As far back as I can remember, Spurs have always been the biggest football pretender in London. Each year, boisterous Spurs fans claim that it will be their year. I remembered back in 2001, Spurs fans were excited about the fact that they were going to win something, just because the year ended with the number, one.
It was a silly old tradition that they desperately held on to. In truth, the team was so bad that they could not even uphold their rich tradition. When Arsenal defeated Spurs at Wembley, hence shredding whatever little strand of hope for silverware, Spurs fans cried.
In addition, I wondered if they cried because their anticipation skills were that bad. A few years on, the Spurs team looks slightly better. Under Jol, Spurs improved. However, like all managers before, Jol could not avoid the axe that came down once his side sputtered. This is the problem with Spurs. Once a manager molded something decent, the directors sack him.
The directors at Spurs expect an instantaneous result upon appointment of a manager. They fail to realise that they are living in the real world and not playing a game of Football Manager. In the real world, Spurs possess a capacity similar to Honda Civic, yet the directors are demanding a performance similar to that of a Mercedes Benz.
It is unbelievable really. Now, under Ramos, the Spurs team is finally finding their feet again. With a host of strong signings in the midfield, the expectations are high again at White Hart Lane. Meet any random Spurs fan now and they will be crowing to you how they will be finishing on top of the Gunners again.
Truth is, that has yet to realistically happen in recent years. Somehow, someone needs to tell the directors down at Spurs that a great team is not created overnight. Sir Alex Ferguson has been around since 1986 and he finally found a winning formula only in 92/93 after a few hiccups.
Tell me which Spurs manager in recent history has been given that amount of time? I reckon once the fad of Ramos has faded, the directors will be quick to jump the gun to sack him again. And then, poor old Tottenham will be perennial underachievers again.
Tottenham Hotspur: Perennial Underachievers Again?
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4 comments Last one added 11 months ago — Leave a Comment
mickey mouse 11 months ago
wow, great story, just really top class writing. superb stuff, really balanced and nuanced.
NOT.
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nathan caplan 11 months ago
who knows what next season will bring. we haven't finalised our squad as yet. the additions of modric, dos santos and bentley are encouraging. the loss of keane is sad, but a good bit of business. its encouraging to see that progress is being made with regards to arshavin and pavylechenko, but we still dont know berbas plans. it could very much go either way. our performance in the laegue will not only depend on how those matters develop, but also how other teams around us develop too. i think villa will do well this season, and man city have got funds to spend. i hope everton continue to well, i really like david moyes as a manager, its a shame they might loose AJ. Liverpool seem to be improving - they seemed to start to gel towards the end of last season, and i think keane will do well for them. arsenal will miss hleb and flamini, but they have a great squad with lots of developing talent and i really dont see them slipping out of the 4 four. i honestly think we'll finish 5th - even if we get arshavin, pavlychenko and we keep berbatov. but i think we will continue to improve this season. there seems to be more cohesiveness between the management team and the directors with ramos on board. we have streghten our defence and looked at the fitness of the squad, and that might ease some of the problems we have had at the back. i think we still have a weekness in the midfield, its a very attack minded midfield and that caused us further problems last season. we left a lot of space in front of the back four, and that might be why we conceded a lot from outside the box. i would like to see zokora move on, and replaced with a genuine makelele type defensive midfielder. zokora is too similar to jenas for my liking, and huddlestone and o'hara seem too attacking to play that role.
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Chowy D 11 months ago
its emotional being a spurs fan, but at the end of the day, its exciting! also, everyone said that spain would fail again at euro 2008 but they dug deep and pulled it off. i may have said this before but maybe this year is spurs' year to break into the top four!
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Scott Stringer 11 months ago
I agree with part of it but i do disagree with it. When we beat Arsenal last season 5 - 1 they nearly had a full first team squad out apart from 1 or 2 we were just two good on the day. I am fed up with people slating spurs as that was such an acheivement last seaon yet Andy Gray the gooner quickly said that it was a reserve team playing. I dont think Arseal would of left Adebayor, Hleb, Fabregas, Walcott, Flamini, Senderos, Eboue, and co in the reserves. Thats the team we beat. Also the Final we beat Chelsea strongest side and no one gave us any credit. I have watched every one of Spurs pre - seaon games and we look very good without Robbie Keane. Arsenal were tipped to do nothing without Henry yet finished third and almost won the league yet every one gave them credit. We have reached the Uefa Cup third year in a row which is a step towards a Champions LEague push and no one blinks except to say bad things. I am not saying we will win the league but on the last pre season we have had then i think we will be pushing as long as Ramos concentrates on the league and Uefa rather than everyting else. On one final note i would just like someone to say something like they do about Arsenal or Chelsea. Every one seems to forget that Chelsea are only where they are with Abramovich cheque book. With the players they have got even Paul Scully would be able to manage them yet Spurs beat them in a final at wembley yet again no one gives them credit except they slate Chelseas performance saying they were poor yet it was Spurs who made them look poor. COYS
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