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The blame game. Is there a point?

9 min read
by Vass Koni
Even basking in the glory of a brilliant victory against Chelsea, there are still those out there who are happy to complain, criticise and point the finger. Vass Koni writes again for The Fighting Cock and takes a look at the multiple sticks used to beat Daniel Levy and co.

I had a Twitter conversation a few days ago. It started when someone tweeted a Daily Mail article about which clubs were the big spenders since Pellegrini took over at Man City (June 2013) That’s what? 18 months ago? Yes just 18 months. And it came with a tweet saying that Levy wants Champions League football but on a Poundland budget. Yes the stick to beat Levy with was back. Now I don’t favour Levy one way or the other but there is so much nonsense being passed off as fact on social media and I don’t really do “unreasonable” personally. Give me facts and I’m happy. If I am wrong I will hold my hand up. That’s the art of reasoned debate.

So the conversation I joined went something like this. I pointed out that Liverpool had a recent net spend of -£91m compared to our +£14m so were they therefore showing more ambition or in a better place than us currently? The tweeter moved the conversation on to spending money wisely. I argued that some of the money has been spent wisely and not all teams get every purchase right. Every top team has had their share of dud buys even Sir Alex had a few. The tweeter moved the argument again to whether it was right to buy “by committee” or not buying in to the coach’s philosophy.

This of course can’t be proven either way by anyone as it’s speculative, and who says we aren’t buying in to the current coach’s philosophy anyway? The firing of coaches at Spurs in recent years could be said to have been justified (and agreed with by many Spurs fans in each case) for varying reasons and I won’t go in to each here today.

[linequote]As an owner of my own small business as many of you may be too, we are all in it to make money. Anyone that isn’t needs to take up charity work[/linequote]

The tweeter moved the argument on once more to say that our owners are only interested in making money for themselves and to the fact that we came “44th” in spending for English clubs and he would back it up with the article; …..but didn’t. I raised the issue of needing to fund a stadium and the tweeter used how long the stadium project was taking as a new stick to beat our owners with. The argument had moved once more. I pointed the tweeter to due legal process in the UK and how the land owner blocking progress had allegedly been reneging on agreements with the club for approximately 12 years. The conversation soon ended as I saw no point continuing it further if the crux of the argument kept moving.

The argument against the owners had shifted three or four times during that one conversation just so that some kind of blame could be attributed to the ownership. And this is a mentality that is perpetrated by people that are desperate for someone to blame because we had the temerity to get in to the champions league in 2010 and failed to do that again since.

Nevertheless. My point? It is this in regards to spending. As an owner of my own small business as many of you may be too, we are all in it to make money. Anyone that isn’t needs to take up charity work. And when we spend money from a business we generally will spend what we make. We reinvest where we are able to and the amounts from reserves or free capital at our disposal. If we are reckless then our bank managers will look at us with scepticism and wonder as to our credentials especially if we are going to look for a large business loan to fund some development or proposed expansion. And if we spend £10,000 or £10m or £100m then that money is spent.

If I raise more than I spend I did not spend any less and that is why this whole argument of “net spend” is so irrelevant. “Net spend” is a figurative table that Sky Sports concocts to give them something to talk about and the fan to interpret any way he or she wants. Of course our owners must no doubt be milking all the money and we couldn’t have spent the millions we have spent over the years because we happened to have earned more in sales. (It’s funny how wages never come in to the equation however).

Then we have those fans that try to convince us that we could have kept players like Bale and Modric if the club had invested more and at the right times. The fact that the biggest club side in the world came in for those players had nothing to do with it apparently. You see it was our owners being greedy again and lining their pockets. I personally don’t think that whoever we signed would have kept those players at Spurs or even if we had been in the Champions League we would have been able to keep them. They would have gone. Just the same as many of you would have gone to a new employer at the drop of a hat if the salary and conditions far surpassed what you were doing previously.

[fullquote]Fans tell me that if we had backed ‘Arry then we would have been in Champions League and everything in the garden would have been rosy. Except that people forget that ‘Arry was either about to do time for tax fraud or leave for the England job[/fullquote]

Human nature and self-interest are bedfellows you see. It seems that these days everyone wants to play for Real Madrid or Barca and you just know that even though players are at teams like Chelsea or City or United (as proven with Ronaldo), if one of the Spanish giants come calling players will manoeuvre the move away regardless.

But then fans tell me that if we had backed ‘Arry then we would have been in Champions League and everything in the garden would have been rosy. Except that people forget that ‘Arry was either about to do time for tax fraud or leave for the England job (or so he thought). Either that or if reports were true then he would have liked to have brought in Charlie Adam, or Rio, or Phil Neville or some such. But it has to be the fault of the ownership though according to some fans even though we had a squad good enough in my opinion to achieve third in at least two of those seasons regardless.

And then there’s the new stadium. Agreed it seems to be taking an age and maybe we don’t really know what is going on. But you can’t deny something is indeed happening if you actually visit White Hart Lane. Of course it must again be the clubs fault for dragging its feet. The owners have no intention of building it and just want to find a buyer and line their pockets some more. Money grabbers in charge of our club, how dare they?

Just for some context the Emirates stadium took over 9 years to become a reality. The North London squatters in Highbury first mooted their new stadium in 1997 with a declined planning application I believe (so it may have been from even earlier). They finally bought a plot in 2000. It was built in 2006. Nine years in total and they didn’t have a land owner dragging them through every court possible at the time. Nobody seems or wants to recall how quickly we turned around a hi-tech training centre in Enfield. Yes that doesn’t suit the agenda that one. That’s a good news story. That won’t do at all.

