Fragile Fan Base

[NickHSpurs]

Does anybody else feel that our fan base is as fragile as it ever has been in recent memory?

It isn't just one reason, there seems to be an accumulation of things that have left most of us with an underlying feeling of being a bit fed up with the club, the owners, the way we operate, the way we're playing, the way fans are treated and some individual players.

The three wins to start the season already feels like we were sticking a plaster over a gun shot wound and that's after just one loss.

The collective performances and style of play are obviously concerning and I think this is compounded by the lines Levy was spinning us before the manager search about returning to our attacking DNA etc.

I'm a season ticket holder and really enjoyed being back in the stadium, the atmosphere has been so good and like it was when the stadium first opened, I've absolutely loved going again and looked forward to it days before.

However, I'm already feeling like if we lose to Chelsea on Sunday the atmosphere is going to turn badly and we won't be able to get it back and part of me is dreading it.

It feels like such a long time ago how good we all felt that last season in the old stadium, I never felt closer to the Club during that time but it seems since that season and certainly since the CL final the relationship between Club and fans has been on a frightening decline.

How do we fix it? Is it as simple as getting a coach/style of play we actually enjoy watching? It would be a good start right!

 

[Lighty64]

Does anybody else feel that our fan base is as fragile as it ever has been in recent memory?

It isn't just one reason, there seems to be an accumulation of things that have left most of us with an underlying feeling of being a bit fed up with the club, the owners, the way we operate, the way we're playing, the way fans are treated and some individual players.

The three wins to start the season already feels like we were sticking a plaster over a gun shot wound and that's after just one loss.

The collective performances and style of play are obviously concerning and I think this is compounded by the lines Levy was spinning us before the manager search about returning to our attacking DNA etc.

I'm a season ticket holder and really enjoyed being back in the stadium, the atmosphere has been so good and like it was when the stadium first opened, I've absolutely loved going again and looked forward to it days before.

However, I'm already feeling like if we lose to Chelsea on Sunday the atmosphere is going to turn badly and we won't be able to get it back and part of me is dreading it.

It feels like such a long time ago how good we all felt that last season in the old stadium, I never felt closer to the Club during that time but it seems since that season and certainly since the CL final the relationship between Club and fans has been on a frightening decline.

How do we fix it? Is it as simple as getting a coach/style of play we actually enjoy watching? It would be a good start right!

why didn't you just put this in the ENIC thread. do we need a new thread every time we lose a match

 

[Danny1]

Personally I think its a culmination of a number of things:

1 - We had a taste of the good life. Riding high in the league being contenders, playing CL football every year & getting to the final with a great team of players and a manager who promoted good, aggressive football.
2 - The stadium fiasco of having to move to Wembley and then it being delayed yet again.
3 - The 2 years without signing a player, even though all of us as fans could see that the players were on the decline through age & form etc.
4 - The failed Mourinho experiment & the toxicity that he brought with him.
5 - The Harry Kane saga & all of us knowing why he wanted to leave but being absolute gutted about it.
6 - The lack of a cohesive transfer policy that actively targeted players in the positions that were required, instead we signed players for the same position (GLC & Ndombele) and failed to really address the glaringly obvious problems.
7 - The management hunt this summer, what a joke from start to finish.
8 - The Super League & the embarrassment of it all.
9 - Seeing the likes of Man Utd & Chelsea get back to throwing insane amounts of money around & getting some of the worlds best players which has just increased the gap between the clubs by tenfold. I can't see anyone else breaking into that top4 for a long time.
10 - The Adama Traore / Levy interjection.
11 - Lastly, we have witnessed our club play dreadful football since about January 2019. The whole 24 points from 25 games that ended Poch's reign, to the negative & boring football of Mourinho to now a bunch of average players.

Unfortunately for Nuno, he is now taking a lot of criticism due to all the above & the fact that we as fans have just had enough of accepting mediocrity having been so close. It is going to take a good few years for us to challenge for top 4 again in my opinion & it's not going to be pretty.

 

[Archibald&Crooks]

I think to answer this one properly will take a long and probably complicated and likely rambling answer.

But the first thing that springs to mind is intent, intent from the owners (not words, action) to give the team it's identity back. Exciting football, the odd player who gets your arse of your seat when he gets the ball, I don't think we have one, maybe Traore would have gone a little way toward addressing that. A capable manager (Nuno might turn out to be that, only time will tell) but then again you get one of those and what's the use unless you have or sign the players to match.

Right now I watch the team expecting nothing. It's verging on no interest. And without turning this into an anti-Levy/ENIC thing, for that, they can fuck off. The number of supporters who they are turning off speaks volumes and I can't see how it's to be defended. For me, all these justifications are just rank bollocks, I look at where we are, I look at how they've switched me (and many others off) and that's what counts, not the balance sheets or the other magic things offered up for this shitfest. Where and what we are right now is what counts. Double so when we were so close not all that long ago. Not "oh but oil barons, how can we compete" or any of the other crap, where we are right now. Now, now now. Yes it'd be nice to win things but i'd like to enjoy it a bit along the way, to have a team that plays on the front foot, that gives it a go. No wonder Kane wants out. If he can see it, we can see it, then WTF are the owners playing at? How much do they actually care. You simply have to question it.

