Skip to content

Just be proud

4 min read
by Editor
Supporting your team has changed a bit over the years but things aren't all bad according to FatherJack.

utsSupporting your football team and even Tottenham used to so much easier in the past. If we had a bad result at the weekend, then the worst you faced was a bit of stick at school or work, which was soon forgotten by lunchtime. You had the opportunity to get your views across or argue without aggression. You could take the bad with the good and those 6-0 losses seemed easier to take (Sheffield United at Bramall lane 1993).

Then the digital revolution arrived with this internet thing and along came social media & football forums. No longer was your humiliation kept to a few friends or colleagues but now 1000s of fans scattered around the world hiding behind their keyboards. You are now desperate for success to stop the laughing and insults. You need titles or challenges just to shut them up. Top 4 and Champions League football to rub it in their faces. As fans of the same team you will always stick together but not any more as the battles seem to include your own fans as well.

[linequote]No longer was your humiliation kept to a few friends or colleagues but now 1000s of fans scattered around the world hiding behind their keyboards.[/linequote]Thanks to the internet, it seems the pressure of supporting Tottenham in this modern age has become so hard that many people are struggling. Just remember, you will never shut people up no matter how well Tottenham do. Win the treble and there will still be a fan somewhere, in the corner of the world, laughing and finding reasons to mock us. Hell, even on St Totteringham Day, I still find pleasure in mocking fans of those Woolwich Wanderers.

Many Spurs fans would have you believe this is the worst season in living memory. I can understand this from recent supporters starting their journey (welcome to the roller coaster) but many blogs and articles are from seasoned fans who have been here for decades. I’ve been a fan since the 80s and boy have I seen the ups & downs and nothing surprises me any more. I’ve seen awful managers come and go as well as good ones. There have been quite an awful lot of players come in and fail miserably to shine for us. There has always been good and even great players down the years leaving the club. My heart still weeps when Chris Waddle moved to France.

I don’t recall titles, top 4 finishes and many a Champions League night before ENIC took a majority share hold in the club in 2003 and Daniel Levy became our chairman. I seem to recall that before 2003, our Premier League record was very average with finishes around 10th and a rare away win. So where has the hate come from? I saw one guy on Facebook claim Levy is running the club into the ground.

[linequote]Many Spurs fans would have you believe this is the worst season in living memory.[/linequote]We have been moving forward as a club and yes the occasional step backwards. Every season I look at a top 4 being a reality and the faint hopes of a title challenge (although that one seems far fetched at the moment). We’ve done it twice and a couple of 5th places. Not something I thought possible 10 years ago. Mistakes have been made but this has been happening for years, bad managers and players coming in. You can never really tell how well someone will do, no matter how good they look on paper. The people who believe that Sherwood is crap and that Levy should leave are welcome to have their opinion and can probably come up with a decent argument. However, there are too many acting like sheep, having to be told what their opinion on Spurs should be.

This season has had many bad moments; those thrashings against the top three teams, not being able to find the net, our defenders pretending to play for the other team… and how the hell do you lose 3-0 to West Ham at home?! But there have been positives. Our away form, not losing to Man Utd, making Arsenal park the bus at the Lane and look quite ordinary, actually scoring again and being able to turn defeat into a win. I’ve seen worse in my time and I’m sure I will see bad things in the future but I’m still confident that we will have plenty to cheer about in the seasons to come.

So folks, try not to pay too much attention to the tweets & Facebook updates. Don’t be sucked into the hype Sky throw at us. No matter what Tottenham do, they will always be there – hiring bad managers and signing poor players.

Just be proud to be Spurs, you’ll enjoy it so much more.

All views and opinions expressed in this article are the views and opinions of the writer and do not necessarily represent the views of The Fighting Cock. We offer a platform for fans to commit their views to text and voice their thoughts. Football is a passionate game and as long as the views stay within the parameters of what is acceptable, we encourage people to write, get involved and share their thoughts on the mighty Tottenham Hotspur.

9 Comments

  1. Andy Jarvis
    29/04/2014 @ 6:05 pm

    I’ll always be tottenham till I die no matter what and like you have witnessed some tripe over the years and still come back for more and more. Supporting spurs is a drug and at times a rather unhealthy addiction. I personally don’t like levy but I won’t start another free for all on that subject. One thing you say which is very true is all the forums that are around nowadays. If you read all the comments you somehow can be sucked into believing all the rumours and conjecture are true and believe those opinions are reflective of all spurs fans when in reality it’s a very small proportion. My dad always told me never believe any player signings or managerial appointments until you’re at the lane and see them either wearing the shirt or on the touch line barking out orders and he’s right but the media shapes peoples opinions without a lot of facts to back it up but it gets us all talking. Here’s to next season and that hope we’ll be fighting for trophies not amongst ourselves!! After all we’re all Tottenham till we die aren’t we!!!!

  2. Keano
    29/04/2014 @ 6:19 pm

    Levy has a business model for Tottenham that supersedes any football model. He is inept and only invests in the summer, which cost us a top spot the last three years although Remy, Sturridge, Ba, and Damaio were all within reach.
    And then to make matters worse he gets his head turned too easily and sells our best players, which is just too much.
    The 100 million dollar transfer debacle hopefully will be redeemed soon by getting us some much needed managerial stability.
    Next season is going to be a good one!!!!

