When would it be time to hang up your Spurs scarf?

[Don Diaz]

There were reports this week that Mr Agnelli who owns Juventus, has had enough of pissing about in the Italian League (I’m paraphrasing, they’ve won it for the last 5 years on the trot) and wants to set up an even more lucrative European League.

This would feature the ‘top’ clubs from the major European leagues playing each other 2 - 4 times a year. When I say ‘top’ I mean richest of course, which might or might not include Spurs. Does that matter? Not to me really.

By that stage about 2024 I think, according to Mr Agnelli, Spurs will be owned by Sheik Qatar bin Qatar or more likely Chuck Moneybags III a toilet roll recycling tycoon from Illinois. Football will have followed the NFL model, no promotion or relegation, just huge money making franchises, that can move cities if they ever get sold. The thought is mind numbing and leaves me cold.

I rather like playing Bournemouth and Watford and even the pikeys. The banter and local rivalries is what it’s all about, when that changes and we’re halfway there there already, when you look at the big clubs ownership, it’s dead for me.

 

[skiathospurs]

There were reports this week that Mr Agnelli who owns Juventus, has had enough of pissing about in the Italian League (I’m paraphrasing, they’ve won it for the last 5 years on the trot) and wants to set up an even more lucrative European League.

This would feature the ‘top’ clubs from the major European leagues playing each other 2 - 4 times a year. When I say ‘top’ I mean richest of course, which might or might not include Spurs. Does that matter? Not to me really.

By that stage about 2024 I think, according to Mr Agnelli, Spurs will be owned by Sheik Qatar bin Qatar or more likely Chuck Moneybags III a toilet roll recycling tycoon from Illinois. Football will have followed the NFL model, no promotion or relegation, just huge money making franchises, that can move cities if they ever get sold. The thought is mind numbing and leaves me cold.

I rather like playing Bournemouth and Watford and even the pikeys. The banter and local rivalries is what it’s all about, when that changes and we’re halfway there there already, when you look at the big clubs ownership, it’s dead for me.

I have found it hard enough in the PL,great coaches spending £600m in a couple of years,city,united,chelsea,liverpool take your pick,that is hard enough and has even made coming 4th a success.Eurosuperduper league,I`d rather go and watch dartford play tooting&Mitcham.I`d always follow the club,but i wouldnt spend 99% of what i do now,maybe go one game every few years.I dont go to merely to watch us win,but I dont want to see another team win the league 7 years in a row like Bayern,Psg,celtic,juventus,and way its going could easily happen.Even if it was spurs newly owned by Chuck Aloadadosh from Bawston USA after 3 years I wouldnt give a shit if we won it or not if we merely spent £300m more than our closest rival.

 

[Don Diaz]

I have found it hard enough in the PL,great coaches spending £600m in a couple of years,city,united,chelsea,liverpool take your pick,that is hard enough and has even made coming 4th a success.Eurosuperduper league,I`d rather go and watch dartford play tooting&Mitcham.I`d always follow the club,but i wouldnt spend 99% of what i do now,maybe go one game every few years.I dont go to merely to watch us win,but I dont want to see another team win the league 7 years in a row like Bayern,Psg,celtic,juventus,and way its going could easily happen.Even if it was spurs newly owned by Chuck Aloadadosh from Bawston USA after 3 years I wouldnt give a shit if we won it or not if we merely spent £300m more than our closest rival.

We’d just be the next Chelsea or Man City, and buy titles and trophies. Football would just be who’s got the most money.....oh wait...

 

[Yid]

We're nearly there.... and I want no part if it.

They dont get my dosh now so like fuck will be funding their expansion.

That's the problem willth all this, It's us cunts who pay for it. Not me fella, you can stick it up your bidet'd arses!!!

 

[Glenjamin]

It's quite strange but I have to say the bigger and better we get is what is starting to numb me.

First. Bigger stadium. I learnt alot I didn't like during the stadium build.

Next is this champions league malarchy. Supporters don't actually get to go to the game as that has no financial gain.

As I notice the money side more the fun fades.

VAR is a big one. We'll see where that goes. If it gets in bedded to heavily in the game the excitement will be gone, although it got us by City I guess.

 

[Dorset]

Is it blasphemous to say I would enjoy supporting Spurs if we were in the Championship or an even lower division? I definitely wouldn't be chuffed about us taking part in this Super Euro League doodah. I don't think I'll ever hang up my scarf, but I had already stopped giving my money to the corporation a couple of years back before I even jumped off the sinking ship that is Little England.

Most of us here are old school Spurs supporters and we remember what it used to be like when you could afford to go to as many games as you wanted to and the amazing atmosphere you got when there was no such thing as football tourists. The game has changed and it can never to back to the good old days, my type of support has changed as well and that's natural I suppose, change happens, fuck all we can do about that. Grrrr, fucking change, I hate fucking change, fuck that cunt, it's like wasps, I hate those fuckers as well.

