The last 24 months have been a painful ride for Spurs fans. Legends and managers have departed, smoke bombs thrown, Y-words banned and defeats to local rivals have left us a fractured bunch. We must unite, even if it's under Tim Sherwood, Spurs are bigger than one man.
Shattered Spurs
I must have missed something or someone must have spiked my beer with Valium. There was no angry reaction or growling, even the sight of Theo Walcott being paraded round on a litter like Joffrey Baratheon couldn’t raise my temper. This was the North London derby, this was meant to mean something, yet there I stood amongst other Spurs fans feeling rather hollow.
What exactly had happened? Was this just a month of over spending and over drinking culminating with a tepid footballing display dulling me? Or was this something deeper?
Losing a game, any game hurts, but when it’s to them lot, it is meant to hurt more. All of us are meant to suffer, we suffer and we rejoice together yet something has happened to us. We are broken, shattered and sprinkled across the smouldering land of social media.
We can’t agree on anything, we seem unable to push through our issues. Some hate the manager, others the board, others the players, whilst most just shake their heads at the scene they find themselves in. We cant even unite under the banner of hatred.
The New Year is meant to signal a shift in focus, a time to reaffirm our aims and start afresh but for many of us the wounds and scars received over the last 24 months have yet to heal. Each and every battle whether it be from tax trials, to selling a Croatian and Welshman or changing manager three times has hurt us and left scar tissue. Add to these major events the retiring of a legend, the Y-word, a smoke bomb and two defeats to relegation fodder in four months and you start to understand why we aren’t united.
[authquoteleft text=”We are broken, shattered and sprinkled across the smouldering land of social media[/linequote]
The murmurings, the disagreements which began at the start of AVB’s reign have multiplied to such a point where not even a game versus them could unite us.
The derby of Spurs against Arsenal defines football for many of us. Some of my favourite moments in football are intertwined with beating them, just as some of my worst football moments are defeats to Arsenal, but Saturday’s loss when balanced in the greater scheme of things meant very little. Winning or losing seems unimportant when for the most part we are at each others throats.
Reports from the Emirates had them not only out-playing us on the green stuff, but out-singing us, this is by far the worst thing I have heard since a man in a rain coat took a job at N17. They may claim to cast a shadow over us, but never before have they been able to claim silencing us, now they can.
Take a look around the Premier League, is there a club as fractured as ours?
Even when Spurs fans attempt to do something so simple as Singing for the Shirt, consternation comes from those who feel they aren’t invited. It’s a football club, it’s supporting, there is no invitation necessary, the only requirement is bring a bottle of clause free support. Have we really reached such a level of paranoia that we see enemies in our own support?
Newcastle’s issues with Joe Kinnear and Mike Ashley only served to unite them. At Man United they have lost four out of their last six home games, yet their faith in Sir Alex’s post-retirement plan remains, even Cardiff who sold their very soul refrain from squabbling amongst themselves.
Even Arsenal a club who were conceived in one place then lost their roots and squatted somewhere else have united under their Wenger In/Out/In/Out/In stance. Is it possible that these clubs boast a better ethos and football supporting ideal than us?
[linequote]Have we really reached such a level of paranoia that we see enemies in our own support?[/linequote]
So where do we go from here, how to we re-unite and is Tim Sherwood the right man to unite under?
For some even if Pep Guardiola had strolled into our club with Johan Cruyff tucked under one arm there would be dissenting factions. The only man who could possible lay claim to a large support would be Bill Nicholson, but even then some would consider him out of touch with modern football. The reality is that given the time of year, the fact a World Cup looms, our options were desperately short.
To go by Twitter it would seem we have appointed the devil’s caretaker, a man so backward in his football he was giving tactical advice to Arsenal before they even moved to north London. We have been regaled with stories of his Arsenal supporting past and how growing up in St Albans, a quiet little Roman town north of London made him: “love to see Arsenal do well.”
The stories have ranged from never wearing short sleeve shirts due to an Arsenal tattoo on his arm, to being a snake deep in AVB’s grass and having a lack of confidence in Franco Baldini’s players.
