- Jun 29, 2003
- 35,109
- 17,801
- Staff
- #1
Source: SC Member minesadouble
Dear Gareth,
This is an open letter to you via the Spurs Community website. Fellow Spurs fans might add further comments and messages to you below.
I have been a Spurs supporter since 1961. In that time, I am lucky enough to have seen not only some wonderful individual footballers wear our shirt, but some of the game’s greatest entertainers too; from Greaves, Gascoigne and Ginola, to Ardiles, Hoddle and Waddle.
And you rank in that pantheon. In fact, you may well be my favorite Spurs player of all time. Your individual performances last season were as thrillingly effective as any I can recall in 50 years.
Whatever happens, you have given plenty to Spurs and I for one will always recognize that. I would never begrudge any desire you may have to live abroad, to make a fortune or to grace the European stage. You seem like a model professional and a genuinely nice guy.
If you leave, I hope it turns out for the best for you. Obviously, if you stay, another season or longer, I hope it turns out even more happily! Whatever is the exact truth, you have been the victim of appalling media manipulation this summer.
And that, I’m sure you will understand, is what our esteemed chairman cannot succumb to. This entire campaign has been about trying to buy you cheaply. For less than you are worth to us. Whether it’s Pounds or Euros, 80 or 100 million, or spread over 4 or 6 years, is beside the point. It has not been about hard negotiation. It has been about lies. It has been about making you unhappy and trying to make people like me unhappy with you. In my case, it has failed.
Sadly, bullying tactics often work. But sometimes they fail because the bully misjudges the victim. For our club to give in now and sell your Spurs contract but on Madrid’s terms would not only be wrong in this situation. It would also be wrong to encourage them to continue to behave like this in future. They should put up. Or shut up.
Nothing will ever take away moments like Inter Milan, West Ham and the rest, and I would like to thank you for every single one of them. I would love there to be many more.
Good luck,
Minesadouble
Dear Gareth,
This is an open letter to you via the Spurs Community website. Fellow Spurs fans might add further comments and messages to you below.
I have been a Spurs supporter since 1961. In that time, I am lucky enough to have seen not only some wonderful individual footballers wear our shirt, but some of the game’s greatest entertainers too; from Greaves, Gascoigne and Ginola, to Ardiles, Hoddle and Waddle.
And you rank in that pantheon. In fact, you may well be my favorite Spurs player of all time. Your individual performances last season were as thrillingly effective as any I can recall in 50 years.
Whatever happens, you have given plenty to Spurs and I for one will always recognize that. I would never begrudge any desire you may have to live abroad, to make a fortune or to grace the European stage. You seem like a model professional and a genuinely nice guy.
If you leave, I hope it turns out for the best for you. Obviously, if you stay, another season or longer, I hope it turns out even more happily! Whatever is the exact truth, you have been the victim of appalling media manipulation this summer.
And that, I’m sure you will understand, is what our esteemed chairman cannot succumb to. This entire campaign has been about trying to buy you cheaply. For less than you are worth to us. Whether it’s Pounds or Euros, 80 or 100 million, or spread over 4 or 6 years, is beside the point. It has not been about hard negotiation. It has been about lies. It has been about making you unhappy and trying to make people like me unhappy with you. In my case, it has failed.
Sadly, bullying tactics often work. But sometimes they fail because the bully misjudges the victim. For our club to give in now and sell your Spurs contract but on Madrid’s terms would not only be wrong in this situation. It would also be wrong to encourage them to continue to behave like this in future. They should put up. Or shut up.
Nothing will ever take away moments like Inter Milan, West Ham and the rest, and I would like to thank you for every single one of them. I would love there to be many more.
Good luck,
Minesadouble