Time for a Change

[FuturistiC123]

First post. Hi. I think we missed a chance to change our image when we moved into the new stadium, we should have dispensed with all the 'game is about glory' stuff, and looked towards the future. The club is too focused on the past; we bring old players back, now we want to bring Poch back.

I was in the ground the day we lost 1-2 to WBA but picked up our last league title trophy. We should have done the double again in the next season but dropped 3 pts to champions Ipswich, ironically because the 'games about glory' hero Danny Blanchflower persuaded Nicholson to change our tactics. When we played them in the Charity Shield Billy Nich said stuff that and we beat them 6-1. Nicholson's thoughts about our ambitions were summed up in his statement' any season Spurs don't win an honour is a failure'. But you cant put that around the stadium it would draw attention to our failures.

Time to stop harking back to old times, old players and managers; get behind the new bloke and lets move on.

 

[Dakes]

'any season Spurs don't win an honour is a failure'.

Spot on. Very good post. If only we heard that Bill quote more often from the club.

 

[JimmyG2]

First post. Hi. I think we missed a chance to change our image when we moved into the new stadium, we should have dispensed with all the 'game is about glory' stuff, and looked towards the future. The club is too focused on the past; we bring old players back, now we want to bring Poch back.

I was in the ground the day we lost 1-2 to WBA but picked up our last league title trophy. We should have done the double again in the next season but dropped 3 pts to champions Ipswich, ironically because the 'games about glory' hero Danny Blanchflower persuaded Nicholson to change our tactics. When we played them in the Charity Shield Billy Nich said stuff that and we beat them 6-1. Nicholson's thoughts about our ambitions were summed up in his statement' any season Spurs don't win an honour is a failure'. But you cant put that around the stadium it would draw attention to our failures.

Time to stop harking back to old times, old players and managers; get behind the new bloke and lets move on.

And be the same as everyone else.
No History, no Tradition, no Unique Selling Point.
We tried that with Mourinho, the proven winner, and failed
because as Levy has realised
you can't ignore your own DNA.
I will get behind the new bloke
if he succeeds then Spurs succeed.

You have been very selective in your events and your quotes.
here's some more.
Bill Nicholson: '
“It is better to fail aiming high than to succeed aiming low.
And we of Spurs have set our sights very high,
so high in fact that even failure will have in it an echo of glory.”
and from Danny Blanchflower:
“The great fallacy is that the game is first and last about winning. It’s nothing of the kind. The game is about glory. It is about doing things in style, with a flourish, about going out and beating the other lot, not waiting for them to die of boredom.”

Good first post.

 

[dontcallme]

I think a club's past is very important and knowing about former players and managers is great.

But single statements shouldn't be used as a guiding light for anyone. Simple, positive statements can give someone a moment of happiness or hope but it is ultimately meaningless.

I actually cringe at how many people's opinion is a quote from Bill Nic. It's not really relevant to where we are today as a club.

 

[Dougal]

I’m too old to start again. I love my club for the reasons they are Spurs. I’ll continue to hope for trophies and appreciate them when they arrive but you can’t just clear the cache and reboot. This stuff means more to me than picking up the odd League Cup. I want to continue it.

 

[Japhet]

The simple fact is that football has changed immeasurably since the times the OP is referring to. Back in those days an elite footballer earned about the same as a Bank Manager. Modern football, especially in the EPL, has turned into a cheque writing competition with financial doping and the privileged few able to hoover up talent and trophies almost at will. The playing field has been tilted to a quite ridiculous angle now but we live in hope of the odd anomoly being thrown up, especially if it involves us. The game really has become a cheerleader for modern capitalism where the word 'enough' has no meaning any more for clubs, players, fans or the football authorities. Fans are really just pressing their noses up against the glass now and the game has been ripped away from it's working class roots.

 

[Gassin's finest]

I personally love football history. I can't read enough about it. Especially Spurs. This club is arguably the reason why the game has evolved the way it is.

By all means don't dwell on the past, nor worry too much about the future tbh. I agree that we for a club that hasn't actually won that much, relatively speaking, we don't half hark on about it a lot.

But knowing your roots and where you come from is vital.

With that, I'm off to the memory lane thread...

 

[Trix]

Spot on. Very good post. If only we heard that Bill quote more often from the club.

If only that quote was remotely relevant anymore. It's an out of date soundbite, that's used to beat the club with, and it hasn't had any relevance since the oil clubs became a thing.

 

[allatsea]

If only that quote was remotely relevant anymore. It's an out of date soundbite, that's used to beat the club with, and it hasn't had any relevance since the oil clubs became a thing.

So true. The only way to consistently compete and actually win things is to have access to unlimited amounts of money which has usually been stolen from the ordinary people. Football is rigged and it looks like it is going to stay that way for the foreseeable future.

 

[Lighty64]

I think a club's past is very important and knowing about former players and managers is great.

But single statements shouldn't be used as a guiding light for anyone. Simple, positive statements can give someone a moment of happiness or hope but it is ultimately meaningless.

