Tantric Hotspur

It is a funny thing being a Spurs fan but demanding instant gratification. There is nothing in our recent history that suggests those that want it now, are suited to a club that lives gloriously and beautiful for the moment that is about to come.

Our history, which has moments that have progressed beyond just belonging to Spurs fans, unfortunately is only speckled with such occasions. This evidence should be enough to turn the “instant generation” away from us and towards those teams more suited to this modern football phenomena.

I am not sat here in the lotus position preaching to you as some tantric football nut who takes joy from delaying the release, trust me I would love Spurs to bust glory over everything and everyone, however, nearly three decades of supporting Spurs has taught me that it probably won’t happen tomorrow, or the next day. It’s not to say that there can’t be fleeting moments of glory, but sustained multiple ripples of sheer ecstasy is highly unlikely, and eventually would be rather boring.

[linequote]I would love Spurs to bust glory over everything and everyone, however, nearly three decades of supporting Spurs has taught me that it probably won’t happen tomorrow, or the next day[/linequote]

Cast your eyes across the Premier League at Man United, they are like a small dog that has been used to humping everyone’s leg but has just been kicked loose but it hasn’t noticed. The inertia has taken hold and the realisation that they are stumbling about humping thin air has yet to settle on them, it is a feeling that Liverpool know well. Their fans are still in the vomiting cold turkey sweats 20 years since their last hit. Sustained glory is rare or as certain Directors in Italy might whisper to you, only possible with intimate associations with referees.

Therefore why do we get so upset when we aren’t rewarded instantly?

For the last decade or so each manager who has arrived, perhaps indirectly, has promised to herald a new era. They have either flapped a tube ticket, unbeknown that the Oyster Card was around the corner, or splashed £80m plus on footballers with exceptional YouTube reels. They may have had different approaches but the message was the same. Tomorrow is our day. As fans we soaked it up, why wouldn’t we? I am starving for a title.

The only manager that didn’t promise us tomorrow, actually gave us today. Harry Redknapp, the least fashionable and football intelligent man ENIC has employed did something magical, probably by chance. He was given a fantastic squad and on occasions he made it sing and twirl through the air like a happy Skylark. There were moments were he delivered intravenously sheer ecstasy to all of us, but it was doomed. He hadn’t built it, like Richard Attenborough in Jurassic Park, he hadn’t earned the knowledge, it landed on his lap. All he did was dress it up, put on a show and invite us to peer through the bars, before the Champions League embossed beast burst through and ripped our heads off.

That one year has tainted us. We got what the Yin we wanted, now we are shacked up in a nicotine stained walled bedsit with the miserable Yang. Did this one year change us? Or did it alter our perception? Did we fall for the haute cuisine so hard that a night in the Europa League is an evening in Nando’s?

Demanding the club delivers isn’t the issue. I demand that the club plays good football, treats us well and at least shows us a semblance of a plan, what I will not foster upon them is the stranglehold of expectation. There are no guarantees in life, there are even less in football. The variables are countless, essentially you are throwing 11 men on to a pitch from different parts of the world, different levels of intelligence and ability then asking them to play against another 11 men, with an inanimate object the focus of their attention. Then throw in changes of managers every few years, a playing staff in constant upheaval, and you expect instant glory?

An unsatisfied football fan is something that has existed since the ball was first kicked with purpose. Only one team can ever win and money isn’t the answer. All it does is offer you a wider scope to buy players, something we have been scalded by many times. Manchester City have thrown over a billion pounds at European football and walked away with two league titles and two domestic cups since Sheikh Mansour arrived in September 2008.

[fullquote]The variables are countless, essentially you are throwing 11 men on to a pitch from different parts of the world, different levels of intelligence and ability then asking them to play against another 11 men, with an inanimate object the focus of their attention[/fullquote]

The footballing genius and man behind one of the most successful teams ever, Txiki Begiristain, is further proof that even the very best are throwing darts blindfolded. The former Spanish international has chucked £119m at the world since he arrived at City in 2012, and so far only the free signing of Martin Demichelis, a man Mauricio Pellegrini was already very aware of, can be considered a success.

Football is such an unpredictable sport that right now Harry Kane is the top scorer in the Premier League. He has more goals than Kun Aguero, Alexis Sanchez, Diego Costa and Radamel Falcao. This is enough evidence to make me think God exists and he loves to play with us. Our striker, the unfashionable Harry Kane is the toast of European football and you expect one man, Franco Baldini to predict exactly who will and wont be a success?

You honestly believe that money and loads of it is the answer to instant success?

Seba Veron, Hernan Crespo, Diego Forlan, Erik Lamela, Roberto Soldado, these are just light caress at the surface. You can not plan how signings will work out.

Let me repeat. Kane is the top goalscorer in the PL. You see the ridiculousness of the situation? You see what forces Spurs are up against?

There is only one remedy to this situation. Focus internally, trust not in the money but in the system and the new batch of employees at the wheel. Barcelona’s recent glory came from their academy, AC Milan’s great side in the late 80s was based on a home-grown, home taught spine. Kane the greatest revelation in English football for quite some time was nurtured at home, why can’t the same happen again?

[linequote]You’ve been waiting X years, I’ve been waiting nearly 30, the club has been waiting 60+, what’s another 5 or so in the grand scheme of things? [/linequote]

I am not a youth expert, I will leave others such as WindyCOYS to predict who will follow, but for me it seems the only logical path, if anything at least it gives us players who are Spurs not airdropped in and told to look happy and care on Instagram.

However once again I will reiterate, I am not here to tell you how to support. Support is an incredibly unique thing, I can only offer my words of advice. Nor am I promising that a few years from this or another batch of youngsters will replicate the Class of 92. As I have already said, football, I’ll leave that to Windy. However in truth what have you go to lose?

You’ve been waiting X years, I’ve been waiting nearly 30, the club has been waiting 60+, what’s another 5 or so in the grand scheme of things? And if it doesn’t happen? What are you going to do? Flounce? Tweet? Go support someone else?

This club will outlast us all.