my other team is spurs
01.12.2004 You are welcome to have a go at me after
I write this but before you do remember I have been there ! I was
a North London Boy; Mark Falco's sister was in my class; I was there
when Ricky Villa scored the goal in the ’81 replay;
when Tony Parks saved that penalty: 18 games (even to Blackpool)
when they were relegated; I’ve stood up alone in the corporate section
of St James Park and yelled at the top of my voice "Yiddos"
(brave – trust me!); I saw Ardiles' and Villa’s debut; Jurgen's,
Lineker's, Defoe’s; Jimmy Greaves signed for me “Be Lucky Paul”,
my daughter’s a JSM member; I stood in the Coventry end in my Spurs
shirt when we lost at Wembley - on the day the girl I really loved
married the wrong bloke ! You get the picture. I left London 30 years ago and whilst I
can’t justify a season ticket now I’ve pumped thousands of pounds in
to Spurs (£2800 in one corporate package alone last year) from Sussex
where I still live, and despite all the massive mountain of frustration
we have had to climb in the last few years I’ve put up with it all.
But there comes a point (like a battered wife I suppose) when you have
to say stop ! I’ve
reached that point. It started a year ago when a mate invited
me on a freezing cold day to see my local non league team Every week that has gone by this season I
have been comparing the two clubs and you know what ? Spurs come
off worse. At Keith Burkinshaw famously said that there
used to be a Football Club at Spurs. He was correct. It’s
never been right since Irving Scholar turned it into a PLC. Today,
as it has been since then, the twin engines that drive Spurs are the
Chairman’s desire to protect his investment and his personal need for
glory – NOT any culture of good football. No one at Tottenham ever just gets on
with the job quietly ! Every manager thinks he is the new Messiah,
every player thinks he is something special, we are wrapped around with
a constant stream of corporate plc glossy corporate brochure speak.
This week I got a very nice colour mail-shot offering me a discounted
Executive Box on the grounds that there is so much more to come this
season from Spurs. Well there certainly isn’t in the Carling Cup
is there ? THFC is the
“Courts Furniture Store” of Modern Football. We are still under-funded,
over ambitious, have an old fashioned idea of product and despite all
the changes are bogged down with top heavy and massively inconsistent
management ! I’m no longer interested in hearing
about the Spurs way ! - about what Martin Jol wants to be remembered
for; about Santini's
personal problems; about Daniel Levy’s vision. Play the bloody
game lads !!! Shut up and get on with it ! Pass the ball;
put the ball in the back of the net; tackle hard ! But it won’t
happen. THFC is not a football club – it’s a glossy brochure
– it looks nice and says all the right words but it delivers …
absolutely nothing ! - not
even a scrappy 1-0 against a So when Eastbourne play Spurs at Priory
Lane in a few years you’ll see me down near the touchline in the
sponsors seats and you’ll know why I’m there and why in my heart
I’m praying Spurs win the game ! Paul Robinson |
02.12.2004
Last night, Spurs v Liverpool, Carling
cup - fantastic I thought, a great chance to take my son (he's
only 6) to his first game at WHL, I managed to get online and scrape a
couple of tickets (£37 quid each!) before they all sold out and told my
boy that we'd be going. |