About a hundred and fifty-six years ago (well, sometime last year anyway...) I wrote an article on here entitled: "The Trouble With Us" - this was a very long article, the majority of which was considered at 3 in the morning following a glass of wine or three. Had it been written at that time of night rather than the following morning, it could have been considerably longer, so count yourselves lucky!
As it was, at least two of you replied that you had to take the day off of work just to read the damn thing, so apologies for that, and probably the reason I don't contribute more often (no one's got the time!), though I do look at the site most days and am always interested in the comments and debate.
However, it's a slow work day and we are just about to embark on what could be our most important and exciting season for a long time and I thought it was a good opportunity to see how far we've come - at least from a fan's perspective.
My previous article - to summarise the jist of it for those of you too traumatised by it to read it again - was that we as a club and as supporters hope for success, whereas the nominal big four clubs and their supporters expect success.
We never knew what we were going to get before any particular match and we are prepared to go to extraordinary lengths on a personal level to try to achieve victory for our beloved Spurs, even if the actual players cannot achieve this for themselves! Examples include the wearing of lucky pants, foregoing shaving until a win is on the board and watching matches sitting in a particular position (head between the knees in the emergency crash position being a personal favourite). We are usually hoping above hope that we are going to win, and our personal quirks are designed to ensure that bit of success - the Spurs supporters extra mile, if you will.
The point is - it all comes down to mentality. Previously, I wondered whether the club could ever match the mentality of the current big four clubs, and if they could, would it rub off on us as fans. Or, could the club only achieve that mentality if the fans had it first? I still haven't decided what the answer is, and it's a circular argument which people will have views about all day long, so all I can do is tell you how I feel about things now.
And here it is. I feel good. I'm confident. It's a strange feeling.
Martin Jol is always banging on about us having a top mentality - and I took this to include the supporters too, and I think I'm starting to develop a top mentality.
I take a look at the way the club has progressed since Daniel Levy took over, the appointments made within the club, the players that come and the players that want to come to the club, and importantly the players that are allowed to leave the club.
I see the way that the club conducts its business, and the levels of respect given to the club by not only certain sections of the press but by fans of other clubs - so many of them wish their club was run like ours and had our players.
I look at the way we are starting to play the game and the fact that we have finished fifth two years in a row - this is no fluke.
In fact, I believe it's an evolution - and the positive effects of that are starting to rub off on me. I am starting to look at games, even pre-season friendlies which can be very strange games sometimes and think: "I expect to win this game".
I look at the squads of all the other premier league teams and do not think I would swap with many and I am now expecting to beat teams when we play them, and do it in style.
What is more I really expect to be challenging for one of those top four positions this year, and in recent seasons would just be hoping that we could put a good run together to nick a European slot.
So, all in all, I believe we have evolved as a club over the last few years, and having emerged from our cocoon of hope, I think the butterfly of expectation will take us to great heights over this and forth-coming seasons.
Fingers crossed eh?
As it was, at least two of you replied that you had to take the day off of work just to read the damn thing, so apologies for that, and probably the reason I don't contribute more often (no one's got the time!), though I do look at the site most days and am always interested in the comments and debate.
However, it's a slow work day and we are just about to embark on what could be our most important and exciting season for a long time and I thought it was a good opportunity to see how far we've come - at least from a fan's perspective.
My previous article - to summarise the jist of it for those of you too traumatised by it to read it again - was that we as a club and as supporters hope for success, whereas the nominal big four clubs and their supporters expect success.
We never knew what we were going to get before any particular match and we are prepared to go to extraordinary lengths on a personal level to try to achieve victory for our beloved Spurs, even if the actual players cannot achieve this for themselves! Examples include the wearing of lucky pants, foregoing shaving until a win is on the board and watching matches sitting in a particular position (head between the knees in the emergency crash position being a personal favourite). We are usually hoping above hope that we are going to win, and our personal quirks are designed to ensure that bit of success - the Spurs supporters extra mile, if you will.
The point is - it all comes down to mentality. Previously, I wondered whether the club could ever match the mentality of the current big four clubs, and if they could, would it rub off on us as fans. Or, could the club only achieve that mentality if the fans had it first? I still haven't decided what the answer is, and it's a circular argument which people will have views about all day long, so all I can do is tell you how I feel about things now.
And here it is. I feel good. I'm confident. It's a strange feeling.
Martin Jol is always banging on about us having a top mentality - and I took this to include the supporters too, and I think I'm starting to develop a top mentality.
I take a look at the way the club has progressed since Daniel Levy took over, the appointments made within the club, the players that come and the players that want to come to the club, and importantly the players that are allowed to leave the club.
I see the way that the club conducts its business, and the levels of respect given to the club by not only certain sections of the press but by fans of other clubs - so many of them wish their club was run like ours and had our players.
I look at the way we are starting to play the game and the fact that we have finished fifth two years in a row - this is no fluke.
In fact, I believe it's an evolution - and the positive effects of that are starting to rub off on me. I am starting to look at games, even pre-season friendlies which can be very strange games sometimes and think: "I expect to win this game".
I look at the squads of all the other premier league teams and do not think I would swap with many and I am now expecting to beat teams when we play them, and do it in style.
What is more I really expect to be challenging for one of those top four positions this year, and in recent seasons would just be hoping that we could put a good run together to nick a European slot.
So, all in all, I believe we have evolved as a club over the last few years, and having emerged from our cocoon of hope, I think the butterfly of expectation will take us to great heights over this and forth-coming seasons.
Fingers crossed eh?