans sick of paying money out only to see their team perform with mediocrity (as they had no doubt always done) would sing and support less, and moan, mutter and boo instead. Winning became all-important, and to many club’s fans, the only thing that mattered.

One part of the reason why I love Tottenham so much is that for years our supporters bucked the trend. We would, win or lose, sing for the shirt and the players within in, loudly and proudly without a moment’s thought. The atmosphere at The Lane was heralded across the land by our own fans and the media alike:

Journalist Kevin Palmer of ESPN once said: Tottenham fans deserve credit for injecting the most electric atmosphere in London football. Chelsea's Stamford Bridge, a***nal's Emirates Stadium and the rest are muted compared to this enclosed bowl.

But eventually, the inevitable happened. You’ll find some Spurs fans that still regard the support we provide the players as something to behold. And in certain games this remains fact. But the more honest of us will admit that over the last few seasons certainly, the volume at the Lane has been somewhat muted.

It’s a difficult thing to remedy. You’re attempting to stir the inner passion of 36,000 people. You’re up against everything that Sky Sports has instilled in your everyday fan. If your team wins they’re amazing, and if they lose they’re nothing. Tradition and love dissolve to nothing when your players have their backs against the ropes.

But then The Fighting Cock had an idea. The Tottenham Ultras. We wanted to find a fixture we knew would be poorly attended. White Hart Lane sells out every home game that the first team plays in. The academy team obviously doesn’t have such a luxury. We decided upon a FA Youth Cup fixture scheduled for 16 February 2012 against Charlton at The Valley.

Forget the word ‘Ultra’. When we decided to use that word we knew exactly what it meant. But we chose it so people instinctively knew what we wanted from those that attended: come along, support the young players who are as much part of the club as Gareth Bale or Luka Modric, and sing as loud and for as long as you can. Show them players, and more importantly, the shirt their wearing, what they mean to us. But the Tottenham Ultras was and is certainly nothing to do with violence. We only harnessed its proper meaning:

Ultras are a type of sports fans renowned for their fanatical and elaborate displays of "support". They are predominantly European and followers of football teams. The behavioural tendency of ultras groups includes the use of flares (primarily in tifo choreography), chanting/singing in large groups and the displaying of banners at football stadiums, all of which are designed to create an atmosphere which they believe encourages their own team and intimidates opposing players and supporters.

We thought that 100 would turn up. Actually we desperately hoped that 100 would turn up. On the morning of the game I had images of just 30, and you know what, we would have been happy with that. What we were not expecting is the Yid Army in force. 250 Tottenham Hotspur fans turned up and did not let up, it was a cacophony of noise, it was everything we had hoped it would be, and more. Neigh. It was the one of the best moments of our Tottenham supporting lives. Passion. Pride. Energy. Everything that following football was once about. And it was fiver on the door.

We sung our hearts out. Every minute flew by as the passion carried us through a tight and scrappy affair. Tightly packed in the corner of the stand, in front of a Blue and White Banner that simply stated ‘FOLLOW’, surrounded by cowbells, horns, and flags, we sung. Not even the confiscation of our marching drum – ordered especially from Germany at no small cost – could quell the tide of Tottenham euphoria. It was truly an amazing thing to be involved in, and no doubt bare witness to.

We lost 1-0. A quality free kick in the 94th minute to smash our dreams. But we were defiant. We would not be crushed. And responded with yet more song, louder than before. The final whistle went and the young players were crushed, many of them slumped to the pitch. But we cheered, and slowly they rose, and they came to us, looked at us, and saw the passion in our eyes. For that moment, we were one together. Tottenham Hotspur, player and fan, a unit, the Yid Army.

-

For the brand spanking new-look Fighting Cock website click on the below image.

You can access the forums by clicking here.

Deserve Victory !

The Fighting Cock forum is a hub of creative juice, bubbling over all vibrant and maddening. Don't make the mistake of missing out. Get involved. Recruitment is permanent. Membership is eternal.

This is Tottenham Propaganda.

The forum propaganda thread you're looking for is this.

To find out more about the Tottenham Ultras click here.

Join our army.

Thank you for your time.

Tottenham Ultras: The Fighting Cock Project

16 February 2012 - Charlton Athletic v Tottenham Hotspur FA Youth Cup


Meet between 4:30pm and 6:00pm at The Bridge Bar in London Bridge Station.


We've done Botswana.

Now we're planning something a little closer to home.

On the 16th February 2012 Tottenham's youth side take on Charlton at the Valley in the 4th round of the FA Youth Cup. We want them to have a taste of what it might feel like to play for the Spurs first team. We want our young developing players to feel some of the passion that, we, Tottenham's magnificent supporters can generate as a way of spurring them on to greater things for our illustrious club.

We want you to join The Fighting Cock in creating an atmosphere on this night that these players will never ever forget. We want to create something that will go down in Tottenham folklore. And all you have to do is turn up and sing your heart out.

