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The end of the line

Hartfelt

New Member
Sep 24, 2003
402
0
This is how it ends with a whimper and not a bang. I'm writing this certain in the knowledge that it means nothing, but for me, today, it marks the end of thirty years' supporting Spurs. I like the idea of writing this declaration of independence as a farewell to a club that once meant so very much to me. Closure, to use the phrase that our American friends like so much.

Quite simply, to quote Morrissey when asked about Buck's Fizz's latest chart entry, these days 'I find it impossible to care.'

Unlike many on this site, particularly the ones who've only had pubes for a few summers, I feel no need to wear my Spurs' credentials on my sleeve. I know the kind of fan I've been ever since the first day Keith Burkinshaw took over in that year of the long, hot summer.

Spurs today is unrecognisable, as is football, from the era I was lucky enough to grow up in. No spirit of togetherness, no respect for the fans, no sense of humility. No apology for years of frankly disgraceful football given the levels of investment and the extent to which season ticket-holders, like me, have been bled, year in, year out.

Quite simply I don't want it any more. I don't want to be robbed of money by people who don't give a shit about entertainment, or honouring a sporting tradition, or conducting themselves with dignity, or even acting like men and taking responsibility for their mistakes. I don't want to have to put up with being treated with contempt by a corporation I've poured tens of thousands of pounds into. I don't want to be at The Lane when Levy sells the club, taking it even further from what it once was. I don't want to watch the current generation of Spurs' footballers strut around like little gods, releasing quotes to the media about their (woeful) performances, and pretending that they know anything about real life with their obscene wages and obscene lack of education.

I can think of not a single good reason to carry on supporting Spurs. It's just habit now. Nothing more. One empty promise too many, one disgraceful performance too far. A repugnant, vulgar, grasping, plastic culture permeating the whole shambles - the antithesis of the sporting ideal. Today I've kicked the habit. There is no more reason to believe, so I've stopped believing.

Thanks to all the people I've stood shoulder-to-shoulder with over the decades, particularly those in the Paxton. You know who you are. Solid through everything. Once we was Yids.
 

Geez

Badges? We don't need no stinking badges!
Admin
Oct 1, 2003
14,283
7,231
Hartfelt by name ................... :sad:

I wish I could come up with some magic cliche but I can't :shrug:
 

glenda

Well-Known Member
May 26, 2005
1,254
78
mate dont beat yourself up!! get a goodnights sleep or get yourself down to the spearmint rhino,its never over!! its like the mafia once your in theres no leavin!!! u have to go to the bitter end like the rest of us!!! this aint chelsea or man u bro!! u cant just walk away & get it together man!!! your spurs & u know u are!!!
 

guate

Well-Known Member
May 12, 2005
3,270
1,486
Hartfelt, I know how you feel and sympathize with your sentiments regarding the negative changes you/we've all seen at our once noble and proud club, specially the 2008/9 version where making a profit at the expense of entertainment is considered good business.

Nevertheless, YOU are Spurs, you, I and all the many, many thousands, perhaps millions, of supporters throughout the British Isles and the rest of the world

Our club may now be a profitable corporate instrument in the hands of Lewis, Levy and gang, primed to bleed its supporters dry, and sold the moment they receive a decent offer, but you, fellow supporter are the life blood of Tottenham.

Now is not the time to give us, protest however you wish but we need to stick together and show these shallow, albeit wealthy individuals, that with or without them, there will always be Tottenham Hotspurs
 

spud

Well-Known Member
Sep 2, 2003
5,850
8,794
....today...marks the end of thirty years' supporting Spurs.

My first reaction was 'well, piss off then, quitter; who needs you?' but then I started thinking that you might have a point. So let's look a little more closely.

Spurs today is unrecognisable, as is football, from the era I was lucky enough to grow up in.

Welcome to the 21st century, my friend. Nobody gives a shit any more about anything but themselves. Why should football be any different?

No spirit of togetherness, no respect for the fans, no sense of humility. No apology for years of frankly disgraceful football given the levels of investment and the extent to which season ticket-holders, like me, have been bled, year in, year out..

