A former Chelsea supporting colleague informs me that ‘The Blues’ have always been bigger than Spurs. And he says that he can prove it.
In football, the past is in a permanent state of being re told out of context and I think that this has confused him. The demand for this ‘new history’ is driven by over exposure, one eyed punditry, an expanding army of hired bull _______ to push it onto the millions of cultural grazers caught in the headlights and who suck it all up to satisfy their own immediate desperation to smell like a winner.
But even without the sure footedness of the real past, we still have an understanding of how great and legendary things sometimes are, how real footballing ideals develop, how clubs grow and the difference between things being won and things being bought. Every now and then, under good leadership that is backed by the board and fans, the energy and will of a whole ideal can gather momentum and become something bigger.
In these instances you are more than just a witness, you have a responsibility to be there in the moment because you know that without your intention and emotional input things just might be different. It is a calling where you can no longer be a mere supporter but something different, something both logical and weirder at the same time – a sort of gonzo supporter. By making this ‘self’ your personal gift to your club, you become as integral to your team’s story as your team is part of yours.
In manufacturing their continued momentum with money and a production line of Europe’s elite managers, Chelsea no longer require this personal gift from their own supporters. The is no need for the ‘self’. The faithful no longer have any sway on the guts, reasoning or imagination over what was once their own. It has been taken from them and they haven’t realized. What will happen will happen, whether they remain interested or not. The required new role of the Chelsea supporter is to watch matches, buy merchandise, sing the TV friendly songs, and bow to the icy wisdom of the board. Just like at The Emirates. The future for Chelsea is Arsenal. It is their ultimate prize.
What is amazing is that both sets of supporters see themselves as being different, when in fact they are quintessentially the same. I give you Charsenal. Charsenal – A football supporter whose sole function is to increase the revenue of a football club through the procurement of merchandise, match day tickets and over priced snacks. And nothing else.
Stadium Meat – See Charsenal.
My thanks to Bill for a great read – HH
Personally I accept that Spurs, as a club, are no different from the rest of the ‘elite ‘ – in fact the driver behind the new stadium is to join the gang. No probs there – that’s the way the game has been going for nigh on 20 years now. If we want a sustainable successful team it’s what we need to do. Might not like it but like a lot of others I’d like to see us back competing for the best players when they’re on the market, with a strong chance that we’ll get them. It’s where we were when I walkked through the turnstile for the first time and for the next 20 odd years.
The point raised by HH I think is the baggage that comes with that – not so much the fairweather fans – they’re been around since Vivian Woodward laced his boots up. I can put up with that. I respect other fans who feel the same , plus or minus, about their team as I do about – it is after all a game we ALL love. What I picked up from what HH said in the lead article is the incpient glory-seeking fans, the nouveau riche fans that come with nouveau riche clubs, that dismiss all that has gone before, claim their place in the football world as if it was only created when they took an interest, and indeed was created in THEIR image and for THEIR pleasure. Fuck the resy of us, Spurs or otherwise. In this new world, and we will see them (if we haven’t already), in the Naming Rights stadium. Having a club in the big time means we get status symbol fans – it doesn’t make it right though does it?
If you recall, this was always Scholar’s vision and intention, it was just he was the wrong man and the wrong time. If the economic climate hadn’t been so volatile in the late 80’s, the same thing would be levelled at us right now. Does anyone think we became a PLC for the sheer hell of it or purchased so many ‘non-football’ companies for fun? Of course not, he wanted to find other ways to fund the team because of the increasing cost and value of running a football club that’s all.
I love Tottenham Hotspur because we dont win everything all the time, but we do win at least one trophy every decade (and are the only club other than Yanited to have done this since the 50’s).
We don’t have a team full of superstars, yet we always have at least one household name in our team.
We don’t have a ‘money no object’ owner, but we are a well run club.
I’m not from Tottenham or London or the south even, I’m from Yorkshire and when I decided as a boy to pick a team to support I followed the advice from my father (Hendon born Tottenham fan) and decided on the mighty Spurs because he was right, whenever they came up to Leeds or Burnley or others they always played fantastic football, this is why I am a fan.
In a world full of United’s, City’s and Rovers, there is only one Hotspur and I will be a fan until the day I die…..
I was going to ask you that very question. Last night there was a guy on TalkSPORT from Macclesfield whose parents ‘immigrated’ up north, his kids are now mad Spurs fans despite it’s close proximity to Utd and City. My own allegiance is obvious, but for you guys-my hat is well and truly doffed, as you could hardly be called “Fairweather” or “Glory Hunters” Around here I’ve seen an assortment of Man Utd, Liverpool,Newcastle and Blackburn shirts worn, yet strangely only when those sides have been successful(WTF).But more and more Lilywhites are now worn by the kids, so we must be doing something right I guess?
