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I’m Backing Stratford

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Not exactly a well kept secret but time to don the Kevlar and fix bayonets.  A combination of  events have prompted me to blab and tell all…

Levy’s candid appearance on Talksport. Like it or not the guy speaks sense and gives me every impression he’s steering the ship in the best direction. Some will accuse me of  being a suck up,  but his is a path paved in common sense.

Yes it’s a little chilling in that a sacred spiritual home will probably end up as a combination of launderettes, bingo halls and most ironically of all …a car park. But who’s fault is this?If it’s THFC’s then they are guilty of having ambition.

I’ll be blunt here, I don’t care for the bulk of those demanding to stay and slug it out with the Haringey natives. Is it mediocrity that really binds us together? Is really our rallying call that it’s a hole, but it’s our hole. Is that a sane platform? Not in my name, mush.

Readers who have opted to inflict my nonsense upon themselves for a while might know that one thing that really gets my goat is talk of being ‘a real fan’ or a ‘true fan’. What the hell does that mean? Is there a chart somewhere that works out just where you sit in the foodchain?

If so, who devised this device, a ten year old? Season ticket holders, those who travel home and away. Those can provided documents to support they are at least the eigth generation of support in there family? Extra kudos to those who turn up to games attached to kidney dialysis machines? A what point do you get admitted to the inner sanctum?

To quote a recently unemployed man, do me a favour love.

The disinformation war has raged alright, but more like a jalopy that’s been burnt out by kids than a city being raised. What I find depressing is the cocktail of garbage Tottenham fans are being spoon-fed in sustainable doses by both the Anti Stratford Mob and the West Ham lobby.

The  high handed litany of Brady is cringe-worthy. Process, Legacy, Delivery and any other words you can corrupt or at least manipulate to gloss over a collapsing, shoddy, cheapskate, half cocked plan that stinks of desperation.

The bulk of the stadium will be recycled with zero landfill. There will not be a ridiculous running track around any Spurs’ pitch.

The Anti Stratford Mob are about as literate in their argument as dumb mother who when questioned by her child issues a simultaneous ‘Because I said not!’ and slap to the back of the legs. There is a lack of articulation in the Anti Mob’s argument is my point.

I’d hear them out if they had more to offer than a mob mentality rant intertwined with the threat of my treasured footballing memories being plundered by Droogs threatening to bring Billy Nick back to life so he can work as a table cleaner in a MacDonalds. My memories are securely locked up and no amount of bullying will sway me.

I’ve made this comment before and I’ll continue to make it. The relationship between THFC and the local community in Haringey could have been symbiotic. It could have been a focal point – that the Council worked in partnership with to enhance the area.

But no. This never happened. White Hart Lane didn’t fall out the sky last Thursday. For donkeys years Haringey has had this commercial diamond in the rough on it’s doorstep. What has it done to increase it’s value to the borough? What support has David ‘Commuter’ Clammy  ever given to this business? What advances have been made in transport links? None. Nothing. Nichts. Nada.

A relationship where one party solely feeds off the other is a parasitic one.

All this talk of being part of the Haringey community actually makes me quite sad.  I and the overwhelming bulk of supporters attending home games travel in excess of 35 miles to walk past Haringey folk occasionally stopping to buy a pint or a box of  Unlucky Fried Kitten.

It makes me sad because these poor locals have had an opportunity missed on their behalf, an asset so badly mismanaged they’ll be left with nothing at all. This is a community betrayed. Long before Levy & Co started weighing up their options. So don’t wave a bed-sheet at me on the High Roadand tell me you’re Room Service.

So what of the NDP? It won’t happen. I said to old Unc Norman Giller, a devout NDP supporter recently that maybe I was doing Haringey Council and all the locals with vested interests a shocking disservice. Maybe they don’t have their hands out for more money.

Maybe they’re just checking to see if it’s raining.

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282 comments

  • spurfanindia says:

    Tottenham Hotspur is not a location..It is the club that made Tottenham area what it is ,not the other way around.I dont think any of our memories will be lost if we relocate.THFC is the collective memory of all Tottenham fans about our good and bad times..we will never lose it wherever the location is.I think Tottenham Hotspurs will never be Stretford Hotspurs but Stretford will now be known as New Tottenham..

    • tom says:

      fool.. firstly your not a real fan cause if you were you would realise it is about location cause every london club is proud of which side of london they are from, secondly lots of memories will be lost becase that is where all your history is so im not sure what you are going on about there?? thirdly you obviously dont ever go too london cause its STRATFORD!! stretford is in manchester which is prob where you live..and finally just too show how little you know stratford has not always been called that, can you guess what that area used too be called?? WEST HAM..please real fans only in this debate

      • Dan Mac says:

        You’re a closed minded muppet mate… Please only INTELLIGENT fans in this debate!