Now you're stretching the boundaries of credibility. Take off your rose-tinted specs. In the 'good old days' when the Wale family owned the club, did they respect the fans? When 50,000+ were packed into the Lane every match, did they spend even a small part of the profits on stadium improvements? Did ticket prices go down in the year after we won the double in recognition of the loyalty of the fans? Did they bollocks. We have always been taken for granted. Get real.

I can think of not a single good reason to carry on supporting Spurs..... One empty promise too many, one disgraceful performance too far. ......There is no more reason to believe, so I've stopped believing.

So now we're getting to it. It was fine being taken for granted etc etc as long as the team was winning. From the early blip of relegation in 1978 through a succession of trophies in the eighties and into the early nineties you found it quite acceptable to be a poor abused football fan, but now we're (no doubt in your opinion) crap, with only relegation to look forward to, poor old you can take it no longer. If we had won four and drawn two of the first six games would you still have posted this? Thought not.

So goodbye Hartfelt, it's been emotional. Rest secure in the knowledge that you make those fair-weather bar-code excuses for fans look good. At least they've got the excuse of no trophies since God was a boy. All those thirty years of pretence, only to reveal yourself as a part-timer.

So you
feel no need to wear [your] Spurs' credentials on [your] sleeve.

It must come as some relief to know that you don't have to wear them at all.

You must be proud.
 

bill

muamba
Jun 12, 2004
2,187
230
laters.





btw . we all feel like this sometimes. take a break .. see you next season at grimsby ;)
 

bigspurs

Well-Known Member
Aug 9, 2005
3,193
2,419
I can quit smoking, alcohol, crack, smack and dogging, but I can't quit Spurs.

I completely respect your decision, you're a stronger man than I sir!
 

Hartfelt

New Member
Sep 24, 2003
402
0
Moronic platitudes and a tribalism rooted in what precisely? It's the vitriol and the cod 'I bleed Spurs' that make me giggle. So you're a 'fan' are you? Clearly you've never really learnt respect, which is one of the key points I raised.

32 years and hundreds of games entitles me to have a perspective, and a long one at that, on the club. If you seriously believe that the end of the line is arrived at because of our current blip, you obviously haven't watched many of our performances over the last decade, or read what I wrote. I've never expected success in the modern era. I have expected a touch of Billy Nic. It's nothing to do with winning and EVERYTHING to do with culture.

You're sorely mistaken if you believe my view is rose-tinted. When I was a kid prices at WHL meant that I could go down and watch football with money I earnt from my paper round. There were proper advantages for season-ticket holders. Even when the stadium was jam-packed, kids were given space...if not the best view. As a kid I talked to many of the players just by hanging around after the game. They gave us time and gear too, because they were us, pretty much. The world changes, that's an axiom. The point of a culture is that it endures. I don't believe ours has.

I'll check into the site because I'm still interested in some of the views on here, but I no longer consider myself a proper fan, and I have a clear definition in my head of what that means. For example, I don't consider you a proper fan. You feel you have the right to insult me when I've made it clear the amount of time I've invested in Spurs. Still, it demeans you and not me. You must be proud.
 
Jul 3, 2005
567
0
I agree totaly with these sentements; however, I feel you should've said your no longer following "football" rather than "spurs"

the last straw for me was watching us have our 2 best players muscled away from us - then told by the media we had a lot to be optimistic about, ie the wonderous possibility of just maybe challengling that top 4. Some of us just refuse to play that role in the ridiculous pantomime.
 

Lucky22

Active Member
Dec 11, 2006
710
160
That is really sad, but I think unjustified, Hartfelt. I think you have used the widespread media portrayal of footballers to allow you to be blinded. Yes, football has changed, and maybe not for the better, but many at our club are doing their best to adjust to that while still holding onto our morals and traditions.
We are and have been a club who, for many years, have been run by a big corporation yet we haven't sold our souls down the river like Chelsea, Man U or Liverpool. Even if we do get taken over by an Asian, Indian or some other businessman, we will still be Spurs - the Lillywhites who play a certain way, have a certain style and are supported by decent, hardworking people who care about football.
We haven't scarificed our ideals like Chelsea, haven't become the playground bully like Man United or the 'We're greater than everyone else' attitude of Liverpool - not to mention the 'Look at our great system, intelligent, smarter than you' (I didn't see it) bile that pours out of the Emirates (even the name of their stadium spells sell-out) - no, we are Spurs.

