So how was it for you? The morning after is always worse than the night before, or in this case two mornings after. It’s bad enough watching Spurs self-destruct, but the real impact is when you have to go work on Monday.
My tried and tested method of dealing with football-related grief (hey, that’s sounds good, I’m going to make that a syndrome!), sorry, Football Related Grief is to remain morose and irritable until the body’s natural processes of recovery (and alcohol) enable the pain to dissipate gradually. Time passes, and at some tipping point brooding over the past gives way to optimism about the future in the form of anticipation of the next game. The problem with derby matches is that outside forces prolong the FRG process. My method, also known as the Misery and Self-Loathing Approach, is fine for the first four of the well-known Five Stages of Grief but stops dead at the fifth, acceptance, when you’ve got the mouthy git from accounting synchronising his trips to the kettle with yours, or the I.T. nerd who arrived at the office at 6.30am in order to download a loop of the second goal as your screensaver.
No one at my work is that interested in football – they are Chelsea fans. Although I bemoan the lack of football banter, at times like these it’s frankly a relief. I can bury my head in work, rather like the way I think of our defence on Saturday and bury my head in the sand. Schooldays were bad enough. Everyone joined in, regardless of who they supported, with that special talent for wind-ups and mockery that schoolboys inherit down the generations. However, in those days people supported a variety of teams, including Spurs and the local lower league teams like Brentford and QPR. Now, support is much more polarised around the big four, especially the A and Chelsea in London, with Man U not far behind, so a defeat to any of these must be a real ordeal for a Spurs supporting pupil.
However, I have been visited, or should I say violated, by a large number of fans of our opponents last Saturday. The blog stats show that many have been directed here by a certain site. I’m not using the A word in this piece in case the search engine picks it up, but investigating the source of this sudden and unexpected interest was a depressing exercise. Checking a few of their sites, even just by looking at the headlines, what comes over is not the abuse but the ridicule and derision. Spurs are a total laughing stock, figures of amusement and in some cases pity. We need more than one or two victories in the future to even begin to balance out the twenty or whatever it is games since we beat them in the league.
And what can be said in return? Loyal supporters, supporters of a real team not just gloryhunters, this is our only defence, because the players have not protected us in any way. Saturday was so awful, no possible crumb of comfort can emerge from such an abject capitulation. At moments like these, the gulf between the supporters and the players is never wider. They cannot feel the pain of defeat as we do, or else they would not perform in that way. Isolated by their wealth and celebrity from the outside world, they remain cocooned in a world that encompasses the training ground and their large house. Even Crouchie would not have dared to have been seen out on the town over the weekend. Agents were no doubt massaging their slightly bruised egos.
Robbie Keane, we look to you for leadership as our captain. If anything could have made things worse, it was your pre-match comments about how good we were. Never, ever speak to the media again. Actually, while you about it, just don’t speak. Motivation for their players and cannon fodder for their fans in one fell swoop. And now that it is over, how much do you care? I mean really care. Did you or any of your team-mates have a sleepless night or spend 48 hours in a stupor of depression? No, because in the end it does not matter. We give you everything, our heroes, but this is just a reminder, if one were needed, that you are different from us and some of you are not worthy of our adulation.
Talking of the head in the sand approach, the alleviation of FRG can be assisted by ignoring the media as much as possible in the aftermath of defeat. I’m usually pretty good with this, although I did watch MOTD this weekend. However, from what I can gather, the papers and Talksport are having a field day, having a belly laugh at our expense not only for Saturday’s performance but also for our pretentions in being top four contenders.
But wait a moment, surely it is the media who set us up as top four in waiting. Most fans are, like me, delighted with our progress but have not been fooled into believing we will sweep all before us. Anyone who has seen us play this year will know that we are good but not that good. The same pundits who have been building us up as real contenders with lazy generalisations about our games, even when we defended poorly, are now making fun of our having ideas above our station. They build us up and knock us down. Not our ideas but yours, you pathetic individuals, saying anything to get in a cheap jibe and to cover up their own inadequacies as judges of the game. And once again we the fans have to sit and take it.
