"They Haven't Won Anything Yet"

[Spurger King]

Obviously we've won a hell of a lot of games and points actually, but we've all heard similar quotes about this team and the lack of a trophy.

Now I always want us to win a trophy, so nothing much has changed on that front. However, I think it would be particularly disappointing if this group of players never brings one home.

All season and even at the Lane finale we heard comments about this being our strongest team in years. I agree, but it also highlights how negatively we can look upon other great teams we've had, largely due to the lack of trophies to cement their reputation in our memories.

Look at Redknapp's record with a team containing (at various points) the likes of King, Bale, Van der Vaart, and Modric. Two top four finishes, an FA Cup semi-final, a League Cup final, and the quarter finals of the CL.

Pochettino has also achieved two top four finishes (two top three finishes, which is obviously better), an FA Cup semi-final, and a League Cup final. In terms of quality, efficiency, and general performances Pochettino's Spurs have clearly been the superior team, but in terms of the trophy cabinet there's no difference.

I'd hate for this team to end up being yet another 'close but no cigar' team that will be looked upon in future years with the same sense of a wasted opportunity that many of us feel about Redknapp's team.

If there's a point to my present ramblings it's that I really hope we take all four competitions seriously next season. Levy's worked wonders at the club, with the training ground and new stadium, but we're in danger of failing to win a trophy for the first decade since the 1940s, whilst a mediocre United team could have two of them this season alone.

 

[millsey]

Our last 20 years or more record on cups is quite frankly embarrassing. Even Wigan have won more in recent times. Chelsea 14 in the last ten years. Sickening. We have to start winning trophies end of

 

[fletch82]

Was only a few years back that we were desperate to finish top six and get to play hesbackistan topoliv fc on the top of mnt Kilimanjaro on a Thursday night.
Be patient it will come be impatient support citeh/chavs manure maybe they can buy you a trophy.

I have faith in poch and the club we are heading in the right direction.

 

[Dougal]

Frustrating to keep hearing that we need to win something when there's bugger all we can do about it. The players are trying but it hasn't happened. Right now I'm happy that we are competing. Been just as long not doing that as not winning anything. A Wigan-like cup win followed by a fall from grace isn't preferable. We need to stick with it and hope for the best.

 

[monkeynick]

I can't remember any team having the gotta win something soon pressure piled on in the media like this before. If we keep being good we will win something, simple

 

[eddiev14]

Two years ago they used to say that unless we can finish in the top 4 then our players will leave.

Now that we've done that, apparently our players are all going to leave because we didn't win a trophy.

Truth is, we will never be able to win against the media narrative until we have the money to continuously feed the gossip columns and robotic pundits full of the money driven transfer headlines that they crave.

If we had won the FA Cup this season it would not have made the blindest bit of difference to how we are treated.

They pretend otherwise, but it's all about money. Winning something would be great, sure, but I'm not getting sucked into this. It's just the latest dig until the next one.

 

[Lighty64]

Our last 20 years or more record on cups is quite frankly embarrassing. Even Wigan have won more in recent times. Chelsea 14 in the last ten years. Sickening. We have to start winning trophies end of

Chelsea have also spent in the region of a billion to win them too, yet their previous 98years only won 8

 

[bomberH]

Was thinking about our trophy situation earlier.

Basically, I'd love us to win something obviously but I couldn't care less if in 50 years, stats show us trophyless this season and Arsenal win the cup because if my grandkids ask me about it, I'll say the truth, which is that I had an absolute blast watching Spurs this season more than almost ever before. How many gooners can say they enjoyed their season. Chelsea aside, can anyone say they enjoyed their season more than us. Even Man Utd. Even if they win the Europa cup, they'll be the first to acknowledge their football has been very un-Utd and boring and watching them sometimes has been an effort, not a pleasure.

For me, it's all about enjoying the team. I love going to Spurs, I love the pre match stuff, the pathetic chicken shish wrap, meeting mates in the B&H etc and when we play like we have this season and not lost at home, I have fucking loved it and couldn't care less that we haven't won anything. Yes it'd be lovely to do so and finally rub it in to anyone who says 'ha you haven't won anything' but for me personally, it's all about my personal enjoyment. I'm the one shelling out the dosh so I'm the one who has to be satisfied. And i really fucking am. It helps that we genuinely seem to be doing it the right way too.

Don't get me wrong, winning a trophy (particularly the PL) would make me jizz so hard I don't think I could get much happier. And I may well have a different attitude in a few years if our amazing form continues and I'm desperate for us not to finish second again... but it's still very early days of being super-good so I'm just enjoying it as much as I can. Stats might not show us as an amazingly successful club but when I'm too old to go to the new Lane, when I look back on stuff, I'll know that I (and all my mates) had a fucking great time at Spurs.

 

[stevenurse]

Exactly why I would want us to go all out and get the league cup next season. Until we bring home any kind of pot it's going to continue to happen. The CL will be lovely but realistically we don't have a hope of winning that so the domestic cups can't be sacrificed just so we do an arsenal and get knocked out in the 2nd round.

That's not to say we can't do well in the CL but giving every competition respect is what I'd ask for. The EL against dortmund was a real sickener

 

[danielneeds]

Our last 20 years or more record on cups is quite frankly embarrassing. Even Wigan have won more in recent times. Chelsea 14 in the last ten years. Sickening. We have to start winning trophies end of

It's almost like Chelsea have spent a billion pounds more than us in that time or something...

