This week I spoke to a Spurs fan who goes by the moniker of Spooky. He writes for a blog called DearMrLevy.com and one of the founders of The Fighting Cock podcast.
Are you happy with your league position this season? Should Spurs have done better after spending £100m on transfers?
Most Spurs fans wanted the season to finish months ago. It is like owning a sports car that you stall in your drive and you end up peddling down the street on your daughter’s first bike as an alternative and thank the lord it has got stabilisers. It takes a special club to do what Spurs have done this season. Momentum from previous seasons; that vital intensity was lost early. Part Andre Villas-Boas fault with his stubbornness on tactics and part Daniel Levy / Franco Baldini’s fault for the flawed support system. We spent £100M post-Gareth Bale and yet looked like a team ripped to shreds by the summers activities.
Just a handful of points off the top four by performing with dysfunction and calamity. I guess that isn’t too bad considering. It is however wasteful but when you consider the key factors, it’s the Tottenham way of doing things. Take momentum, flush it down the bog. We’ve wasted this season. You cannot purchase seven first teamers and expect them to gel quickly, especially if most of the seven players don’t even look like players the coach wanted.
Are you happy with Tim Sherwood as your Manager?
I’m about as happy as someone asked at gun point to wear a Gillet twenty-four seven. Tim projects himself as the football manager but he is a trainee, nothing more. I’ve previously compared him to a human clone that has had his life artificially accelerated from birth, from a baby to the age of thirty, and without ever having stepped out of the tube he was created in, is then pushed into a society and expected to interact without suspicion. He’s a contradicting hypocrite that blagged an 18 month contract; not his fault at all. The chairman again to blame for not giving us some transparency. We should have appointed him as an interim/caretaker, but Tim wouldn’t accept the job in this capacity. He pretty much sums up our season of incompetency. Doesn’t really know what he’s doing or what he’s meant to be doing.
Who will be the three teams to get relegated this season?
I’d say the three at the time of writing (Cardiff, Fulham, Norwich) are the most likely. Would miss Fulham as for many they are the definitive away trip of the season due to location and general hospitality. Cardiff have been awful and their owner hardly the most likeable character. Norwich are filler but are harmless. Wish Newcastle were down there if I’m honest. Just for the craic of how their supporters would react to dugout favourite Alan Pardew and their cowboy owner Mike Ashley.
How is rivalry with West Ham seen by Spurs fans? Did it matter West ham won twice at White Hart Lane this season?
Of course it matters, anyone suggesting it doesn’t is a liar. It’s summed up perfectly by the words of a local cab driver who turned out to be Spurs (in a part of Essex that has a fair share of Hammers). He picked up three lads that were West Ham and the driver told them his affiliation. They took the piss, naturally, and he said, “If you think that’s funny, think about the fact that we are so bad this season that we’ve even been beaten by you twice and both at home”.
I’d be alarmed if Spurs were bells and whistles on fire ripping up the Premier League and then lost to WHU; that would hurt a lot more. Still, the manner of the display in the league cup was embarrassing. I took the cup defeat on the chin. The league defeat was probably the beginning of the end for AVB. It publicly humiliated his tactics as being fundamentally crap. The wrong players in the wrong formation and yet he still persisted to continue as the death march played its tune.
As for the rivalry, it’s there because you hate us so much. Spurs fans, at least the ones I know (and myself) dislike Chelsea far more for reasons that go beyond football. Arsenal goes without say thanks to the history of North London (and their transition from bankrupt football club to becoming the only team currently in the top tier that are not there on merit). LOL, do I sound bitter? I just dislike the foot balling Gods that chose to bless a side that bribed its way into the old first Division and could have so easily ended up merging with Fulham, before stealing supporters to lay foundations north of the river.
West Ham for me geographically has that connection because so many friends supported them as I was growing up. It’s a London derby. At the end of the day we can all argue away about the semantics of who should hate who more, but there is plenty of that to go round. The games would not be half as much fun if it was akin to say Fulham or Charlton or Palace.
There’s a buzz for these games, probably a naughty type of buzz and one that is perfect for football, aside from the nasty aspects of terrace support. Without rivalry you’re left with games that lack bite.
What is your view on West Ham moving to the Olympic Stadium? What was your view on Spurs own bid for the OS?