Personally I don’t care about any of this. The truth is since he stepped in there has been an improvement, however slight, it has been positive. We have scored some goals, seen Emmanuel Adebayor play like he cares about football, but most of all I can’t oppose Tim. I don’t have the energy, I don’t have the time and the heart to be anti-Spurs, anti-Sherwood or anti anything.
[authquoteright text=”To go by Twitter it would seem we have appointed the devil’s caretaker, a man so backward in his football he was giving tactical advice to Arsenal before they even moved to north London[/linequote]
This is the game we have invested in, the game that sucks time money and passion from us weekly, stop wasting any surplus energy on hating, criticising, it’s completely futile.
None of us have enough sway to convince anyone at the club to do anything. Support or shut up. It s a simple principle. Every contradicting voice, every snide tweet or “I told you so” does nothing but continue to fracture and split the support.
I would rather sit in a sea of StubHubbers than bear witness to bickering, tutting, groans and complaints that sweep White Hart Lane on occasions and flood social media land. We have Sherwood, yet we also have a host of good players. Let’s get back to supporting, lets try and mend this club from the outside, then perhaps those in the inside will take note.
[author name=”ARLombardi” avatar=”https://pbs.twimg.com/profile_images/378800000789662677/0ad5704c93624459c70b906dab544185_bigger.jpeg” bio=”I read, I write, I speak, I edit for The Fighting Cock” twitter=”ARLombardi[/linequote]
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11 Comments
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08/01/2014 @ 10:16 am
…bit harsh ins’t it?
08/01/2014 @ 10:35 am
We may as well all give up now!
If it’s that bad for you, please go and support Madrid.
Some of the drivel being written by supposed fans
of our Great Club is just embarrassing.
COYS.
08/01/2014 @ 10:46 am
Harsh? Nah.. Lets be honest even George Graham nevver copped as much stick as Dear Tim has had on social media. When Pep Guardiola had joined Barca to coach them, after his first game did they win the league? No. Did they instantly become the side everyone feared to play? No. Will we become that? I doubt it, but who knows.. OUr youth teams have won the under-21 leagues the under 19 league, done well in the european tournaments they have entered.. and produced some quite exciting play. The under-21’s especially were as a result of Tim’s direct involvement/management. Continuing the analogy with Pep. He never managed before Barca. He managed their B-Team successfully before for a year. Similar to Tim with our under-21’s. He Lost his second game in the Champions league 1-0 to a random Polish outfit and got beaten in his first game of la liga by a newly promoted side. He had a pre-season to work with and Lionel Messi. I am willing to get behind Tim, because he may well turn out to be our Pep. He could also crash and burn, but which would I like to see more? I know I don’t hate Tim Sherwood so why do/would I want him to fail?
08/01/2014 @ 10:53 am
I go to WHL to support the players on the pitch to win (if possible). It seems the fans expectation level of where we are DEMANDS we win every game. Whether Sherwood is right for the job or not will become clear in the next year. My expectation level has been put on hold as this season may well be written off now for achieving the pre-season goals with AVB sacking. I really thought that a different way of playing to win (high press etc) was to bear fruit and could have stuck with it. The only games we forgot to do this or made stupid mistakes we got hammered. Prior to that we WERE winning games too. Oh well, back to square one as two steps forward and two steps back leaves the jury still out on where we want to/should be. (cross out where applicable depending on expectation level)
08/01/2014 @ 11:20 am
Pretty much as I would have written it. I’m not hugely into computers the way some of you guys are so it’s easier for me but I’m telling you now – move away from social media and back into real life and you will all enjoy the club more. You are never told how to support and you are rarely frustrated by the moaning because you don’t hear (read) it. Talking about Spurs online is an addiction like any other, you get used to it, it becomes a way of life – I got heavily sucked into it for a few years but I realised I was losing the love for football bbecause it forces you to take things to seriously. You find yourself defending you position constantly and then getting sucked into arguments with strangers over how a decision will pan out when neither of you know.. I read articles on certain sites… this and Dear Mr Levy basically have my exclusive attention. Spurs fans bar a few have been deleted from twitter and despite the turmoil… I’ve never been happier in my support of Spurs. Outside of social media I can assure you the support isn’t that fragmented… people disagree etc but that’s football and that’s opinions, only online does it spill over. Try it, cold turkey… you won’t regret it!
