This coming Saturday be part of the Spursshow Live as they talk about ‘Are Spurs Fans Special?’, featuring special fans and authors Julie Welch and John Crace, and special players, Gary Mabbutt and Terry Gibson. There’s a chance for the audience to ask questions and join in the chat. Part of the London Sports Writing Festival, it takes place at Lord’s, no less, kick off 3.30. Tickets still available here. I’ll be in the audience, come and say hallo. Here’s my take….

Life is full of our stories, our stories are full of our lives. We tell stories about ourselves, about what we do, what makes us laugh and cry, what makes our heart beat faster. It’s the way we make sense of our world and our place in it.

We tell those stories to ourselves because sometimes we are the only ones who will listen. In those tales we find out who we are, our identity, what it means to be us. We tell stories to other people about our lives so they know who we are and so others understand and inherit what’s important in the world. We shape those stories, the stories shape us. And so it goes.

Football fans have told stories ever since people first gathered on a muddy touchline to watch other people kick a ball around. You have to have those stories, otherwise watching football is the most absurd pastime ever. As if kicking a ball around isn’t trivial enough, we turn up to just watch.

Our football stories are about justification, a reason to be, reasons to believe, reasons to be there, to turn up next week and the week after. They’re an expression of what we feel when we see the game, feelings that cause a stir deep down and we’re not sure quite why. Stories about why football is more than a mere game, why we come back not just to watch any team but this team, our team. The team in white shirts and navy blue shorts.

All good stories are a mixture of fantasy and reality. Myths and legends create excitement and mystery, an aura around the ordinary, but myths don’t survive unless there is meaning at their core. Sometimes fantasy is the easiest way of conveying an understanding of reality. Spurs fans tell each other stories. About the Spurs Way, attacking football, quick, fleet of foot, pass and move. That the game is about glory, doing things in style. How winning cups is not just to do with silverware but the thrill, the atmosphere, the supporters. How frustration and disappointment is always just around the corner. Above all else, about loyalty.

We tell our stories to fellow Spurs fans so we can have a laugh over a pre-match beer. To our children so they will follow in our footsteps and if not, at least they will understand and take pity. To friends and colleagues in the workplace – it doesn’t matter if they don’t get it, it’s so they know who we are. To complete strangers, who will never see us again but see as we pass the proud cockerel on the ball, the navy blue and white, and know who we are. To ourselves, during interminable journeys to and from the ground, when we bash the credit once again, for comfort during restless nights or idle moments worrying about a result or an injury, a story that says, ‘this is why I do it, this is who I am’.

All fans of all clubs think they are special in some way, and it’s true. But if you know your history, you’ll find out that the Spurs Way, the path to glory, the loyalty, is no mere myth. There’s something distinctive about supporting this club and always has been. Being a Spurs fan means something, something deeper and more profound than just wearing a shirt. Trace that right back through our history to the very origins, it’s the golden thread that runs through the bad times, the good times and most of all, the ordinary times. It’s also about the future, and woe betide the club or its supporters if we lose it.

Tottenham were formed by a bunch of schoolboys gathering in the furtive nocturnal adventure of a flickering streetlight. It’s become known throughout the globe, there’s only one Hotspur who play at the world famous home of the Spurs. It’s a tale to excite the ages. As far as I or anyone else can tell, it’s completely true. The site of the lamppost itself may or may not be a myth, if you’re interested it’s second on the right as you go down the High Road from the Park Lane towards Seven Sisters. In 1882, before Arsenal, West Ham or Chelsea.

They played their first matches on Tottenham Marshes – walk over the level crossing past Northumberland Park station, about there – and since then have never played a home match more than 600 yards from that lamppost. World War 2 friendlies aside, ever. Consider that for a moment. Every single Spurs fan has walked in the same streets to watch our team. You have a direct connection with every Spurs fan that’s ever been. If that doesn’t mean something special, you have no soul and if you have no soul you’re not a Spurs fan.

