DannyBoy from the forum ponders whether Tottenham's failings are part and parcel of what Spurs are and where they are from.
The Tottenham DNA
Is it possible that a club, an inanimate object can have a DNA structure? It seems that of all the clubs in the Premier League, and the hundred preceding years before that if one club does, it has to be Tottenham Hotspur. This is far from being a ‘we’re doomed, doomed’ thought, we are relatively successful and have half a season left where we can still win three trophies, and with the right appointment, challenge for the league.
I know that seems highly unlikely, and I wouldn’t want anyone to think I am saying we will challenge for the title, but we have excellent players, and with the right management, we could make up the eight point difference.
However, something holds us back time and again. There are very few clubs who can claim to have had the drama that has circled our club in recent years. From being demoted in favour of Woolwich all those years ago, to our many and varied ways of failing to achieve Champions League football and the multiple changes of managers and false dawns.
There seems an almost inherent desire within the fabric of the club to make life awkward for ourselves, almost as if no joy can be had from simply winning. It has to come with a massive side helping of drama.
There are of course other aspects of our DNA, the way we like our football played. Few managers have been able to win the fans over with their brand of football, and many have tried be it Gerry Francis, George Graham or Andre Villas-Boas.
[authquoteleft text=”There are very few clubs who can claim to have had the drama that has circled our club in recent years[/linequote]
There is also the successes which have largely alluded us over the past thirty years. Our golden period is a distant memory to some, to others it is what they can only read about. Over the last thirty years we have lost finals to Coventry, Manchester United, Blackburn, and semi-finals, so many semi-finals (7 semi-finals since 1991). There was once a time when Spurs were unbeatable at Wembley.
I wonder if there is something within the club that has changed from the days we expected to compete for the FA Cup, where we won three European trophies, which is why we have to bring in a manager like Fabio Capello, someone who, domestically knows exactly what is required to remove that psychological block, install in these players the idea that they can win, and win whilst playing attractive, exciting football.
There are of course more strands to our DNA, one of those strands being the supporters. It has been well documented that the atmosphere has been affected. On Sunday it was the worst I have known it for some time. The crowd was tense, infighting was rife and there was a such a poisonous vibe that I wondered why certain people even bother to turn up.
[linequote]On Sunday against Liverpool it was the worst I have known it for some time[/linequote]
There is a myth that Tottenham fans want success and aren’t prepared to support the team when things get rough, and some think there is a God given right to be considered a big club. However, no one I know thinks like this.
Yes we crave success, we want to see good football, and are prepared in many instances to forego the success in place of entertainment but I don’t know any Spurs fan my age or younger who has known us to be a better side than our 1987 vintage . Our expectations aren’t set high, our hopes are.
Another strand is the players. We have been delivered players of infinite creativity, flair and substance; David Ginola, Paul Gascoigne, Dimitar Berbatov, Gareth Bale, Ledley King, Teddy Sheringham, Darren Anderton, Jurgen Klinsmann, Rafa Van der Vaart, Robbie Keane, Jermain Defoe, Michael Carrick – that is just a sample of the last fifteen years but our success with these players has been limited. In some cases non-existent. This is our issue, no matter the talent, we still fail.
So what of our current players?
It’s difficult to understand what someone is made of without first seeing them in adversity, and whilst it would be daytime soap opera standard drama to suggest we are in a crisis, there are questions of the players that remain unanswered.
[authquoteright text=”Our expectations aren’t set high, our hopes are[/linequote]
If the players would like to be part of the new fabric at Tottenham Hotspur, be part of a new and improved DNA, then I hope it starts against West Ham and continues into the Christmas period and beyond. The upper echelons of the Premier League have seldom seemed so accessible and these opportunities won’t continue to present themselves.
Failing that, if the opposition have to score five or six, it would be appreciated if we could at least score three, please!
[author name=”DannyBoy” avatar=”https://www.thefightingcock.co.uk/forum/data/avatars/m/0/834.jpg?1349868493″ twitter=”” website=”” tag=”DannyBoy[/linequote]
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4 Comments
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18/12/2013 @ 2:56 pm
Enjoyed the article , been wondering the same thing. But i suppose fans of clubs that fight relegation battles would call us spoiled brats for not only wanting to win , but preferably wanting to win and be entertained.
hope is poison and that poison is being spread amongst the stands apparantly, lets hope that changes soon enough.
19/12/2013 @ 4:28 pm
for ever in our shadow
19/12/2013 @ 4:55 pm
Forever is all one word Mark. Just saying’…
19/12/2013 @ 4:55 pm
Finding, and then sustaining a winning formula in any kind of team sport is akin to alchemy. Success, especially on a regular basis is so elusive and dependent on a host of variables. Money, of course, is the most influential of these variables. What had City and Chelsea ever truly achieved prior to their limitless pipelines of cash? Where would Madrid, Barca, Juve, Bayern, and lately PSG be without their economic might? Even United, who’ve dipped in form on the field, are such a worldwide brand that money remains no object. So if some astronomically wealthy Sultan decided Spurs was his new toy, we’d be just like City and Chelsea.
But there are so many other variables, aren’t there? Having above average players, depth of squad, the right manager and coaches, the right system and tactics, team chemistry, and a healthy dose of luck sometimes. Everton and Liverpool don’t have buckets and buckets of cash, but they sure have those other intangibles at the moment, and who would bet against them? Look at the teams City and Chelsea have lost to this season. Money isn’t the cure all.
Liverpool’s famed dynasty of the 70s and 80s was dependent on most of the variables coming together over a sustained period. The same applies to United’s PL dominance. Wenger was a successful alchemist who oversaw some devastating Arsenal teams, but those variables have not aligned again in almost a decade.
Since our double winning years, we’ve had our fair share of alchemy (the 80s in particular), and more recently the teams under Redknapp. But it hasn’t lasted because the variables changed. Reaching the fabled promised land of the Champion’s League is hard to give up again so quickly. But the variables changed, and so did our cycle of success.
I think the current reality is less about DNA, and much more about the non-money related variables being in complete flux. That it has come so quickly on the heels of quite a few years when the alchemy was right, with a potential period of sustainability looking likely, is all the more jarring to the fan base.
It will get worse before it gets better. It may not be for awhile before the requisite variables start to align again. Unless, of course, a gazillionaire decides the term Yid Army has a ring to it; then the timeframe may get somewhat shorter..