spud
Well-Known Member
- Sep 2, 2003
- 5,850
- 8,794
Here's a thought for you: a football club doesn't have fans; a football club IS its fans.
Irving Scholar knew this. When asked how he felt about owning Spurs, he replied to the effect that it wasn't his club. He was just the custodian. It was his job to take care of it, to nurture it, to improve it, to make it successful, and to deliver it to its next guardian. History shows that his business plan failed, but he understood that Spurs - and every other football club - exists for, and because of, its fans. You and me.
We, in turn, have a job. It is to support the club. Financially by buying match tickets and merchandise, and in the ground. These are the only real ways that we can support it. It is our money and our backing that ensures its survival, that enables its custodians to do their job, and to ensure that we pass it on to our children. Sure we can buy a share or two and we can add our names to petitions supporting ground developments, but we can only really make a difference by giving ourselves. By our support in the ground.
We are the identity of our club. We are how others perceive it. We influence the attitude of supporters and players of other clubs and the attitude of our own players and prospective players. Who we are and how we behave is vital not just to the team today but to future team members.
What do you think of Arsenal fans? Not much? How can you respect a group who behave in their own ground as if it was a theatre and noise was prohibited? What about Chelsea's? Glory-hunting bunch who weren't there fifteen years ago? What about a group of fans who at half-time in a match start to boo a group of players who have worked their bags off to limit on-form opposition to a single goal - even though they are being played together for the first time (some of them debutants) simply to ensure that the team has a better chance in more important competitions? You'd probably think that those 'supporters' were a pretty sorry bunch. And you'd be right.
This year, we will get around thirty opportunities at the Lane to make a difference to our team. To actually make a difference. We can choose to encourage them or discourage them. We can choose to influence them positively or negatively. We can choose to support them or oppose them. We can choose.
Put yourself in the players' position. They play for money, for glory, for success and maybe, just maybe, for the fans. For the idolisation. For the fact that they want to be loved. If it was you, would you want to perform for somebody who barracked you every time you did something wrong? Or would you think 'bollocks to this' and play it safe, just do enough to go under the radar? How do you think that would affect the result? Would it inspire the team to give its all to turn things around. Probably not. It might have a neutral effect, it might even be harmful, but does anybody really think that it would be positive?
Alternatively, what if the crowd got behind you if your first touch was off? What if you didn't get stick when you misplaced a pass, but were cheered on the next time you got the ball? What if when you conceded a goal they raised the roof and you could see the opposition start to worry that they had just woken up in a lion's cage? Would you be inspired? Would you raise your game? Would you give everything? Would you go on international duty and tell your mates what an amazing set of fans Spurs have and how lucky you are to be at the club?
How we behave towards our team has an effect. How 36,000 people behave towards it has a greater effect. You know what it's like when the Lane is rocking. You know the way the team reacts to it. You know how good it makes you feel when you're part of it. You know it. Why not do it all the time? Like individual players, and the team as a whole, we'll have our off days. We won't be great all the time. But we can always be bloody good.
So, ladies and gentlemen, the next time that you are enjoying the privilege of watching a game at White Hart Lane and things aren't going exacly as you had hoped, think about your response. Make a good choice. Do something positive. Forget about being pissed off. Make yourself feel better by getting behind the team. Support them. Put the fear of God into the other lot. Honour the great players - and fans - of the past. Show the world that we are the mighty Spurs, that our club is in good hands, and that we will never be beaten.
Irving Scholar knew this. When asked how he felt about owning Spurs, he replied to the effect that it wasn't his club. He was just the custodian. It was his job to take care of it, to nurture it, to improve it, to make it successful, and to deliver it to its next guardian. History shows that his business plan failed, but he understood that Spurs - and every other football club - exists for, and because of, its fans. You and me.
We, in turn, have a job. It is to support the club. Financially by buying match tickets and merchandise, and in the ground. These are the only real ways that we can support it. It is our money and our backing that ensures its survival, that enables its custodians to do their job, and to ensure that we pass it on to our children. Sure we can buy a share or two and we can add our names to petitions supporting ground developments, but we can only really make a difference by giving ourselves. By our support in the ground.
We are the identity of our club. We are how others perceive it. We influence the attitude of supporters and players of other clubs and the attitude of our own players and prospective players. Who we are and how we behave is vital not just to the team today but to future team members.
What do you think of Arsenal fans? Not much? How can you respect a group who behave in their own ground as if it was a theatre and noise was prohibited? What about Chelsea's? Glory-hunting bunch who weren't there fifteen years ago? What about a group of fans who at half-time in a match start to boo a group of players who have worked their bags off to limit on-form opposition to a single goal - even though they are being played together for the first time (some of them debutants) simply to ensure that the team has a better chance in more important competitions? You'd probably think that those 'supporters' were a pretty sorry bunch. And you'd be right.
This year, we will get around thirty opportunities at the Lane to make a difference to our team. To actually make a difference. We can choose to encourage them or discourage them. We can choose to influence them positively or negatively. We can choose to support them or oppose them. We can choose.
Put yourself in the players' position. They play for money, for glory, for success and maybe, just maybe, for the fans. For the idolisation. For the fact that they want to be loved. If it was you, would you want to perform for somebody who barracked you every time you did something wrong? Or would you think 'bollocks to this' and play it safe, just do enough to go under the radar? How do you think that would affect the result? Would it inspire the team to give its all to turn things around. Probably not. It might have a neutral effect, it might even be harmful, but does anybody really think that it would be positive?
Alternatively, what if the crowd got behind you if your first touch was off? What if you didn't get stick when you misplaced a pass, but were cheered on the next time you got the ball? What if when you conceded a goal they raised the roof and you could see the opposition start to worry that they had just woken up in a lion's cage? Would you be inspired? Would you raise your game? Would you give everything? Would you go on international duty and tell your mates what an amazing set of fans Spurs have and how lucky you are to be at the club?
How we behave towards our team has an effect. How 36,000 people behave towards it has a greater effect. You know what it's like when the Lane is rocking. You know the way the team reacts to it. You know how good it makes you feel when you're part of it. You know it. Why not do it all the time? Like individual players, and the team as a whole, we'll have our off days. We won't be great all the time. But we can always be bloody good.
So, ladies and gentlemen, the next time that you are enjoying the privilege of watching a game at White Hart Lane and things aren't going exacly as you had hoped, think about your response. Make a good choice. Do something positive. Forget about being pissed off. Make yourself feel better by getting behind the team. Support them. Put the fear of God into the other lot. Honour the great players - and fans - of the past. Show the world that we are the mighty Spurs, that our club is in good hands, and that we will never be beaten.
