Race for the title

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rutlandspur said:
Sure, but personally, I'd like to see a bit of expectation-management among the fanbase.

As many posters have said here and elsewhere, top 4 this season, with no home ground, would be a major achievement. A CL cup run would be a bonus. Domestic silverware of any sort, mainly just to kill the "haven't won anything" crap, would be phenomenal.

I hope we would celebrate that, and cheer the boys on, rather than moaning that we haven't won the Leagueor we aren't challenging the Arabs. I'm all for aiming high, but the whole ethos of this club now is 'building to greatness' - and we need to support that - every week and all season. Don't get too high and arrogant, don't get too low and critical.

I'm one of the forum old farts. I've supported this club for nearly 50 years and this, believe me, is the best of times. I now travel 6 hours there and back to watch us at Wembley, every game, because now is when this team needs support, in transition. If we give it support now it will stay together.

We need to be the exception to the other 5, every single one of them has lost their way, and by 'we' I mainly mean 'us' - the fans.
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I get that but thinking we can challenge for the title doesnt mean that you expect the title, or will be disappointed with top 4 and/or a cup.

We should be going for the title as a club. This Wembley season will be a massive learning curve, and by taking a gap year and just feeling lucky to be in the top 6, we waste a huge opportunity to mature and grow as a team.
 
sammyspurs said:
I get that but thinking we can challenge for the title doesnt mean that you expect the title, or will be disappointed with top 4 and/or a cup.

We should be going for the title as a club. This Wembley season will be a massive learning curve, and by taking a gap year and just feeling lucky to be in the top 6, we waste a huge opportunity to mature and grow as a team.
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Agreed: I don't think Poch and the squad want second helpings again, they want this title and should be supported to the hilt! We are a massive chance this season
 
Boltonspur said:
It’s the whole Wembley vibe for me. Sure, it’s great that we can raise a 73500 crowd against a team like Bournemouth (no disrespect to them but they aren’t a PL heavyweight) but the whole thing just feels very flat. Pockets of fans trying to get an atmosphere going from time to time, but it fades on the wind. I’m sure the players feel it too.
Moving back home can’t come soon enough.
I don’t think we will adapt to it there. It’s not our home & whilst we can dress it up a bit & throw the odd good party, the place doesn’t look, feel or sound like home. I hope I’m wrong & we start smashing it there, but I think a top 4 finish would be superb. Anything more would be a bonus & anything less, whilst disappointing, wouldn’t be unexpected.
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Totally agree about the whole Wembley vibe. It's so fucking flat. It's the fact our support is so diluted but it's also the acoustics, I don't think that can be stressed enough, how little the sound carries. Of course the players must feel it. There was a good article in the Guardian the other day about home advantage Football is a whole new ball game when players have home comforts | Liam Rosenior I think it really applies to us. The lack of atmosphere seems to cause a lack of urgency and a propensity to endless sideways passing in our players!

The atmosphere was much better for the Chelsea and Dortmund games, and my only insanely optimistic hope is that if, almost by miracle, we did get a run together, it may lift some of our quieter/more fairweather supporters a bit so that more of a noise was created. Success breeds success in that sense. If we can make every game a "big game" then I think we will do better, but that would take us getting ourselves into the title race to begin with.
 
palmers_green_yid said:
Totally agree about the whole Wembley vibe. It's so fucking flat. It's the fact our support is so diluted but it's also the acoustics, I don't think that can be stressed enough, how little the sound carries. Of course the players must feel it. There was a good article in the Guardian the other day about home advantage Football is a whole new ball game when players have home comforts | Liam Rosenior I think it really applies to us. The lack of atmosphere seems to cause a lack of urgency and a propensity to endless sideways passing in our players!

The atmosphere was much better for the Chelsea and Dortmund games, and my only insanely optimistic hope is that if, almost by miracle, we did get a run together, it may lift some of our quieter/more fairweather supporters a bit so that more of a noise was created. Success breeds success in that sense. If we can make every game a "big game" then I think we will do better, but that would take us getting ourselves into the title race to begin with.
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The empty seat issue is also there. When you're a ST holder and by yourself for some games, the bloke next to you hasn't turned up and cannot sell his ticket on the exchange because of the sold out rule, you often have gaps in the crowd. I have an aisle seat towards the front and the Club Wembley seats have quite a bit of room so at times you can feel a bit like a billy no mates and if you try and sing you sometimes stand out like the drunk wally.

