Not so fabulous Tottenham
FAB FC
Something must be done. That phrase usually indicates two things. The first is a feeling of anger and discontent, mixed with a sense of powerlessness. The second is that any decision that is made to ‘do’ something will invariably be a poor one – an action for its own sake rather than because it is a solution to a problem. Politics is littered with such examples.
At Spurs, we’re well into the something must be done stage. The club is drifting, led by a board that veers between incompetence and spiteful stupidity – how else to describe the decision not to even contact Mauricio Pochettino after sacking Antonio Conte – and which has got every major football decision for the last four years wrong. And it’s not just the poor decisions that have brought Spurs to this sorry pass. It is the culture that has been created within the club, one in which no one takes responsibility for error, where bunkering down and assuming everyone is against you rather than engaging with fair criticism is writ large, where hubris trumps any vestige of a winning mentality.
To win, you have to speculate. And Spurs often don’t consider this, the virtue of a No Deposit Bonus.
We see the results on the pitch. A directionless mess from players who, with few exceptions, simply don’t care. Ryan Mason cares, but there are doubts about whether the task he has been handed is too big – through no fault of his own. There are serious question marks about the decision-making ability of those running the club. Don’t think just of the managers undermined even as they bring success (Martin Jol, Poch), or the raft of poor managerial appointments, but of the loss of outstanding staff members who have gone on to achieve success elsewhere – most notably Paul Mitchell. In football, Spurs is no longer a destination good people want to go to.
So what is to be done? Unfortunately, there is no simple answer. Even more unfortunately, there are still too many people who think there is. Evidence of that is mainly on Twitter, the value of which is rapidly diminishing but which retains a reach that other platforms don’t have. I’ve given up trying to have any kind of conversation on there, because there is always someone willing to twist whatever words are used for their own agenda, and because it is increasingly dominated by people shouting without thinking.
It’s a huge echo chamber, and there are too many who have convinced themselves that because there are lots of accounts putting purple and gold in their bios and typing tough-sounding phrases there’s some kind of mass movement being held down by all the people that won’t agree with everything they say. I think the truth is that most fans are totally hacked off with the club board, its condescending arrogance and its inability to get the vital things right. That certainly means support for the board is at an all-time low, but people also know there is not much of an alternative. Which means there’s a sense of doom about the place.
The armchair rabble rousers will respond that something must be done. But when it comes to what, they are hazy. There’s a school of thought that seems to think if we have some big demos, the board will decide to walk away from their £5bn asset because they’ve been called names. That’s not going to happen.
Now, that doesn’t mean I don’t think people shouldn’t be free to stand on the High Road and chant Levy Out. I just think they should spend less energy being total shits to anyone else who doesn’t agree with their every word. I know many who agree with the general sentiment of Levy Out who don’t want anything to do with some of the stuff that’s come from some of the Levy Out brigade. And to be clear, I know people who are firmly Levy Out who are able to have a proper conversation about it.
The reason protests so far haven’t been that big is not because this podcaster or that social media account or the Trust haven’t backed them, it’s because the support isn’t there. It’s not there because many are put off by the vitriol of a significant number of the Levy Outers, because they don’t see a clear alternative to the current ownership, because they worry about potential future owners being worse, and because they don’t think the board or owners will walk away just because some people are shouting at them. Maybe, like the club board, some of its most vociferous critics need to consider what they might be doing wrong rather than blaming everyone else.
If anything is to change, we need to deal with reality, not rhetoric. As I said last time I wrote, at some stage any resolution will involve people sitting in a room and talking. Especially as we’re talking about the running of a football club, not the poll tax or universal suffrage.
And the stark reality is that for anything to change, you have to deal with the people running the club now. Whatever you think of them. I tried, alongside others, for the best part of 10 years as co-chair of the Supporters Trust. One of the things I think is very positive about the new Fan Advisory Board is that others will get the chance to see what we had to deal with. No doubt the keyboard revolutionaries will waste little time before denouncing anyone who takes part as a bunch of sellouts who should be backing the fantasy of a million fan march that will sweep the current incumbents from office and install… er, well, that bit hasn’t been worked out yet. But the FAB is a step forward, albeit not as positive a one as those of us who pushed for it wanted.
For the first time, the Club is required to consult fans. Before, it was a grace and favour relationship and the Club often pulled any contact if it took umbrage at something that was said or done. They would love fans to dismiss the FAB, because that eliminates another potential point of challenge. I’m right behind anyone who get involved and tries to do something practical, rather than spends their time shouting at everyone else who doesn’t do exactly what they want.