This story has contemporary resonance. It’s the sense of place that unites us. The first fans walked to see their local team, then the easy transport links in this growing London suburb made the journey convenient. Now it’s very different. Spurs fans come from far and wide, from different places, backgrounds and cultures, but come to a run-down part of north London they do, for magic, passion and the history. That place is the one thing that unites us, with each other and our heritage. Unlike, say, Liverpool or Newcastle, we’re not part of the culture of the city or community. That’s why staying there is so significant. If we had moved to Stratford, of course the club would carry on but it would never have been quite the same. That heritage is who we are. The fans carry it on, same beliefs in the same streets.

The Spurs Way is the only way. Good football, on the ground, allow talent to flourish, don’t sit back and wait for the other lot to die of boredom. Usually dated to Arthur Rowe’s push and run side that won the Second Division in 1950 and marched straight on to the League title the following season, the Spurs Way has taken us to the historic Double with the best English team of all time according to contemporaries, the first British win in European cup completion and subsequent cup success.

This is the other story that unites us. There’s only one Hotspur and the Hotspur play good football, football the right way. It’s a story that goes back well beyond the 1950s, to Peter McWilliam’s team that won the Cup in 1921, to the famous 1901 Cup Final and the first and only non-league side to win the Cup. Spurs have always tried to play good football and success has come only when we have played the Spurs Way.

Again this is rooted in our origins. To demand the Spurs Way is to continue the heritage of our support. In those early years, Tottenham played many local teams. They fell by the wayside. Some players joined Spurs as the up and coming side, the team people wanted to play for and above all wanted to watch. Spurs’ support grew because we played good football on the Marshes.

In recent years, this story has played an important role in defining who we are because let’s face it, the Spurs Way has been aspiration not reality, and a distant one at that. The Spurs Way gives us a foundation in the past, a reason to be in the present and something to aim for in the future. In a sense it doesn’t matter so much if we can’t achieve it at any given time, as supporters we know what we want and this keeps us going when times are rough.

We know what’s important. Supporter unrest at Spurs has come not in marches to protest at only being 6^th in the league for several seasons but when loyalty has been exploited and our heritage of support betrayed. When the East Stand was built in 1934, the club was praised for looking after the ordinary fan. The Shelf became the support of legend, then destroyed by executive boxes. Left on the Shelf, further fan protest, the move to Stratford, all about support and our history. It’s no coincidence that the 1882 movement of predominantly younger fans take their name from our year of origin and want not to take the club over but simply, importantly, to get behind the team and support the shirt to the hilt. They get it.

This transcends winning trophies. It’s not the winning that keeps supporters loyal. Don’t get me wrong, as I approach the age of 60 and 50 years of going to the Lane for, say, 95% of league games in that time, I want to win something as much as any fan. My son, who listened to the stories, absorbed rather than rejected them and now sits next to me on the Shelf, about 10 yards from where I have sat and stood, boy to man, for all that time, never fails to raise my levels of guilt when he says, ‘At least you have the Ricky Villa goal, dad.’ He’s made do with a couple of League Cups. But he’s stayed loyal, because he knows exactly who he is and what being a Spurs fan means. It’s about something deeper than just winning.

In his mid-twenties, he’s part of the Premier League generation who have grown up knowing nothing else. This generation grew up knowing Graham, Gross and Francis, not Nicholson, inviting adverse comparisons with our most bitter London rivals Arsenal and Chelsea. Here lies another clue to what makes Spurs support distinctive. The true test of supporter loyalty comes during the bad times and the Spurs have always turned out come what may. When Arsenal came to north London, the gloryhunters flocked to Highbury but the Spurs stayed loyal. They kept on coming throughout the twenties and thirties even though we won not a thing after 1921 and spent several years in Division 2. Relegated in 1977, we came in record numbers for the following season. Nothing changes – we stick with Spurs through rain and shine.

Whisper this, but old school Chelsea and Arsenal fans are the same as us. However, the new generation have come because Chelsea have bought success and their fans revel in it. It denies them a sense of perspective. I like my footballers to have a touch of arrogance but not the fans. It’s not their fault. Pretty soon the answer to the question, ‘where were you when you were s**t’, will be, ‘well, in the womb actually.’

