A Rallying Call To Tottenham Fans – Let’s All Enjoy Ourselves.

Tottenham have a tough final few weeks to what has been an exciting season. Their goal is a top four finish and Champions League football next season. There will be ups and downs along the way but as a rallying call to all Spurs’ supporters, “Let’s all enjoy ourselves.”

Written 10 minutes before kick off against Fulham.

[Photo: Alan Hill]I’d like to say a quick hello and welcome to all the users of the Newsnow website that will now get to read our Hotspur HQ blogs from Fansided. Logan Holmes is our editor and main man but you will also see the occasional blog from me. He won’t blow his own trumpet, so I’ll say it for him; Logan produces a high volume of well researched, well drafted articles on Tottenham Hotspur, with detailed factual previews, match reports and pieces of interest on Spurs. I contribute the odd blog, which tends to be more subjective. Heart on the sleeve stuff, with personal stories form the ‘60s, ‘70s, ‘80s and ‘90s.

Regular readers of Hotspur HQ will be used to me highlighting the agony and ecstasy of following Spurs down the years. However, I have realised that I have been starting to develop the wrong attitude with regard to the difficult run in that we have this season, starting with Fulham this afternoon.

Between games I am looking down the table at those chasing us, especially Arsenal and think they have an easier run in and are bound to catch us again. During games I allow myself to become tense whilst watching them live on TV. If we are not 3-0 up by half time, I foresee all the things that could go wrong. I skim over the good parts of our performance and dwell on the good spells that our opponents have. My blood pressure and pulse soars. I won’t listen to radio commentaries when we are not on the box because I become even more tense when I can’t see what’s going on. I am superstitious and ridiculously feel that by watching I can somehow influence what’s happening. I know that is wandering into the realms of real fantasy but that’s how I am.

I can see from the tweets from fellow Tottenham die-hards that I am not alone. It stems from suffering disappointment at the same stage in the past. You harden yourself to the possibility of failure. It is as if it makes it somehow less bearable if you can say after the event that you never really thought we would pull it off anyway. It’s a way of saving face, so you don’t look so foolish after the event. But what good does this approach really do any of us?

It has struck me, belatedly that this is destructive behaviour. What good does it do me or anybody else? What if the Spurs players allowed themselves to think like this? Is this the kind of attitude that subconsciously can turn them from winners to losers at the crucial moments?

Tension and pessimism. I know we like to call it common sense and realism but that may be what makes you freeze and get caught. I’ve had enough of that in the past.

So NO MORE.

I’ve told myself to buck up and enjoy it all. I am not looking at the world through rose-tinted spectacles but this is now my message to Spurs players and fans alike; this is a time to be happy and enjoy ourselves. I swear that henceforth I am going to adopt the following attitude, regardless of the result against Fulham.

My approach and that of the players and the fans should be, “Wow, isn’t this great? We are in the quarter finals of the Europa League and chasing an out of sorts Man City for second place in the Premier League. We are clear of Arsenal and we have put the wind up Chelsea. We have played some great football and have a world superstar in the making who seems happy to stay with us. We have every chance of qualifying for the Champions League next season. Isn’t this fun? We have never (almost) had it so good. I’m looking up, not down and will enjoy every minute while it lasts.”

“Winners and Losers” [Photo: Alan Hill]Throughout my civil service career, I attended many management courses. I watched a whole industry grow around basically espousing the same principles in a different way each year. They were self-perpetuating, using new catchphrases and management speak to put the same message across. Plan, implement, review, plan again. Each guru claimed to have the Holy Grail of how to succeed. You can probably tell from the tone of this paragraph that I wasn’t usually impressed. I must have been issued with hundreds of hand-outs over the years. Most of them hit the bin. There was one, however, that struck a chord that I have found quite inspirational in difficult times. I pinned it to the main notice board in each of my offices. I think it would look good on the Tottenham dressing room wall. AVB, you are welcome to it.

Postscript:

Reaction after the result:  “We lost. Hardly surprising after the week we’ve had. They must keep their heads up now, hence the above blog which was in anticipation of this result.”