When I see players like Woody, Hutton, King and Jamie O'Hara I still have pride in the shirt, just like they do. Look at O'Hara, he is the embodiment of the dream we all as fans have - to start in the stands and end up on the pitch. You can't tell me that in the good ol' days every last man, from one to 11 bled for the shirt and give their all each and every game. We've had our fair share of journeymen over the years and those who only turned up for the the cash.

If you have followed this club for 30 years then you have come through worse times than this. If you survived the George Graham era - which, personally I still cringe over - then surely you can get through this!
 

JimmyG2

SC Supporter
Dec 7, 2006
15,014
20,779
I think the point being made is that this is not the time to quit.Is it coincidence that all these valid critical points you make about the nature of the game and the fact that Spurs are just part of it happen to reach a point of no return for you when we are the lowest ebb we have been for some time.
Now everyones personal history is different and only you know what has brought you to this decision right now but you will always be tarnished with the lingering thought that you,as a longstanding fan and supporter left when the going got really tough.
I think you are right,the game is in a bad way and will only get worse.We all like to pretend that our club is different but we know its not.
Now we have the added distraction of alledged 'Asian billionaires' and possible legal action over the abuse of Campbell.Its all getting very messy and a run of good results is not going to change the fundamentals of the club as you rightly say.
Perhaps if fans as concerned as you are quit the club the message of the deep unrest might get through.Perhaps yours is the only correct response.
But I couldn't leave now.Not because I 'bleed Spurs' but because the emotional attatchment I have forged with the club over 50yrs says this is not the time.
Its not about Levy,or Robbie keane and Berbatov its a longer tradition and history than that.
In fact by quitting now you make it easier for the club to turn its back on the past and cut all those links which mean so much to me and probably you and to sell the club down the river,after 'due diligence' of course.
I rspect your decision and wish you good luck.
 

vietnam1973

Member
Jun 23, 2006
649
21
Moronic platitudes and a tribalism rooted in what precisely? It's the vitriol and the cod 'I bleed Spurs' that make me giggle. So you're a 'fan' are you? Clearly you've never really learnt respect, which is one of the key points I raised.

32 years and hundreds of games entitles me to have a perspective, and a long one at that, on the club. If you seriously believe that the end of the line is arrived at because of our current blip, you obviously haven't watched many of our performances over the last decade, or read what I wrote. I've never expected success in the modern era. I have expected a touch of Billy Nic. It's nothing to do with winning and EVERYTHING to do with culture.

You're sorely mistaken if you believe my view is rose-tinted. When I was a kid prices at WHL meant that I could go down and watch football with money I earnt from my paper round. There were proper advantages for season-ticket holders. Even when the stadium was jam-packed, kids were given space...if not the best view. As a kid I talked to many of the players just by hanging around after the game. They gave us time and gear too, because they were us, pretty much. The world changes, that's an axiom. The point of a culture is that it endures. I don't believe ours has.

I'll check into the site because I'm still interested in some of the views on here, but I no longer consider myself a proper fan, and I have a clear definition in my head of what that means. For example, I don't consider you a proper fan. You feel you have the right to insult me when I've made it clear the amount of time I've invested in Spurs. Still, it demeans you and not me. You must be proud.

hartfelt i feel for you, you should be applauded for following spurs for 32 years you are a true yid, iam jealous that you experienced the good times, i really wish bill nick could of been around when i started supporting spurs (89)

im gutted at whats happend to football aswell, the working mans game is now a huge commercial exercise, the only function it now has is to make millions of pound profit for foreign investors and players who have no respect or real love for the clubs they play for, there is no sense of belonging to the club anymore but at least you had a taste of that.

i understand the frustration you have, i have never seen a succesfull team during my 19 year support, yeah ive seen a few cup wins but to fall as a club the way we have, we used to be giants, we used to be kings! now weve had to go thru a lean spell over the last few years but we will be there again one day, we have too much history not to be succesfull again, i know succes isnt the only aspect of following a team, but i believe theres no way you could not give a shit about tottenham hotspurs f.c anymore
 

striebs

Well-Known Member
Mar 18, 2004
4,504
667
Hartfelt ,


I'm in my forties and can understand completely what you are saying .