The success, or not, of the FAB is a longer-term issue, and of course it doesn’t provide all the answers to the current problems. But it does provide the opportunity for a wider cross section of fans to hold the Club board to account. It can transmit the anger that undoubtedly exists if it is determined to operate as a genuine channel of communication, rather than as the secretive fig leaf the Club wants. Recent events have shown that fans want to be represented in an open and professional way, and the FAB can do this if it maintains good working relationships with various strands of fan opinion.
I’d also like to see the Trust use its position to start to put forward a vision of what values it wants any owners to adopt, what sort of club we want as fans. I advocated the sort of owners charter other groups have adopted the last time I wrote, and I still think this needs to be pushed. The Trust has gone through some challenging times recently, but as the only fully independent, formally constituted and democratic fan group at the Club it needs to be supported in any efforts to secure better for the future.
Through the FAB, and the Trust, and other fan organisations, ‘something must be done’ can be transformed into a clear vision of what can be done. That also involves being clear about what the criticism of the Club is. It’s not that it hasn’t spent money, because it has. It’s not because it has or hasn’t secured the services of this or that individual. The criticism should be that it has not prioritised football, or fans; it does not have a winning mentality; and that it is still run as a personal fiefdom rather than a modern sporting organisation.
Believe me, those views have been put to the board over the years. I hear that there have been a large number of applications to stand for the FAB, and I hope that the reps elected are a good cross section of our fanbase. It will be fascinating to see how they handle the reality of dealing with one of the most difficult club boards in football.
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.
10 Comments
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15/05/2023 @ 11:33 am
Martin, Really well said. I agree with pretty much all of your comments, which is why I have applied to be on the FAB.
The only way forward is to try to have sensible dialogue with the club and to represent the views of the fans in a constructive way.
15/05/2023 @ 7:53 pm
So the alternative to doing ‘something’ is doing ‘nothing’? The best thing we can all do is simply stop turning-up, stop funding ENIC’s mushrooming property empire, and thereby hit Levy in the wallet, which is the only he and Lewis care about. ‘Sensible dialogue’ with those two? Sure – good luck with that!
16/05/2023 @ 2:57 pm
No, doing nothing isn’t the alternative. But you’ve got to be clear and realistic about what can be done and what comes next. People aren’t going to stop going – not because they are weak or stupid but because they want to support their team. It’s usually noticeable that most of the people calling for match boycotts are people who don’t go to many matches.
Boycott catering and eat and drink outside? That might work, although many of the places outside the ground are on property leased from the club, so they aren’t unconnected. Plus it’s difficult to delver when the ground is often the only place many people can get any refreshment over a long day.
But what’s the objective? Get the owners to sell? Well, no one has yet said:
• why they would walk away from a £5bn asset;
• who would be prepared to pay them the £5bn;
• what anyone who did take over would do. Remember, ENIC were our saviours from Alan Sugar once.
In the absence of any change the only option – however difficult the club make it – is to keep talking to them and arguing for change. Otherwise it’s just posturing. Sorry if people don’t like that word, but it’s true. For the record, I absolutely understand why people are utterly hacked off with the people running our club. I just don’t think shouting for them to go when they are clearly not going anywhere is a solution.
16/05/2023 @ 9:06 pm
“I just don’t think shouting for them to go when they are clearly not going anywhere is a solution.”
I think people are shouting for Levy/ENIC to go precisely because everyone knows they’re not going anywhere. The shouting is caused by the hopelessness of the situation and the realization that we’re stuck in this mess and not likely to be out of it anytime soon.
For the record, I support those that want Levy/ENIC out because, unlike the time when ENIC bought the club, money in global football has exploded so I do expect that the next owner will be more likely to be well-heeled enough to compete with the larger, wealthier clubs. That being said, I genuinely don’t think ENIC ever sell THFC; there’s simply too much money left to be made and selling now would be leaving money on the table.
17/05/2023 @ 9:02 am
Revolutions don’t happen through talking Martin and that is what Tottenham need. There is no indication based on history that ENIC and Levy will change so there is a very good chance that things will continue roughly as they are.
What is needed is a sustained approach to build pressure so things become very uncomfortable for them and the best way to do this is to get media attention. No company likes bad press. Unfortunately talking to them won’t do this. They will always be able to control the narrative. Listen and do nothing or hand out breadcrumbs to keep everything calm. Tokenism.