My experience of many of the 'new fans' is they are cunts, not all of course, but I remember those cunts in the old place, banging on about how they wanted us to be an oil-money club and not giving a fuck about the League Cup, the FA Cup or any other trophy they thought was below us. Winning was the only thing important to them, fuck how those wins came, park the bus, play anti-football and get 1-0 wins that bored the fuck out of the real fans, cunts them blokes. Then there were the corporate fans who supported the balance sheet - do fucking what John?

I give zero fucks about the new stadium, it's a fucking bunch of seats and terraces around a fucking football pitch for fuck's sake. What has a stadium got to do with football? I liked the old one very much, it felt like a comfortable pair of old slippers when I went there, it felt like home. I know lots of you like the new place, but when the novelty wears off and there are less and less old-school, sweary, chanting supporters going every week to watch 'elite' demonstration football that has no fucking soul - will you love it like we all did the proper Lane?

I'm keeping my scarf, but it lives in the wardrobe these days.

 

[Yid]

I'm keeping my scarf, but it lives in the wardrobe these days.

What the fuck do you need as calf for you cunt..... its mucho scorchio out there...!!!

 

[Dorset]

What the fuck do you need as calf for you cunt..... its mucho scorchio out there...!!!

Not today, it's parky as fuck, only about 20 degrees C, I've had to put long trousers on! Anyway, I was talking about a virtual scarf, not a real one, but I do have my real one so maybe I wasn't, what the fuck do I know?

 

[Wotspur]

We’d just be the next Chelsea or Man City, and buy titles and trophies. Football would just be who’s got the most money.....oh wait...

I liken it to 20 years ago when nearly everyone had a normal coupe or estate car , then Renault bought out the Renault Espace , and everyone followed sort.
Now unless you’ve got a Land Rover, Range Rover Audi whatever or BMW X5 , and any other form of Chelsea tractor you aren’t anyone .
In football it’s no longer the local trader who is ve gotta be a multi billionaire and spend just a little bit more than the next .
Just wondering , is this a half and half scarf to hang up !
If you are considering , please do it before June 1st

 

[Simba]

Can't someone just set up an F.C. Hotspur of Tottenham, similar to FC United or AFC Wimbledon or Portsmouth, 51% fan owned, get the THST to run it. I'd probably support it. Only issue is the stadium lol.

On a more serious note, I have been more disillusioned with football in general, and if Tottenham weren't doing so well, I don't think I would be supporting them as much. I say this as someone who started supporting Spurs when avoiding relegation was a good season.

 

[deejbah]

When it was really wet, as it would need to dry out.

 

[skiathospurs]

Pertinent thread here,good read as well.

 

[deejbah]

Pertinent thread here,good read as well.

I knew pretty much all of that but that really is a forensic thread.

 

[Dorset]

How do we compete with teams like City without becoming them? I don't think I want that,

 

[Don Diaz]

How do we compete with teams like City without becoming them? I don't think I want that,

For the moment, once in a blue moon (geddit) we can beat them and so can Liverpool, who are still more like us, growing their own and finding bargains along with bigger money Salah and van Dyck, but City still hoovered up 3 out of 4 trophies this season and according to Guardiola the top teams are now only 'measured' on league titles and Champions League so there's not much to go at.

I know I'm an aging cynical bastard and sport is dynamic, but whilst the money has built fantastic new modern facilities it has also corrupted UEFA and FIFA and the 'beautiful game' and ruined a lot of it for me. I don't want to see 11 reserves playing in the league cup and weakened teams in the FA Cup, like we played against Palace this year. There wasn't much wrong with football in the 80's (apart from a bit of fisticuffs) there's plenty wrong with it now.

 

[skiathospurs]

I knew pretty much all of that but that really is a forensic thread.

I did meet one old school chelsea season ticket holder,who after a couple of years of wow revel in the glory got bored and stopped going.I could understand why.

 

[Don Diaz]

I did meet one old school chelsea season ticket holder,who after a couple of years of wow revel in the glory got bored and stopped going.I could understand why.

I agree.

 

[BrooklynYid]

I think the dawn of a super league is inevitable at this point. I have heard talk that if other clubs don't want to join Man City, PSG and whomever else is pushing this, they will just start new clubs around the world, including the US, China and Australia. Pretty ominous imo. Personally, all I think that needs to be done is for FIFA to ban state ownership of clubs. Oligarchs, while awful and staining the game, have limits and will eventually choose to curtail their spending. An oil state's power can continue for centuries. Zaha for 100 mil? GTFO. He MIGHT get you 12 goals. But if Ronaldo is worth 400 mil .... . It is really disastrous for the smaller clubs. Hell, it's disastrous for US! We have just been lucky to spend no money in two years and still remain competitive. That will certainly not happen again. Was speaking with a Chelsea supporter and my kids' game and he was saying that he doesn't really watch anymore. No real connection. Said that Spurs had real time spirit and had essentially built the club the right way (which I pretty much agree with). He also said he is rooting for the Scousers because he doesn't want to see us achieve such a brilliant success. What awful people Chaves supporters are. Hopefully we never become that.

