The Fighting Cock by Martin Cloake
There are some great independent Spurs blogs and podcasts being produced at the moment and I always try to make my small contribution to raising their profile when I can. Lately I’ve been picking up on The Fighting Cock and the 1882 movement. I’ve followed a couple of the lads involved on Twitter and recognise some names from back in the day on the old TopSpurs message board, and there’s a real energy to what they are doing.
I’m going to sound as old as I feel when I’m listening to the podcast now but it’s really encouraging to hear what sounds like a new generation creating something and questioning the blandification of modern football. The Fighting Cock is above all passionate about Spurs, but there’s a recognition of the bigger picture that chimes with a growing feeling that’s coalescing around the Stand Against Modern Football initiative. Having come from a generation at Spurs that, despite our fanzine experience and efforts with various independent supporter initiatives, has not really made the impression we once thought we could, what’s most encouraging is the can-do spirit that pervades The Fighting Cock crew. They are a reminder of what football supporters are capable of, and of a spirit that is, in one of the great Steve Perryman’s favourite words, “proper”.
Drawing a Line
Being from the US I may not have been supporting Spurs for nearly as long as most of you. But in my time being Tottenham, the decline of the vocal, passionate, laissez faire fans who were happy just simply being Tottenham is rather alarming. The noise at the Lane is on a steady downward trajectory for all but the biggest of occasions. In its place are the newer, success hungry, seemingly instant gratification requiring clients have been the order of the day, as evidenced by our first three home games this season. The boo birds have been out in force. […]
Our Bovine Public
I was told just recently that it wasn’t a writers job to be liked, but to challenge the way people think. That said, it seems that while the majority of our clubs fan base have spent the best part of the start of the season pointing fingers at one another, passing around ‘the blame’ quicker than Danielle Lloyd through the Spurs dressing room, the real issues have been cast to one side, ignored. We have a new coaching staff, style of play, shuffled squad and attitude about the way we progress; yet expectations aren’t being properly managed. Tottenham Hotspur Football […]
Prose for Days Yonder
Thursday 13 September 2012 will stay with me until dementia erodes away the last pieces of my conscious mind. It is the day that my rebirth as a football fan was complete; It is the day that this game found its way back into my heart. The day many of us will forever remember as the birth of the 1882 movement. To really understand the context of my rebirth as a football fan, we need to go back to a rainy day in July two summers ago. I woke up that day, opening the paper I saw a picture of […]
We’re Probably Definitely Going to Beat United
As a Spurs fan there are supposedly three certainties in life; coming away from a trip to United with no points has long been one of them. The statistics are trotted out every time we head to Old Trafford but they bear repeating again. Since Big Ears poached the winner against the Red Devils in 1989, a total of four points have been picked up there; none coming as a result of wins. Of course, those statistics mask some typically-Spurs turns of fate which have conspired against us and led many to believe our visits to United are cursed. The […]