Letter to Tottenham supporters: No need for negativity

It was impossible, if you truly care about Tottenham Hotspur, to watch the Champions League final and not feel frustration boil over. 

Supporters waited with excitement and anticipation, imagining a number of joyous scenarios that led to Champions League glory. None of those imagined scenarios, though, would have manifested the way reality played out.

The complexion of the biggest game in club history, thanks to an inadvertent MoussaSissoko hand ball, irreparably changed within the opening minute of kickoff. The opportunity of actually appreciating the occasion stripped before some supporters even finished their pre-match urination.

Reality, throughout the decades, has proven harsh for Tottenham supporters. Reality, though, is rarely this harsh.

Periodic frustration is part and parcel of being a Spurs supporter. But all of us should take a moment to pay homage to just how far we’ve come in a few short years.

Nobody, even the most devout supporter, expected us to be in the final. Nobody expected us to dominate Dortmund and take a point at the Camp Nou. Nobody expected us to topple Manchester City, arguably the best team in the history of English football. And nobody expected us to awaken from a coma to overturn, in less than 45 minutes, a 0-3 aggregate deficit in Amsterdam.

Tottenham surprised pundits, brought followers to tears and made headlines the world over for their resilience, their refusal to lay down and let the media narrative take its course. Spurs faced elimination with only 10 minutes remaining against Inter, but Christian Eriksen found a way to score a vital winner.

Barcelona then had Tottenham on the ropes in the final match of the group stage. Barcelona led 1-0, but this time Lucas Moura, in the 85th minute, took matters into his own hands, stunning the Camp Nou. Yet again Tottenham avoided what many thought was a certain ousting from the Champions League.

We all know what happened in the quarterfinal against Manchester City. Scenes of utter jubilation culminated Spurs most memorable ever European result. And, inconceivably, it was about to get even better. Dubbed as the “miracle in Amsterdam”, Tottenham stamped their place in Champions League folklore by shocking Ajax. It was true poetry in motion, a moment none of us will forget.

Tottenham, about a half dozen times, were diagnosed as legally dead during their 2018-19 Champions League campaign, each time needing a defibrillator to be brought back to life.

Mistakes were made by Mauricio Pochettino in the final. That much is true. But when you take a step back and look at the bigger picture, our beloved Spurs created a transcendent energy that had never been felt before in north London and abroad. We shed tears of joy, were on the edge of our seats throughout. We believed in the impossible, all thanks to our Tottenham Hotspur.

Liverpool lost last season’s Champions League final but got right back on the horse, making the improvements needed to avenge that defeat. Spurs, with the right signings, can replicate that feat.

If that’s not something to be positive about, I’m not sure what is. Because belief is what got us here in the first place, and without belief, which depends on positivity, we’re truly lost.