What drew you to Spurs?

[Geyzer Soze]

You'll be suprised how good he was for Rangers but £10m or whatever it was was absolute robbery haha, Levy got fleeced at his own game!

Are you a rangers fan?

I heard ... & I don't know if it's true or even where I heard it, but it's one of those things that I believe to be true, that he's a rangers fan & he agreed to the move because it helped out rangers at the time because they really needed the money?

 

[Teddysmith]

Lineker & Gazza for me. No family pass down of a club and I didn't want to support Leeds, arsenal or Liverpool like my friends did. Starting to inflict this onto my 2 year old!!

 

[crokey]

Are you a rangers fan?

I heard ... & I don't know if it's true or even where I heard it, but it's one of those things that I believe to be true, that he's a rangers fan & he agreed to the move because it helped out rangers at the time because they really needed the money?

Yeah got a season ticket at Rangers, I said that in OP. Well he most certainly is a Rangers fan but whether he was helping Rangers or his own pockets remains to be seen! I honestly think he just wanted to try his hand in England, he was one of the best players in the league up here for a few seasons and just never got going once he went down to London. IMO he was a top 10 PL player at the time, however he was just unlucky that 2008 (when he joined) was when we seriously started to become a threat in the league.

Although that was about 18 months before the first revelations of how dire a situation Rangers were in so it's not impossible. Every player still with Rangers during the liquidation was offered (and accepted) a 50%-90% pay cut or left the club.

The reason for the money issues was because an old chairman signed players on double contracts (i.e they had an official FIFA/SFA sanctioned contract... which was then doubled in shady deals...). Stefan Klos was signed from Dortmund in 99 after they won the CL in 97 on 80k p/w but unofficially he was on 160k p/w (he was one of the top 5 paid players in the world with 2 German caps). He was the highest paid goalkeeper in the world.

This caused Rangers to run deep into the red, by financing and refinancing loans over and over again to the point where we couldn't afford any repayments. This was kept completely secret until a few years ago. It had been going on for almost 10.

Over the last couple of years since the liquidation there has just been an embarrassment of politics going on behind the scene as everyone tries to jump on the bandwagon while it's at it's lowest point, knowing that success and huge return on investment is realistically 100% guaranteed given the size of the club.

 

[Shea]

First game I saw on tv was 82 cup final when I was 7, and supported since. Suppose I'm just a glory hunter.

That's some unfortunate and short sighted glory hunting right there

I was a Spurs fan before I knew what football was - born into it with Spurs shirt on in my baby pics the day I was brought home from the hospital

I do find it interesting how fans choosing their own clubs come to choose us in the last 20-30 years though because we've rarely had anything to sell ourselves to potential fans and set ourselves apart from the more glamorous and successful clubs

I fully understand the 1990 influx because football was a different game then and Liverpool's dominance was at and end and Utd's hadn't started, Arsenal were big and successful but boring boring Arsenal and not that popular (all all the black kids I knew were supporting them or Liverpool due to Barnes and the likes of Thomas and Rocastle at Arsenal)

So during a successful World Cup for England with the two most shining stars in England shirts played for Tottenham it's very easy to understand why a lot of young kids would have been drawn to us at that time.

Since then though? I can't really think of much, we picked up some fans in 1995 when we signed a bunch of stars from the World cup I am sure. Klinsmann's signing was such a big deal and I personally know some Romanian's who became fans due to Petrescu and Dimtrescu for example plus that season there was a buzz of excitement about us as a team that hadn't been seen since the Cup winners Cup season in 92 and wasn't really seen again until the Redknapp era

The only other reason's I can see us picking up fans before the successful CL season and CL run (which I am sure raised our profile a lot because we had such an exciting run of matches in Europe and scored so many goals) would be individual players drawing someone to the club i.e. Keane bringing some Irish fans, Mido some Egyptians and the likes of Ginola just being exciting enough in the way Gazza was to draw a young fan to the club

I still would have thought that the bulk of our fan base has been born into it in recent years though because we've never really been competitive or high profile enough to attract potential fans away from the Manchester clubs or the likes of Liverpool, Chelsea and Arsenal. We need more moments of glory to strengthen that fan base further, some silverware or another run in the CL is greatly needed

 

[riggi]

4th generation, so had no choice.