 

[skiathospurs]

I think the dawn of a super league is inevitable at this point. I have heard talk that if other clubs don't want to join Man City, PSG and whomever else is pushing this, they will just start new clubs around the world, including the US, China and Australia. Pretty ominous imo. Personally, all I think that needs to be done is for FIFA to ban state ownership of clubs. Oligarchs, while awful and staining the game, have limits and will eventually choose to curtail their spending. An oil state's power can continue for centuries. Zaha for 100 mil? GTFO. He MIGHT get you 12 goals. But if Ronaldo is worth 400 mil .... . It is really disastrous for the smaller clubs. Hell, it's disastrous for US! We have just been lucky to spend no money in two years and still remain competitive. That will certainly not happen again. Was speaking with a Chelsea supporter and my kids' game and he was saying that he doesn't really watch anymore. No real connection. Said that Spurs had real time spirit and had essentially built the club the right way (which I pretty much agree with). He also said he is rooting for the Scousers because he doesn't want to see us achieve such a brilliant success. What awful people Chaves supporters are. Hopefully we never become that.

The mistake is in basing a new idea on the USA sports model of ownership,(not bashing you mate),but football is worldwide,not a single nation like nba,nfl,nhl.No relegation,promotion just protecting owners investments and the status quo.Its not true competition.

I truly believe without the passionate support teams have in the PL,the spectacle isnt half of what it is.Thats why the TV pays the biggest bucks,playing against european sides as your domestic opponent,most UK fans would rather keep the derby with west ham,palace than play juve and dortmund.Maybe I am taking it too personally,but I wouldnt carry on supporting the club,the competition or the sport if this happens.I dont think i am alone in this?

But france,germany,italy have a monopoly in whom wins their respective titles,holland,spain,portugal its between the same old 2 teams,if bayern,juve,barca,madrid,psg etc push for a continental league,let them,if an english side is daft enough to join in,let them,and dont let them back unless they start back in non-league.Its short-termist folly,to ditch 140 years of competition to nonce it up playing champions league type football all year round.

 

[Don Diaz]

Us disease

The mistake is in basing a new idea on the USA sports model of ownership,(not bashing you mate),but football is worldwide,not a single nation like nba,nfl,nhl.No relegation,promotion just protecting owners investments and the status quo.Its not true competition.

I truly believe without the passionate support teams have in the PL,the spectacle isnt half of what it is.Thats why the TV pays the biggest bucks,playing against european sides as your domestic opponent,most UK fans would rather keep the derby with west ham,palace than play juve and dortmund.Maybe I am taking it too personally,but I wouldnt carry on supporting the club,the competition or the sport if this happens.I dont think i am alone in this?

But france,germany,italy have a monopoly in whom wins their respective titles,holland,spain,portugal its between the same old 2 teams,if bayern,juve,barca,madrid,psg etc push for a continental league,let them,if an english side is daft enough to join in,let them,and dont let them back unless they start back in non-league.Its short-termist folly,to ditch 140 years of competition to nonce it up playing champions league type football all year round.

We’re all agreeing with the same type of opinion, but the fact is probably the same in sport as other parts of society, Europe will catch the American disease in time. Look at the huge retail parks now, the underlying drive to pay for healthcare, massive consumerism and pay tv, football will go the same way as the nationalist IS sport in time.

Our passionate fans....sure, for the moment. Whether it’s Hammerby, Dortmund, Anfield or Spurs. We’re all being told to sit down, you can’t bring in this or that and unless you’re going to spend £200 a year on merchandise and £30 every other week on food and beverage you’re not really welcome anyway. Those fans that want a kebab and a couple of pints of Guinness at the pub beforehand, then want to stand up and sing and bring a flag in....well we’ll price them out of the market sooner or later, so there’s room for a City banker and his son who gets all the new kit for Christmas and the away kit for his birthday.

It’s not rocket science and it’s happening. I’ve got about 2 seasons left in me I think, of this all comes to pass. It will be as exciting as visiting Westfield and look pretty similar....shame

 

[deejbah]

For the moment, once in a blue moon (geddit) we can beat them and so can Liverpool, who are still more like us, growing their own and finding bargains along with bigger money Salah and van Dyck, but City still hoovered up 3 out of 4 trophies this season and according to Guardiola the top teams are now only 'measured' on league titles and Champions League so there's not much to go at.

