Match Day Thread Tottenham Hotspur v Newcastle United

Tottenham are ****

 

A letter from a NUFC fan showing the conflict that money is causing in Football. What used to be an escape from the harsh realities of life for many is now very much a harsh reality itself. I suppose it just reflects the direction the world has taken in the last 40 years.

• I have been a Newcastle fan for over 25 years, and yesterday, with a heavy heart, I had to call time on that relationship. Like all Newcastle fans, I have experienced some good times, some exciting times, some embarrassing times and some infuriating times. I have been inspired by Sir John Hall and Kevin Keegan, sickened by Douglas Hall and Freddy Fletcher, moved to tears by Sir Bobby Robson. I have leapt out of my seat and sprinted round my dining room table after an Alan Shearer hat-trick, have laughed in disbelief at the skills of Tino Asprilla and Hatem Ben Arfa, howled in frustration at Paul Kitson and Joelinton, shook my head in disbelief that anyone would buy Silvio Maric or Jesus Gamez. This has been a major part of my life for most of my life, but it's over now.
  
  Like everyone else, I wanted Mike Ashley gone. But not at any cost. Ashley is a purveyor of unremarkable sporting goods who didn't invest enough in the team or support managers enough. The new owners commit war crimes and murder journalists. I can't be a part of this any more.
  
  There will be a lot of Newcastle fans who will look at this regime in the same way, but conclude they cannot just turn off their support like a tap and will carry on. I can understand that position. As we saw on TV yesterday though, there are many more who just don't give a ****. As Nick Hornby wrote in Fever Pitch when writing about the aftermath of Heysel "Nothing ever matters, except football." I watched with disbelief and anger on Sky News yesterday evening as a member of the NUST tried to blame Amnesty International for the fact that Newcastle fans don't care about where the money is coming from, because "they haven't been informed well enough by the likes of Amnesty." Warren Barton then followed up with "of course human rights are very important, we all care massively about human rights" while saying how delighted he was with the Saudis taking over.
  
  I am sure many Newcastle fans, like Man City and Chelsea fans before them, will play the 'loyal fans support the club no matter what' card. I have supported Newcastle through heartbreak, misery, boredom and drudgery like they all have. But I can't support this. I don't know how it is going to be watching Premier League football from now on, I have never been in this situation before. Am I going to instinctively cheer when they win? How will I feel when one of the world's best players suddenly finds Newcastle "an interesting project"? I guess we will see. But today I shed a tear for the last 25 years, and for those who will continue to suffer at the hands of those being so heartily welcomed in Newcastle yesterday.
  

 

Of course, the only way to respond to this in a mature manner is with another Vince McMahon gif

That's the Vince McMahon whose last cheque from Mohammed bin Salman bounced

 

My suggestion to such supporters would be to go and watch weekend
academy games etc (for as long as there is local/UK talent in there
unpolluted by the lottery win) .

That would keep some connection to the club as a supporter.

Also. on paper it would make waves if you suddenly get a serious
upsurge in attendance for said games for no apparent reason.

 

This is why I think Pep gets far too much criticism. Even with the best players in the world it's not easy to mould them into a great football team. I've always felt Poch is more the builder type (a bit like Ranieri/Wenger etc) rather than a closer like Mourinho (of old) who just wins with teams already built for him.

 

I'd be with this guy. There are bad owners and then there are bad people.
Mike Ashley wasn't the best owner in the country and he had some objectionable business practices.
Bin Salman murders people. That's quite a line to cross.

 

The Pathetic did a poll of Spurs fans about how they would react to a Saudi takeover. Of the 1800 responses, 41% said they'd stop supporting the club while 80% said they'd prefer ENIC

I'm guessing this is because Spurs fans haven't had a completely unearned sense of entitlement for the last 25 years...

 

Thank you for that comment from the Newcastle minister of culture and Arabic affairs

 

Check the username and the comment he's replying to...

 

office for the Promotion of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice.

 

Responses to polls like this are always disingenuous. I'm sure all of us at some stage have said we aren't watching another game until player/manager/commentator X is removed. Supporting a football club isn't like shopping in a supermarket, it's a religion to many. I feel fairly certain that of that 41% who said they'd stop supporting the club, only 12% (at most) would follow through with that promise.

 

If your "religion" involves stoning gay people and murdering journalists, then perhaps you're in the wrong one?

 

This 100%.
For various reasons it probably won't happen at Spurs (not Saudi anyway), but if it did I would stop following the club immediately. There are limits and that would be one of them...

 

IMO it's a chicken and egg argument. Is it the person committing the act and hiding under the guise of religion by misinterpreting the Quran or is it the religion itself that is incompatible with Western culture or ideals?

I genuinely don't have the answer to that but it's an interesting debate.

This does not absolve the Saudi regime in any way, but we as a society need carefully consider what kind of breaches to human rights we find tolerable and will allow and which we won't.

 

Sorry, but I clearly wasn't clear in what I meant with that comment.
I wasn't talking about Islam or Muslims, which is why I said "religion" and not just religion.
I was trying to suggest that there should be limits to football fans' dedication to their club.
If the owners are killers and despots using it as a sportswashing vehicle, for example.

Not a dig at you DL, but I'd apply the same parameters to Abramovich.
This is not about religion, for me. I should've worded that better.

 

Sorry I completely misinterpreted. Now I understand I completely agree, especially with the highlighted statement. For instance I can't tell you the amount of abuse I've received on social media for:

• Criticising John Terry after the racism incident and racist fans v Genk
• Criticising Mourinho's clear display of sexism when he humiliated Carneiro on the pitch against Swansea
• Criticising racist fans for pushing the PSG fan off the train in Paris.

Now whilst this is not the actions of the club directly, the principle for me is still the same. Had Abramovich taken over Chelsea when I was an adult or at least well informed enough to know his background and the oligarchy I think my views of his takeover would likely be different to what it is today.

 

Just to address the point that you've raised here, this is the problem with allowing a state to buy a club.
You cannot divorce the actions of said country with the owners.

People have negative opinions of the actions of the USA, UK, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Israel, etc.
That doesn't mean that an American owner should be held responsible for any of it and so on.
The Glazers are ****, but they're not at fault for the Iraq War, for instance.

You cannot apply the same distance to someone like Bin Salman.
He's the chairman of the PIF, who own 80% of Newcastle.

 

State-owned clubs make corruption inevitable in my eyes. Football has become an economic powerhouse and a vehicle in which to improve diplomatic relations, it's how Russia and Qatar got the last two World Cups. If at any point City, PSG and Newcastle's owners decide they want a Super League then the UK government will be pressured to make sure it happens.

 

And that's before you even consider the officials, drugs testing, etc.
There are a lot of dodgy owners now and there's a lot of money around.
None of them are cheating?

 

Did you watch Bad Sport on Netflix? Real eye-opener into how it all works.

On the Old 606 and on a Facebook group i'm part of I used to repeatedly call FIFA corrupt and was labelled a conspiracy theorist. South Korea's run to the SF in 2002 WC was the most obvious corruption/match-fixing I've ever seen. Portugal, Spain and Italy didn't have a prayer.