We're going to be contacting the club about tickets etc. so you don't have to. All you need to do is spread the word, round up your mates, and join us at The Bridge Bar pub in London Bridge station from 4:30pm before setting off at 6pm to head for the Valley to let the yids out.

For one night be one of the #tottenhamultras

The whole evening will be recorded and made into a short film to be released through The Fighting Cock website


Please spread this around to any Tottenham related forums you frequent. Reply in the comments section to get involved or better yet - visit this thread and sign-up.

Love the shirt.

@lovetheshirt

#tottenhamultras

Chicco 'dance' Nare

Following up from this:

Just before Christmas 2011, a small group of Tottenham Hotspur supporters decided to start an appeal that would affect the lives of a few good people in the southern African country of Botswana. Whilst the logical thing to do would be to set up a charity account to raise money to build a well or to help underprivileged children, the members of The Fighting Cock Podcast (www.thefightingcock.co.uk) decided to buy 3 members of Botswana Meat Commission F.C. their very own personalised Tottenham home shirts.

Quite how this came about was completely random. The decision was made by The Fighting Cock forum members to support a second, foreign based, team, and so they begin scouring football teams from around the world to offer their support. There was one team name that stood out – The Botswana Meat Commission F.C. – a football club started and owned by a company responsible for overseeing the slaughter, marketing and export of beef from Botswana. If thousands of people around the world can support Manchester United for no other reason than they like the red kit, or David Beckham used to play for them, then why couldn’t a group of men from London support a team in the African continent. To seal the deal BMC FC’s main rivals are the ‘Extension Gunners’. It was a logical choice for group of Tottenham fans.

After a few months of following the antics of the Botswana Meat Commission F.C., the members of the Fighting Cock forum started an appeal to purchase some shirts for 3 people who represented BMC FC. The first was a member of the clubs Executive Committee, who had been keeping TFC updated with the results from the club. Another was Motsholetsi Sikele, BMC FC’s centre midfielder. Both of these men had been contacted via Facebook and were interested and excited that a random group of people at picked their team to support. They were surprised that people had even heard of their club outside their native Botswana. The third was the team charismatic manager, Daniel ‘Chicco’ ‘Dance’ Nare. Chicco is a man not to be messed with. Last season he chased a referee around the pitch at the end of the game to protest about a decision.

It took just a few days to raise enough money to purchase the three shirts, each customised with recipients name on the back. Nearly a month later the shirts arrived at the Botswana Meat Commission office in Lobatse, Botswana, around 8000 miles from where they started in London.

Thanks to you and all members of THE FIGHTING COCK podcast for the lovely present sent to Sikele, Chicco Nare and myself. We are very grateful and will wear the shirts with pride. I will get you a photo of Chicco in his shirt too and send it through. ~ Modiri

Obviously the three men were delighted by their late Christmas present and The Fighting Cock supporters were delighted to put a smile on their faces. It’s a nice feeling knowing that their are three people in Botswana proudly wearing Spurs shirt and hopefully following Tottenham in the same way that they are following the efforts of the Botswana Meat Commission Football Club!

Love The Shirt!

- Sibs

...we now have the Chicco pics in.

Oh yeah.

The Official Botswana Meat Commission FC Thread - Facts, history and updates on BMC games from the Botswana Premier League.

BMC FC Christmas Appeal - Spurs fans from around the world donate to raise the money to get the shirts out to Botswana.

Love the shirt.

Botswana trio in Spurs colours

Right now there are three men in Botswana (two players and the manager of the Botswanna Meat Commission FC - the adopted African club side for The Fighting Cock) wearing Spurs shirts with their name on the back because #thefightingcock wanted it.

Wtf you might be asking? Wtf indeed. Sibs is the one responsible for making the dream reality. Kudos to you son.

Here's more:

Three guys in a country based in the south of the African continent are today wearing Spurs shirts which were sent from London. All made possible by Spurs fans all around the world. They seem so genuinely happy and excited, especially as they can't really understand why a group of Tottenham supporters have picked them as their adopted team.

Sometimes the world is just a flippin' awesome place to be and it is just bizarre things like this that make it so. Thing is WE can make stuff like this happen.

(that last bit sounded a bit like a cult)

~ Sibs

Thanks to you and all members of THE FIGHTING COCK podcast for the lovely present sent to Sikele, Chicco Nare and myself. We are very grateful and will wear the shirts with pride. I will get you a photo of Chicco in his shirt too and send it through.

Modiri Garenamotse
BMC

Chicco 'dance' Nare, the manager of BMC, has yet to don his shirt for a photo opp. Can't wait to see him style it up.

If you're still dazed and confused, this is what you need:

The Official Botswana Meat Commission FC Thread - Facts, history and updates on BMC games from the Botswana Premier League.

BMC FC Christmas Appeal - Spurs fans from around the world donate to raise the money to get the shirts out to Botswana.

Love the shirt.