I am not saying that everything that our owners have done is perfect. It isn’t. Mistakes have been made along the way (and if you read my previous blog you would have seen my comments on the Scholar and Sugar years and how glad I am that many of you missed those years). Some of the current mistakes are being addressed quite rightly and properly by Tottenham Hotspur Supporters Trust (THST) – Stub Hub; ticketing; communication; openness with fans etc. but there are “fans” out there looking to constantly beat the club with a stick; any stick. And if they keep repeating their message loud enough they gradually influence opinion and in the end they would be right you see.

It’s all about being right. About knowing where to point the finger and knowing who to blame. It’s easy to blame when things aren’t rosy in the garden. And once everyone buys into the hysteria and the blame game and everyone is proved right…..what then? Then there will be a lot of “I told you so” coming back and we can all sit there smug as Larry and patting ourselves on the back.

[linequote]No patience for gradual progress no matter how hard the road. No doubt we’ll find something else to complain about because we won’t be happy until we are the biggest and best club in the country no doubt[/linequote]

But that’s today’s football fan. The cynic. The conspiracy theorist. Happy being unhappy. Wanting it all but not really understanding what it takes to get there. No patience for gradual progress no matter how hard the road. No doubt we’ll find something else to complain about because we won’t be happy until we are the biggest and best club in the country no doubt. Because we have been that quite a lot since 1961 haven’t we? Or is that really what we aspire to be? The next Chelsea or Man City perhaps? Will we be happy then? I doubt it.

We are constantly fed vines to laugh at of Gooner fans moaning about their own club and how unhappy they are and they have had some 19 years of continual Champions League appearances and some trophies in between. That’s today’s fan. All about today. Nothing else matters.

In my last blog I spoke about the disconnect between club and fans and this resultant air of exclusion appears to be breeding suspicion and distrust that is fuelling an army of discontents armed with their smartphones trying to drive the gap wider instead of looking to close that gap if at all possible. Me? I just want to see my team win matches. I want to see a style of football develop on the pitch. I want joyous moments as a fan and supporter.

Perhaps I am naïve but I am just growing weary of the “off the field topic” agenda drivers and the haters that could be doing as much damage to the fabric of THFC as the people that they are trying to blame at times. And whilst we may all have different opinions (I am not expecting you all to agree with this post) as Ledley said, “This is my club. My one and only club” and as much as we can all be infuriated by events at times, we have to ask, is there really a point to it all? Is it really just about “the money”? Or have we all just forgotten what being a fan is about?

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.

Vass Koni

5 Comments

  1. Greg
    02/01/2015 @ 12:18 pm

    At long last, a positive article which defines what it means to be a real fan instead of having to listen to that constant, moaning, negative attitude that makes everyone miserable just reading about it.

  2. pete
    02/01/2015 @ 1:49 pm

    i agree look back at the 90’s the stadium was half filled, we were shite, in debt and look at where we are now…you only have to look at the car crash of football clubs in the championship, league 1 even portsmouth in league two, Rangers in scotland to see how badly things can go, our chairmen isn’t the best granted and yes he has let personal agendas get in the way of the football especially with ‘Arry… but he ain’t that bad.

    My bigger/biggest gripe is the way football is going…the 39th Game will happen and that will lead to franchise clubs and the premier league will become a global league and the true fans of clubs up and down the country will become marginalised…but for the moment lets enjoy whats going on, fight modern football but don’t lose sight of whats important having a beer and enjoying the football and a sing song.

  3. Eriksons hair transplant
    02/01/2015 @ 5:26 pm

    We’re in a world where idiocy is rampant in, by far, the majority of the human race. But, you sir, are obviously blessed with intelligence. Thank you for a well written article. Couldn’t have said it better myself. Really nothing to add except, we who can see the bigger picture, just have to stop taking notice of these negative clowns.
    I too am Tottenham Hotspur for life. That means I’ll ride this roller coaster with a smile on my face. If anyone’s wondering why I’ll accept all the ups, downs and loops no matter who they’re supposedly caused by. Pls watch Tottenham Hotspur FC v Chelsea FC Jan 1 2015. Obviously the game keeps me going but there’s also a young man by the name of Harry Kane. 100% effort, commitment, and tenacity. Why? Because, like me, he loves the club. Let’s hope, like me, it’s forever. COYS!

  4. Uatu
    02/01/2015 @ 7:17 pm

    Good article. Much I agree with.
    One comment. Perhap’s not about today’s football fan per se. But I feel there is tendency for today’s population to know what it takes to succeed but not have the patience to work for it. I guess that follows through to footy.

  5. ofosh
    02/01/2015 @ 9:31 pm

    I think this is a very naive post looking to do the exact opposite of those who criticise Levy and ENIC… “there’s nothing wrong”… “Levy’s got this”… The NP development project was launched in 2007… unless they start laying bricks soon this stadium will take longer than 9 years… which is pretty sad when engineering and building advancements are far better today than 10 years ago… look closely at net spend… We have consistently spent exactly what we have got in from players sales… so how can clubs with half our turnover spend two, three, four times more than us NET… look deeper and you see the Sky money was used to purchase property… so I look at the accounts and find these assets have been transferred to an off shore company owned by Joe Lewis. Like you, I want to see my club win games… but the current stewardship is sucking the life out of the club but you use the “why don’t you try supporting the club” stick to beat those who have the ordasity to challenge the hierarchy…

Would you like to write for The Fighting Cock?