We need to talk about THST

[SpiderSpurs]

Fans of loads of clubs have boycotted games at MK Dons, ever since their inception. A football club trust feeling this way is not unusual, and I think it’s pretty shit to criticise them for this stance.

IF the trust board members want to boycott this game, then good luck to them. Making a personal choice public using the Trust's social media is a shitty move.

 

[benjomess]

Attacking MK Dons whilst not attacking AFC Wimbledon for what they did to Kingstonian F.C. smacks of hypocrisy.

Get political when it suits them it seems.

The problem is, where does it end? Boycotting the Madrid games because of a sympathy with the Catalonian independence cause? A stretch I know, but any venture into politics is dangerous territory.

 

[Joe Clash]

Mrs Perryman and TracyCK Girl Power!

 

[ArmadilloSackRace]

Some fair points on this thread.

To be fair to the Trust, I don't think their job is that easy. I would have guessed that a higher proportion of Spurs fans would have been against playing at MK Dons. They have to be forever guessing what the majority of fans think which ain't as easy as all that. And their views will be clouded by the fact that the people they mix with are likely to be more football-activist types who care more about these issues than the average fan. It's easy to be clouded by the people you are mates with and to think they represent the majority, for instance with Stratford most people I knew were dead against, but actually quite a lot of Spurs fans were indifferent or even pro the move (many won't admit that now).

And yes, there's no doubt an element of them using their position to further personal causes. It's perhaps wrong, but it's politics and it happens. You can try and say the Trust should not be political, but to me that's impossible because their very nature is a political one. It's hardly the end of the world that they used their mouthpiece to call for a boycott against MK Dons.

I stand by my view that they may not do everything perfectly, and they will always piss off some people (in this case, the majority) but at least they are doing something, and they have done a lot of good work.

As for MK Dons, fair point about Dele (I know it would be pushing it to further my argument by saying that we ripped them off at £5m therefore we didn't help them at all by signing him!). Wimbledon may also be a horrible club but that doesn't change my views on MK Dons.

I still think we should have flipped the tie. I don't think playing at a half-empty soulless arena will help the club progress. It won't have any of the advantages that home advantage bring. It's not familiar for the players, and our support would have been louder at Watford. Watford will probably outsing us at MK. If we'd played it at Watford our usual away support, me included, would have turned out; I don't think that many of them will for this. But I appreciate the club's reasoning for not flipping it, so fair enough.

Well put.

I don't agree with everything they've done, but I can stop and think, and at least understand the reasons why.

Communication obviously isn't their strong point, but nobody skilled in this area has come forward to help them, meaning they're stuck with what they've got. If anyone good at PR got involved it'd be an absolute godsend for them because clearly their hearts are in the right place.

 

[Guido 🇺🇦]

I see Roberts has now joined in. FFS!



This is terrible thing to say "they only cause problems". Honestly Roberts is as thick as pig shit.

 

[TracyCK]

I am really shocked tbh. I joined myself and my son this year thinking that it was a good and right thing to do. But whoever was manning the twitter account yesterday was downright arrogant and rude, offering me a refund on my membership if I wasn't happy! I am not a combative type at all and I barely use twitter but felt strongly that they had got it wrong over the stadium thing and also that embarrassing letter regarding transfers. I stopped responding and will simply not rejoin next season.

 

[hiatus]

The Trust really stepped in it with this one. They need to cut their losses if they want to remain relevant.

 

[RocketRonny]

Demand a seat in the board or stop cooperation with the club. Levy is gradually running things like the Shah of Iran in the 70's

 

[Paxman]

The arguments in favour of THST seem to be around the notion that the supporters are voiceless without them. How absurd. Most football fans participate with social media channels, can vote with their feet when it comes to attendance, and can decide to stop buying merchandise.

Football clubs are companies doing a line in brand loyalty, whether you like that statement or not. THST dropped the ball. It is an organisation from another age. Their hatred of Levy has shown them for what they are: Enemies of Tottenham Hotspur

Enemies of Tottenham Hotspur?

My god, it's probably best I say nothing about that part of the post.

Do you really think the club listen to complaints on Twitter? If they did then we would have signed players in the transfer window with the club spending stupid money in the process.

Voting with their feet? Shall we all bugger off to support another club then?

 

[Joe Clash]

To be so critical of Woolwich for moving from of one side of London to another but not understand taking this stance with a club that was stolen from its natural home and moved to a completely different town is massive hypocrisy

MK Dons aren’t our bitter local rivals. It’s just grandstanding.

 

[Aussie Yid in London]

Who’s supporting ‘this kind of thing happening’? Playing one game at a shitty club is hardly a hearts and flowers endorsement of their moody history. If we don’t want to legitimise them then we shouldn’t be buying their players as benjomess mentioned.

To this point, the £5m we paid for Dele is a shit load more than whatever income they'll get from us for a league cup game. Where was the trust's "consistency" then?

 

[Spursidol]

Extract from the letter :

'Earlier this month, the Club asked THST to help gauge fan opinion on a possible change of home venue given both Wembley and our new stadium were unavailable during w/c 24 September.