It’s all they know but there’s no substance to it. Take away the cash and there’s quicksand whereas at Spurs we have rock solid foundations capable of withstanding the erosion of failure. Why else would that generation support Spurs? Not gloryhunters or even locals sadly, but because it’s in the family or in the neighbourhood. They’ve learned about being a Spurs fan through hearing those stories so that’s what they have become. Now Spurs supporters in the States and elsewhere talk of choosing Tottenham precisely because of this substance, because they want to be different from their gloryhunting mates. They are proud of our heritage, loyal to the core. It’s as if a mirror has been turned on us, those of us who have been around for a bit longer. Reflected back to us is our loyalty, the things we stand for and they want to be part of it.

In his book Vertigo, a funny and wise account of being a Spurs fan, John Crace brings our story up to date. Yes, we have the Spurs Way, alongside this we have decades of underachievement, an heroic sense of injustice, a pathological ability to rewrite failure as success and an infinite capacity for self-destruction. He goes on to say that this has created a sense of the absurd and most of all of fallibility amongst supporters.

Like John I don’t say this as a bad thing. Goodness knows it has led to some dark times, being a Spurs fan. The anxiety, frustration that we could be more, feeling distant from a club that makes these terrible decisions about managers and players over decades, the sheer bloody expense and perhaps worst of all, sometimes it’s been so dull for so long. But it brings a sense of perspective that is completely healthy. It makes me a better person. It’s an antidote to the overweening hubristic expectation and culture of instant gratification that bedevils modern fandom to the point where some many English Premier League football supporters apparently find no joy in this wonderful game whatsoever. These days, that makes us different.

The new ground is a watershed moment in the history of Spurs fandom. The club could do irrevocable harm to their relationship with the supporters unless they take note of our heritage. Looks like it won’t be the generic modern stadium with its cool, sterile lines and atmosphere to match. The stands are close to the pitch and we have an ‘end’ to allow us to take over, make it ours and make some noise.

However, at the Trust meetings we hear feedback about the bank wanting guaranteed income streams and maximising revenue to justify the loans. If you build it, we will come but the temporary fans, the South Korean tourists, the curious, they may be filling the spare seats and Stubhub’s profits now but they’ll go elsewhere in a flash. It’s about more than charging what you can get away with in the short-term. Spurs must think about the long-term, the loyal fans, their family, encourage more locals. That’s who we are.

One more thing that’s genuinely special. There’s nothing like White Hart Lane for a big game. The stands keep the noise in and what a noise 36,000 Spurs fans can make. I’ve seen rival players visibly wilt. I’ve seen our players inspired, whether that be Anderlecht in 84 or Arsenal in 2015, nothing’s changed. It’s an illustrious history of devotion. I’m proud to weave some modern myths and tell my stories to my grandchildren. I want them to be as proud of being a Tottenham Hotspur supporter as I am.

The white-hot heat of the North London Derby inspired a young Tottenham side to one of the finest displays of teamwork for many a long year. Ar****l were shattered, groggy, punchdrunk as Spurs were on the edge of a famous victory. Unable to deliver the final blow, a moment’s weakness and the win slipped away. The memory of the performance will live long not only in the minds of supporters but more importantly in the heads of the players, who surely will take from this the confidence to say, we can do it, stick together and bring them all on.

At full-time I was bursting with pride and contorted with frustration. 24 hours on, I’m still full of praise for a manager and squad who under scrutiny showed what they can do and what’s still to come. I had high hopes for the team’s potential but no idea it would be realised so soon. They have exceeded all my expectations and perhaps their own.

Yet the disappointment remains. Before kick-off, an away point, that will do, at the final whistle it was two points dropped. The defence, a pillar many times this season, eventually succumbed to another of a series of inswinging crosses. Up front, we failed to put away another goal that would have been richly deserved.

All did well, a few were outstanding. Dele Alli, £5m from League 1, 19. Fearless. Hanging back to begin with, he timed his movement forward with the nouse of a veteran. Five games ago he was keen but untutored. Now he’s a mainstay of the side. That’s taken him five games.

Who amongst us thought we would live to see the day when Moussa Dembele was pressing in the 91st minute? Never has the redemptive power of teamwork been demonstrated more effectively than in the Belgian’s recent performances. A man transformed, he’s transfixed us with his power and grace, a muscled hunchback stooped over the ball as he dares allcomers to take it from him. Second half, he fashioned an attack on the left corner of the Arsenal box. It broke down, they shifted it right and who charged across to cut out the danger.