I think the club made a mistake in restricting the ticket exchange to when general sale has sold out as it's pushing fans who can't go to many games up into the upper tier when I am sure quite a few of them wouldn't mind paying a bit extra to be on a lower tier, closer to the pitch, have a better view and it would have the result of filling up missing seats and also showing less red (I know that seems silly but I don't think it helps).
 
palmers_green_yid said:
Totally agree about the whole Wembley vibe. It's so fucking flat. It's the fact our support is so diluted but it's also the acoustics, I don't think that can be stressed enough, how little the sound carries. Of course the players must feel it. There was a good article in the Guardian the other day about home advantage Football is a whole new ball game when players have home comforts | Liam Rosenior I think it really applies to us. The lack of atmosphere seems to cause a lack of urgency and a propensity to endless sideways passing in our players!

The atmosphere was much better for the Chelsea and Dortmund games, and my only insanely optimistic hope is that if, almost by miracle, we did get a run together, it may lift some of our quieter/more fairweather supporters a bit so that more of a noise was created. Success breeds success in that sense. If we can make every game a "big game" then I think we will do better, but that would take us getting ourselves into the title race to begin with.
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Biggest chant of the afternoon was when defoe came on. It was a nice touch & respectful, but...
:defoe:

There was a better atmosphere walking up Wembley way!

I think we will have a decent atmosphere against the big clubs- these are the parties I was meaning in my post. But it’s going to be so important to get behind the lads against the “category B &C” teams. Have only made it to Wembley once so far this season- yesterday. And it was quite sullen around the ground at times.
 
Smoked Salmon said:
The empty seat issue is also there. When you're a ST holder and by yourself for some games, the bloke next to you hasn't turned up and cannot sell his ticket on the exchange because of the sold out rule, you often have gaps in the crowd. I have an aisle seat towards the front and the Club Wembley seats have quite a bit of room so at times you can feel a bit like a billy no mates and if you try and sing you sometimes stand out like the drunk wally.

I think the club made a mistake in restricting the ticket exchange to when general sale has sold out as it's pushing fans who can't go to many games up into the upper tier when I am sure quite a few of them wouldn't mind paying a bit extra to be on a lower tier, closer to the pitch, have a better view and it would have the result of filling up missing seats and also showing less red (I know that seems silly but I don't think it helps).
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Agree and I feel the same about the red seats actually. Colours are a part of what makes you feel at home or not, and the red is massively off-putting for both fans and players I think. Don't blame you or anyone for not singing in that sort of situation, I do the same when it's the same three or four songs getting aired and no one else is singing, it's very different from an away game where everyone's joining in passionately and there's a lot more wit and spontaneity.

Agree too about the exchange (I didn't know that) and it does seem as though a fair amount of people have bought season tickets without the intention of using them every game or even close to that.
 
sammyspurs said:
I get that but thinking we can challenge for the title doesnt mean that you expect the title, or will be disappointed with top 4 and/or a cup.

We should be going for the title as a club. This Wembley season will be a massive learning curve, and by taking a gap year and just feeling lucky to be in the top 6, we waste a huge opportunity to mature and grow as a team.
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Every season in the past when we set our sights on just getting 4th we always fell short - it's only the two seasons we've been more ambitious that we've got top 4 comfortably.
 
Boltonspur said:
Biggest chant of the afternoon was when defoe came on. It was a nice touch & respectful, but...
:defoe:

There was a better atmosphere walking up Wembley way!

I think we will have a decent atmosphere against the big clubs- these are the parties I was meaning in my post. But it’s going to be so important to get behind the lads against the “category B &C” teams. Have only made it to Wembley once so far this season- yesterday. And it was quite sullen around the ground at times.
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Yeah it was pretty bad. The Swansea and Burnley games were the same, and I don't even need to mention what Barnsley was like.

There was also a better atmosphere in the Torch afterwards watching Watford vs Woolwich!
 
palmers_green_yid said:
Agree and I feel the same about the red seats actually. Colours are a part of what makes you feel at home or not, and the red is massively off-putting for both fans and players I think. Don't blame you or anyone for not singing in that sort of situation, I do the same when it's the same three or four songs getting aired and no one else is singing, it's very different from an away game where everyone's joining in passionately and there's a lot more wit and spontaneity.

Agree too about the exchange (I didn't know that) and it does seem as though a fair amount of people have bought season tickets without the intention of using them every game or even close to that.
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A lot of people, myself included, bought them to have a seat in the NuLane, and the club should know that, which is why the ticket exchange policy is silly. I couldn’t make Swansea due to a family emergency and by coincidence the club announced they were opening the ticket exchange. It was only about a day and half before the game and there was no way the ticket would shift in that time so therefore my seat was empty. Personally I will try and make as many games as I can, at least 75-80%, but the fact is that others who want a season ticket in the NuLane won’t. The club knows this and so by making these seats almost impossible to resell they are assuring they keep the money for that seat while relegating other fans to the upper tier and getting their cash as well. I think it is a major mistake from Levy and one where he has put cash before atmosphere and thinks that leaving flags on seats and playing electronic drums makes up for the crowd being more dispersed. I don’t often criticise Levy, but this is a major fuck up to me and it’s one of those examples of when football as a business comes before football as a sport.
 
