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Squeaky bum time

4 min read
by Vass Koni
A league title run in is a new sensation for many of us, but Vass was there in 1985 when we came very close. He drops the truth about what the rest of the season has in store for our emotions.

Ok I don’t know about you lot but I am officially reaching squeaky bum time. Just the fact that Spurs have reached second place in the league (even if it is on goal difference) has triggered the kind of anxiety within me that I had forgotten exists when it comes to the team I support.

After weeks of loving everything about what the team were doing and being quite comfortable in competing with whomsoever we were up against, my psychology is now being tested merely because we have hit the giddy heights of second.

I haven’t really had to experience anything like this since 1985. For those that recall in that season we were pushing for the league title challenge when we played a crucial home game on a dark Wednesday night towards the end of the season against our title rivals Everton. Standing amidst another heaving crowd on the shelf we witnessed an excruciating 2-1 loss and then a ridiculous fixture congestion got the better of us. We finished third in the end.

[linequote]Under Pochettino something special is happening and yes we’ve all noticed it and people are writing and talking about it everywhere it seems[/linequote]

Since then our dreams and expectations have been sanitised by the mediocrity that followed, particularly in the 90’s. We had more flirtation with relegation than we did with the title for such a long while. Even European football seemed like a pipe dream until the man with no hair came along and started our upward trajectory. Oh how we sang about a “European Tour” when we hit the heights of the Europa League again.

Redknapp’s team raised expectation further and apart from one fleeting and enjoyable season in the Champions League a repeat visit eluded us, sometimes by forces beyond reasonable explanation. AVB tried to push us on but didn’t manage it. But now? Now under Pochettino something special is happening and yes we’ve all noticed it and people are writing and talking about it everywhere it seems.

But what about us poor sods? What about the fans? This is alien right? How are we supposed to cope for goodness sake? Every game coming up is going to be agonising without question and starting this coming Sunday at the Etihad. I daren’t watch! But then this is what we want I hear you say, and you’d be absolutely right but we fans need to get used to it.

This is what we signed up for, to root for a team that is successful; to abandon the shackles of expectation and then to actually deliver. Of course it is, but when you have been so deprived of this feeling of heightened expectation and believing that you can go into any game and expect to win, then this goes against the grain for many Spurs fans.

Screw “Spursy!”

We need to eliminate this word and redefine its meaning?

But whatever we do we can’t help sensing in the back of our minds that fate is waiting with a baseball bat to knock us back to our Spurs supporting reality. So we play it down. We stay humble. We remember that Champions League qualification is our real objective for the season and we tell everyone this. But we can hope. We actually have hope of the realistic kind. And this is what can ultimately drive you crazy.

Thank goodness for Leicester, allowing us to slip under the radar. Everyone is talking up plucky old Leicester. 5000/1 outsiders at the start of the season and now 7/4 title favourites. The world has gone mad of course it has. But that’s fine. As long as people aren’t talking too loudly about Spurs then that’s good for us fans because if the expectation and attention reached fever pitch we’d probably spontaneously combust.

The good thing about all of this “hope” is that it is pervading into the fan support at matches and there’s an electricity being generated by our fans. There is no question that our away support is one of the best in the land and anywhere in Europe in fact. White Hart Lane however can be a funny yet moody old place. Tension, apprehension, indifference, frustration, disgust as easily conveyed by the fans as excitement, anticipation, energy and drive.

[linequote]As long as people aren’t talking too loudly about Spurs then that’s good for us fans because if the expectation and attention reached fever pitch we’d probably spontaneously combust[/linequote]

The recent game against Watford was a key moment for us this season. The fans realised where we were and what we could potentially achieve and the game became huge, as will all games from here on in. The positive thing is that the crowd responded and sought to drive on and lift the team. The same fans who are starting to agonise (or maybe not for those more confident among us) rose to the challenge and the roar that greeted Kieran Trippier’s winner was of the magnitude normally reserved for NLD games. The fans know now.

“There’s a long way to go.”

“One game at a time.”

“Champions League is what we want and then we will see.”

“There’s a lot of hard games coming up.”

Soundbites? Yes but so what?

If it helps us cope then I am all for it. The rest of this season is going to be ride the like of which many will never have experienced before so hold on to your hats. Pochettino and the players are driving the club towards something and it’s up to us to jump in and drive them on even more. And even if it doesn’t happen this season we have one hell of a building block for subsequent seasons. There appears to be substance to this progress. But whatever happens I’ll tell you what. Stock up on the undies because squeaky bum time is most definitely here.

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.

Vass Koni

1 Comment

  1. Bill Madrid
    16/02/2016 @ 10:48 am

    “Spursy” always used to describe incredibly skilful, mercurial players yet sometimes frustrating – the likes of Hoddle, Ginola, maybe Van de Vaart and Lamela in the modern day.
    That’s the meaning we need to recover, if any, not this media-driven comedy-crap sense that the Guardian Podcast and the like feel they have to use every five minutes

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