I actually cringe at how many people's opinion is a quote from Bill Nic. It's not really relevant to where we are today as a club, or the the big changes within

FYP

Great post, just needed a little added. Once upon a time most clubs played on a level playing field, and that’s what a lot of our ansestors fell in love with the game, and passed it down by taking their children right till now.

most of us support the club through following our previous generations, or being brought up in the area. In the old days even as far back as our first ever league championship title (which Billy Nic played in I believe) we won it after winning the second division the season before.

think Ipswich did it to prevent us doing the double, double, and the next club to do it was Forest who also went on to win 2 European championships (I doubt that will ever happen again)

 

[Harrier]

So true. The only way to consistently compete and actually win things is to have access to unlimited amounts of money which has usually been stolen from the ordinary people. Football is rigged and it looks like it is going to stay that way for the foreseeable future.

Yep and at times I get really disillusioned with football.

Reading who’s going to win the tussle over Haaland or Kane by dropping an obscene amount of money on the transfer is distasteful in this climate.

FFP is an absolute joke and until something is done to level the playing field fairly then it’s going to be the same money backed clubs with a stranglehold on the big prizes.

 

[DogsOfWar]

Yep and at times I get really disillusioned with football.

Reading who’s going to win the tussle over Haaland or Kane by dropping an obscene amount of money on the transfer is distasteful in this climate.

FFP is an absolute joke and until something is done to level the playing field fairly then it’s going to be the same money backed clubs with a stranglehold on the big prizes.

Like the obscene amount of money we dropped on Jimmy Greaves (a transfer record at the time)?
Or the 'Saturday job' we gave him in the WHL offices to allow us to pay him over the salary cap (contravening that FFP rule at the time)?

Football has always been about money, just relative to the time.

 

[JimmyG2]

Like the obscene amount of money we dropped on Jimmy Greaves (a transfer record at the time)?
Or the 'Saturday job' we gave him in the WHL offices to allow us to pay him over the salary cap (contravening that FFP rule at the time)?

Football has always been about money, just relative to the time.

But just not only about money.
To reduce it to just money now and then
is to demean the memory
of many fine clubs, managers and players
and trash the history and spirit
of the game.

I was 20 when the maximum wage
of 20pw was abolished.
And a lot of football had flowed under the bridge
in the 70 or so years before then.

 

[Japhet]

Yep and at times I get really disillusioned with football.

Reading who’s going to win the tussle over Haaland or Kane by dropping an obscene amount of money on the transfer is distasteful in this climate.

FFP is an absolute joke and until something is done to level the playing field fairly then it’s going to be the same money backed clubs with a stranglehold on the big prizes.

And the same fans bemoaning the fact that we can't win anything when the odds are continually stacked against us. As I said earlier, there is the odd anomoly (like Leicester) but all that does is trigger another massive spend from the doped clubs.

 

[floydiohead]

And the same fans bemoaning the fact that we can't win anything when the odds are continually stacked against us. As I said earlier, there is the odd anomoly (like Leicester) but all that does is trigger another massive spend from the doped clubs.

But then, genuinely, what's the point in it all? I don't disagree by the way, but I often ask myself this question.

 

[Japhet]

But then, genuinely, what's the point in it all? I don't disagree by the way, but I often ask myself this question.

We all just end up hoping and praying something unlikely happens. There were a few minor coups with FFP punishments but it really was fuck all at the end of the day. I find myself hoping anyone can beat the doped clubs but then you end up with City v Chelsea in the CL Final and think why bother? Personally I was happy to see City beaten but would have preferred It to have been Chelsea which says it all really.

 

[JimmyG2]

But then, genuinely, what's the point in it all? I don't disagree by the way, but I often ask myself this question.

The point is to
entertain and inspire
to motivate, stimulate and enthuse
each new generation
and to provide a treasury of memories
of games and players
from the past.
The financials are forgotten
in the reality of what happens
on the pitch.
Trophies schmophies
Watch the game.

 

[13VanDerBale13]

This lasted long ? Change is happening ?

 

[floydiohead]

The point is to
entertain and inspire
to motivate, stimulate and enthuse
each new generation
and to provide a treasury of memories
of games and players
from the past.
The financials are forgotten
in the reality of what happens
on the pitch.
Trophies schmophies
Watch the game.

I love your sentiment, but at least - for me - the game was ruined years ago. Shit and inconsistent refereeing with a spineless governing body; diving, cheating, general shithousery; VAR; the sport becoming almost non-contact. The list goes on. Every year it seems harder and harder to see past it all, just to watch the game I grew up loving.

 

[JimmyG2]

I love your sentiment, but at least - for me - the game was ruined years ago. Shit and inconsistent refereeing with a spineless governing body; diving, cheating, general shithousery; VAR; the sport becoming almost non-contact. The list goes on. Every year it seems harder and harder to see past it all, just to watch the game I grew up loving.

I know where you're coming from
but it's still in essence
the beautiful game.
I ignore the ugly peripherals
and enjoy the movement and skill
the passion of the players
the romance, the stories
and why I love teams
like Spurs, Leicester, and this year Leeds
that do it differently.

''The memory of all that -
No, no - they can't take that away from me''