During a recent discussion about Daniel Levy with a fan on our Facebook page, I was accused by him of being so excited about our, in his words, “tourist bowl” stadium, that I was performing sex acts on myself thinking about it. An odd and obviously completely untrue accusation
He was incandescent with rage about how he perceives that the club is going nowhere under the chairmanship of Mr Levy. Any counter-argument I used, including our new ground and our regular top-four finishes in recent years was just met with aggressive responses. He mentioned our lack of trophies, called me a delusional “happy clapper” fan and finished with his sexual accusations mixed in with a cheese-room comment. I didn’t get a chance to tell him that as a standard season-ticket holder I won’t be allowed in the cheese room.
It has left me pondering ever since. Does his pure focus on trophies make him any more or less of a fan than me? Am I a happy-clapper fan because I see supporting Spurs as more than just winning trophies?
Here is a statistic. Anyone who listens to our podcast (found on iTunes and all podcast providers – search “spurs news podcast”) will know I do a section called “Matt’s Stats”, and here is one for you: In the 136 years Tottenham Hotspur have existed, we have won major trophies in 16 of them. Just 16 of those 136 years. Where do fans get this sense of entitlement from? Why should it be us winning the League when Manchester City, Liverpool and Chelsea amongst other clubs are throwing money at clubs and agents for players in their quest for trophies too?
Why do I support Spurs? Why do I go to our games? I go to watch 90 minutes of football. I go to be entertained but also to get behind our team. I come away happy if we win and fed up if we lose. if we win I look at the league table on my phone on the train home because I want to see where those three-points put us in the table. Just like if we win a cup game I will listen out for who we got in the next round. I hope for an easy tie because I want us to progress in the cup, I want us to win the cup whether it be Carabao, FA or Champions League just like I want us to win the league. That doesn’t mean I think we are ENTITLED to win any of those trophies.
Was I disappointed when we lost to Manchester United in the FA Cup semi-final, or to Chelsea the year before? of course I was devastated. I was at Wembley for both games as well as the Juventus tie in the Champions League last season. It is a real sickener to see us knocked out of a cup, especially when we are so close to winning it.
I really believe we have deserved a trophy or two for the way we have played under Pochettino. We have been so unlucky at times. Not having any trophies to show for it doesn’t make me angry with Daniel Levy. He is a business man but also a Spurs fan himself. I firmly believe he has the clubs best interests at heart and far from being a “tourist bowl”, he is giving us one of the best, if not THE best football stadium in the world. He has given us one of the best coaches in football who has put together one of the best squads in the world.
Call me delusional, call me a happy clapper – When I’m on that train to White Hart Lane, season-ticket in my back pocket for our first game at our new stadium I won’t be thinking about all the trophies we haven’t won – I’ll be dreaming about the ones we can win.
-Admin MC