 

[dk-yid]

I hear you, and yes it is about winning things. But frankly, I'd rather spend 9 months enjoying watching my team than sit every week and watch shit football like e.g. Utd fans even if they do end up with three trophies... 2008 was a shit season with nothing much to enjoy bar that one afternoon. I'm confident that the trajectory we have been on the last 8-9 years will continue and the trophies will come and when they do I'll be proud of how it was built, not bought. As a Spurs supporter of 35 years i've never enjoyed it as much as I have in recent seasons.

 

[Spurger King]

Frustrating to keep hearing that we need to win something when there's bugger all we can do about it. The players are trying but it hasn't happened. Right now I'm happy that we are competing. Been just as long not doing that as not winning anything. A Wigan-like cup win followed by a fall from grace isn't preferable. We need to stick with it and hope for the best.

I think one of the key points, which I didn't articulate well, is that we actually had a great team under Harry. At times the football we played was incredible (and admittedly it could also be sloppy). People talk about the current side as being the best we've had in decades, but whilst I think it's true, it's not as if Harry's Spurs at their peak weren't also one of the best we've had in decades too.

But people won't remember that team as a success, which for me just underlines how disappointed I'll be if the current team don't win one. I'm not saying it's a lack of effort, or a case of splashing cash. It's simply that the players deserve some glory.

More specifically there's the trade off between concentrating on the league or taking the cups more seriously. This team could easily be in the EL final, but we never really seemed to treat it as particularly important.

 

[gp13tot]

I can't remember any team having the gotta win something soon pressure piled on in the media like this before. If we keep being good we will win something, simple

Because the media/Sky want to see the team broken up so the status quo can fill the top places in the league, as they think this will translate into more views, ads and sales. They know we have a good young team with exciting (TM Spursking) players who may be coveted elsewhere, and start to spew their shit.

Transfer talk is always exciting (see our ITK threads) but it seems it has gone up a gear with us this year and it pisses me off tbh. The 'need to win a trophy' narrative, did the goons get that in the red tops and Sky to this degree in their barren run? How much have Liverpool won in recent years, and outside of Suarez did their squad face this level of unsettling speculation? (genuine question as I couldn't give a shit about them, but it's hardly Chelsea levels of trophies)

 

[WiganSpur]

If we sign more good players and improve the quality of our squad players, we will win something. But that is easier said than done I suppose.

 

[Ironskullll]

Look at it another way. We've barely won anything for decades and yet look where we are! How annoying must that be to fans of other clubs. Would any of them have whatever it's taken us to be where we are if they'd had our trophyless years? Would any of them be building that stadium? Would any of them have the fervour that our fans have? Challenge them on that front!

Likewise with the old chestnut of always selling our best players. What will be will be, but it doesn't seem to have done us any harm does it. Every single one of our players could bring major transfer fees and there are probably 6 or 7 who would improve any of the clubs around us. Who do the other clubs have that are good enough for a Real Madrid? How annoying must that be? When we sell our players, one thing happens, and that's that we get better!

As for cups and trophies, well yes they're lovely but we've had nearly 60 years of false dawns on that front. I want the league title, and failing that, proper tilts at it. I really don't want repeats of seasons of yore, far too many of them, where we fell between two stools. It's all very well winning a cup when you've got no hope in the league, but I'd rather not chase a cup if it's to be at the expense of a genuine go at the title.

 

[Bus-Conductor]

It only is an issue if you make it so. I've been watching this team for forty odd years, I've seen us win trophies, several, great memories, but watching this team for the last two years being this good is also going to be logged as a memory in a similar way.

This is the best Spurs team, by my values, that I have watched. Better than any that won trophies I saw.

 

[millsey]

Chelsea have also spent in the region of a billion to win them too, yet their previous 98years only won 8

If it was all about money we wouldn't be 2nd

 

[DIEHARD]

Look it's been awesome watching us and enjoyed it as much this season as last season even more so because we are a fucking good team BUT I wanna win something. There are winners and there are lovers, I wanna win and I'm sure our players wanna win.

It's a bit defeatist to say yeah great team and don't care or rather winning doesn't define us. Winning a few things will define us and not only that it will contribute to the successes of the team going forward on and off the pitch.

 

[tiger666]

If it was all about money we wouldn't be 2nd

Oh come on. Surely you can see the difference a billion quid makes?

 

[Spurger King]

It only is an issue if you make it so. I've been watching this team for forty odd years, I've seen us win trophies, several, great memories, but watching this team for the last two years being this good is also going to be logged as a memory in a similar way.

This is the best Spurs team, by my values, that I have watched. Better than any that won trophies I saw.

It's certainly the best Spurs team I've seen in my 27 years as a fan. This and last season have mostly been an absolute pleasure to watch. However, I know I'd look back on this era with a sense of sadness if we can't pick up at least one trophy.

I don't think our last League Cup win meant that was a particularly great team, but it was vindication for the likes of King and Keane. I just hope the current crop get to experience a trophy win, as however people try to rationalise things, those moments really do stand out compared to being nearly men year in year out.