08/01/2014 @ 11:40 am
Strange season. We have just won 3 and drawn 1 league game, including victories away at Southampton and Man United. We have the equal best away record in the league. we are only 8 pts behind the leaders and 2 pts behind 4th place and there is depth in our squad. Will everyone stop moaning and start cheering. COYS
08/01/2014 @ 12:18 pm
I’ve seen it all (apart from relegation) and the ups and down of this great club will never change. What the author and a lot of people forget that before Martin Jol we were a mid-table Premier League. Still playing the football we like to see. For the last few years since we compete to qualify for the Champions League. Yes we have failed but I’d rather fail and finish 5th than finish mid-table again. Once again we’re competing for it and only 8 points of the top. We’re playing the attacking football again and I have high hopes for the rest of the season.
This piece of writing complains about the negativity of the fans by being negative and not actually trying to look at things positive. It gets that bad when we’re worse of than Man Utd. PMSFL. If you know the author please remove any rope or sharp objects from around him.
08/01/2014 @ 12:37 pm
having to type with my face, locked up tight in a straight jacket.
08/01/2014 @ 2:01 pm
We’ve got a trigger-happy chairman who seriously suffers from little-man syndrome and this unfortunately emanates onto the club. Also our over-obsession about finishing above Arsenal is killing us. We’re a bit like an X-Factor contestant who’s told they’re not going through to the next round and collapsing in tears. It’s alright, it ain’t that bad, stop being over-dramatic you knob! I too am also of the opinion that many fans would rather finish 14th with the Arse finishing 15th, than finishing 4th with the arse finishing 3rd. That’s the problem. Arsenal feel like they are Mike Tyson to our Michael Spinks (gotta know your boxing to get this) in that despite Spinks being Champion and defeating all before him, he had an inferiority complex about facing Tyson and barely threw a punch. In our 2 games this season, despite both times facing the arse after despatching all before on a winning run, we barely had a shot. We didnt throw a punch. And this is where the little-man syndrome kicks in and transmits it venomous hate. Arsenal are like a bad driver in front of us that we are trying to overtake but all we have is road rage. We need to take a chill pill.
08/01/2014 @ 3:53 pm
At least let’s give Tim a bit of time to see how we perform when we have everybody fit. Don’t forget who’s missing, Sandro, Verts, Paulinho, Kaboul and so on. What team wouldn’t miss these type of players? Add to that a bit of settling in of the likes of Lamela, Capoue, Erickson, Soldado etc. and we STILL have a very good squad. Lennon’s back, Ade is back, Rose is back, Dembele is playing well, we have good young players like Bentaleb coming through, let’s be positive, it’s NOT all doom and gloom. We’re not the finished article but neither are we relying on the brilliance of one Welshman. We have a great goalkeeper, a lot of teams would love Walker at right back Chiriches is improving game by game as he picks up the pace of the PL, Dawson may not be the quickest but what spirit he has, many a centre half has done well with his qualities. Defoe, if he stays will score, given the chance and let’s not forget Townsend, he was England’s next big thing a few weeks ago. He’s still very good. Wake up! we ARE NOT that bad, we’ve just changed direction from a playing system that clearly wasn’t entertaining and was being found out.
08/01/2014 @ 10:42 pm
great article couldnt have said it better myself. Bale going …end of the world… sign 7 players and break our transfer record twice.. excited .. loads of possesion stats ..positive signs …no goals…concerned that its not the spurs we love.. cannot win at home to supposedly worse sides then us .. worrying.. hammered by city .. not the sign of a team who have a chance of the top four… injuries..concern…. beaten by a very poor west ham side TWICE!! — Unacceptable.. Liverpool hammering at home – embarrassing and starting to feel like we are never going to be a big club and knock the smug gooners of their over arrogant perch!! beaten by the scum in red and white — felt numb but not with anger. Levy has appointed 9 managers !! what does that say about his decision making??? shocking but anyway Great article and i will always love and get behind spurs so nothing that happens will make me change that. COYS