Deuces, Clint

Clint Dempsey’s time at Tottenham has drawn to a close. Unfortunately for him, Spurs fans will remember him more for what he wasn’t than what he actually was. Football fans are notoriously fickle, and in the case of many players, they are prejudged unfairly. Dempsey fell foul of this at White Hart Lane, with his transfer on deadline day 11 months ago coming in the context of missed opportunities, and the lack of a big name striker.

Though many Spurs fans refused to see him this way, Dempsey was a forward at Tottenham, playing as the second striker in just under half of his starts. Having recently completed a 17-goal league campaign at Fulham where he often played as a lone forward, it should have been plain to see that Dempsey was intended as Tottenham’s third striker.

In an alternate universe, Dempsey was a cult hero at the Lane. Scoring vital goals against Manchester United (a winner at Old Trafford and a late equaliser in the home fixture), with a spiky attitude and a willingness to try something spectacular (as his couple of deflected long shots would attest), he has the makings of a fan favourite. Indeed he was at Fulham and continues to be for the United States national team.

One of the common knocks on Dempsey that I heard in the stands was his lack of pace. For me, this sums up the problem people had with him. Dempsey is not a slow player, he is just not as fast on the wings as Bale or Lennon, but then who is? In a similar vein, the capture of Dempsey at a knock down price, rather than other bigger names we’d been linked with, saw him maligned from the start. Arguably, with some camps he never had a chance. It’s only human nature to look for reasons that prove your presumption right rather than reasons that you’re wrong; fans would get hung up on the negatives in his game instead of embracing what made him a special player at other clubs and for his country.

Prejudging players has unfairly clouded the experiences of Adebayor and Gallas at the club, it’s a shame that Clint is leaving before being able to prove his doubters wrong. I, for one, will never forget his goals against United.

[author name=”Greg Stevenson” avatar=”http://www.gravatar.com/avatar/a0285d45741b01cead9e9c8c336aaa95.jpg?s=192&d=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.thefightingcock.co.uk%2Fforum%2Fstyles%2Fsoft_responsive%2Fxenforo%2Favatars%2Favatar_l.png” twitter=”GregStevenson_” website=”” tag=”gregstevenson[/linequote]