I’m writing to you to be able to vent my views and feelings over the state of the club, the decisions that have been made on your behalf and your manager, staff, players and games. I’m going to try not to think too much in writing this and hopefully it will help me sleep better.
I am no football expert but am addicted to your wellbeing and have been for most of my life. My memory is not great in terms of games and results (so you’ll have to forgive me) but I grew up during the Paul Gascoigne, Gary Lineker era with my favourite player back in the day being Teddy Sheringham. However, I still do appreciate a kicker, a leader or organiser ala Gary Mabbutt, Richard Gough, Gordon Durie, Moussa Dembele, Eric Dier, Vinny Samways, Toby Alderweireld, Jan Vertonghen, Les Ferdinand, Gus Poyet… I also appreciate the culture and skill of Luka Modric, Gareth Bale, Paul Gascoigne, David Ginola, Harry Kane, Ledley King, Chris Waddle, Heung-min Son, Christian Eriksen, Rafael Van der Vaart, Peter Crouch, Dimitar Berbatov, Michael Carrick, Jürgen Klinsmann, Micky Hazard, Robbie Keane, Dele Alli, Mousa Dembélé… And the clinical Gary Lineker and Jermain Defoe…. And the memories of Stefan Freund, Erik Thorstvedt, Nayim, Justin Edinburgh, Ronnie Rosenthal, Moussa Sissoko… All names of my era and let me know who you think I’ve missed.
I started supporting Spurs not with the idea of winning but with the idea of exciting possession football and playing football the way I believed. Spurs had the history of Hoddle, Ardiles, Villa and the motto of ‘to dare is to do’ which has been bandied about enough in recent times. Obviously it’s been a rollercoaster over the years and I apologise for the Graham, Mourinho, Conte years (and the rest). These eras spread cracks through the clubs foundation causing fan to argue against fan- all driven through the hunger for glory and trophies. I could at least understand that viewpoint but didn’t agree myself that football should be sacrificed. How do you define football though? I do understand football comes in different forms and beauty lies in the eye of the beholder and you’ve got to cut your cloth and all that. Some like the fast and direct Palace or the battling Everton or the slow and intricate City or something in between. We all have no choice, it depends on circumstance and a hope that the powers that be reflect the club’s history and fans.
I’m no great historian and have tried to unsuccessfully educate myself on our past legends by buying many historical DVDs. But talking about glory brings up the famous quote by Danny Blanchflower- “The game is about glory”. And without context this could have backed up the Mourinho like ball appointments, until you read the whole quote-
“The great fallacy is that the game is first and last about winning. It is nothing of the kind. The game is about glory, it is about doing things in style, with a flourish, about going out and beating the other lot, not waiting for them to die of boredom”
Decision makers (one in particular) of our great club have conveniently forget this over the chase of trophies and money. Obviously, I’m a realist and know you have to win but how we do things is important to me. I suppose I grew up with lots of mediocre spurs teams, though there were a couple of trophies in there. But it was never about just winning for me otherwise I wouldn’t have been supporting Spurs.
Blanchflower’s quote also seems quite relevant today. I suppose if you’re going to play ‘boring’ football, you’ve got to win. And we’re not winning at the moment.
In this diary, I will aim to talk to you about tactics and spurs views and issues. I’ll try to be as positive as I can (though I am a Spur supporter) and aim to not cause offence. I have only recently unbelievably succumbed to the lure of Spurs podcasts and YouTube videos. So as with the many websites that regurgitate Spurs gossips, my views (and the views of a fellow Spurs friend) will be here but also views I have heard along the way. I will try to credit these when they come up. Podcasts/videos I regularly listen to are:-
Alasdair Gold on YouTube
The View From The Lane- Danny Kelly and The Athletics’ reporters
Talking Tottenham- Ryan Taylor and Alasdair Gold
The Tottenham Way- Marcus Buckland and reporters
Last Word on Spurs- Ricky Sacks and guests
This could be the one and only entry but we will see. Dortmund tomorrow night with injuries galore and pressure all on Frank.
Come on you Spurs!
Yours sincerely and faithfully.