  3. dan
    29/04/2014 @ 6:20 pm

    I have to totally agree with your main point.
    Some times I wonder which “Tottenham Hotspurs” some so called fans follow? It cant be the same one I have loved and cried with all my live.
    Look at our stadium, budget, history, international appeal compared to City, Chelsea, Arsenal, ManU or Liverpool. 4Th 5th and 6th place this year, possibly equalling our points record so so bad?
    Maybe if you are just a fan since our the Champion league stunt but not if you have been round the roller coaster a few times.

    By this I’m not saying football has been great this year but we have great potential all round and things are still on the upward trend. Ups and downs happen but 72 points for Spurs wouldn’t be a write-off.

  4. Scott Bradley
    29/04/2014 @ 6:57 pm

    You must be around the same age as me(36), I too started supporting Spurs in the 80’s(not my choice either dads fault it could have been worse West Ham maybe) and Until 91 we always had a good team and at least 2 world class players in the team and frequently finished in the top 4, I was lucky enough to stand on the Paxton for every home game from 84 untill whenever we got seating and the teams we had were amazing, not just Waddle but losing Hoddle and Ardiles was awful too as well Gazza in 91 and Lineker a year later but since then we have not been a top team in the country and we are not anywhere near it now although when Martin Jol took over we started heading in the right direction and started to test the bigger teams after years of not beating any of them, we invested money in youth and become a stepping stone for players for the other top teams in europe, if they do well for us they generally go to bigger clubs and smash it for them too. The point were at now is rebuilding losing Bale wasnt the biggest loss the season before we lost Modric, Van der vaart and King all at once 3 world class players, then Bale carried us as he continued to get better last year and now we have reinvested and started again more or less but we are still gonna finish with around 70 points without really playing well at all( I would have eaten my left foot for that in the early 0’s and most of the 90’s.), we have loads of potential to get better and without really playing well were not that far away from the others and our players will all progress for another year so the future is certainly better then what I had to through in that 93 season I too was there to watch that dross and the thumping by Leeds not long before that, so those Spurs fans that are new to this thing yourself lucky.

  5. Jay
    29/04/2014 @ 7:54 pm

    The disappointments come from the fans ridiculous assertions as to who we are. My dad can remember when we were truly a big club – the 60’s. since then. we’ve always been ‘just’ a cup side. The title-chasing seasons from since the 60’s are almost non existent despite often having the best player in the country – Gazza, Lineker, Bale…

    But our fans have become vitriolic monsters with an obsession to better Arsenal (the hate at these matches is almost unbearable now) and a complete delusion that we have a right to be in the Champions League.

    But this season we have been appalling mismanaged, and we will go down in history as the only team to spunk over £106m and not finish in the Top 5. This is a disgrace and lies entirely with Baldini and Levy. We all know AVB wanted the likes of Moutinho above all others. He may have agreed to the signing of Lamella but he would never have purchased a young prospect for £30m if he had the option to spend the money elsewhere. This was all Baldini and how he has a job with the signings he sanctioned is astounding!

    I’m not hopeful for next season. I can see an increased exodus and an influx of new signings again. It will take until xmas for that group to form a team again, and that will be too late.

    So stability is the key. Bring in a top manager and let him do his job for a minimum of 3 years.
    Stop the obsession with Arsenal because it just makes their victories more sweeter.
    And feel a little pride when Bale wins the Champion Lge next month.

  6. Andy Jarvis
    29/04/2014 @ 9:05 pm

    I stand up cos I love tottenham!! It’s not just a spurs thing a lot of clubs supporters seem to take more pride in their rivals losing than their own team winning and that really is quite sad although I will admit the woolwich wanderers and chelscum losing is amusing! I think some fans are full of vitriol but as I’ve said previously because of forums and some people’s opinions it’s got to the stage where people really do think that the negative views are the norm and these in reality are a minority compared to the fan base we have. I really do hope that whoever the next man in is given time because as big chic said recently it isn’t good to keep changing manager. Whether levy will let that happen is a different story. On a positive note our under 18’s have won the southern section premier league today beating chelscum at cobham 7-2. The future’s lillywhite. Tottenham till I die!!!

    • Andy Jarvis
      29/04/2014 @ 9:06 pm

      For big chic read big chiv!! Bloody predictive text!!!

  7. what?
    29/04/2014 @ 9:50 pm

    Losing 1-0 at home to arsenal was one of the positives moments of the season?

    • FatherJack
      30/04/2014 @ 11:29 am

      Off course, I love losing to the Woolwich Wanderers, doesn’t anyone else?

      The point I was trying to make was that in recent times, when we lose to them it’s been bad ones, it was nice to dominate them for 90 odd minutes and make them look ordinary. With our results against the top four 1-0 made a change (even the 1-1 against Chelsea, we were lucky to get a draw). Still hurt losing.

Would you like to write for The Fighting Cock?