Lamela worked tremendously hard and to good effect. One swaying run nearly broke through. In the end he was so excited, he was booked and had to come off for his own protection. Next time, push on, one touch fewer near the box and put your foot right through it. Not his nature, just hit it. Eriksen running for the whole game, bringing those shrewd passes into play.

Kane masterful on his own, not content with bringing the ball down, he has to turn away from his man in the same movement. He took his goal calmly, running onto to a long curling ball from Rose and slotting it past Cech’s left leg. Two or three years ago, remember Rose, a rabbit in the headlights caught on the halfway line and dispossessed for a goal. How things have changed.

But this was all about the team. As one player advanced, another ran into space, a third unobtrusively fell back to cover. Graham Hunter’s interviews on his podcast allow his subjects to stretch out, to think over what’s on their mind about the current game before they say it, a rare opportunity these days despite the abundance of material available. Graham Souness, his most recent subject and young player who Spurs went to great lengths to sign then let slip through their fingers, was tough physically, uncompromising mentally and delightful on the ball. In short, everything Tottenham needed when he was in his prime for Liverpool.

When asked about how that great side went about things, two points stood out. One, they concentrated on what they could do and didn’t worry about the other side. Two, the message was ‘find the dope’. Someone in the other side, however able, would switch off mentally when they thought they could get away with it. Find that weakness and exploit it.

Find me a dope in Sunday’s Spurs side. You’d be hard pressed. The coherence of their team ethic was determined and sustained. Working as a unit without the ball, from the kick-off they never allowed Arsenal to settle on the ball. The pack hunted Cazorla out of the game and left Ozil a desperate, isolated figure with only a marginal influence on the game.

Arsenal came back into things after the break, buoyed by a couple of near misses. Past Spurs sides would have wilted. This one came back to play our best football around the hour mark and beyond. Eriksen’s shot slid past the far post, Alli a fraction over. Cech beat away another powerful effort from the Dane, who then set up Kane with a slicing pass but Harry dragged it wide from a position where’s he’s usually comfortable.

Son came on like a Spaniel puppy eager to please and just as ill-disciplined. He left gaps on our left, in comes the cross and Gibbs bundled over the line at the far post. Walker who had another good game and kept Sanchez under wraps, was caught between two opponents to cover and couldn’t deal with what was in any event a fine deep ball. Next time, cut out those crosses at source.

I can’t recall a time when the team played with such continued cohesion. Pochettino in conveying his rigour and discipline to his young charge has changed a culture. Spurs are all about the individual, the star with flair and panache to brighten up our afternoons and take our minds off how ordinary the rest of them are. MP deserves huge credit: unreservedly remarkable.

Tottenham supporters have every reason to be proud. Fans of other teams, mostly, still see as big-time wannabees with over-inflated aspirations. Perhaps they look afresh at Spurs as showing the way, spending within our means and cultivating a group of young players to come through into the first team, several of whom are English.

We began the day optimistic, ended it as much more than that, as real contenders, a side opponents will worry about. Two points dropped and plenty to do in the future but cast-iron evidence of substantial progress and plenty to look forward to. For now, that will do nicely.

One final thought. In these days of instant gratification and hubristic expectation, consider this. Pochettino has taken nearly 18 months to get this far, in the process changing a culture and dumping half a team of expensive ballast overboard, and there’s still a long way to go. Football fans would do well to look to this example the next time they reach for their keyboard and take to Twitter.

The Spursshow pod recorded at the London Sports Writing Festival this Saturday at Lords with good friend of TOMM Julie Welch, John Crace, Terry Gibson and Gary Mabbutt, talking about Spurs and being a Spurs fan. Should be good, I will be there too.

A good friend of this blog travelled many thousands of miles to be at White Hart Lane last night, his first ever visit to hallowed ground. He saw moments of dazzling skill, incompetent defending as Tottenham tried their best to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory, three fabulous goals and extended periods where nothing very much happened at all. In fact, what being a Spurs fan is all about squeezed into 90 minutes.