It used to make me laugh when all of a sudden for about 3 years in the early 90’s, every other car on the M62 had a Blackburn Rovers window sticker in it, and Chris Moyles used to mention how big a Leeds United fan he was on the radio, not any more…..I dont listen to Radio 1 nowadays but I doubt the fat f*ck mentions Leeds United at all, and I haven’t seen a Blackburn Rovers sticker in 10 years……
Could be something to do with the credit crunch or global warming or it could be down to the fact that most people are fairweather I just can’t work it out…..
Complete tosh in my opinion.
There are plenty of real fans everywhere, and no amount of fan support will ever change anything significant on a pitch. If that was the case the Turkish and Greek teams would be winning Champs every year.
Also to suggest that a club making money is inherently a bad thing is for simple marxist fools.
It is only football, after all.
Marx never stated that ‘making’ money was an inherently bad thing, but the distribution of it. If you make money off your own back and distribute it for the greater good of your club/cause no one will begrudge you that or the success that follows (apart from the green-eyed monster brigade).
What’s happened at Chavski and Man Shitty for most is abhorent (in more ways than one), but what if we were the ‘lucky’ recipients of a Billionaires altruism?
How many of us would find it abhorent then?
no one would say shit when Ronaldo rocks up on a £500k per week wage kissing the chicken badge!
If he scored a last minute winner for us against the scum at Wembley to clinch another ‘Double’, would we give a sh*t if he was on a million a week?
At that precise moment in time (and the forthcoming days, weeks, months, years) the answer would be ‘hell no’.
Why then do i feel slightly uncomfortable just typing this in?
I must be an old fart cos I see teams such as Everton and Sheffield Wednesday being bigger than Chelsea.
Agree with Everton.
Replace Wednesday with Villa, but i catch your drift.
As a snotty-nosed yute, running around in my Pepe jeans around the early-mid eighties, Chavski were a two-bob 2nd Division oufit playing in front of 10,000 with a nutty chairman who wanted to electrocute his own fans, in a ground that had three-wheeled disabled-issue turquoise-coloured vehicles parked behind one goal.
Oh, happy days!
And a big fuck off dog track don’t forget, I wonder why they ever did away with it?, mind you I suppose in those days the further away from the action the better eh?
The dog track was ideal, considering the place was inhabited by mongrels…… ;-)
*and still is*
And don’t forget the ‘moat’ !!!
didnt get much more for their last CL match there fans are and always have been a disgrace well what more can you say about fans who travel to away games in caravans, there is no where to park these gippo caravans and even less room for the horses to graze
Woof woof.
Last year a former student of mine, now comfortably off in Manhattan, invited the wife and me to watch a baseball game at Yankee stadium, the new ball park built adjacent to the historical one. We sat in the company suite – super view from half way between third base and the plate about 20′ above the action – and were pampered throughout. Constant supply of food and drink, etc. If one wished one could perambulate along the mall connecting the suites and find more food, buffet style. All free with the pass. During the game I wandered down the mall and into the main part of the stadium a number of times.
What I found was that the real, the die hard fans were in the main part. Not just in the bleachers (what an experience, up there with the sea gulls) but in the pricey seats also. Thousands of them. Knowledgeable and vocal. In the suites sections (and there are two levels of “luxury” suites/boxes) were
the so so fans and their guests. For instance, my former student. I asked him questions about the players on the field and found many of his replies vague. Yeah, he supported the club, but hey he was a senior manager and this was one of the perks, so why not take advantage of it. Good, too, for bringing in clients, etc.
Why this long lead in? Because I wonder whether relatively the same sort of scenario applies in the UK, in the larger stadiums of the richer clubs. Say 60%-70% of the attendance consists of “true” supporters, the remainder are not hard core, though many of them might be “sympathetic,” i.e. will cheer for the home team if at Stamford Bridge, and cheer for the home team if somewhere else.
Football games/clubs have always included both elements and with the new stadia being built, the search for improved revenues and so on, the pattern will only spread and deepen.
We may become an exception with a waiting list large enough to fill the new stadium. Whenever that may be. But, I doubt it.
I would hope that when we get to the the new stadium
chavs and wannabees will be screened and barred from entering the hallowed ground and facilities.Only visiting fans legal quotas allowed in. :shifty:
wasnt long ago Cheatski almost went bust under that white haired old git only bailed out by the ruskie when he gets fed up and i think he is getting their and pulls his billions out of the club they will go back to what they were a struggling load of pikies