Protests before the matches, flares, chants and banners inside the stadium etc on a constant basis. Planned protests inside the stadium – something like fan’s collectively throwing tennis balls on the pitch like they did in the Bundesliga a few years ago to disrupt matches, walk outs etc. I’m not suggesting anything violent or illegal but it has to make noise. Other clubs seem to be able to do this, we seem incapable of it.
ENIC are a vacuum, stuff goes in and nothing comes out, this is how they control the narrative. If there’s no information there’s nothing to talk about. And this is why talking to them won’t do anything.
People want ENIC gone for very good reasons and it’s hard to argue that any other owner could be any worse than what we have.
So the new fan forum will do little. It will be entertained and tolerated. They will listen and nod and agree and go away and come back and listen and nod again…rinse an repeat.
Basically we are being too nice. The only thing that will get their attention is bad press and to get that you need to make noise. This should be the focus.
17/05/2023 @ 10:06 am
They are getting plenty of bad press. But they don’t care. I think it’s easy, and tempting, to talk revolution, but less easy to get real change. There are too many people shouting at other people for either not doing exactly what they want or for not ramping up the rhetoric in the social media echo chamber.
People can, and should, voice their opposition to the way the club is being run if they want to. But they also need to understand the idea of supporting a club runs deep and there are lots of people who don’t like the way the current board acts who also don’t want to disrupt games. That doesn’t make them complicit with what’s going wrong.
Joe Lewis had a chance to step in when fans called for the board to resign after the ESL debacle – a move that was made in attempt to distance the individuals responsbile for the decision from the club in order to avoid the prospect of heavy punishment – that was before the Premier League bottled disciplining the plotters. So that route to change isn’t happening.
That leaves two other options. One is a new buyer emerging that fans can get behind – through pushing the Owners Charter I’ve talked about. But it’s debatable whether any buyer at all is better than the owners we have – the history of football is littered with the false dawns promised by new owners just to get in the driving seat. There are also plenty of fans who don’t want our club owned by a nation state or some dodgy enterprise and their views need to be respected.
The other option is that the board are convinced, somehow, to change. This seems a distant prospect because of their hubris, but the issues need to keep being put to them.
Both options mean eventually sitting down and talking. You can dismiss the FAB or any other contact with the club as much as you like, but they would be delighted if they didn’t have to talk to anyone. There are many ways to push the agenda, but it really would help if people focused on achieving change rather than whipping up aggression against anyone that doesn’t agree with them 100%. And it would also help if a clear vision of what could come next, rather than simply stating what is wrong now, was put forward.
17/05/2023 @ 11:23 am
Thanks for the reply Martin. I totally agree, the aggression shown by some among the fanbase in the face of differing views is unacceptable and holds us back as a group. And you are right a coherent plan is needed.
However, I don’t think the bad press to date is near enough. There’s still a lot of waffle amongst the media…”well Levy had built the stadium” etc. The reality is that the football management of the club has been poor to inept for years. I just think a bit more co-ordinated “noise” would really put the spot light on them. Most of us just want a well run club that plays good football…like Brighton. Unfortunately I just can’t ever see that happening under ENIC. Anyways a good bit of well informed writing Martin….much better than much of what’s out there.
17/05/2023 @ 2:50 pm
Thanks J-1. I think the press has in general been pretty fair – acknowledging the stadium and business success but questioning the football side. Unfortunately a lot of the questioning of the football side has just come down to a discussion of how much has been spent, rather than how the money has been spent. The reason I keep banging on about focus is because we need to know what we’re criticising and have some idea of how to progress.
There is clearly no coherent football plan – the managerial appointments since Poch was sacked show that. There is no focus on winning of the sort that exists at successful clubs, just a satisfaction at being there and thereabouts. That doesn’t mean we should be winning trophies every year, but it does mean we should be trying.
On top of that, the Club board has an aloof, dismissive and disdainful attitude towards anything but praise. It doesn’t win them friends or buy them the benefit of the doubt. And it fuels the aggression that comes from the frustration this causes. The values of great Club people like Bill Nicholson and Steve Perryman that I grew up with are gone. And that is sad.
Interesting, too, that Brighton – who are well-run club that play good football – have as their CEO a former Spurs man. Yet another example of someone succeeding in the game once they got away from this board. That said, and I have huge respect for Brighton and the people I know there, the way they sometimes handle ticketing issues with their fans isn’t great. But nobody’s perfect.