The disillusionment with football is growing in this country and indeed over Europe as a whole .

Not sure whether anyone can save the football industry from itself , Platini is trying so they will get wrid of him .

Gotta hit clubs where it hurts and a good way to give them something to think about is by not renewing a season ticket .

IMHO there are a number of clubs in the country who have something to admire Middlesboro and Aston Villa being the obvious top division examples .

Hartfelt , next season :-
i) how many matches do you think you will go to at Spurs ?
ii) which other clubs and how many times ?
 

RogerTCB

Well-Known Member
May 14, 2005
682
328
Though I can't quite empathise, I see where you are coming from. I'd go and support Ebbsfleet if I were you. It'll give you back your sense of ownership in every sense: no being taken for granted; no paying players over what you consider to be the odds; no feeling like the fans could have done better than the ludicrous system and management which the super-rich have installed off the back of the money you, and many like you, pour into the club. You could do worse and it may give you some fo the pleasure you once found in the game. http://www.myfootballclub.co.uk/

Me, I hope we slaughter them this afternoon, confidence returns, and Ramos works out a 1st eleven that he can stick with and win games... I just get the feeling you may have more luck.
 

Azrael

Banned
May 23, 2004
9,377
14
My first reaction was 'well, piss off then, quitter; who needs you?' but then I started thinking that you might have a point. So let's look a little more closely.



Welcome to the 21st century, my friend. Nobody gives a shit any more about anything but themselves. Why should football be any different?



Now you're stretching the boundaries of credibility. Take off your rose-tinted specs. In the 'good old days' when the Wale family owned the club, did they respect the fans? When 50,000+ were packed into the Lane every match, did they spend even a small part of the profits on stadium improvements? Did ticket prices go down in the year after we won the double in recognition of the loyalty of the fans? Did they bollocks. We have always been taken for granted. Get real.



So now we're getting to it. It was fine being taken for granted etc etc as long as the team was winning. From the early blip of relegation in 1978 through a succession of trophies in the eighties and into the early nineties you found it quite acceptable to be a poor abused football fan, but now we're (no doubt in your opinion) crap, with only relegation to look forward to, poor old you can take it no longer. If we had won four and drawn two of the first six games would you still have posted this? Thought not.

So goodbye Hartfelt, it's been emotional. Rest secure in the knowledge that you make those fair-weather bar-code excuses for fans look good. At least they've got the excuse of no trophies since God was a boy. All those thirty years of pretence, only to reveal yourself as a part-timer.

So you

It must come as some relief to know that you don't have to wear them at all.

You must be proud.
Mate, with respect, you're being a bit of a tosser.

I totally understand where Hartfelt is coming from as I briefly felt when Berbs was sold, the window shut and we had no frontline left I sat down and said to myself "what's the fucking point". Yeah after yeah, false dawn after false dawn, relentless ridicule from other footie fans. I had had enough.

However, there is something that seperates me from Hartfelt, which is why I am surprised at his declaration. I don't subscribe to the rabid tribalism that some people like you show, but for me, I have been a Spurs fan so long that I just can't contemplate supporting anyone else.

Recently my best friend, a Newcastle fan, declared that he has had enough of the parody that constantly takes place up there and has decided to support Fulham (as if that's much better!). The reasoning was the same as Hartfelt's. He just couldn't take the shit any more. But when he told me this I just couldn't quite get my head around the concept of him supporting anyone else. He had been a fan of them for so many years that the prospect of switching loyalties seemed like a betrayl. It was at that point that I realised that I just couldn't contemplate supporting anyone else where there were still 11 boys out there playing in white shirts with a cockrel on their breats. I couldn't contemplate not ever going back to the Lane...or worse still going there and sitting in the away fans' seats. I just couldn't live with the guilt that I would feel for throwing away all those years of supporting one club, just to throw in the towel and go elsewhere.

That emotional tie is the only reason I am and will remain a Spurs fan as I otherwise agree with what Hartflet says about how he feels about the club. I guess that's what sets us apart.
 