        Firstly… He is a real fan because he’s taken time outr of his day to come and discuss things Spurs… which means he cares.
        Secondly… History has happened forever, funny enough, the wolrd doersn’t look the same as id did 50 years ago, let alone 100,000 years ago – the history has remaned!
        Thirdly… spelling mistake… get over it!
        Fourthly… Let other people have a different opinion without descending into a row like some thick little chav and people might listen to you.

        • tom says:

          wow you seemed too have writ loads of lines without actually saying anything, so he is a real fan cause he is on this site thats all you’ve based that on..ok??…and this isn’t a debate about history in general which is where you have got confused this is about football and more particular london football which due too its size has always been about what side of london your team is on and all your history is in north london which i thought you was all proud of and is linked too how you shape your future.. ok carol how am i closed minded muppet?? didn’ really explain that one either?? all i did was tell that guy not too be so narrow minded and insulting too say tottenham is here now so no more stratford its new tottenham now, think ill ignore your last comment cause too reply too it would only make me as bitter as you…hope you have a nice day

      • Fletch says:

        “every london club is proud of which side of london they are from”.

        Not sure Arsenal are proud of coming from the South otherwise they’d sing it incessantly and demand a move back there

        • tom says:

          ha ha yea..you have just proved my point tho that people will never let you forget where you come from even tho thats been a hundered years…

      • The Truth says:

        Seriously you’re so short sighted. What the fuck do you want to happen. The northumberland project is , and i quote Mr. Levy ‘Dead in the water’. Its unviable. You are the type of stalwart who said no to getting computers at work, or no to going decimal. Wake up. To grow as a club, and we need to, quickly, then we have to have a bigger stadium quick sharp. If the council hadn’t been a pain in the arse, maybe TNP would have been agreed and in the first stages by now. It’s not ideal, but what is? Back the club, not your old hat morals.

      • Astromesmo says:

        Tom, I’m taking a wild stab in the dark here but like ‘TV’s Own’ Roy Walker used to chant ‘Say what you see’… The guys log-in name is ‘SpurFanIndia’. That would suggest he is a Spurs Fan from, or based in India. Chances are therefore that he might not have been to London. SpurFanIndia, correct me if I’m wrong, like I say, it’s just a guess.

        Tom, football is a global game now, maybe that’s the point you’re missing in all of this. Your small-minded and frankly rude response smacks of the ‘Little Englander’ approach we would normally associate with West Ham – So maybe you’d be perfect for the area?

        • spurfanindia says:

          Thanks for the support.
          I have been never in London,but thanks to TV I rarely miss a game.I knew about Tottenham area in London only because of Tottenham Hotspur Football Club.I am planning to visit this August.My point is that we will always be known as Tottenham wherever we are.My wife complains that i think more about Tottenham rather than family matters.THFC has got a bigger following than any of you understand.It is because of our philosophy of attacking football with no cheating and respect to referees.WHite Hart lane is just bricks and Mortar, the soul of the club is our memories not the stadium.

        • Astromesmo says:

          Thanks to you for supporting the best team in the world!

          Your response sums up the whole nonsense of the ‘real fan’ argument. You’ve summed up what it means to be a Spurs fan as eloquently as I’ve ever heard it put… I salute you sir!

          In my travels I’ve been lucky to meet Spurs fans all over the world and I would never have doubted any of their commitment – Whether they’d been to the ground or not.

          While the ground has an emotive emotional value for everyone who visits it, a club is the sum of the people who follow it… Not the bricks & mortar they play in. That said, enjoy your visit – It’s a ‘grand old girl’ and it’ll be a shame to see her go, regardless of the outcome of the debate.

          COYS

        • tom says:

          shit!!! firstly let me apoligise too the spurs fan in india who has obviously not been too the lane an im genuinely sorry if offended you in any way it was not my inention and im a thicko for not realising your many thosands of miles away…once again my apoligies.

        • spurfanindia says:

          We are the best club that is for sure..Show me one spurs fan who will swap our club for any other team (Even Barca ).Disappointments are there for our supporters but it will only make our success more sweeter..The moment Crouch scored the winner against Man City, Woodgate’s goal in Carling Cup final,Kabouls’s Header in Emirates..Bale Vs Inter ..Each one of these fine moments..make us proud to be a lillywhite..COYS

      • graham says:

        tom arsenal moved to where they r now,they arent a north london orignal,i think every spurs fan would like to stay at the lane but we need a bigger ground to move to the next level,so we move ,its only 7.7miles anyway just a little bit further then west ham would have to move,

  • mark says:

    you’re not a suckup, you’re a sellout.

  • SpursLodge says:

    Here, Here.
    Just read Sky Sports….some muppet commented slagging us of about moving to Westhams patch in WEST London…..get a map you cock!

  • Aaron says:

    I’ve been surprised by how many fans are dead set against the move, including those who travel many miles to get to the ground.

    I know that I’m in the minority when I say that I want to move to Stratford. Perhaps we should stay in Tottenham if everyone is happy with mediocrity and an ever decreasing number of fans able to get a ticket for matches.

  • frank says:

    Hear hear, just Harry in future

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