I know I'm an aging cynical bastard and sport is dynamic, but whilst the money has built fantastic new modern facilities it has also corrupted UEFA and FIFA and the 'beautiful game' and ruined a lot of it for me. I don't want to see 11 reserves playing in the league cup and weakened teams in the FA Cup, like we played against Palace this year. There wasn't much wrong with football in the 80's (apart from a bit of fisticuffs) there's plenty wrong with it now.

Thing is, if they didn't have Guardiola managing them, I don't think they would have won this season. However, it's going to be hard for Liverpool to repeat this season if you look at how much they outperformed their underlying numbers this season and that they don't really have the depth to cover a few key players like City does. All the money does tip things very heavily in their favour but the financial power of the teams in the Premier League probably makes it more likely that other teams can manage it but the next few seasons could get a bit ugly because Pep is still going to be there and they can replace the ageing players they have with players who are as good if not better, while managing their introduction in ways that less financially powerful teams can't. I may be wrong but I can't really see anyone but Liverpool or Spurs challenging them in the next few years unless Sarri can get Chelsea to Napoli's levels with younger players but even then he's so systematic that I don't think they could win the games against City.

 

[deejbah]

The mistake is in basing a new idea on the USA sports model of ownership,(not bashing you mate),but football is worldwide,not a single nation like nba,nfl,nhl.No relegation,promotion just protecting owners investments and the status quo.Its not true competition.

I truly believe without the passionate support teams have in the PL,the spectacle isnt half of what it is.Thats why the TV pays the biggest bucks,playing against european sides as your domestic opponent,most UK fans would rather keep the derby with west ham,palace than play juve and dortmund.Maybe I am taking it too personally,but I wouldnt carry on supporting the club,the competition or the sport if this happens.I dont think i am alone in this?

But france,germany,italy have a monopoly in whom wins their respective titles,holland,spain,portugal its between the same old 2 teams,if bayern,juve,barca,madrid,psg etc push for a continental league,let them,if an english side is daft enough to join in,let them,and dont let them back unless they start back in non-league.Its short-termist folly,to ditch 140 years of competition to nonce it up playing champions league type football all year round.

The owners/managers of these clubs may all be keen to adopt this Super League model but as you allude to, how keen are the fans going to be when their team doesn't win a competition for decades? It will turn off both the local fans and the international fans who are usually the more frontrunning types. You don't see many Crystal Palace shirts in the shops in Asia or the US.

Thing is though that the NFL and NBA (and AFL here in Australia) have huge equalisation measures that though they are not perfect, go someway into make the competition interesting by reducing the dominance that happens in the more laissez-faire systems that run in football. You may see dominance by some teams but it doesn't usually last for more than a few years as coaches or teams can't use market power to maintain the unique circumstances in coaching and administration that lead to that dominance.

 

[Wotspur]

Thing is, if they didn't have Guardiola managing them, I don't think they would have won this season. However, it's going to be hard for Liverpool to repeat this season if you look at how much they outperformed their underlying numbers this season and that they don't really have the depth to cover a few key players like City does. All the money does tip things very heavily in their favour but the financial power of the teams in the Premier League probably makes it more likely that other teams can manage it but the next few seasons could get a bit ugly because Pep is still going to be there and they can replace the ageing players they have with players who are as good if not better, while managing their introduction in ways that less financially powerful teams can't. I may be wrong but I can't really see anyone but Liverpool or Spurs challenging them in the next few years unless Sarri can get Chelsea to Napoli's levels with younger players but even then he's so systematic that I don't think they could win the games against City.

How many LUCKY points did Liverpool get ......Lloris and Pickford gifted them an extra 4 points .
Against us at Wembley Son got taken out and we should have had a pen, which would have upped us by 1 pt and we’d have got 3rd , and they’d have dropped another 2 pts
Against West Ham , a goal , despite a player being 2 yrds offside ,,cause the Lino was more concerned if the ball went out for a throw in
Against Soton , thru also got favoured, but I can’t remember what for
And then after Xmas , every time Salah sneezed in the box they got a penalty , for about 6 consecutive games .
Whereas City only got lucky in the FA CUP game v Swansea

 

[Yid]

It seems we all of the consensus that citeh are cunts..... and that those dipper shit rag inbreads are double shit cunts.

 

[skiathospurs]

 

[The Cryptkeeper]

If we are ever part of a breakaway league then that would end it for me. I'd go and support Fulham most likely.

Or if we were ever owned by an oligarch or an Emirati oil billionaire where money was no object and we turned into another Chelsea or Manchester City that would probably do me too.

Can me sadistic but I enjoy our battle against the odds against the truly big boys. It's more noble than buying your way to success year on year.