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‘But What Have They Won?’

4 min read
by Tom Hayward
It's the query that loudly follows us around social media after another excellent performance. Tom Hayward wonders if this is the question they should be asking though.

Social media is a cesspit.

Any blue-tick account on Twitter that dares to praise Tottenham Hotspur – the impressive, evolving monster of North London – will now invariably have double-figure responses from a range of people, from the anonymous ‘Football Twitter’ accounts like @MagicalMesut or @PxulPxgba to the Union Jack waving, camera held slightly-too-close-for-a-selfie middle aged grumbler. They almost all scream the same thing:

‘But what have they won?’

It’s the hottest new meme in football. Like Man City and their oil money. Liverpool and their history lessons. Chelsea and their… well, anything that’s generally unpleasant. Spurs have had their share since Pochettino took over. ‘Third in a two-horse race’, ‘bottlers’, ‘The Harry Kane Team’, and the like. The trophies line is just the latest one.

There is no naivety on my part that this is what you are supposed to do as rival fans. We caveat. We excuse. We leave reason at the door. But this is a pointed question, and the more impressive the result, the louder they ask.

The answer, as we know, is nothing. Spurs, for all the good we have done in the last 4 years, have no silverware to show for it yet. Dare you go on social media to share your appreciation of Kane’s goals, Eriksen’s floating feet or Dembele’s graceful dominance in midfield, without being reminded that it apparently doesn’t matter, as it hasn’t led to them holding a cup above their heads.

[linequote]The more impressive the result, the louder they ask[/linequote]

There is no doubt that silverware is important, and has crossed our palms far too infrequently in the last three decades. But for fans to hold it as the yardstick is – willingly or not – myopic in the extreme.

There is no greater example of how trophies can make little difference to a mood than the FA Cups Arsenal have stumbled to in the last few years. They still despise their manager. They despise 90% of their players. They despise their board. They despise that what little soul they had as a fanbase was stripped from them when they walked out of Highbury for the last time. They despise that their rivals have become better, more relevant and more entertaining than them.

Sure, they can still point to their trophy cabinet. Those are the bare facts, the statistics they can stick on the boards around the Emirates. When your house is burning down around you, you save the things that matter the most. All that’s left, though, is a smoking pile of ash and rubble, and it was them who sparked the match.

Spurs were once the team that couldn’t. Then they were the team that could, but didn’t. Now we are the team that can, but haven’t. To watch us play, to see us dominate a North London Derby, to see us respond to going 2-0 down away to Juventus in the Champions League knockout stage by standing up and roaring back to 2-2, tells us what we should expect next: we are becoming the team that will.

In Turin, you could hear ‘Oh When the Spurs’ being sung by the away hoards before the 10th minute had even passed, and after their two goals had whistled past us. That’s borne of something deeper than demanding trophies and success. That’s borne of knowing what it means to be on the journey; to read the book, not skip to the end.

[linequote]That’s borne of something deeper than demanding trophies and success[/linequote]

To celebrate it is not to celebrate one result, it’s to contextualise what Pochettino and his team have done to us. They’ve allowed us the ludicrous notion that we shouldn’t be surprised to see us come back and draw at a place where teams seldom breach their defence for a corner, let alone two goals of the highest quality. We’re celebrating moments, plot points in the novel. We’re adding chapters to what could be the greatest story we ever see.

But what have they won? Nothing. And they might never win anything. But we’ve spent too long protecting ourselves against failure, and investing in this team as we do is an explosion of emotion. We aren’t going to stop ourselves falling in love just in case we get our hearts broken anymore.

Like anything on the internet, the question has a shelf life. The obvious way to kill it is to win something, anything. But look a bit deeper, and you can see the cracks already, and they’re being caused by the very same people: rival fans. ‘I wish it was us’, they’ve begun to say. They’re taking each other’s blindfolds off.

And this is the crux. It’s fear, jealousy, and hardship. If your neighbour is building a mansion, you complain about the noise. Nevermind your roof caving in. While we enjoy it, we have our own answer to the question, and we don’t need to share it. So perhaps what they should be asking isn’t ‘what have they won?’, but: ‘why do I care?’

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.

2 Comments

  1. Brian
    15/02/2018 @ 2:44 pm

    They are two completely separate issues.

    I do not care what others say, but I care about the situation.

    The team has made fantastic improvements and has won some big games. The manager has a great reputation. The CL has added vital income and prestige. Coming 3rd and 2nd has shown we are not a flash in the pan. That’s that done, let’s park it.

    We have not won anything for a long while. We have never won the CL or European Cup as was. We won the European Cup Winners Cup in 1963 and two UEFA Cups (1972 and 1984). The last trophy was the League Cup ten years ago.

    Trophies matter and the big trophies matter more. The trophies that really mater are the PL and the CL. Spurs last won the top flight division (as it was) in 1961.

    Now, having stated all that, and FA Cup would be welcome. A Europa League Trophy even more so.

    In ten years time no one will remember that we had a good team and they won some great games if they do not win anything. I remember the Double team.

    We should want these trophies because we want them, not because of what others say.

    Not winning trophies would make the team the Lamela of the competitions. No end product.

  2. 1961Blanchflower
    15/02/2018 @ 3:19 pm

    Great stuff Tom, almost Spooky-like. As far as the “winning things” debate goes, one other factor is that trophies are generally less readily available to win these days, in the presence of oil clubs who hoover up unprecedented quantities of them, leaving fewer for the clubs like us who play fair. Massively enjoying the Poch era though, and silverware would be most welcome, particularly the so-called Champions’ League.

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