TheChosenOne

A dislike or neg rep = fat fingers
Dec 13, 2005
47,874
49,706
More of a suicide note than a Dear John.

I have about a dozen years seniority to you in supporting THFC, many highs and many lows, the mid to late 80's and early 90's were my lowest times, the club was on the right footing to go onward and upwards but somehow spunked it all away while Arsenal who had been through a barren spell managed to pick up the baton and lead a charge into the new world of the EPL while we stagnated and misfired.

The relegation to the old 2nd division at the end of the 76/77 was a mere blip, good times and reality check - just like Man U who were relegated a couple of years previous to us.

I know what you are saying about prices, always as a kid in the 60's and then as a young man in the 80's and 90's I could always afford to get to WHL and nearly every other ground in the country including quite a few European matches over the channel.

I can't afford it now, something else alway takes priority like food, children etc.

I tried and failed to give up my team, I used to sulk for days when they lost, but like a drug I will always need another fix.
 

chris4673

Member
Jan 2, 2007
85
9
Why is he a tosser? For expressing an opinion? That is the idea of a forum just in case you have forgotten!

And actually I sort of agree with everyones sentiments in small pieces except yours funny enough.

Just because we sold Berba you thought "whats the fucking point" - a true fan wouldnt think like that. A true fan would look to try and identify a positive that could be taken from all the doom and gloom merchants.

To put it another way, Spurs could sell the whole team for all i care and replace them with whoever they want, because I support Spurs as a club and its tradition, not individual players.

If you dont want false dawns each season, why dont you support Man Utd or Chelsea, even Barca or Real, at least they will have a higher probability of living up to your expectations each season.

To give you credit in closing you do once again pin your flag to your chest which gives you more reason for hope than some.

I guess my point is, if you dont like it and cannot change it, then leave, go elsewhere, do you really have to blight the forum with all your doom and gloom? Surely there are other sites on the internet who would like to be recipients of your well thought out, lengthy posts containing big words that you had to check on a thesaurus!

Think thats about it for now - for all us real fans, lets keep our fingers crossed for later this afternoon.

COYS

PS - Maxilopez - Since you retired from supporting Spurs so long ago, why are you still hear beraing, belittling, moaning and being as anti-spurs as ever?

Over and out..........



Mate, with respect, you're being a bit of a tosser.

I totally understand where Hartfelt is coming from as I briefly felt when Berbs was sold, the window shut and we had no frontline left I sat down and said to myself "what's the fucking point". Yeah after yeah, false dawn after false dawn, relentless ridicule from other footie fans. I had had enough.

However, there is something that seperates me from Hartfelt, which is why I am surprised at his declaration. I don't subscribe to the rabid tribalism that some people like you show, but for me, I have been a Spurs fan so long that I just can't contemplate supporting anyone else.

Recently my best friend, a Newcastle fan, declared that he has had enough of the parody that constantly takes place up there and has decided to support Fulham (as if that's much better!). The reasoning was the same as Hartfelt's. He just couldn't take the shit any more. But when he told me this I just couldn't quite get my head around the concept of him supporting anyone else. He had been a fan of them for so many years that the prospect of switching loyalties seemed like a betrayl. It was at that point that I realised that I just couldn't contemplate supporting anyone else where there were still 11 boys out there playing in white shirts with a cockrel on their breats. I couldn't contemplate not ever going back to the Lane...or worse still going there and sitting in the away fans' seats. I just couldn't live with the guilt that I would feel for throwing away all those years of supporting one club, just to throw in the towel and go elsewhere.

That emotional tie is the only reason I am and will remain a Spurs fan as I otherwise agree with what Hartflet says about how he feels about the club. I guess that's what sets us apart.
 

Azrael

Banned
May 23, 2004
9,377
14
Why is he a tosser? For expressing an opinion? That is the idea of a forum just in case you have forgotten!

I'm told by the mods that its not the idea of the forum at all, that in fact we must show each other respect. If you take that on board then it follows that spud should be making Hartfelt feel like he's some kind of person to be looked down upon just because he voices he's feelings about the state of the club and game at the moment.
 
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