Two fine goals were bookends to a busy if average first half where Spurs had to work hard to break down a well-organised Villa side, motivated to impress new manager Remi Garde. A couple of minutes gone, Rose knocked the ball down the left. Dembele, on a mission, swatted away repeated challenges, fair and foul, by the hapless Villa centreback, before drilling the ball through the keeper’s legs. It was a confident display of strength and skill from a player realising what he’s capable of, and what a revelation it is.

The game settled into a pattern. A goal up, Tottenham were forced across and backwards before we could get forward. Patience and possession weren’t pretty but the right approach. Sometimes you have to take one step back before you can move forward. It’s tempo, or lack of it, that’s the potential problem and only when we allowed it to drop did the crowd’s frustration become justified.

Youngsters are not renowned for their patience in general but this lot are more mature. They didn’t panic and tried to keep the ball moving. Eriksen and Lamela found it hard to make an impact so once again Dembele’s ability to draw in a couple of defenders to make space elsewhere supported by Dier’s alert tackling caught the eye. Anyway, if we lost the ball all we had to do was wait until Villa gave it back to us. It never took very long.

Packing the midfield denied space but it left Villa extremely short up front. Apart from an early shot straight at Lloris, the only other wound for the best part of 80 minutes was self-inflicted. Hugo dashed out to the edge of his box for no good reason but the ball was muddled away.

Not many chances – Rose shot over from the old Sherwood/Sheringham near post corner routine, Kane and Dembele came close but we had to wait until just before half-time for the second. Rose’s good cross was headed clear to Alli at the edge of the box. One touch on the thigh then a low volley before it hit the ground into the bottom corner. Coolness personified as three defenders closed in. The mark of true class is when it looks so easy.

Second half, busy but unproductive. Spurs well on top, Villa getting nowhere. Kudos to their fans for selling out their end and filling it with gallows humour, the only response left if your side has been managed by Tim Sherwood. They wildly celebrated first hitting the post then scoring, Ayew’s shot deflecting past Lloris after Mason, on as sub, gave the ball away unnecessarily.

They could easily have had some unlikely but real success to cheer when their team nearly pinched a point in the final ten minutes. The story of the game in this morning’s papers is all about the extent of Garde’s task ahead if he wants to keep Villa in the Premier League. This is of course true – they lacked creativity and were shaky at the back. The media have missed another equally valid narrative, that Spurs while being the clearly superior side very nearly threw the whole game away.

As the second half wore on, the game appeared to be drifting to a sedate close. If Spurs were guilty of sleepwalking, they were still in no danger. But they must have dozed off totally because Villa finally attacked and found it too easy to pressure the defence. Conceding ground, for the first time in several games Spurs looked rattled. After the goal, Villa should have equalised. They finally twigged that they were supposed to cross the ball to the muscular Gestede who came on at half-time. Lloris hurtled out 15 yards, missed but the centreforward headed wide of an unguarded goal. So close to ‘Plucky Villa Begin the Fightback.’ To ‘Spurs Show Soft Centre Again.’

Defensively the right hand side remains a problem, not because of Kyle Walker, on the contrary he was strong, quick and confident throughout, but he was not protected in the final twenty minutes as Villa sensed an opening. Lamela for all his praiseworthy recent effort does not present an insurmountable barrier at the best of times and there’s no sense of partnership with his defensive partner. It was no different when Eriksen swapped over towards the end.

All’s well that ends well. In injury time Spurs created a fabulous flowing move that began with the ball in Hugo’s hands, kept going with a Davies one-two with sub Onamah and ended with Lamela setting Kane up for a first-time curling shot placed into the corner. From one end of the field to the other, unchallenged, first-time finish, this was a gem.

The back four once again looked busy and accomplished. Both full-backs did well. Rose has the ability and inclination to pick up the pace if the tempo drops. It’s as if he sees it as his responsibility to perform this role. I’m pleased to see Walker upping his game. Lloris made those two errors, misjudgements coming off his line which have been rare this season. Perhaps he as skipper wanted to influence a game that for the most part was played well away from his box.

In midfield Dier is bringing back the art of good tackling. Alli was busy, all good touches as he worked hard to find a way through before he faded later. Needs a rest before Sunday. Lamela came into his own late on, expertly holding onto the ball to allow time to drift by so we could enjoy the win.

