Knowing what we know about Conte now, Chelsea having no European competition that season played into his hands too. Whilst our involvement that season was far from great, we were still playing 2 matches a week frequently whilst they were playing once. We know how much better we were last season once all the regular midweek matches finished.
That was one of my worries about Conte (Cba to go back and find my posts about it) he can’t cope with more than 1 game a week. If Spurs go out against Milan and out the FA Cup early too, then wouldn’t be surprised to see the team end the season well domestically. The only issue with that is the likes of Kane, Bentancur, Hojbjerg are gonna be knackered all injured after the World Cup
Do well once out of everything, qualify for European football, go into season with high hopes, play like ****, eventually crash out of everything and repeat! That'll sounds like a cycle none of us want to witness
Early exits in both domestic cups, CL last 16 but finish top 4. To the owners and manager that would be a good season wouldn’t it?
I mean qualifying for the CL and not embarrassing ourselves when we get there are the bare minimum that any of our managers should be getting
1901, 1921, 1951, 1961, 1962, 1963, 1967, 1971, 1972, 1981, 1982, 1984, 1991, 1999, 2008 makes 15 seasons better seasons as we won trophies. 2016, 2017, 2018 and 2019 would make it 19 better seasons based on getting higher league positions and further in at least 1 Cup. I would have to say 1950 (second division champions) would make it 20 better seasons as without that feat we'd not have been promoted and then won the league title the following year. I would also put in 1978 as one of the top seasons as we won promotion and without that would not have signed osdie or Ricky Villa. You could also make a case for 1909, 1915 and 1933 (all promotion years). I would put 1987 above the last 16 of the CL and top 4 as we were treated to some of the most amazing football I have been lucky enough to have seen. Could also put 2010 in there too as not only was it our first top 4 finish in term of the CL we were treated to some amazing football. So on balance I would not put a top 4 finish and the last 16 of the CL in our top 20 seasons ever.
Good analysis, but even if it's only our 25th best season my point stands. Means there are more than 100 worse seasons in the club's history. Spurs' league performance in history has been dreadful and that has been papered over by cup success in the past. That doesn't really work now because the strongest clubs are so far ahead of the pack. So we need to stay in the CL to make improvements possible.
Your original post got me thinking about it tbh. I think the logic you use re the CL is correct...and one of the reasons I dislike aspects of modern football (and sport in general)
There is a part of me, and the more time goes by the more I sense it in other Spurs fans, that is kind of resigned to the reality that we could spend the next decade in the CL milking its gravy, we'll still never be able to keep up with the oil money clubs. It's a depressing thought made only more despairing by Toon's recent lottery win. City, Chelsea, Newcastle and United will always and inevitably be able to outspend us and by a great distance. CL money only keeps us ahead of the chasing pack; it doesn't help close the gap on those teams - not least of all because most of them are just as regularly in the CL as we are. The very, very sad truism of the modern game is that we cannot realistically expect a period of silverware unless we too are taken over by some cartel. The catch 22 is that at that point I and many Spurs fans I know will stop following Spurs entirely, so won't even 'be there' to witness an era of doped success. Damned if we do, damned if we don't. That's kind of where my mind is at right now visa-vis Spurs. It took us 7 or 8 years to catch up with Arsenal, and we needed them to collapse to aid that process. We have been trying to catch Liverpool for over 5 years now and here again it looks like we need them to collapse in order to do it. We may well need 5+ years to catch Chelsea and another 5+ for City, but by that time Newcastle could be well on their way to multiple trophies per season and so we'll need another 5+ years to catch them but in the meantime Aston Villa are the new roided up team on the block having been purchased by the government of China, so we'll need another 5+ years to catch them, by which time 20+ years have elapsed, half the members of this board are senile or dead and we're still going round in circles. I'm sorry for the rather bleak outlook. It's been overall a rather bleak few years for the club.
Bleak but you’re not wrong. Spurs have slowly be surely got better in the league in the last 15 years but all it takes is a rival to be bought by some billionaire (City & Newcastle) and that instantly makes them stronger just like that. The only way Spurs compete properly is to be bought by someone similar. Most of us don’t want that though.
Yes, lets continue to be the footballing irrelevance that we currently are, achieving nothing but to increase the value of our owners investment. I would welcome fit and proper new owners with the ambition to build a successful football team, the idea is to compete or we may as well just give up altogether. I find it hard to believe any true fan could stop following their club, true fans support their club no matter what, I bet there are not any Newcastle fans suddenly giving up on their team.
I personally know two Newcastle fans and three City fans who completely stopped following their clubs after their respective takeovers. The City fans went to every single home game, even when they were in division 2 in 98/99. They drove up from various parts of London. They are 'true fans', and that is precisely why they lost interest after the oil cartels took over. You can't celebrate completing a computer game if you had the cheat codes turned on the whole way through.
Weren’t that long ago you said Spurs fans are mugs for paying to go to games under ENIC. Surely true fans will continue to go regardless of ownership? Especially when ours, who are faaaaar from perfect, aren’t known for chopping people’s heads off…
I don't get the "true fan" logic. If we'd been taken over by the people who took over Newcastle I'd not set for in whl until they left cos they are politically odious. That wouldn't make me any lesser or greater a fan. I went for years (1993-2004) without going to Spurs but was every bit as true a spurs fan as I am now when I go to up to 10 times per season. I was part of the campaigns to make the club pull out of the ESL and to stop them furloughing staff during the pandemic. There was no way I would give a penny to the club if they had gone through with those things...that don't make me worse than other fans...or better than other fans...it just means we have different lines
The club has improved more under ENIC than under any other owner for 70 years. And even the massive improvement in the early 60s was not sustained and was followed by a long period of general decline. You are on record as not caring about the morality of the owners, but only caring about trophies. If that's your definition of a true fan then I think most of the posters on here don't qualify.