03/06/2023 @ 10:15 am
Martin, I like your pragmatism, however, would like to shift your perspective just a little. I have been a fan since September 1958. (Yes, I remember the double …and farthings.) Like Daniel Levy and Joe Lewis, I’m an east ender. In fact, in my college years, I worked part-time in a store owned by DL’s father.
First, Spurs’ owners are not swayed by public opinion, or even supporters opinion. They run a successful business. Their judgement is guided by business strategy aimed at ‘added value.’ Their actions are constrained by financial results and forecasts, lender and investor agreements and market data.
B2B agreements, loans for example, often contain clauses that constrain what can be said publicly, and what the financial penalties are for not maintaining key business ratios within the bounds promised when the loan was secured. In short, you can’t borrow large sums and run your business in any fashion you like. I recall Conte saying the club won’t “play under pressure.” Stick to football Antonio. The club is probably not allowed to “play under pressure” without triggering loan terminations, possibly followed by administration, with financiers having first call on liquidated capital. I say probably, because typically details can’t be disclosed, without being sued for breach and, you guessed it, loans called in.
Now, I would love to see the mighty Spurs back winning important trophies on a regular basis. We will do that if, and only if, the club generates the income necessary to stay at the top. City tried an alternative and have 150 charges to answer to. Financial rules will only get tighter, the ‘fit and proper’ test more stringent, and the need for long-term management of ‘added value’ more telling. You don’t need me to point out that factions love a pile-on when a mistake is made.
I recognise that those I share the terraces with are a motley crew. Those I share the internet with, even more so. They are each entitled to a view, they don’t even need to buy a seat. They are entitled to their passion, their disappointment, their anger. It’s not a matter of life and death, it’s more important than that, you might say.
Those of us with insight, feel exactly the same. We are just not that quick to judge, more careful with what we wish for. I have witnessed the “ENIC OUT” contingent on the interweb after every poor result. Their number waxes and wanes based on form and the odd unexplained, counter-intuitive board decision. I just put it down to emotion. It’s a barometer of feeling.
As you say, there’s no agreement on what should happen next. Mentally, they are playing fantasy football with ENIC’s money. If they enjoy it, why not? It has no bearing on any decision the board may make.
ENIC will sell when a ‘F & P’ buyer agrees a price that’s north of ENIC’s valuation (including a suitable ‘net present value’ for business already secured and goodwill generated, ie – not just a capital recovery). Today, I would speculate in the region of £6 billion. Again, I don’t know what Spurs’ creditors have agreed or what value-add strategy investors have been promised. The Spurs board does though. All involved understand the strategic alignment of business value-add with the club’s consequent success on the pitch. The link should be obvious and it is. Disgruntled supporters choose to ignore it, when they need to let off steam. “ENIC OUT” is a safety valve, which is why their is no realistic plan for how to achieve it, or what should come after.
We can’t go back to the days when private owners supported clubs until they went bust. Today, they have to be sustainably run. So, take a poll of season ticket holders. Do they want a club run by`;
– a couple of east end geezers like Spurs
– a couple of asset-stripping porn magnates, like the Irons
– absent Yanks with all their big investments in the US like United and Chelsea
– alleged financial criminals like City
– alleged journalist butchers and gay decapitators like the Toon? None of these guarantee decent managers, transfers, performances or trophies. They do guarantee to move the epicentre of club decision making a long way from WHL. (I know Joe Lewis is on a yacht somewhere, but his heart is in the East End’s Roman Road.)
The military cliche, unsuccessful generals focus on tactics and successful generals on logistics, can be applied to the Spurs board. Financially, Spurs is in the global top-ten on value and income. Not bad for a club that Alan Sugar bought for £8M and sold to ENIC for £25M in 2007.
Today, Spurs are not satisfied without at least Champions League football. On that, supporters and board are in agreement. The reason is the value added to the club by ENIC. I hope they continue to add-value relative to the rest of the Prem, as the rewards are all but inevitable (see Chelsea and City). However as Joe Lewis approaches his mid 80s, a sale might be inevitable. In the meantime all you fans, let ENIC have it with both barrels (metaphorically), play fantasy football with their money. Then, buy a seat and merchandise, drink neck oil and sing. That’s your job. #COYS
20/06/2023 @ 12:22 pm
I agree with much of what you say. But I don’t make the same black or white conclusion you do at the end. It will come as no surprise to hear I don’t agree that in the end fans just need to know their place. Especially when that place is where our board sees it.
I also think that, while much of what you say is correct, the possibility of the success of adding value to the business being reduced by the lack of (or inability to?) focus on the core purpose of the club hasn’t been given enough consideration.