A plastic fan’s first season

I am new to this football club; a virgin of the lillywhite fist. The season past was my first exposure to the roller-coaster that is Tottenham Hotspur.

I made the choice to invest myself into every match-day, usually with a scarf around my neck in my living room at 2:00 in the morning with no one but my dog. Little did he (or I for that matter) know how much noise I would make, due to healthy doses of both sheer euphoria, and gut wrenching disappointment and pain. But after all, I learned slowly but surely, that’s what makes this football club special.

West Ham away; after that I was hooked. Two red cards, Noble’s wide penalty, Harry Kane’s inch perfect pass, and Dier’s assassin-like composure around the keeper, followed by a wild crowd and a pile of players at the corner post. All of which I remember with vivid detail. I didn’t even consider myself a fan at the time, but there I was, jumping around like a kid on Christmas morning. I’d fallen in love with Spurs.

The season progressed and I watched on. The demolition of QPR was followed up by three consecutive games of football that hurt. Dominated by Liverpool, a draw at Sunderland, and that loss to West Brom at home. I, as a new fan, was awfully confused and wondered what happened to that team I saw in the first two games? This wasn’t what I signed up for?

I, just like all of us have at different stages in our tenure as fans of this club, learned that Tottenham isn’t going to offer you consistency. Tottenham is about savouring those beautiful moments, and feeling like this club is a part of who you are and who you will be until you draw your last breath. Once the season was through, I’d learned my lesson.

And what a season it was. I picked a fortunately exciting time to join in. Harry Kane. He will forever be in my heart as the man who took me into his lanky arms and introduced me to this beast that we like to call Tottenham Hotspur. So much fun was to be had: The Asteras Rabona-Fest, 5-3 Chelsea, the looping header against the scum, Eriksen’s late winner (one of many) in the semi-final. All of these highs were sweetened by those lows that we are often too familiar with; the games we like to forget. But without them, moments like this would mean less, and I would not have it any other way.

[fullquote]Tottenham is about savouring those beautiful moments, and feeling like this club is a part of who you are and who you will be until you draw your last breath.[/fullquote]

Spurs played in Sydney, AUS in May. I went with my parents and stayed the night in a dodgy room in Western Sydney, more excited than I’ve ever been. All these players that I’d identified myself with over the course of the season were finally going to be in the flesh. Before the game I sung proudly with my fellow Aussie yids, parents watching on confused and all. It felt great to be a part of something. I was now singing with all my heart instead of humming quietly on my lounge. The 90 minutes passed like the wind. Lamela nearly scored another rabona, Chadli was huge, Lloris put on a show, Vertonghen just made a clearance of the line, Yedlin was fast and effective, the youth showed what they had to offer, Kane scored and I went ballistic. It was hands down one of the best nights of my life.

But there’s something about hearing an alarm go off at 1:45am on a Monday morning with the letters “COYS” flashing at me that makes me feel internally warm. For 90 minutes, anything else that mattered or worried you before, doesn’t mean anything. The only thing that matters is hoping that 11 men in white uniform get a ball into a net more times than the other 11 men in some other colour. A beautifully simple task, and after a year and a half I learned that when Spurs pull it off, the do so in unquestionable style.

This club is in a transitional period, and I think I joined at the appropriate time because the future looks bright. True I missed out on past players like Van Der Vaart, Modric, Bale, Berbatov, Defoe. I’ve watched and read countless videos and articles on these players and what they did in the Tottenham shirt. But now that I’m here, I have the chance to watch players like Bentaleb, Kane, Rose, Eriksen and Chadli all flourish and develop into better players, all eagerly wanting to push this club as far as they can together.

I’m here now supporting this club, and there’s no turning back. Now I await my second season with Tottenham. Nobody knows what’s waiting for us. Nobody knows if we’ll be worthy of this prestigious ideal called ‘the top 4’. Nobody knows if Harry Kane will back up his wonder season. All I know, is that I will be there on my lounge with my dog, watching. Come on you Spurs.