 

[crokey]

That's some unfortunate and short sighted glory hunting right there

I was a Spurs fan before I knew what football was - born into it with Spurs shirt on in my baby pics the day I was brought home from the hospital

I do find it interesting how fans choosing their own clubs come to choose us in the last 20-30 years though because we've rarely had anything to sell ourselves to potential fans and set ourselves apart from the more glamorous and successful clubs

I fully understand the 1990 influx because football was a different game then and Liverpool's dominance was at and end and Utd's hadn't started, Arsenal were big and successful but boring boring Arsenal and not that popular (all all the black kids I knew were supporting them or Liverpool due to Barnes and the likes of Thomas and Rocastle at Arsenal)

So during a successful World Cup for England with the two most shining stars in England shirts played for Tottenham it's very easy to understand why a lot of young kids would have been drawn to us at that time.

Since then though? I can't really think of much, we picked up some fans in 1995 when we signed a bunch of stars from the World cup I am sure. Klinsmann's signing was such a big deal and I personally know some Romanian's who became fans due to Petrescu and Dimtrescu for example plus that season there was a buzz of excitement about us as a team that hadn't been seen since the Cup winners Cup season in 92 and wasn't really seen again until the Redknapp era

The only other reason's I can see us picking up fans before the successful CL season and CL run (which I am sure raised our profile a lot because we had such an exciting run of matches in Europe and scored so many goals) would be individual players drawing someone to the club i.e. Keane bringing some Irish fans, Mido some Egyptians and the likes of Ginola just being exciting enough in the way Gazza was to draw a young fan to the club

I still would have thought that the bulk of our fan base has been born into it in recent years though because we've never really been competitive or high profile enough to attract potential fans away from the Manchester clubs or the likes of Liverpool, Chelsea and Arsenal. We need more moments of glory to strengthen that fan base further, some silverware or another run in the CL is greatly needed

Most people in Scotland have their local club and then "an English team", mostly because of the TV deals being quite poor up here so unless you only want to watch your local club you better have an English team.

I would say, in Glasgow at least, you would be looking at 50% United, 20% Liverpool, 20% Arsenal, 9% Chelsea and 1% everyone else. City are cropping up for obvious reasons but still behind by a huge margin, and until a couple of years ago I never saw a fellow Spurs fan, but now we can fill a couple of pubs for each game.

 

[Shea]

Most people in Scotland have their local club and then "an English team", mostly because of the TV deals being quite poor up here so unless you only want to watch your local club you better have an English team.

I would say, in Glasgow at least, you would be looking at 50% United, 20% Liverpool, 20% Arsenal, 9% Chelsea and 1% everyone else. City are cropping up for obvious reasons but still behind by a huge margin, and until a couple of years ago I never saw a fellow Spurs fan, but now we can fill a couple of pubs for each game.

That's the same for supporters of lower league English teams - they often have a PL team too and it tends to be a Utd, Liverpool or an Arsenal

I have family in Rome and they all have a PL team they support too (their friends I mean) which tends to be Chelsea or Man City some West Ham due to the Lazio link with Di Canio but before the 2010 CL run they hadn't really even heard of us in Rome - they did however love us that season (mostly Bale I guess) but it shows how a high profile and successful run on the big CL stage can really turn heads

I think if we want to break out of that 1% everyone else that you mention we need to be more competitive on the big stage more regularly

Let's be honest it's natural - as I kid I watched Italian football on TV and supporting AC Milan because they were the best and had Van Basten, Guillet and Rjkard, I liked Barca in Spain and I liked Chicago Bulls in Basketball because of Jordan

Very rarely do people get drawn to less successful clubs - its either for the star players or moments of glory so hopefully over the next few years some of our players will become stars like Modric and Bale did and we'll have another successful run in the CL and or some silverware to raise our profile once more

 

[HotspurFC1950]

Always liked football but being born in Minnesota it was hard to watch games. First World Cup i really remember was the 2002 World Cup because I was too young for the others. Since I have Irish/German heritage I always have a soft spot for those teams and was following the Irish team with equal vigor as I was with the US team. I remember watching the Irish/German Group stage match and a certain forward (my position) named Robbie Keane came up and scored in the 92nd minute and proceeded to do a cartwheel. Instantly my favorite player. I had looked up the goal on google images and printed it on a sheet of paper and put it up on my wall because there was no hope of getting a poster.

