Howdy folks,
When people talk about good football I say you haven’t seen good football. My grandchildren tell me about this player or that player and even though they are good by today’s standards, they’ve got nothing on the past. I remember seeing the push and run team, which was followed by the great Bill Nickolson era. That was the benchmark that was set by the great Arthur Rowe and Bill Nick. So to call the best football we’ve ever seen in the past 30 years is a bit like saying Frank Bruno is the best ever (that is ever) boxer that ever set foot in a ring on this planet. A travesty of justice (and a joke).
Hi Don, I am glad you are allowed to ‘Voice’ your opinion, however I must respond to some of your points. I think you are viewing football through some rose tinted glasses. It is very difficult to directly compare players from one era over another. Particularly, when there are other mitigating factors involved. Health, diet, training methods and facilities, the speed of the game, the technology of the ball etc. however, I do believe that all of the great players of the past would be equally great in the modern day game given those same conditions. But this also works the other way. The best players of today would be on par with those in the past. Individually, we could determine that Jimmy Greaves was a better player than Soldado, but if we compare him to Messi or Bale it becomes trickier.
I think your Bruno analogy is way off the mark as it does not demonstrate a flaw in the point being made. Saying that the football under Harry was the best we have played in over 30 years is a comment on the past 30 years (this was chosen because it is how long I have been watching Spurs, nothing else) It does not attempt to say it is the best we have ever played, nor does it say that that is as good as we should aspire to play. If you had said it was like saying at the time Frank Bruno was the best British heavyweight since Henry Cooper, it would be an accurate analogy. (even if you don’t think he was). My point being you are trying to make the wrong argument against the wrong issue.
We, and I mean, Spurs fans, have set our sites so low that they are crawling on the ground looking for titbits. Nevertheless, we are in today’s society, and not the past, I hear you call out. Yes, but just look at the likes of Man City or United, Ars*nal (and their invincibles) and the great Liverpool sides of the past 30 years. That is the yardstick we should be setting Spurs by. Of course I am not surprised that people don’t really know what Spurs had delivered all those years ago. Nowadays we only see news clips and glimmers of past ghosts. So the younger generation had been weather beaten over the years and have set the bar a lot lower. But if teams like City, Ars*nal, United and Liverpool can thrill and achieve all those accolades then we must, as Spurs fans, set our sights at the same level. A new stadium must mean the board is thinking in the right direction. Where they’ve dithered and flummoxed is in picking the right manager and then not giving him a chance. I don’t know whether Mr Daniel Levy is a sole decider when it comes to picking his managers, or he consults, but what is for sure is that he can’t keep going on the road to nowhere without dragging this great club down with him.
I agree with most of what you have said here. Especially regarding Levy. Although Man City were down in Division 1 not so long ago and it is only because of ridiculous investment they are where they are today. Ars*nal, had a purple patch for being at the very top, but in recent times they have been happy with 4th and getting regular CL football. We are not even at that level yet, so to try and jump straight to a title bid is a lovely thought, but a little unrealistic. Liverpool were great, but even that seems like a different era, they are not too dissimilar to ourselves of late. United are the only exception, but this was because of one manager. They hit the Jackpot with him and he was with them so long, he was able to carve out a legacy. We do need to be aiming high, but to say that the current generation of fans have low expectations is A.) incorrect, because every spurs fan has hopes and dreams of spurs winning the title one day, and is waiting for the club to match that expectation. and B.) shows a lack of respect for the younger fans who love the club as much as anyone and cannot go back in time and experience spurs in a different time
I see the past 30 years as wasted years and we must get back on track where this great club belongs. We mustn’t forget that our motto is Audere est Facere, which was changed from its Latin meaning to the more understandable meaning To Dare is to Do. Why that was changed I can only ponder. When I was a kid Latin was taught at school, now we are living in a more dumb down society, so such Latin is probably beyond today’s limited intelligence. Nonetheless, we are here and not there, but that doesn’t mean that Spurs should be dragged down with today’s fodder. To Dare is to Do was the sort of great inspiration that drove Spurs onto achieving greatness. That can still be achieved today with the right combination, balls and determination.
Again, here you are degrading the young people of today. You think we live in a more dumb down society. I disagree. The children and youth of today are not stupid, they don’t have limited intelligence. Back in the old days the kids were routinely separated in those with brains and those that could do manual labour. This divide set them up for life. The thickies we given a different education and there was a whole sub culture of non academic people in our country. (actually many of these were intelligent people in different ways) now days the vast majority of children have a higher basic academic intelligence. The need for manual labour / vocational work has gone down as we need more technologically minded people today. There are more academically trained people and graduates (however, some of these are not intelligent when it comes to common sense). The thing that has created the dumb down appearance of society is the media and consumerism and the push on materialistic goals.
At Spurs there is lots of ‘do’ new stadium, lots of new players at times, even more new managers, new training facilities, new kits, being financially secure. We do the do well. But we have stopped doing the ‘dare’. For all the good dos we have done, we seem to keep missing the vital spark the desire to take a chance, to aspire to be better than we are. I don’t think Levy is the man that can give us that spark, he has no dare.
I would like to be saying in 5 years time that we are playing the best football I have seen in 35 years. And I also hope that that can be said alongside the statement. We have won the title for the first time in over 50 years. But even better than that would be for people like yourself saying it is the best football spurs have ever played. It is a dream, my White Hart Dream.
Howdy dimexi,
You say I am viewing Spurs through tinted glasses. You may call it that, but I see my watching Spurs through nostalgic eyes who witnessed great events in my lifetime. After Burkinshaw we collapsed as a team and struggling to even get close to the edges of our great past achievements. And that is a real tragedy. Levy must be credited for a lot of things, but one of them isn’t picking the right manager. He has stumbled in the dark and everything at Spurs has suffered.
For the rest of your points I take on board what you say, and they are intelligent, well observed comments, but as an old codger who has been in the thick of it I’ll stick with what I said, if you don’t mind. But what I did find interesting dimexi is your viewpoint through the eyes of one of the younger generation. You are Spurs future, as a fan, and I hope that one day you get the chance to see what I saw so that you can tell your grandchildren. Whether wearing tinted glasses or not.
I am sure you will agree with me that we are both singing from the same song sheet, only your song sheet has modern lyrics, compared to my old warn wording sheet.
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