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Spurs Looney Tunes

5 min read
by ARLombardi
I should have learnt that hope is a dangerous emotion as a teenager when I was brutally blown out in a night club, but the older and "wiser" me continues to hope, especially when it comes to Spurs.

I would never go as far to say supporting Spurs is a curse, but occasionally I feel like a hex has been tattooed with a spear onto my forehead. Friday I was full of positivity. A 5-1 win over Sunderland, a glimpse that Lamela was alive and well, combined with some sunshine and it was like I had been taken back to August. It was on, everything was on. Hope had arrived. Hope and Spurs. Not the two best companions.

1135833_3483f505As Friday slipped into a warm evening by the Thames the Spurs supporters amongst us discussed how great this weekend could be. Spurs could close in on Arsenal, watch them lot lose an FA Cup semi and see Liverpool’s title tilt finally come off the tracks. None of these happened.

Instead 30 seconds into the West Brom we were one nil down again. I haven’t had my hopes crushed that quickly or badly since an evening I spent at Looney Tunes in Tufnell Park in my late teens.

Three girls and three boys sat around a table in a dark corner. As each of the girls offered themselves up to my mates, I had to sit and pick at the table as “mine” was clearly more engrossed in the ceiling. In the pre-mobile phone days, it was painful to sit there with nothing to do but watch your mates munching on their conquests face.

I racked my teenage brain for something witty, looking through my key skills of Championship Managers, hiding porn and stashing cigarettes in my sisters room, I managed one sentence: “They look like they are having fun.”

She stood up, magnificent in her tight fitting Green Day t-shirt and ripped jeans, gave me a look of complete disregard and left me alone with my two mates.

[linequote]Spurs could close in on Arsenal, watch them lot lose an FA Cup semi and see Liverpool’s title tilt finally come off the tracks. None of these happened[/linequote]

I would like to say like Spurs I regained some dignity, but downing three shots of brandy then “Liam Gallagher” striding across the dance floor to body pop in her eye line during Rockafeller Skank didn’t work. I had some hope, probably Martell sponsored hope, but I had it, hope has tortured me most of my life.

The West Brom game continued rather like my night out, from a mild irritant to full on embarrassment. Three nil down. A Romanian captain roasted by Sessegnon, Danny Rose imploding, Kyle Naughton drowning and Emmanuel Adebayor fluffing from the spot. If there had been a cubicle on the pitch, Spurs would have been in there vomiting all over their Reebok Classics, whilst a bouncer tried to pick the lock.

It seems we are unable to function, especially post AVB unless we are behind. Only when the shame is close to unbearable, or the comfort of accepting our fate comes to rest on us, do we start to play. Unfortunately against most teams its too late, however as we showed against Sunderland and now West Brom, despite the chaos or lack of organisation we have individuals capable of scoring their way out of trouble against opposition.

One of those individuals is Harry Kane, a player who despite only being 20 seems to have been at Spurs for a decade. I remember the first time I saw him play at a Under-21 game at Underhill at the start of Redknapp’s last season. I was unable to see past his physical size and lumbering nature. At the time we had a supremely quick counter attacking team, a player of his style seemed unnecessary, but as our general play has slowed, it has come towards a man of his stature.

[linequote]Only when the shame is close to unbearable, or the comfort of accepting our fate comes to rest on us, do we start to play[/linequote]

He has shown himself to have good movement, a decent touch, vision but most importantly a quickness of thought. When teams fill the space, physical pace is pointless, it’s about quickness of thought. This is where Kane shines. I am not going  to pretend he is the answer, but two goals in two starts means he deserves at least the 3rd striker role at Spurs for next season.

Elsewhere in the team, despite being rather inadvisably compared to Dennis Bergkamp, our Danish playmaker Christian Eriksen continued his good form. It has been said once or twice already, but he is the player around which our next manager needs to build. What has become crystal clear is that man won’t be Sherwood.

Our former player now manager has split opinions, and not always two flattering opinions since he took over from AVB. Personally I am tired of having to wheel out the following sentence:

“I wanted it to work, not for a love of Sherwood, but because I wanted it to work for Spurs.”