Honestly, it’s a shame you couldn’t rebuild Upton Park. I think you will lose a chunk of your identity in the OS. It is too clean and new age and has no redeeming features. Not that Green Street does itself, but your existing home has history. I think much like ENIC with Spurs, your owners are investors and know the club will be far more profitable to sell-on if they are in Stratford. It’s business, it’s about money – no matter what anyone says. This is the current fragmentation we have with Spurs and our chairman and why so many fans are fed up of the same repeated errors with the football management and just as frustrated with the slow moving stadium build (which is tied down to politics and ownership of local property).
I would love to still believe that Levy was Machiavellian with the OS bid, wishing to force Haringey and the Government into action because of the state of Tottenham as an area and give funding to support the re-development starting off with the new stadium. But hand on heart, Levy would have taken the OS if it was awarded to us. The manner of the defeat (wasn’t it 14-0 in votes?) suggests we never stood a chance. So either Levy got played or was simply playing everyone for his own greater good. If it’s the former I’d be shocked because he’s one of the hardest negotiators around.
I’m just glad it never happened. Said at the time if it did I would have stopped supporting the club. I wasn’t the only one. It’s only Tottenham if it’s in Tottenham and I’m not up for sacrificing location by a few miles just to fast-track our brand name and statue. Screw that. We’ve been in N17 for over 130 years so another 5-10 to see a new ground built to then have the club remain another 130 years is what community is all about.
Who are your key players and who has disappointed you the most this season?
Everyone has disappointed. Be it because of their disillusion (matched by the fans) or the fact they have either been miss-managed or failing to acclimatise to Premier life. Hugo Lloris is the boss. A genuine world class goalkeeper who must be sick and tired of having four jokers stand ahead of him playing the high line. He’s been outstanding for us. Others like Jan Vertonghen (disinterested), Kaboul (injured) and Sandro (injured) have been for the most part inconsistent. Roberto Soldado has suffered for being the right player in the wrong team (or wrong player in the wrong team – either way, he doesn’t fit into how we’ve played). Erik Lamela will be a superstar but our handling of this kid has been diabolical. Nothing you can do about injuries though but as a general observation, we’ve been a club with no identity this season and no assured system of style. So I can hardly expect our players to play well if everything around them is absolute pony. Hoping a new coach will bind them all together and we can start looking like a team again. Christian Eriksen will be key next season as our midfield creative hub. Brilliant little player.
What is your Achilles heel?
Looking in the mirror, I love Tottenham much like any supporter loves their own club. The thing about Spurs fans is, although most like to believe this stereotype that we have a sense of entitlement / forever dream above our station, the vast majority remain sane thanks to self-deprecation. We know the script, we’ve read it a thousand times but there is something glorious in reaching out for the unreachable. Makes me feel more alive to dream than to be consumed by reality. Always thought us and West Ham had a connection – if many ignore it, in that we pride ourselves on our traditions of playing attractive football with flair players. If you look back over the decades, we’ve (more or less) always managed to do that. I think sometimes it’s to our detriment. I know that if want to contend for Champions League you need more about you to attain it. Finding that balance isn’t as easy as many would have you believe.
I think there is a chunk of our fan base that I dislike because of this new sense of entitlement that arrived post-CL adventure. Sadly modern football coverage has turned the whole experience sour. It’s not half as much fun as it was and now everything feels overly analysed (by fans) and the pressure is too much, making even 5th spot or 6th in a generation of super-rich oil financed clubs look disastrous.
If you could have any West Ham player in your team who would you choose?
Probably Carroll as an impact sub. He’s a battering ram right? Not talking about his night club exploits, but out on the pitch, at his best he was effective. Problem is we hardly cross the ball so he’ll be on par with Soldado, wandering around with infinity waiting for a delivery that will never arrive.
Score and prediction for Saturday?
Tim Sherwood loves a stat, reckons he’s our best ever manager. A hat-trick of defeats against West Ham in a single season is hardly something Bill Nicholson would have lapped up as an accolade. We’ve had superb away form in the past couple of seasons but witnessed a dip in recent months (thanks to the thrashing dished out by top four clubs). I think Spurs stopped playing football that mattered an age ago. I think West Ham (safe from relegation) will be up for this thanks to the home support fuelling the atmosphere. Big Sam has it over Sherwood, so it’s looking ominous.
If our players dare to turn up, we win. Bit of self-pride please. If we don’t, then we get what we deserve.
My thanks to Spooky (@Spooky23" on twitter) & DearMrLevy.com