Life isn't easy being a Spurs fan. Every year since humans developed the capacity to communicate, mumblings of 'this is the season' have be heard drifting on the wind around North London. Every year, Tottenham fans have momentarily clicked away from their pornography to fill message boards and forums with talk of breaking the top four. Every year my inherent scepticism is broken down by the sheer, dogged optimism of my fellow yids and every year I sit in front of Sky Sports watching our delusions of grandeur slowly unravelling. Indeed, such deep feelings of disappointment are comparable only to when that fit girl Claire rejected you back in year 9. The early signs were good; you spent heavily on flowers, you said all the right things and the rumours started to spread round the school that she fancied you. Expectations ran high, the lads slapped you on the back and before you knew it the school disco rolled round.
Kitted out in the shirt your grandma bought you for Christmas 1997 and a few bacardi breezers down, you're feeling good. You see her across the dancefloor dancing seductively, hips gyrating to the sensual strains of B*witched. All of a sudden your eyes meet. 'This is it, this is it' your brain screams out to you as you move towards the press of sweaty teenyboppers. Your heart races, the adrenaline pumps, and then, the crowd parts and there she is...held in the tender embrace of the school rugby captain with tonsil hockey the order of the day. Dejected, shunned, distraught, you shuffle back to the benches where the boys from the chess club are sitting and pretend to be texting. The night ends with you copping off with that slightly podgy, ginger girl from the year below with a minor sweat problem and a noticeable moustache. Such is the ignominy of mid-table...
However, incredibly the run up to this season has been different. The mood on the Tottenham forums has swung between apathy and downright defeatism. Perhaps it is easy to see why. We have long and proud tradition of heavy summer spending, of bringing skillful and exciting players to the Premiership; lions like Klinsmann, Ardilles and...erm...Thimothee Atouba..? However, after months of speculation linking us with everyone from Huntelaar, to Nistelrooy to Sandra Redknapp, and after frantically wiping down our keyboards on many occasions, nothing has materialised. Instead we have ended up with two unproven Sheffield United youngsters for 'Arry to add to his collection of right backs, a defender from a relegated Newcastle squad and something straight out of a young child's nightmare, 'The Crouch'. Even the press, ever ready to massage our egos and set us up for the inevitable fall (“White Hart Pain”, “Gory Gory Tottenham Hotspur”, f*ck off back to Britain's got talent Piers Morgan) have been strangely silent on our prospects. Indeed Martin O'Neill's youthful Villa and Sparky's harem of Bentley driving gold-diggers, have been the only ones mentioned in the same breath as the top four. If I didn't know better I'd say I was feeling a little envious, don't force me into another school disco analogy again.
Yet taking time out from his intense pre season training, his community outreach projects targeting unloved bouncers and being generally 'Dedley', our dear club captain had something very useful to say:
“It has been quiet here. There has not been too much talk about us and the top four. For the last few seasons everyone has been talking about us doing this and that. Now it has been nice to say nothing and just work hard”.
And guess what? The big lad's right. Our squad is certainly ambitious and no one can doubt that the summer additions have given us great strength in depth, but such intense pressure isn't always a good thing. For once, our boys can play without the looming spectre of Lineker being ridiculed every time we lose on Match of the Day. No-one expects us to achieve so we have nothing to lose. Tottenham can just play football without the burden of media expectation and unrealistic fan aspiration, and that has to be a good thing. Perhaps Ledley's speech shows that he has grown as both a captain and a man. Perhaps it reveals a new found realistic maturity in the Spurs dressing room. Perhaps it means we can all settle down and enjoy the season, the great spectacle that is football without the constant jibes from our 'mates' who support the big four.
“With the quality we have got, we can break into the top four."
Oh for f*cks sake Ledley. Who misses Gary Mabbutt..?
In 'Arry We Trust
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