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We are Spurs

4 min read
by Peter Madden
Perhaps in the aftermath of losing at the Ethidad for the fourth successive time, it's time to take stock and think about what it is each of us looks for in our team. Pete makes his début and discusses what is glorious about Spurs for him.

‘The game is about Glory’ I’ve often wondered what that sentence means and its changing meaning in regards to the modern game. The days of building teams from the bottom up, long term managers, teams full of young English players winning championships appear to to be gone (although the exceptions are perhaps remarkable) and what is left is those who go biggest do the best.

Teams supported by moralistically bankrupt super owners smashing their way through years of tradition and support at a chance of getting your hands on a few kilos of silverware. Do we want to be a part of that system, do we really want ‘success’, Champions League if finally finishing above Arsenal meant alienating a loyal base of fans, is that really success?

To quote The Wire.: ‘The Game is the game‘ perhaps we have to resign ourselves to the fact that to be a part of modern football we have to slightly throw aside our morals, re-mortgage the house focus on what is important, whatever that is, or maybe we can support our ‘Club’ whilst still retaining some sense of the moral high ground.

[linequote]I might go and watch a League 2 or non-league team or whoever but I would never support them as passionately as I do Tottenham[/linequote]

About 10 years ago I was living in Manchester and going to university as FC United started, many long term fans, season ticket holders, those who couldn’t afford and everything in-between were getting disgruntled with life at Old Trafford and FC United was born. I studied social enterprise at uni and our class was invited out to see FC United at Gigg Lane in Bury for a home game against someone I can’t remember (what I do remember is not watching that game at all as Tottenham were playing Arsenal and we drew 4-4 unbelievable!)

We had a guided tour from someone on the board, a peak into the dressing room, were well looked after basically and I began to wonder even then when things at Tottenham weren’t so bad, whether this was the way forward, cheap tickets, happy fans, clubs built by the fans, for the fans, owned by the fans. What I was even more surprised at is that many fans both still supported Manchester United and FC United in equal measure although FC United was the incarnation that they watched on a regular basis. FC United even commented that attendance went down when games clashed with Man U.

This provided some interesting question, firstly can you switch team? I’m pretty sure it’s not possible but can you? Can you both be a Man United Fan and FC United Fan (or for us potentially Hotspur FC and Tottenham Hotspur FC).

The conclusion I have come to is that you can’t change your team, if I stopped watching/actively supporting Tottenham I might go and watch a League 2 or non-league team or whoever but I would never support them as passionately as I do Tottenham. 1882 is a great example of fans supporting not so much the club but those who represent the shirt whether it be u18’s, reserves, first team etc Hotspur FC would be no less or no more ‘Tottenham Hotspur’ but just a different incarnation.

It would allow those who have been marginalised by ticket prices and the Premier League to have a community of like-minded people that they could be apart of every week whilst still perhaps still popping down for the odd Europa League game on a Thursday night for a dose of 1882, success wouldn’t be important this ‘Hotspur FC’ might never make it to the football league indeed FC United haven’t made it to the Football League currently and may never do, but a group of fans are very happy to watch them on a regular basis.

[linequote]It’s about having a group of players, staff and fans who understand what it means to be a part of this massive community[/linequote]

The rumours that I have heard say that the things like the 39th game is just a matter of time. So if we are unhappy about the way things are going do we begin to act now and perhaps put in place something that would stop this? This doesn’t necessarily mean a new team but maybe a group of fans buy a stake in the club to have a say in its future.

Going back to the phrase ‘The Game is about Glory’ I think personally for me, it isn’t about being in the Premier League, finishing 4th or even winning silverware. It’s about having a group of players, staff and fans who understand what it means to be a part of this massive community, wearing the shirt with passion, representing even when things are bad, playing every game like its a cup final and playing like its the last game you ever have. That for me is glorious.

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.

Peter Madden

Spurs fan, youth worker, ginger.

3 Comments

  1. mdspursfan
    20/10/2014 @ 5:16 pm

    Reads like a two year old wrote this. Horrible grammer. Could barely understand your run-on sentences. Better go back to university.

  2. pete
    20/10/2014 @ 6:42 pm

    yeah cheers my grammar is terrible, there was an apology at the end, when i originally sent it, hope u look past the poorly written article and find the sentiment.

  3. Matt Niner
    22/10/2014 @ 12:34 pm

    Interesting article and I understand where you are coming from, I’ve spent the last few years not really being able to go to many Spurs games so I used to tag along with some mates to see Leyton Orient, I enjoyed it, I even found myself cheering them on but it’s more just because I wanted to see some football. I still follow their scores but nothing compares to the love for Spurs!

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