In terms of challenging for the title and pushing on, most people seem to think that we shouldn expect too much while at Wembley.
Most people seem to think the atmosphere is shite, it's hard to feel like a home venue because it's red and basically it's a massive thorn in our side that could ruin our season.

Careful what you wish for. I was told it was "next level big time...."

I think we can all accept now that there is an issue with Wembley. Not hoodoo, but issue. It is a factor in our game, and the way teams set up against us, and we struggle there to move the ball. I think even it's biggest advocates can see that now.

As shit as we play at Wembley, I'm hoping we can just grind out results there and enjoy more freedom away...trying to be optimistic about it.

It does confuse me that people seem to support a move to a stadium as the right move, while openly admitting they think that stadium is the reason we won't challenge.
 
sammyspurs said:
In terms of challenging for the title and pushing on, most people seem to think that we shouldn expect too much while at Wembley.
Most people seem to think the atmosphere is shite, it's hard to feel like a home venue because it's red and basically it's a massive thorn in our side that could ruin our season.

Careful what you wish for. I was told it was "next level big time...."

I think we can all accept now that there is an issue with Wembley. Not hoodoo, but issue. It is a factor in our game, and the way teams set up against us, and we struggle there to move the ball. I think even it's biggest advocates can see that now.

As shit as we play at Wembley, I'm hoping we can just grind out results there and enjoy more freedom away...trying to be optimistic about it.

It does confuse me that people seem to support a move to a stadium as the right move, while openly admitting they think that stadium is the reason we won't challenge.
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In my view, it genuinely was the only viable option. I know you think we’d have been better off at MK Dons, but I just don’t think it would have been any different. We had to stay in London imo & the options were therefore limited.
I don’t think Wembley should be a club ground. It should be for finals and internationals. But MK would have been horrible as well. I honestly believe that.
 
Boltonspur said:
In my view, it genuinely was the only viable option. I know you think we’d have been better off at MK Dons, but I just don’t think it would have been any different. We had to stay in London imo & the options were therefore limited.
I don’t think Wembley should be a club ground. It should be for finals and internationals. But MK would have been horrible as well. I honestly believe that.
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Fair enough but personally I reckon MK would have taken on a cult atmosphere like Fulham.
Also think the players would have played more like at WHL as it actually looks very similar, and not a red seat in sight.

The waiting list issue could have been resolved another way. There was absolutely no reason to force people to sign up for Wembley in order to but one at the new WHL. Should have simply prioritized loyalty and made the rest first come first served.

I get that financially it suits the chairman, but far from propelling us into the world stage, teams are just coming there and taking the piss out of our fans. There were chants of "your grounds too big for you" yesterday, from Bournemouth fans ffs!

We can take 80k and all we will get is talk about the 10k empties anyway.
Also I don't buy the talk of STs missing out at MK and it being unfair. People saying the STs are no shows at Wembley.....so...

Not gonna go through it all again, but if Wembley holds us back on the pitch it can't be the right choice. Corporate and financial reasons are not my reasons.
 
sammyspurs said:
Fair enough but personally I reckon MK would have taken on a cult atmosphere like Fulham.
Also think the players would have played more like at WHL as it actually looks very similar, and not a red seat in sight.

The waiting list issue could have been resolved another way. There was absolutely no reason to force people to sign up for Wembley in order to but one at the new WHL. Should have simply prioritized loyalty and made the rest first come first served.

I get that financially it suits the chairman, but far from propelling us into the world stage, teams are just coming there and taking the piss out of our fans. There were chants of "your grounds too big for you" yesterday, from Bournemouth fans ffs!

We can take 80k and all we will get is talk about the 10k empties anyway.
Also I don't buy the talk of STs missing out at MK and it being unfair. People saying the STs are no shows at Wembley.....so...

Not gonna go through it all again, but if Wembley holds us back on the pitch it can't be the right choice. Corporate and financial reasons are not my reasons.
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If Milton Keynes and Fulham are such great grounds for home advantage - how come they both hardly ever win at home?
 
Just imagine winning the title at Wembley though, and the years of commentary directed at the Chavs while they struggle there....

"Well Spurs won the title at Wembley, didn't put them off...." :pochsmirk:
 
Blanchflower said:
If Milton Keynes and Fulham are such great grounds for home advantage - how come they both hardly ever win at home?
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I can't believe that sammy "I have no intention of turning up this season"spurs still has the audacity to lecture people paying their hard earned on the best venue. The guy hasn't even been to Stadium MK.

"Milton Keynes would have been great because all you guys would have been drumming up the crowd while I sit on my sofa three thousand miles away". Tool.
 
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