So yeah, as @NickHSpurs asks, that'd be a great start, having a team we enjoy watching again. Build from there, cut out the bullshit and show some intent. You don't have to 'Do a Leeds' or spunk the clubs future up the wall on the way.

There you go. Rambling bollocks, sorry........

 

[crazyguitarman]

Fragile? Christ we must be some of the most resilient fans in the league the amount of shit we have to endure from our piss poor management at the top level over the past 5 years.

 

[13VanDerBale13]

We’ve been lied to continuously & are on the prospect of ANOTHER poor season of a snooze fest.

Everything has gone downhill since Poch has left & fans are losing patience.

 

[Stamford]

I don't think we're fragile at all, no different to any other fan Base. I am finding it increasingly toxic though. I'm on here a lot less than I was because I find it less friendly and argumentative than previously

 

[NickHSpurs]

why didn't you just put this in the ENIC thread. do we need a new thread every time we lose a match

It's clearly more than just ENIC. I get they're responsible for a lot of it but it's a wider discussion than just them.

Are we as fans expecting too much? Did we get high on a few good seasons and are forgetting how average we were before that? Are we now just back to "normal" and we've been punching above our weight? Are Dele's brother and Harry's brother both to blame?

 

[NickHSpurs]

I don't think we're fragile at all, no different to any other fan Base. I am finding it increasingly toxic though. I'm on here a lot less than I was because I find it less friendly and argumentative than previously

Yeah I should have mentioned that word, the fan base has never been this toxic and that's what worries me about the atmosphere turning at the Lane. It will kill any excitement about going to games.

 

[absolute bobbins]

Spurs fans are like all other football fans, fickle pussies with little to no control over their lives and any poor result feels like an afront to their entire being which results in an impotent rage.

 

[absolute bobbins]

Yeah I should have mentioned that word, the fan base has never been this toxic and that's what worries me about the atmosphere turning at the Lane. It will kill any excitement about going to games.

It already has, I love Spurs but I'm an 1882 vet and just can't bring myself to give a shit about who we're playing or who plays for the club anymore

 

[dude573]

I think an honest answer is that we're desperate for success yet it feels like we're getting further and further away from it.

Our pessimism has turned into frustration and that boils over after a loss like the one to Palace. Although we have seen results like that time and time before, it doesn't make it any less painful.

 

[PLTuck]

I said in the match thread that it feels like our fanbase is constantly on a knife edge. It was a terrible performace but the reaction was OTT imo. Most seasons we'd be perfectly happy with 9 points from our first 4 games under a new coach, but it already feels like Nuno's card is marked and he is on borrowed time. I think it's waaaay too early to be able to fully judge. Play like that in November or December and I'll be joining the chorus though.

Let's hope it was a wake up call for everyone. Nuno can't be putting out a team of just workers again, Kane should be looking at himself instead of blaming his team mates. Tanguy and/or Gil need to start playing.

ONe thing is for sure, if we play anything like that at home vs Chelsea things will turn very ugly very quickly. That Levy wasn;t entirely convinced by Nuno in the first place also probably means that he won't be afforded the patience from him that say Jose was.

 

[parklane yid]

There is a huge difference between Twitter fan base and the ones who go to games. I don’t expect a toxic atmosphere at the stadium. However I don’t think Nuno will get the patience from the fans as much as a manager like potter would have. This is down the style of football imo, it’s all good when we win ugly but losing ugly won’t go down well. I am fully behind Nuno but I honestly feel potter would have been better option to build a possession based style our fans in general want

 

[Insomnia]

For me it starts and ends with what we see on the pitch and frankly the football has been a dire snooze fest for ages now. Hate to say it but we are one of the worst teams to watch these days. DNA my arse

 

[Tucker]

Don’t know about fragile, but I’m certainly seeing a lot more entitlement from our fans.

 

[parklane yid]

Poch raised expectations and now we are on decline/beginning of painful rebuild

 

[PLTuck]

Poch raised expectations and now we are on decline/beginning of painful rebuild

Let's not forget that Poch thought he was going to get sacked after the Villa game in his first season, then Kane scored and from there he didnt look back.

 

[Bobbins]

We’re not the fans the club is concerned with anymore, we’re the “legacy fans” they talked about in the ESL proposals. What they want are the new international fans who spend more money and rarely turn up to the ground so each visit is special, they don’t sing or complain, but they do spend a fortune online and in the shop when they’re here.

We’re all just dinosaurs the club would very much rather do without these days.

Never forget - legacy fans. That’s an actual thing your club called you.

 

[NickHSpurs]

There is a huge difference between Twitter fan base and the ones who go to games. I don’t expect a toxic atmosphere at the stadium. However I don’t think Nuno will get the patience from the fans as much as a manager like potter would have. This is down the style of football imo, it’s all good when we win ugly but losing ugly won’t go down well. I am fully behind Nuno but I honestly feel potter would have been better option to build a possession based style our fans in general want

What worries me as a season ticket holder is that the difference between Twitter and match-going fans is beginning to blur. The atmosphere after our return last season against Villa was as toxic as I've ever felt it, it really wasn't a nice place to be. I know there were mitigating circumstances with Jose, Mason, poor performance and no lap of honour etc but it was very very tense and I feel like we're only a bad result or two away from it turning again.