I noticed one of our posters suggesting he may have made a mistake in becoming a Spurs supporter. Now I know he was just joshing but it makes you think about all the frustration us Spurs fans have to go through. We are not a small club that is happy just to be in the top flight we have a great history with many firsts (1st Modern Double, Ist English club to win a European Trophy, 1st Double signing of major foreign star footballers and so on) We expect great things but we also expect exciting football. Recent years have not seen us live up to our history although in the last 6 years we have been close and even had one season in the CL. We are not doing badly but we expect and hope for more than just making up the numbers and fininshing in a respectable league position. We are Spurs FFS with our proud traditions as a cup side! I have to say despite the frustrations I could never envisage supporting a different club, just as long as Spurs stick to their traditions and look to offer football played in the right way I will stick to them, but if we lost that and become just seekers of silverware at any price I would have to think again.
Regret? I think that's the wrong word. I grew up in Tottenham (very close to the ground), went to infants, junior, and secondary schools in Tottenham, and had my first kit bought for me in 1973, when I was 9. I never really had any choice but to support Spurs. Kids at my school (which was called "Tottenham Comprehensive) used to get picked on, if they supported Arsenal. Most of the Arsenal supporters sent their kids to the school up the road from us, Somerset Comp. So, it's not really a case of "regretting" that I support Spurs, because it's a part of me. It would be as pointless as me saying that I "regret having a left arm." Embarrassed by. Pissed off and angry at. Those are expressions that express my recent feelings toward Spurs. Regret? Never.
Supporting Spurs gives me a good enough reason to stalk this lovely lady... please log in to view this image
I think we're the right club for me to support. Following Man Utd or the like would be utterly boring (until now ) but watching a club like Portsmouth must be utterly depressing. We get exciting, unpredictable teams most of the time, with just enough of a glimpse of glory to make up for all of the ludicrous calamity that seems to befall us. We've got a derby that's normally set at just the right level, though it crossed the line in the last game due to the stupid kick-off, and a couple of silly clubs nearby that hate us. What's not to like?
How can you support any other club when you come from Tottenham and your whole family were Spurs supporters? I've seen some wonderful moments supporting Spurs.....until recently when we didn't know if the team was turning up or not!Since the mid 1980's,apart from a few moments,the teams and managers have been a bloody disaster.We've really only had moments of pleasure in those years with some great players,but mostly a load of junk! But through all this, fans still turn up supporting our team,expecting the best but........
You said much of what I was going to say better than I would have said it. "Just enough of a glimpse of glory to make up for all of the ludicrous calamity," indeed. I'll add that I chose, in adulthood, to support Spurs, so I really have no one to blame but myself if I'm unhappy with my choice. But I'm not, even in the wake of the various calamities which have marked Spurs while I've backed them. Sailing through this world without a mark, without ever having experienced pain and disappointment and struggle, would not be a worthwhile goal even if it were possible. While I have "saned up" enough to aim, in general, for happiness, success of a kind and stability in the central areas of my life (love, job) a part of me will always prefer the wildest, most heart-stopping rollercoaster ride you can get, and Spurs are delivering in spades--though I could stand to mix an occasional "thrill of victory" with the many "agonies of defeat" I've gotten so far. The side benefit is that I'm reliving in some sense my early years of rooting for the Chicago Cubs as a child (106 years without a title and counting). While it's true it still hurts a lot, I think I understand much more why I would wager a part of my day to day happiness and peace of mind on a sports team. Keeping yourself safe from the ups and downs of the outside world, pulling for a constant winner, these are safe choices, and taking the safe choice is the opposite of living.
What I want to know is, did anyone as a kid follow another 1st Division club before deciding on Spurs? Kids can be fickle, two of my mates around the age 5,6,7, junked teams that got relegated for example and chose another....Spurs and Chelsea used to get relegated! Come on!...own up!...who's an ex mini-Chav?
Nah, it's always been Spurs with me. I used to live in Haringey, got taken to WHL with my mate by his old man...that was it, I was a a Spurs fan...
Exactly, RWAEB. Spurs at our best are The Ace Of Spades of football. I want to watch a side going for it, gambling and attacking and that's often been how we've approached games. Ardiles wasn't our best manager, not by a long shot, but we still had some exciting moments under him, not least the ludicrous 4-3 debut of Klinsmann. [video=youtube;luHMIIM8Sys]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=luHMIIM8Sys[/video] Villas-Boas didn't do a horrible job for us, but he committed the cardinal sin of being bloody boring.
I basically do regret being a Spurs supporter. Started supporting them when I was about 6/7 and all I knew about them were they were in London, wore white and blue, and had Chas and Dave songs about them. That was good enough for me. But then growing up in Sussex as a teenager I realised that I should really support my local team, Brighton. So I went to almost all the home matches for a season (5 quid for a year's junior membership and about 3 quid per game and that would have been around 1990 - easily affordable through a paper round). Anyway the football was terrible, the atmosphere I found intimidating and aggressive and frankly it just wasn't the same as seeing Spurs play, even though I could never do that with the same regularity. I'd tried but the damage had been done - I was a Spurs supporter for life. Bollocks. If Justin Edinburgh's name was not on the back of the match-day programme it just wasn't the same. (Went to see Brighton once in their new stadium a couple of years ago and it was a bloody brilliant time - great, local beer with no queues, great atmosphere, very decent football and a beautiful stadium and pitch. All in all a much more pleasant place than WHL. With padded seats, loads of legroom and stewards absolutely fine with us completely ignoring the lovely seats and just using the legroom to fit more of us standing up on the furthest row back behind the goal). I will never support another team but so often (Saturday being yet another example) I just wish I didn't care so much about this team that are never gonna win the league, probably never be relegated (and thus have a chance at some excitement and glory in the Championship) and can only have very good players for about a couple of seasons. I do honestly think that I might be a more optimistic, happy person if I didn't support Spurs. Supporters of other teams can understand how we feel, though - cos following Spurs is earily like following England. Though I will always maintain a much stronger interest in Spurs than England. England's like Spurs without the fun. Or caring. Just a vague sense of identity.
Living in USA now. Was watching Dnipro game the other week and the wife and a friend of hers came in. And the friend committed the incredibly annoying, boring, sin of trying to talk about football with me despite the fact she knew nothing. However she said that her boyfriend loved "soccer" and his favourite teams were "Man Utd, Chelsea, Liverpool and Barcelona". Reading about little kids changing teams made me think of that. Now I might regret supporting Spurs but at least supporting Spurs is like having that niggly grain of sand in the oyster that turns into a pearl now and again. That other guy just has a giant, cold sea-bogey in a shell with no pearls forthcoming ever.
After our performances in games like v Chelsea,City,Liverpool amongst others,I sometimes wonder if we are all in need of a bender at the pub or a visit to the local shrink to see if we are all sane!
I've never heard of benders at pubs being good diagnostic tools for mental illness but I'd give it a go.
