Dark day in N17
The old saying goes, it’s the hope that kills you, which is true, to an extent. But I think in Tottenham Hotspur’s case, it’s the hype that kills you. What do I mean by that? Only Spurs fans can really understand what that feels like.
I wanted to talk about where it all went wrong for Tottenham yesterday, but it’s excuses, and I hate using those to justify a loss. Whether it was exaggerated diving from the Scum, an injury crisis or terrible decisions (we see time and time again) given against us. The truth is that Tottenham Hotspur is a shadow of what this club used to be. We’ve been one of the more consistent teams since the 2010s among the top 6, but after last season, which saw us lift our first trophy in 17 years, I believe it was also the moment the club would plummet into its biggest downfall. We thought our triumph in Bilbao was the start of something new, the moment our board would wake up and push us on to where we rightfully deserve to be, but we were wrong. It was the opposite; what followed was a domino effect of unfortunate events.
Ange Postecoglou, the first manager to win a trophy with Tottenham Hotspur was sacked, Son Heung-min, who spent 10 years at the club, who captained the team to glory, was sold, Daniel Levy, the chairman of the club for 25 years “resigned”, Thomas Frank, the manager tasked with taking us into this new era was fired after not being able to coach us forward, we’re currently in our worst injury crisis with a total of 10 first-team injuries (not to mention our captain is suspended for 3 more games) and after yesterdays thrashing we are now 4 points off relegation. These may look like excuses, but they’re really the facts of our situation. The club I love, the club I’ve supported for 19 years, could now be entering its darkest era. That sounds dramatic, but with the media attention surrounding us, we as fans are now fearful for what could await our club. No one likes to talk about why Tottenham are where they are unless it involves criticising the team, the coaches, and how we play. This goes on to my next point.
At the start of this, I said, it’s the hype that kills you, and that is so true, so why is it that in the time I’ve supported my club, we’re only ever talked about in a negative light? 2015/16 season, we should’ve been nowhere near the top 2, but we, as fans, were dreaming of a miracle just like those Leicester City supporters were, so why is it that Tottenham Hotspur were called bottlers at the end of that season when the scum finished 2nd? The next season, we finished 2nd to an incredible Chelsea squad; once again, we were the bottlers. 2018/19 season, we finished 4th and reached the Champions League final; again, we should never have been there, but we, as fans, were dreaming of glory. We lost that final, another dodgy call within the first 30 seconds, and we were labelled bottlers again. Throughout that time, we were never uplifted by the media, pundits or the football world for how we were competing for these honours; instead, we were being torn down for not getting over the line, which is exactly the kind of talk we heard before the Europa League Final last year, former Liverpool defender and 2nd top own-goal scorer in the PL, Jamie Carragher said on the Overlap, “there is no way Tottenham win a european final against Manchester United”. After the final, we’d just won our first trophy in 17 years, and all the talk online was about how terrible the final was and how it was the worst goal to win a final. My happiest moment in football and all the coverage was nowhere near positive unless it came from Spurs fans.
The coverage of Tottenham Hotspur now is all about relegation, about what could happen if we get relegated, the players we could lose, the sponsorship deals that could be pulled and how bad we play each week. Without stating the facts of why we’re in this situation. I don’t care what anyone says, but when all you see online is negative talk about your club, that kind of energy rubs off on you. It ruins football, it ruins how you support your club, and I’ve seen it all online, Spurs fans/influencers criticising the team, and yes, some of it is warranted, but sometimes it gets nasty, and when all you see online is how bad your team is, you start to believe it. Which sucks, you know I want to be hopeful for my team, I mean, I always am, but the way this club is being run is right into the ground, and I’m afraid that if we do get relegated, we will be cast off by the owners, in real terms, SOLD.
After some good seasons at the lane, Spurs have been one of the top clubs. Unfortunately, the noise we made for our beautiful club made us, as Spurs fans, a target. Only we’ll understand that, I know all football fans think their club are treated differently, so let me debunk that for you. Arsenal are only hated by Tottenham; other football fans just hate the Arsenal fans and their delusions. Chelsea are just hated because they bought their success, same with Manchester City, Manchester United are made fun of because, since Fergie left, they’ve been stuck in the shadow of City, Liverpool, on the other hand, are a decent team, not spoken negatively about unless by rival fans. Newcastle were given the benefit of the doubt when their new owners came in; there was no negative coverage unless it was about the Saudi ownership. Still, that noise went away quite quickly. Aston Villa are NEVER spoken negatively about, probably because the Prince supports them. Point being, why are Tottenham public enemy number 1?
Take this how you will, but this is the perspective from a Tottenham Hotspur fan whose nearly seen it all, the highs and the constant lows. Supporting a football team is an emotional investment; you’re never going to reap the rewards always, but when you do, it is one of the best feelings in the world, and I hope I get the feeling again soon. GOYS.
