Mr. C takes a moment to respond to Everton fans and other laying into Tottenham a couple days ago.
They say people who live in glass houses shouldn’t throw stones and why I have been highly amused at some of the criticism from my Everton supporting colleague levelled at my beloved Tottenham. I question why Spurs fans are deemed so delusional, especially from clubs whose supporters are so stuck in the past, they may as well get out their rattles and dust off their flat caps.
So much drivel gets written about our club from certain quarters “Spurs are not a big club†blah, blah, blah. Why so much emotion towards a club that isn’t there own?
Is life at their clubs so bad that all they want to talk about is how delusional Tottenham are? What is really eating you up inside? Jealousy perhaps? Your own clubs lack of ambition and spending? Maybe its time you all woke up to the fact that, whether you can love us or hate us, Spurs will always be considered a glamour club in the eyes of the media and footballing world.
Why do Tottenham get so much attention in the media? I mean here is a club who hasn’t won a title since 1961. Why do we get such adulation? Could it be that the press aren’t blinkered and respect all of Tottenham’s traditions and how influential they have been over the years in revolutionising the game? Who bought push and run football to the masses? Who was the first team to achieve the then impossible double? Who was the first British club to conquer Europe? Which club with the exception of Manchester United has managed to win trophies every decade since the war?
People always harp on about the lack of titles we have won, and of course it is a big problem, but Tottenham stand for a certain style and tradition that goes beyond trophies and which gives our club an appeal beyond, what’s wrong in having standards? The great Danny Blanchflower once quoted;
“The great fallacy is that the game is first and last about winning. It is nothing of the kind. The game is about glory, it is about doing things in style and with a flourish, about going out and beating the other lot, not waiting for them to die of boredomâ€
Shouldn’t this be what football is all about? I can only think of three championship winning sides in Arsenal 2004, Manchester United 1994 and Liverpool 1988 that have met the standards that Spurs fans aspire.
Spurs will always have a reputation as a cup team and it’s hard to argue considering we have won a shed load over the years. I mean I can be bitter and twisted here and start comparing the fact that Tottenham have won nearly twice as many trophies as Everton since the war or the fact we have won four times as many trophies as West Ham in their whole history. But to be honest the clubs in question have enough problems of their own, one of which is stuck in a time warp while the other has become the scrapheap for the Premierships waste and strays.
We may be deemed delusional in the eyes of some fans but what is wrong in being ambitious? What is the point in being a fan if all you are going to hope for is mid table or maybe the odd cup run? We want the title, we want to qualify for the Champions League and surely there is no harm in saying so? It may make us sound silly every season but I’d rather try and fail than not attempt at all.
I often wonder what it must be like being an Everton fan; a club that’s rich in history but in truth so far off the pace in terms of stadia, squad and spending power that’s its any wonder that their fans ever bother turning up at all. They have this belief among Evertonians that they can recreate the old days of picking up players from the lower leagues and create a championship winning side again. Oh the good old day. The sad thing is you hear pundits like Mike Parry who actually believe this, maybe Everton should sack Moyes and give Howard Kendall a 4th crack at the job?
Everton fans calling Spurs supporters deluded? Hmm, some phrase including “pot†and “kettle” comes to mind.
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