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Spurs and football used to be fun

12 min read
by Vass Koni
Vass Koni has been watching Spurs a long time and there is very little he hasn't seen but how do the modern Spurs brand compare to the club he grew up watching? Has the fun been sucked from the game?

I was born the year that Match of the Day was. That should give you some context to this. I remember being Spurs before even knowing what Spurs was. I clearly must have been old enough to know what the word looked like because I felt chuffed when I saw a Spurs Rosette on an uncle’s wall and pointed it out to my dad. “Look dad. Spurs.”

Whilst everyone seems to remember their first game, I sadly don’t. All I remember is that my dad took me one evening game. Or at least it felt like evening. It may have been a wintry Saturday. The only thing I remember is that there was a brass band at half time and I begged my dad to take me home because I didn’t like the band (lame excuse). I was only about 5. He vowed never to take me again, but of course he did. Thankfully.

I also remember turning up to the turnstiles on match days with my dad. Adult and junior turnstiles side by side on the Paxton Road. He’d push me in one while he went through another (that’s when turnstile operators wouldn’t let us squeeze through as one). 70p for him and 35p for me. I’m sure he took me to the first leg of the UEFA cup semi-final versus Feynoord. And I remember going to Alan Gilzean’s testimonial in days when players deserved and needed testimonials. I remember the last home game in 1975 versus Leeds Utd needing a win so we wouldn’t get relegated and yes I remember Alfie Conn sitting on the ball and Cyril Knowles scoring.

[linequote]Going to Spurs then became something I did with my mates and then by the early eighties we were at school during the day and asking everyone “are you going Spurs tonight”[/linequote]

The first memory of glory however would have been the ’73 League Cup final against Norwich. Ralph Coates replaced the unfortunate John Pratt and scored the winner. I don’t quite recall the 71 final v Villa.

But we did get relegated once. The 1977/78 season, but that was good for me because at 14 the following season I was able to start going by myself. Going to Spurs then became something I did with my mates and then by the early eighties we were at school during the day and asking everyone “are you going Spurs tonight”. By kick-off there’d be up to 20 of us on The Shelf watching the game and going mental when we scored. One time a mate lost his earring and we pushed people aside until we found it. Well I found it actually. No idea where that fellow Spur is nowadays though. Good job it wasn’t the same day though when on a packed Shelf a gap suddenly appeared because one individual that was off his head with booze decided to whip it out and urinate there and then because he couldn’t get to the loo. Not something I miss about those days to be fair.

And how great were the early 80s? Without doubt the best side since the sixties and has not been bettered since. Proper players. Proper manager. Proper style. But 1984 was when football changed for Spurs. Off the back of one of our greatest triumphs we lost the best manager since Bill Nick due to a meddling chairman. The dawn of owners that wanted more than owning a football club.

They thought they “knew” football and they wanted fame and notoriety and Spurs were the first to feel the brunt of it. So much so that when the money from the Premier League started to filter in to football Spurs weren’t prepared for it on the pitch, which is funny because our then Chairman was prepared for it on a personal level.

People that bemoan the fact that Spurs haven’t recovered from failing to push on after 2010 should really put the ‘84 missed boat’ in context. Near bankruptcy followed by 1990 or thereabouts and the highlight of the mediocre 90s was Gerry Francis telling us that he was our best performing manager by taking the club to the giddy heights of 7th. It took us about 20 years to get over the Irving Scholar debacle and the subsequent Alan Sugar era.

[fullquote]The affinity with the club, its aura, it’s history, it’s moments of glory. It’s in your DNA. And in this turbulent relationship I have celebrated and I have despaired[/fullquote]

And whilst we linger here, on missed opportunities and not pushing on from 4th, do you realise that the last time we finished as high as third was 1990. Yes almost 25 years ago, and even then we were a good 16 points behind the champions. And some of our fans today would have us believe that we ought to be top 4 on a regular basis. But I will come back to this later.

Put simply, I fell in love with Spurs before I even fell in love with my wife and that will be true for most of you. Spurs are my first love and just like a marriage they can charm you, exhilarate you, drive you crazy and put you through every emotion. But love is the glue. The affinity with the club, its aura, it’s history, it’s moments of glory. It’s in your DNA. And in this turbulent relationship I have celebrated and I have despaired. I have written to former managers and chairman when peeved (we didn’t always live in the digital age), if only to vent my spleen; and in recent times I have emailed the club’s current chairman. Sometimes I got a reply. But even then I have supported players, backed managers, supported Chairmen and all because I want the best for my club. Our club.