After the World Cup I tried to keep up with my favorite player but there was no hope of me watching Premier League matches. Luckily for me, I was able to get the FIFA video games and familiarized myself with this Tottenham Hotspur that Robbie Keane played for. In 2004 or so when Fox Sports World (later renamed Fox Soccer Channel) became available to watch in my area I started to really follow Spurs and Robbie. When he left for Liverpool I was sad, but I had made more of a connection with the club so there was no way I was going to start supporting another team (outside my local MN Thunder which is now after few changes MN United ).

I'll be going to my first Spurs match when they play against the Chicago Fire in about 2 weeks so I'm really pumped. I want to make it out to the Lane before it gets demolished but I don't think I will be able to . I wouldn't even be able to afford a flight out there let alone lodging/food/tickets/etc, but who knows maybe I will be able to save some money and get out there !

Do you live in Minnesota now ? Where abouts ?

 

[HotspurFC1950]

Are you a rangers fan?

I heard ... & I don't know if it's true or even where I heard it, but it's one of those things that I believe to be true, that he's a rangers fan & he agreed to the move because it helped out rangers at the time because they really needed the money?

Enic had in interest in Rangers if I remember rightly.

 

[Big Jeff]

In my case I come from a family of gooners for the most part, so that makes me a contrary old bastard. What happened many years ago (and I can still remember to this day) when I was 9 years old and my uncle Nat (God rest him) said to me 'Come on boy, I'll take you to the football' when my dad was out somewhere. My dad was a gooner, and his brother Nat, Tottenham.

We always lived in Highbury when I was growing up.

The date was December 16th 1961 and I'd never been to a match before, but my first exposure to football was to see Jimmy Greaves make his debut for Spurs, and I was completely taken up by the amazing atmosphere and the fact that he scored a hat-trick against Blackpool. I just fell in love with the place and in love with THFC. It was a real moment of awakening in my young life.

In all honesty, I don't think my dad ever really forgave his brother for what he did to me, but I for one will be forever grateful to him.

 

[yojambo]

When i was a kid the squad came down to my town and took a training week in the summer holidays (Aston Villa, Leicester and Wimbledon had done the same before too) it was awesome. All the players and coaches called me little Klinsmann (because of my hair) and Colin Calderwood told me to support Spurs as i was Man Utd at the time. Its a shame because i dont think PL clubs do that sort of thing anymore.

 

[Shea]

When i was a kid the squad came down to my town and took a training week in the summer holidays (Aston Villa, Leicester and Wimbledon had done the same before too) it was awesome. All the players and coaches called me little Klinsmann (because of my hair) and Colin Calderwood told me to support Spurs as i was Man Utd at the time. Its a shame because i dont think PL clubs do that sort of thing anymore.

View attachment 13349

where's your town?

 

[sunnydelight786]

Glenn Hoddle. On MOTD, or was it the Big Match, I saw him score a screamer from outside the box with his shirt hanging out. I thought he was one cool cat and started supporting THFC because of him.

 

[yojambo]

where's your town?

Its called Torpoint in Cornwall. The Teams used to use the Naval base to their pre season training.

 

[Bulletspur]

This post has been done at least four times so cannot be bothered to go into specifics again, Needless to say without the story it was the 1981 cup final replay.

 

[YidNick]

Family. My Dad and his dad were Spurs fans, with my dad being old enough to have watched Spurs lift the European and cup double. He also use to live around the corner Glenn Hoddle (my half brothers and sisters use to go and knock on his door and talk to him ) and he was also coached by Terry Medwin when he captained his schools football team

 

[easley91]

Weird way I got into Spurs actually. We had a family friend and one of their sons (older than me) was a Spurs fan. I idolised him as a I was growing up. Will admit it took me a while to settle on one team beforehand (no gloryhunting as Spurs were not exactly prime choice for that as you all know!). Eventually got into Tottenham and I've stuck with them ever since. Proud to be a yid as well. Interestingly, within the past couple of years I found out that my Chelsea supporting Dad grew up in Tottenham and his whole family were Tottenham fans. Somehow, someway I've brought the club back. He told me he chose Chelsea when it was Chelsea v Tottenham in an FA Cup final just to be annoying! Can't criticise him though, as he happily bought a season ticket for me and him 10 years ago. Since then every season we've been members.

 

[RickyVilla]

Came to England in 1980. My brothers godfather took us to the Spurs shop and thus began a lifelong love affair.

 

[shelfyid]

i grew up in kilburn nw london in the 1970's. all my mates were spurs and it seemed the natural thing to do. we were not the best then but i got to see greats like jennings, chivers, gilzean and peters.

 

[SteveH]

the Fickle Finger of Fate