TOTTENHAM ON MY MIND 
forget it…… we had an off day…..silly goals and without the dynamics of
lennon etc……just happened to be at arsenal which makes it worse…..
we need the team on song again and progress….they know what they have to do…
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Why oh why do we always save our worst f**k ups for the goon games? It’s not a coincidence, 20 games, 20 f***ing games !! The fans are the ones who have made these so called ‘men’ rich and we are also the ones who have to live/work with the imbeciles that ‘support’ our rivals and put up with their sh*t every single day. We deserve MUCU MUCH better than the performance that was dished out on Saturday. The ridicule has been of a level that I wouldn’t accept in any other context and I’ve imagined quite vividly putting my fist right through certain noses over the last couple of days. As it’s about football though you’ve just got to take it on the chin. What annoys me the most is the majority of these pri**s are losers in every other way but they have a licence to give me relentless crap because the team I follow are so inept. I’m damn angry but enough is enough, I can’t take much more of this.
This is from a piece that appeared on the official site a couple of weeks ago which tells of Cliff Jones’ debut for Spurs.
http://www.tottenhamhotspur.com/news/articles/viewfromalegend301009.html
‘The story goes that throughout the glory, glory years, in amonsgt the doubles, cup wins and European glory, Bill would always tell his players that the two local derbies against Arsenal were the games to win.
Cliff said: “Bill would say to us ‘this is the FA Cup Final, the league championship all rolled into one, this is the one we’ve got to win for the fans’, he was so aware how important the game was for the fans.’
Our players need to take a long hard look at themselves
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Thanks for commenting, Basher. Sounds like you have had a bad time. Know what you mean about the calibre of those commenting – typically the gobby ones are those whose allegiance is confined to wearing the shirt on high days and holy days, then repeating anything Andy Gray has said because they can’t make up their own minds.
Regards,
Al
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No doubt that Bill Nick was the greatest of motivators, but times have changed and so have priorities. Gutted as we all were at the weekend, the most important game of the season so far takes place at the weekend against Sunderland – Not because of who they are, but simply that, should the unthinkable happen, it would be three losses in a row and would seriously undo all the good early season form. If we win comfortably, as we should, it won’t be long before the self-confident swagger returns – After all, we’re still equal on points to 4th place and only a point behind A***nal. Keep the faith.
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You’re right times have changed but losing to the scum doesn’t get any less depressing especially the way we did on Sat. 10 years of not beating them is a copmplete and utter embarrassment and i’m fed up of being the butt of their jokes. The bigger picture is that the next generation of supporters aren’t walking around wearing spurs shirts. A friend’s son came home from school not so long ago begging to be allowed to support another team because of the relentless stick he was getting from his arse supporting chums, and he lives in Tottenham !!!
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I sympathise with your friend – When my kids were young, I use to tell them that it was character-building and they would thank me when they were older. When they were there to see us do Chel$ki & the Scum 5-1 in League cup matches they appreciated it so much more. Now my son goes to more matches than I do. They keep the faith, because they know that we will be great again. COYS!
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Thanks PL. Like you we are all trying to keep the faith but it’s Tuesday afternoon and I still feel bad.
Times and priorities have changed, but not necessarily for the better. Bill Nick knew what mattered for the fans and therefore that should matter for his players. As I’ve said in the piece, this sort of motivation appears to be irrelevant now. This game was important for the fans but also our league position, our credibility, our confidence in taking on a big team, all of which the players presumably felt unable to react to.
Cheers, Al
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Loved the part on Keano… he talked the talk but didn’t walk the walk and it was quite depressing. I was sitting in between Arse fans and I can tell you that I almost broke into tears when they scored the second… did I mention that it was within 11 seconds of the first!!!!
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Nightmare. My mate, an old time Spurs fan, journeyed from his home in Bournemouth to watch it in a sponsor’s box. I haven’t heard from him yet…
Regards,
Al
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OUCH!
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put it this way…….we have moved on from ramos etc and if we replayed the game
with modric lennon and defoe and king being his best etc …..different outcome
i reckon…..its no excuse ….i know …..but we are in better shape and as we progress redknapp will improve further…..the media kiss arse when winning and take the piss on a bad day….arsenal will trip up and lose points with injuries etc…..we have to keep the faith and the aim high…..dont forget there is the return game etc…
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Thanks Bill,
Right about Modric, Lennon and Defoe, without them I feared the worst as I said in the preview. We can keep the faith, but right now it’s the players who have to rediscover their faith, I reckon.
Regards,
Al
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