I moved to Birmingham in 1993 and kept my season ticket for a full ten seasons after that before tiring of lonely and long motorway trips late on midweek after watching us play a lower league team in the Worthington Cup. I wondered what I was doing and whether I really loved it any more. Before this if I missed a Spurs game it felt like the cosmos would implode if I wasn’t there.

However, I weaned myself off and got a bronze membership instead (well it felt like queuing up for another season ticket just in case things improved was the medicine I needed) and the saturation of TV coverage that followed made it bearable. And there it is! TV coverage. The football killing disease. Right there. Premier League then Champions League brought money into the game that then brought more owners with agendas; which then made players richer and fans poorer and the disconnect began.

[fullquote]TV coverage. The football killing disease. Right there. Premier League then Champions League brought money into the game that then brought more owners with agendas[/fullquote]

You see, despite all the ups and downs in the fan relationship you could still identify with the players, or with the kit, or with the history, or most of all with the badge. So I always want Spurs to win even when they piss me off, and I always related to the players as long as I felt they understood what it meant to play for Spurs; and most of them did. But not so much of late it seems. But then how can they know what it means to play for Spurs? I mentioned the word “testimonial” before. Players of today no longer need or hang around at one club long enough, to make a testimonial game meaningful.

But then how can it?

Today’s fans get incredibly excited about signings. Our heads have been so brainwashed by the media frenzy of clubs signing players that we want and demand new signings. Screw the players that are already there, because we want to sign new players; better players and if we don’t then we aren’t showing ambition. And then when the signings don’t work out (often because of needing time to adjust, or a change in coaching style) then we clearly didn’t buy the right ones. But it doesn’t stop fans drooling in a transfer window and celebrating “Jim White day” for goodness sake.

Honestly, if anything represents today’s football it is that. A newscaster reading off a cue card and spouting nonsense at the top of his voice to create fake excitement is what today is about. That and “Super Sunday’s”. Hype and sensationalism and nonsense and more fake excitement and absolute hysteria fuelled by tabloid press, tabloid style radio stations and phone in’s, social media and so on and so forth. We now have a world where everyone has a voice although most of it is filled with nonsense (and no doubt some of you have spotted the hypocrisy here as you laugh at this blog).

But back to signings. We demand them. We want them. And yet we get the hump when players want to up sticks and move after a couple of seasons. You can’t have your cake and eat it. It’s a transient world and footballers are more transient than most. They have been commoditised amongst the balance sheets of clubs and traded like stocks on the LSE. So how can we have an affinity with players. The disconnect is fuelled by the greed of clubs and the Associations that run the game and by our own “I want it now” mentality. Supporting a football club used to be fun.

[fullquote]Standing there at the back end of the lower stand in the Park Lane end against Palace, I have never felt so detached from the club[/fullquote]

I was at the Palace game last week at White Hart Lane. My first visit this season for a number of reasons and I will be attending the Newcastle game on Wednesday. I will be with my wife and one of my sons on Wednesday night, but against Palace I went alone as I happened to be in London and got a ticket for just over £20 from Stub Hub. Yes them. £23.60 in fact. For a £40 ticket. I still remember days when people turned up and got locked out because the ground was full.

Standing there at the back end of the lower stand in the Park Lane end, I have never felt so detached from the club. I saw 11 guys in white shirts trying to construct something exciting, but there wasn’t much to cheer about. I didn’t feel close to them. I didn’t feel a part of them. I wanted to feel excited. I wanted that sense of anticipation. I desperately wanted to feel moved in the way that supporting Spurs used to move me. But it just felt like some tired embers simmering and failing to ignite. And the ground?

It just seemed like this strange place and I could have been in any ground in England. It felt like I used to know every nook and cranny of that place but I just looked at it and thought, there used to be a club here. Which brings me back to Keith Burkinshaw and his parting shot when he left in 1984.

