I tend to start every blog I write with a question and then like a rambling idiot I try and answer my question, so here we go, here is my question. Am I deluded?
The reason I am asking that particular question is because as an admin on the Spurs News Facebook page I am often in the comments section talking with fellow fans, expression opinions and sometimes offering counter points to simply encourage debate. I try my very best to always explain that my opinion is just that, my opinion, I do know on some occasions I might actually know a fact and therefore I will let people know.
It has become a running joke now among admins of the page but it seems that people do not wish to hear opinions ever unless they agree with them and if they do not they feel the need to shout down the other person. When did that become the norm in this world? Is it due to the way politics is nowadays… a media driven thing? I honestly do not know however I am called deluded more than anything else right now so I have spent some time to review what is being said and if in fact I am perhaps blinded by my own opinion and therefore not entertaining the other views.
I do have a pet hate. Before I get into details and talk about the opinions and the discussions I want to get this out of the way and my pet hate is when people express their opinions as facts. An example; “Harry Winks is shit, fact!” Is actually a comment I have seen and I wonder if perhaps the education system in our country has gone so down hill that people do not know the difference between facts and fiction (perhaps see politics and media as above) but I find myself saying so often; “No, that is your opinion, you are entitled to it, but its not a fact.” and would you believe it people argue with me and guess what, when I disagree with their ‘fact’ I am called deluded.
As I just mentioned him let us start with Harry Winks. Forget the fact he is one of our own. Forget the fact he came through our academy. Forget the fact top coaches in Pochettino, Mourinho, Guardiola, Zidane and Southgate have all said he is one of the best midfielders in the league. Spurs fans constantly berate him and say he only passes backwards and does nothing else. I have to wonder once a narrative begins does that mean that people do not actually watch anymore and they simply only see what they want / are told they see?
None of us like to think our opinions are being influenced by others but I do think in this case especially that must be the case. I have an opinion on Winks. I believe since being back to full fitness he is and is becoming week after week one of our most important players as his style of play suits Poch and our team style so well. He is always available to receive the ball (he works so hard to be that) and is always keeping the ball moving. He is also not afraid to bring the ball forward into space, which is important.
So, that is my opinion. Facts however support the view that he does a lot more than just pass backwards and in recent weeks there has been a lot more media coverage of that, possibly as more and more pundits sing his praise and talk about what he is doing and why it is impressive I am seeing the views change BUT those who want to be critical continue. I have to wonder, do people hate having their opinion proven wrong so much that they would rather cling onto it and ‘die on that hill’ rather than simply say; “recently my opinion has changed…” ?
So with Winks, it is no longer that he only passes backwards now he only passes backwards and side to side. OH! and he also spins around aimlessly … Scott Parker 360 apparently. Once again, facts do not support this but I guess it is progress? I guess in a few months if Winks continues at this standard these people might start saying “he doesn’t score enough to be a good midfielder” and then eventually might concede he is “okay”.
What is amusing to me is that I feel like as a fan base we actually never learn. We all want to see homegrown players come through and play for the club, live the dream we all had as kids and yet no one seems to actually have the patience with these players when they do make it. I wonder if Kane would have had the number of games if he was coming in now as he did when he did make his breakthrough. Remember he started in the Europa League games and was scoring so many he was finally given a shot in the Premier League, the rest is history.
I was an admin on a FB page then when he broke through and I remember people saying he was ‘Championship at best’ and so on and these were fellow Spurs fans. None of those voices exist now but even in his season season I remember reading all the time how he was a tap in merchant. Its actually comical that fans from other clubs have that view but for Spurs fans to have it also drives me crazy and it is upon thinking about that I realised I am not the deluded one.
You see I have opinion but I am also not adverse to changing them and admitting when I change them and so I would argue those who are so blinded by their own opinion they do not consider another point of view, instead choosing to shout it down are the deluded ones. They are the ones who are literally deluding themselves that their opinion is FACT and no one else is smart enough to see what they see.
For posterity and for everyone to have a laugh at possibly in the future here are a few of my current opinions.
- I believe Pochettino needs to be braver in trusting our young players again. He protects them, due to the reasons I have stated above but when you see squad places being taken up by N’koudou (not meaning disrespect) and you see Georgiou and alike there and ready you have to wonder why not give them the minutes.
- I would like to see Aurier sold. I have never warmed to him as a person / character and as a player I have seen nothing that shows he is better than Tripps or KWP. I would make KWP our first choice right back.
- I do not believe we need to sign a replacement for Dembele, we have Oliver Skipp and I would like him trusted and played in that same role. He will make mistakes but he is the future and we can have the future now.
I could go on but those three are enough for people to think I am a prat and call me deluded I am sure.
There is a debate I have often with a fellow admin for the Facebook page (Admin DB) and that is I am looking at players we should sign to improve the squad and options and he is always telling me we should be aiming higher, we are a Champions League team now. We have debated it so much, both have differing opinions and recently as much as I hate to say this I do think he is right. (There will be no living with him when he reads this).
I think due to the era I grew up watching us I still have a mentality of fighting for to four and hoping for a cup. He is from a generation where he is expecting us to be in the top four and is devastated if we do not lift a trophy as he truly believes we should be winning them. I think somewhere in the middle ground for both of us is probably more accurate about where we ‘should’ be.
So here is my conclusion to this blog and I do not think I am deluded because I do change my opinion, I do live and I do learn and I try my very best to always respect other views even when I do not agree…. unless you say your opinion is FACT… then you are just a prat to me.
-Admin SJ