I didn’t and don’t care who the manager is if we win. I have watched enough sport and football in my life to know a pure virgin white victory is rare. You can never be totally happy unless you supported Barca circa 2009, or the great Dutch team of the mid to late 70s.

[linequote]I look at the table and see Liverpool on course for a title, I start to wonder what if we had given one of our 13 managers some backing?[/linequote]

In F1 I support Ferrari and I don’t care who sits behind the wheel, the team is what matters most. This is how it is with Spurs. Of course I want a manager that can unite us and unite the clans, but in a world where every troll has a Twitter account, this will never happen. Harmony is a myth. I just want three points and the hope of achieving something.

Like many I have come to terms with the fact it will be an another case of upheaval this summer, and as I look at the table and see Liverpool on course for a title, I start to wonder “What if we had given one of our 13 managers some backing?

However time travel is impossible. If it was I would have revisited the teeny bopper girl in the Green Day shirt by now and perhaps said something witty, although even 15 years later, my mind still draws a blank.

Something’s are meant to be. Hope will inevitably fall to the thrust of reality, yet I will continue to hope when it comes to Spurs. I have no choice.

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.

ARLombardi

I read, I write, I speak, I edit for The Fighting Cock

6 Comments

  1. Keano
    14/04/2014 @ 5:40 pm

    Good article
    Maybe Spurs are cursed, maybe not cause Everton and Newcastle should be the company we keep not Chelsea and Arsenal.
    Levy on the other hand, is definitely in over his head, if he had invested in January as well as Summer we would be perennial 4th place contenders. Instead we are 4th place pretenders.
    Next year, with the lack of Europa League distraction, we will fight for a top 4 spot and some silverware.
    Hopefully we will miss out on the Europa League, which has killed us the last 3 years.
    If not, Tottenham will only be good in FIFA Manager Mode

  2. Spurgatso
    14/04/2014 @ 8:55 pm

    What if we had given one of our 13 managers some backing,that is the problem with Spurs noboby is ever good enough for our so called fans,If they stopped f######g moaning and supported we might get somewhere.Would you feel like giving 100% when all that happens is your called every kind of name imaginable and then expected to play your heart out,I wouldnt and they wont.

    • TMWNN
      14/04/2014 @ 9:13 pm

      So it’s the fans’ fault is it? What a ridiculous argument! Do you think the players give a monkey’s what you (especially you) or some other mug thinks? As long as they are getting their money they couldn’t give a flying fuck about the fans. Only the fans care, the rest (chairmen, players, managers, TV companies) are in it for the money. Stop talking out your arse and blaming our brilliant success starved fans, wise up and start pointing the finger at the real problem; Daniel ‘penny pinching piss pot’ Levy.

  3. Irishyid
    15/04/2014 @ 7:14 am

    Great article mate, I also think sometimes we are cursed. Looking on at Liverpool on Sunday, the passion shown by the team and the togetherness of the fans, I felt like that should be us. I really think it comes down to backing your manager, everyone at the club needs to be behind him, there can be no division, from the boardroom to the terraces. If Levy continues to undermine our managers we will never get anywhere, I sometimes think that no manager will ever get on with him, and here lies our dilemma, who do we back Levy or the manager. Personnally I have backed every manager that comes in, and I think Levy is a great chairman, but it can’t go on like this, something or someone has to change. COYS

  4. Tom
    15/04/2014 @ 8:20 am

    Why the picture of the Boston Arms (aka massive gooner pub)?

    Did I miss something in the article?

  5. The Whale
    15/04/2014 @ 10:05 am

    I don’t entirely get this “back the manager” stuff and I certainly don’t think the fans have actively gone after any manager since the Goonersaurus. They’ve been lukewarm about a few but then looking at it you can’t really blame them.

    Looking at every manager appointed by ENIC: have there really been any of whom it can be unequivocally said: “They were the right man”? Just because you leave somebody in their job, it doesn’t mean they are the right person for that job. We could have persevered with Ramos for example. Would that have been the right decision? By the logic of this argument, it would have been but I am not so sure, given what happened subsequently.

    Sometimes you just have to get lucky when it comes to appointing the right man. Admittedly judgement comes into it as well and Levy’s backed a fair few losers over the years.

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