Football has changed beyond recognition and while I may still be a fan, and sport my Spurs tattoo, and argue the toss with every negative Spurs supporter on Twitter or elsewhere, it is hard being a fan today. Especially a Spurs fan. Perhaps because we have lost our identity recently and maybe if and when we rediscover it things will be different again. Yes fans are fickle and a successful run of games in just a few weeks can change feelings. Just ask Newcastle right now. But the feeling of disconnect is growing and wanting your Tottenham back in some ways seems a forlorn hope, because things will never ever be the same. At least not the way I remember and cherish.

I always wanted to see us win just one league title before I popped my clogs and as the years roll by it seems less and less likely to happen. Unless of course you follow the road trod by former bit part clubs like Chelsea and Manchester City and win the benefactor lottery. Because for now that is the only way it can happen despite Spurs trying to do things the “right way”. And whilst many fans will hold up 2010 as the benchmark, we have to realise that was more an aberration. Circumstances gave us an opportunity which we missed for a number of reasons, not all of which can be laid at the current Chairman’s feet. We had the right players at the right time and took advantage of the right circumstance. But sadly this is not the norm for Spurs. We are still trying to build the “norm” for our club, because somewhere along the way we lost ourselves.

[linequote]Come the next game, I will be watching and cajoling and supporting and agonising and willing my team to win. Because I know that I am and will ever be Spurs[/linequote]

That said, come the next game, I will be watching and cajoling and supporting and agonising and willing my team to win. Because I know that I am and will ever be Spurs. As are the three new Spurs fans that I created (my two son’s and my wife) just like all of you are constantly creating new Spurs fans. Not because you want them to suffer but because you want them to belong to something like you do, to belong to something special and share the moments of pure unadulterated joy like Ricky Villa at Wembley, like Graham Roberts lifting the UEFA cup, like Hoddle and Gazza and Ginola and Lineker and Klinsmann and Bale; and like Crouch’s goal in the San Siro.

I long for these things to return before the gap in the disconnect increases. Before lethargy and apathy and negativity consumes some fans so much that they forget why they support Spurs or what supporting Spurs should be about and what it should feel like. Judging from my Twitter feed there seem to be a few lost souls that are beyond saving, but we need to keep the faith. If football is indeed like a religion then you have to have the faith in it despite the times you question what you believe in. Like I said it is part of who you are. It’s in your DNA.

Football did used to be fun. Honestly it did. We just need to remember how to enjoy it again.

All views and opinions expressed in this article are the views and opinions of the writer and do not necessarily represent the views of The Fighting Cock. We offer a platform for fans to commit their views to text and voice their thoughts. Football is a passionate game and as long as the views stay within the parameters of what is acceptable, we encourage people to write, get involved and share their thoughts on the mighty Tottenham Hotspur.

5 Comments

  1. tony m
    15/12/2014 @ 2:01 pm

    absolutely best article i have read in years and totally sums up what it means to be a supporter and the damage done to the game by the big money of sky etc. i agreed with every single sentiment

  2. peter
    15/12/2014 @ 2:31 pm

    Thank you Vass for a very poignant & well written piece.

    My experience of being a fan is very similar to yours….saw my first game at WHL in 1967 V. Wolves (won 2-1!) aged 7, so guess I am just a few years older than you. I too have moved outside London and get to see 6-10 games per season, and when I went a few weeks back to watch us play West Brom, had exactly the same feeling of detachment you describe above.

    I also wished (and still somehow naively believe!) for my beloved team to win the league before shuffling off this mortal coil…..but hey that`s life!!

  3. Cheshuntboy
    15/12/2014 @ 6:39 pm

    Interesting article – just one point, though. I hate to mention it, but could it be that your dad took you to Highbury for your first game, because Arsenal used to have the Metropolitan Police band play at their home games in the ’60s, but I don’t remember anything similar at WHL. With or without musical accompaniment, they were great days, and we’re not going to see their like again.

    • Vass
      16/12/2014 @ 8:48 pm

      Not sure whether to be offended :). Definitely WHL. Remember being right at front of shelf. May have been a cup game if that makes a difference. The memory is a little hazy but would never have been taken to the nasty neighbourhood squatters place

  4. delstar
    15/12/2014 @ 10:00 pm

    True. Thankyou. Newcastle game; we will roll back the years. It’s the hope, you see……

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