Is it just me or is there a less frenzied and almost contented feeling around the place at the end of this season. The poem by BBLG and the entertaining summary by rez9000, riffing with the editor, seem to set the tone for a more relaxed attitude to the events of the 2008/2009 season.
Our performance on Sunday was poor but nobody seems to be really bothered. Rather like the players in fact. There were very few posters on the match thread and there was nothing like the usual level of passion. Important players were missing it is true and perhaps the loss of Palacios in circumstances that put mere football into perspective have had an influence.
Perhaps underlying our attitudes is a feeling of relief that we did well enough not just to survive but to salvage some pride and to realise that maybe a season without Europe might play to our advantage. Perhaps the fate of Newcastle, where but for the Grace of God go Spurs, has given us a chastening taste of the horrors that we might well be enduring now.
Its seems to have been a long and in some ways harrowing season and it took until February for me to finally to feel safe. I know others were more relaxed, BBLG for one but as he says himself he has a reputation for being 'blindly optimistic'.
Is there a feeling that by and large we are happy with the squad and the manager, for the time being anyway. There has been a growing feeling that we don't want another year of upheaval and change, that we have a more than decent squad under a manager who not only steered us out of trouble but got the team performing more to their potential.
Of course its fun to join in the transfer rumour circus and to appraise the qualities of the dozens of players from all over the world who are reportedly on their way to the Lane. But we must know by now that the constant transfer activity has actually destabilised the club in the last decade.
Of course the squad could be improved but many of the names associated with us are barely upgrades on what we already have or are unlikely to come to us until we threaten the Champions' League positions.
Our first priority is to hold onto the gems in the squad, Modric and Lennon first of all and to build on the good feelings that our run in has produced, unlike last year when the poor performances after the Carling Cup should have alerted us to the disasters to come. We are facing the summer on a positive note and that has been reflected in the more cheerful outlook of posters on SC.
Most people are aware that we have had a narrow escape and this seems to have calmed us down. Not only do we not have a divine right to play in the Champions' League we don't even have the right to play in the Premiership. Newcastle have discovered like Leeds and Nottingham Forest that even the top names and the once top clubs can fall on hard times. I am grateful that we have not joined them.
Obviously some will draw the conclusion that this season proves the exact opposite: that even with a disastrous start, I think you all know the figures, the mighty Spurs will triumph over adversity and everything will come right in the end.
When it came to it we were too good to go down but for me it was a close run thing. The fight back probably started with the draw at Arsenal but a late equaliser at Sunderland and a late winner at Hull were the turning points and it could have all easily gone the other way. After an excellent performance in the Carling Cup we never looked back, although a 'blip' against Blackburn probably cost us the European place.
So let the rumour mill commence, I will do my best to ignore it and have vowed not to post on speculative transfer rumours in the hope that by ignoring them they will go away. I think this is known as the ostrich approach and I recommend it to all my fellow fans.
Our performance on Sunday was poor but nobody seems to be really bothered. Rather like the players in fact. There were very few posters on the match thread and there was nothing like the usual level of passion. Important players were missing it is true and perhaps the loss of Palacios in circumstances that put mere football into perspective have had an influence.
Perhaps underlying our attitudes is a feeling of relief that we did well enough not just to survive but to salvage some pride and to realise that maybe a season without Europe might play to our advantage. Perhaps the fate of Newcastle, where but for the Grace of God go Spurs, has given us a chastening taste of the horrors that we might well be enduring now.
Its seems to have been a long and in some ways harrowing season and it took until February for me to finally to feel safe. I know others were more relaxed, BBLG for one but as he says himself he has a reputation for being 'blindly optimistic'.
Is there a feeling that by and large we are happy with the squad and the manager, for the time being anyway. There has been a growing feeling that we don't want another year of upheaval and change, that we have a more than decent squad under a manager who not only steered us out of trouble but got the team performing more to their potential.
Of course its fun to join in the transfer rumour circus and to appraise the qualities of the dozens of players from all over the world who are reportedly on their way to the Lane. But we must know by now that the constant transfer activity has actually destabilised the club in the last decade.
Of course the squad could be improved but many of the names associated with us are barely upgrades on what we already have or are unlikely to come to us until we threaten the Champions' League positions.
Our first priority is to hold onto the gems in the squad, Modric and Lennon first of all and to build on the good feelings that our run in has produced, unlike last year when the poor performances after the Carling Cup should have alerted us to the disasters to come. We are facing the summer on a positive note and that has been reflected in the more cheerful outlook of posters on SC.
Most people are aware that we have had a narrow escape and this seems to have calmed us down. Not only do we not have a divine right to play in the Champions' League we don't even have the right to play in the Premiership. Newcastle have discovered like Leeds and Nottingham Forest that even the top names and the once top clubs can fall on hard times. I am grateful that we have not joined them.
Obviously some will draw the conclusion that this season proves the exact opposite: that even with a disastrous start, I think you all know the figures, the mighty Spurs will triumph over adversity and everything will come right in the end.
When it came to it we were too good to go down but for me it was a close run thing. The fight back probably started with the draw at Arsenal but a late equaliser at Sunderland and a late winner at Hull were the turning points and it could have all easily gone the other way. After an excellent performance in the Carling Cup we never looked back, although a 'blip' against Blackburn probably cost us the European place.
So let the rumour mill commence, I will do my best to ignore it and have vowed not to post on speculative transfer rumours in the hope that by ignoring them they will go away. I think this is known as the ostrich approach and I recommend it to all my fellow fans.
