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The Inbetweener

3 min read
by Editor
The recent #BackPoch hashtag has only made it worse, entrenching both camps even deeper in their views.

Soon after Boris Johnson’s accession to Britain’s most powerful political position was confirmed during last week’s heatwave, one social commentator had binaries on the brain. “You’re either with Boris Johnson’s Tory Party or with Jeremy Corbyn’s Labour Party,” they wrote. “Which side are you on? No more messing about — it’s time to pick a side and fight.” According to them, there was no room for middle ground. It was either one side or the other.

This idea of picking sides so far removed from one another on the spectrum got me thinking about fans’ debate over Daniel Levy’s ownership of Spurs. You can’t help but be branded as being on one side in particular: to be a vocal critic of the chairman is like metaphorically planting your flag firmly in the #LevyOut camp; to praise/defend him in any way shape or form — or even cutting him some slack — is akin to taking out membership in the I*heart emoji*Levy fan club. The middle ground is, once again, severely lacking.

The recent #BackPoch hashtag has only made it worse, entrenching both camps even deeper in their views. To those averse to Levy’s stewardship, #BackPoch represent a rallying cry for their qualms — that the chairman’s miserly nature is holding the club back from glory. Across the picket line, #BackPoch is viewed with mild amusement — pictures of the new training ground, new stadium, Tanguy Ndombélé, and Harry Kane’s bountiful contract being offered as proof in itself that Poch has already been backed.

But neither side is willing to concede on this. To question the #BackPoch wave is to be met with the assumption that you’re “allergic to trophies” and are “satisfied with mediocrity”. In return, to challenge the Levy advocate will see you dubbed “spoilt” and encouraged to “support a club in a real crisis” like Bolton, Bury or The Woolwich.

But wait, what if I told you [insert Laurence Fishburne Matrix meme here] that you could prescribe to both narratives? That you could accept that Levy has been instrumental in our advancement as a football club and is preventing us from taking that final step; that his negotiating tactics are both a hindrance and a blessing when acquiring/selling players?

The evidence is there to use as you see fit. Since Levy’s arrival, Spurs have gone from a being an unrefined, underperforming establishment to one boasting facilities and personnel coveted by the footballing world; and at the same time, he has made huge gaffs that have halted our ascendancy at vital periods (that Saha-Nelsen window will take some beating). 

To peddle one particular version of events is to neglect the other side of the coin entirely — you are choosing to see the Yin but are ignoring the Yang. Hot take: perhaps both arguments are argued so well because both are in fact the truth.

But this is football, of course. A game of opinions in which you are either right or wrong — where there’s no in-between. As Pochettino had it himself when discussing how managers’ team selections are analysed by the press: “If we win: fantastic decision. If we lose: shit decision, and you are going to kill me.”

And it’s by this same token that Levy is also judged. After signing Ndombélé he was hailed for finally backing his manager — fast-forward three-weeks later and he is now being branded “penny-pinching” and “stringent” for not bringing in the necessary players. So what is the truth? As I’ve been saying: it’s somewhere in the middle, neither one extreme nor the other. To argue vehemently for either is to pick a side and fight. And who would want to do that?

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.

Editor

5 Comments

  1. Jezza
    03/08/2019 @ 1:58 pm

    Makes a lot of sense ! Levy refuses to overpay for a player…..that makes sense and means we will rarely get the players early in the window.

    It is a risky policy but lets be honest, we know it is how he works so even if (as I do feel) we think it’s wrong as a tactic we really aren’t going to see him change.

    Sure, The Woolwich Nomads have got this kid Pepe, but they have already used £20m or so of their transfer budget for each of the next 3 years…..I suspect they paid over the odds to get the payment terms AND they have done all that on an assumption they will get CL next year.

    They will be in the mire when they don’t……

    • SpanishSpur
      03/08/2019 @ 6:21 pm

      Completely agree. It’s an ever more polarised world.

  2. john maxwell
    03/08/2019 @ 2:06 pm

    the two men have very different roles and clearly mauritio sets the tempo and style and identifies the type of player that would suit — daniel has the overall running of the club to consider and he is a tough negotiator and will get the best possible deal for the club — this involves brinkmanship and it is not a concept that mauritio is comfortable with and means that deals will nearly always will be last minute –thus the manager will not have with these new recruits for an extended preseason — there is no simple solution but both parties have to realise that the other has the clubs best interests at heart

  3. Spursince82
    03/08/2019 @ 2:35 pm

    Well written mate. Watching the intensity being stoked up by the usual culprits was at first, alarming. This turned to maddening and then came personal resolve. The interpreter is free to translate matters how they choose. I’ve noticed that carefully selected options are strategically presented to viewers as decisions and are melted down in to dumb bullion blocks and then served for the many to dine upon and trade with. This having not just the options but the outcomes, as seen by media circus, all laid on. An all you can eat, shit sandwich, now 24 hour buffet. The more shit you can think up and discuss the more work you’ll be offered. The logic is baseless and the conclusion inevitable – wilful ignorance leads the way. Usual dose of capitalising from what others fear then, to maximise from others greed. Then you have the empty vessel that we have now. Incredible cycle of events .. well, fascinating mostly. The public are now fully addicted and utterly obsessed – the tactic has worked! Hate them, listen to us, blame someone else lol
    my point: you’re right, no need to fall in to line and follow the heard. Think for yourself. Hate mobs are older than time itself. The little men pretending to lead the charge will sit out the revolution, come action time, whilst others tear down the citadel and other objects of the crafted straw man identity. Levy and his financiers have given us something that no two-bit author, studio bod or ranting Ronald has and or ever will do. People who seek only to misunderstand others at all costs, whilst skewing positive events in order to achieve five mins notoriety of fame fir themselves, are only making a mockery out of reality . Passing off self hate for humour , for those of us with snouts ears and eyes, doesn’t quite wash. And, Whilst making a living out their personal sadness threaded through others and using modelled and fabricated disdain, bought into by similar others. Harry Notspur , the sky mob and now everyone else aspiring to football affiliation and or journalistic affiliation seems to get by from slagging off everything within their pesky myopic lens, instead of being grateful for watching the best period in our clubs history for thirty years.
    Good article – ps sorry about the rant , just the whole thing has descended in to a playground version of adulthood . Plus, I’ve managed to fall face first in to the pool of discontent and hate myself for it. Lo celso and Bruno gate has left me deflated and sucked in to the vapours like the rest of the zombies looking for new spurs blood… shockingly hypocritical ;)
    Coys

  4. Cheshuntboy
    03/08/2019 @ 9:16 pm

    There are non-binary views of the situation at Spurs, a plague on both their houses being mine. Levy’s a business man first and only, and no one can dispute that ENIC’s done very well for itself out of the club and its long-suffering supporters – shame the property portfolio isn’t matched by the honours board, but that doesn’t worry Levy, so long as the punters keep forking-out.
    As for Pochettino, no manager’s ever built such a glowing reputation with so little to back it up – we finished the last PL season in almost exactly the same state as Sherwood left us in in 2014, and the run to the CL Final must have used-up the club’s luck for the next fifty years – the woeful performance in the final was a much more accurate picture of Spurs 2019 than the semi or quarter-final larcenies against Ajax and City, and I reckon Pochettino’s recent cryptic statements are a clear strategy to distance himself from the club, in anticipation of the Real or United jobs coming up sooner rather than later – he’s a cute operator, whose priority is number one, not Tottenham Hotspur FC. Bill Nick he ain’t!

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