The 2021/22 season ended on Sunday 22nd May and I have waited a good amount of time before writing a season wrap up blog simply because I think it is good to allow that time. Perspective and all that fun stuff. In the past I have allowed the time to avoid knee jerk anger, this season I allowed the time to avoid knee jerk over optimism.
You see following that wonderful 5-0 away win in the sunshine where we secured Champions League football (and the small matter of being above the scum again) our manager Antonio Conte again publicly made it clear he “might” be here next season but “might” walk away… we all know how our top players would feel if that happened and there was that nervous feeling, brought on by the fact we all knew the board would never financially back him like he wants. Twenty years of ENIC has shown us, they do not invest money into the club soooo it felt like a high of a great end to the season but a crash would come. I realise just how pessimistic that sounds but come on, I could not have been alone. I also, could not have been more wrong!
Headline BREAKING NEWS everywhere… ENIC invest £150m into the club. This is a direct cash injection into the playing side of the club, the first time they have done this in their tenure and a shock which was followed up by the news from Italy that Antonio Conte is happy, enjoying his break and will be back for next season…. the reports did say he wanted his transfer targets landed fast however as pre-season under Conte is very important. Sadly this is where again I felt that sinking feeling. We never do our business early, damn. That is a massive shame. However…
I’m sorry. Is that world cup finalist, multi trophy winning, Antonio Conte favourite wing back Ivan Perisic holding a Tottenham shirt signed on a free transfer before June? No, your eyes are not lying to you THAT is what it is. What is this madness?!
So, to recap. A world class manager happy and keen to fight for major honours next season. An owner who has invested money into the club to help achieve that. A football director out there making transfer moves quickly.
So looking back over the season it was mad really. We started with an opening day win over Man City, with Harry Kane not there as “not fit to play” after being linked with moving there all summer just for us to play brilliantly and have our fans ask Mr Kane if he was watching…. of course this start to the season was an interesting one, three wins from three games for our then manager Nuno saw him win manager of the month BUT as people on our podcast know, “we dont talk about Nuno no no no….” and as such, lets skip to that day where we lost to Manchester United and our fans turned and our club acted and acted fast.
Nuno gone and Conte arrived.
The Italian who previously managed in the Premier League at Chelsea joined the list of our managers who also once held the reins at the blues however he also fell out with them pretty hard and so, just maybe, he has some hatred and that makes him okay. Well, his impact was almost instant. The team that looked lost and clueless suddenly were running again, were putting in effort and also playing with a style. One stat from Sky Sports after a few games of Conte in charge showed that in one match, just one, the average Spurs player distance covered was the same as ALL the games under Nuno in the league. A shocking stat, however one which showed the Italian was inspiring these players where in the past others had failed.
The team of course were not suddenly perfect. Exits from the Europa Conference League, League Cup and FA cup meant not silverware was possible but did allow the team to focus on one game a week and with that the up and down, win one lose one pattern was broken.
If I was to pick one game then possibly because it is right there in my memory its the Arsenal game. The first real North London derby in our stadium and the fans came to play. They came to make sure not one Arsenal player was going to be allowed to settle and not one Tottenham player would be allowed to take a backwards step. The side heard it and responded. Arsenal crumbled under the pressure and never recovered losing their next game at Newcastle and handing us that chance for fourth, which we took.
I hope that everyone reading this is feeling as optimistic as I am right now. I know a lot can change but at the time of writing this we are being strongly linked with quality players, the players we know are not needed are exiting, the players in our squad are all responding to Conte and showing a high level, Conte is keen to kick on, the board are investing money and Paratici (who added quality in January) is seemingly signing what we need. Did I mention based on sources close to the player Kane is now keen to sign a new deal at the club?
The future is bright, the future is lillywhite! COYS!
-Admin SJ