When Kane was knocked heavily to the ground, the groan of anxiety was audible. He then became the only player I have ever seen get an ovation just for standing up. What would we do without him.

Unbeaten since the first game of the season, up to 5th and a good feeling around that comes from a team working together to better themselves, close to the supporters and reaping the rewards of their hard work. That’s a good feeling to have. Not that any were needed, but good reasons to be a Spurs fan now. Pleased and proud of how they have played this season.

Vying for top spot in the THFC assist tables is Artur Boruc, the 35 year old Bournemouth keeper who looks like a throwback to bygone years when goalies who were getting on a bit usually carried a surplus pound or two. He’s the gift that keeps on giving, neatly wrapping three of the five goals in an act of boundless generosity that led to a thumping Spurs away win yesterday.

It all started so badly. A cross from the left, Vertonghen and Rose apparently mesmerised and drawn underneath it, Eriksen failed to pick up his man and Bournemouth were ahead after 47 seconds.

Past Tottenham sides would have dug an even deeper hole for themselves. This one picked itself up, dusted itself down and got down to business. On the attack since the restart, 10 minutes later Kane was in the box but drifting to a tight angle. However, Boruc’s mind was made up. He hurtled from his line and clattered into the centre-forward who picked himself up and put the penalty away. Then he dropped a straightforward cross at Lamela’s feet 6 yards out – good to see that Erik was in the right place for the ball regardless of any error.

In between, nothing he could do about our second, Dembele seized on a loose ball quicker than a mass of defenders and drove powerfully into the box before tucking in a low shot from the edge of the box. More please Moose.

So after conceding a soft goal in the first minute, after 30 Spurs were 3 up with a decisive grip on the game. Despite this superiority, we never coasted, keeping up the high pressing and effortless counter-attacking that gave our opponents no respite. Eriksen’s pass from the left to set Kane up was pitch-perfect. Other chances were made by pressure on defenders high up the field.

Bournemouth’s attacking intent is admirable but they leave themselves very open in the centre and Spurs took full advantage. Given that extra space, Eriksen was rampant and irrepressible. The forward three of Dembele, Eriksen and Lamela had the freedom to circulate. The Dane was at his best cutting in from the left where it’s harder for defenders to pick him up. If he comes inside it leaves the flank exposed but the Cherries could not take advantage, although other, better teams will. His inswinging cross for our fourth was simply perfect, curling away from the centrebacks and onto Kane’s boot. As I’ve said before about Eriksen, not everything he does comes off but any doubts are outweighed by his vision and ability to create that no one else in the side possesses.

Boruc coaxed Alderweireld’s header from a corner, two-handed, gently, precisely,  right at Kane’s feet for our fifth and ‘arry’s ‘at-trick, and got away with a blatant tug at Harry’s foot to deprive him of a second penalty. A delight to see Kane back in the goals and happy again. He has never stopped working, never hidden for a moment and his play outside the box is several notches higher than last season’s. To take the chances, however straightforward, he had to be there. All the great strikers, right place right time. In a football world full of cynicism and jealousy, is there anyone anywhere who truly begrudges Kane his success? If ever there was a player that you want to do well, it’s Harry Kane.

We now know Dembele wasn’t injured but has spent 3 weeks in some sort of cryogenic regeneration tank, emerging transformed as a whirling midfield colossus. My goodness me he wants to play, doesn’t he. Finally. Carry on like this and we’ll give him a pass on all the ineffectual performances, the wasted talent. I heard this week that Martin Jol described him as the hardest to shake off the ball that he’s ever seen. Many times this blog has lamented his wasteful ways, plaintively pleading for someone in the club to be able to do something with that talent. I had almost given up: Pochettino didn’t and look at what we now have.

Alli and Dier good in the middle, Alli learning so fast, when to move up and when to hold back. Mason back as sub. Rose at fault for the first goal, later, after Kane’s second, Bournemouth lumped in a similar ball to the far post but Danny got there first. Wasn’t going to make the same mistake twice.

Unbeaten since the first game of the season, three points after a lacklustre defeat in Belgium and I read we’ve taken 7 points from 9 in the games following Thursday nights in the EL. In truth it’s unlikely that we will have an easier time in the league this season but the progress continues.