The results of our survey showed a marginal preference for playing at an alternative home venue as opposed to flipping the tie (46% v 43%). The Club also had a strong preference for not giving up home advantage. And 70% of fans in the survey wanted the alternative venue to be within the M25.

We appreciate it was always going to be difficult to find a suitable venue within those parameters'

So :
Option1
Reverse fixture (despite less than 50% wanting that) = max 21577 x 10% or 2,150 tickets to Spurs supporters = unhappy fans as too few tickets

Option 2
Neutral Ground (but not at a club still in competition, so rules out all the major London clubs stadiums It may well be that the largest available stadium is the Letyon Orient Stadium at about 9,000 capacity of which Spurs fans might get about 8,000 tickets - proving its available of course - otherwise it might be the Barnet stadium at 5,000 capacity.

So whatever the choice of stadium, fans would be very split as to which the best option was.
- as the THST knew saying ' We appreciate it was always going to be difficult to find a suitable venue within those parameters'.

Seems to me the letter would and could never represent the majority of Spurs fans views on the stadium so its ridiculous to claim it,

Whilst there is a rationale for a THST body, the current idea to attack THFC continually makes it ineffective. It needs to pick its fights with THFC but sometimes just be supportive where the club has made a choice from an all but impossible choice as there is NO good solution..

 

[SchmoodSpur]

Attacking MK Dons whilst not attacking AFC Wimbledon for what they did to Kingstonian F.C. smacks of hypocrisy.

Get political when it suits them it seems and pushes their agenda.

I don't follow the trust at all. In fact, these past 2 letters are about as much as I've cared to read. Have they ever actually achieved real change at the club?

 

[SchmoodSpur]

The problem is, where does it end? Boycotting the Madrid games because of a sympathy with the Catalonian independence cause? A stretch I know, but any venture into politics is dangerous territory.

Exactly. Just don't do it. Not in the name of a whole set of supporters you haven't asked anyway. If an individual put their feelings forward and used that bollocks, then fair enough, but aren't they the voice of many?

 

[Raiders]

Sorry I defended them before. This exchange sums it up:



So the fans might want the game at MK, but the trust don't. So what is the point of them?

 

[hiatus]

Apparently they have consistently done it to be fair to them. However, this raises a rather serious point. Are the bastards lobbying on the supporters' behalf when doing this? I don't care about MK. I doubt most fans do either. I have read the most arrogant responses from the Trust on twitter about this. It just blows my mind. They are making out they are more informed and 'better' for boycotting.

I always thought their opposition was more based on the location of the stadium as opposed to the Wimbledon fiasco.

They should be concerned about what’s best for Spurs supporters. Just seems like an odd throw away comment.

The club is trying their best, but of course we draw a home match when we don’t want one. Can’t catch a break with this stadium delay it seems.

 

[maida vale 75]

I am a bit taken back by some comments and the poll result,as somebody that did do the survey I thought it would be 90% in favour of switching the home game so the vext issue of a neutral ground did not come into play.
As a supporter that's seen us in the early rounds of the league cup in Gillingham Halifax Grimsby Chester Carlisle and many more I can't believe fans voted for a neutral ground.
The times are a changing with our support.

 

[BangkokSpud]

It just seems that once again the Trust have gone with a minority view completely ignoring what would be best for the rank and file fan ...

A) The facts - NWHL and Wembley are not available ..... so zero tickets for fans

B) Reversing the fixture? possible with Watford's agreement ..... would give 2,200 tickets

C) Neutral venue (in this case MK Stadium) ..... would give 25,000 tickets

Now putting aside their 'personal issues' with the club, and bearing in mind they are claiming to represent the fan base .... which option is the only logical choice?

Sure there are issues with travelling to MK, but it's not feckin' Scotland .....

If the Trust keep on driving private agendas they will make themselves irrelevant, that would be a huge loss because they can and do achieve a lot, wind your necks in lads and focus on dialogue, not ill-conceived open letters which just don't reflect reality....

 

[HyNdZee]

I admire all of your sentiment but I think you’re being generous. They are the THST. They’re supposed to represent the balanced views of fans. But they don’t. Their statements on Twitter are “I - I - I” not “the views of Tottenham fans are...”. It’s personal agendas all the time. It’s not difficult to give the balanced view of supporters. They’re just shit at it. They love their privileged position and they’re abusing it for agendas against the club when we need to pull together and the support the clear progress of our club. It creates divisions and gives fuel to the anti Spurs media. Fuck then.

They are shit at it but so are the club and so I don't really see a solution if they disband. I have a feeling they both exist for a reason. If that voice isn't heard then I wonder where it comes from when something serious happens. Who campaigns against Stratford, for example. Some things are more important than a poor media projection. It's good to call them out on it all the same.

 

[TracyCK]

I responded to that last tweet and am now locked into an argument over how they view their position. It is arrogant and they are doing themselves damage imo with the stance they are taking on this. I'm out, and I won't be renewing my Trust membership.