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Do we have a witch's curse?

Maltese Falcon

Maltese Falcon

Niko Kranjcar
Must admit that sometimes, especially after games like two weeks ago, it does feel a bit like that...


Maybe magic does hang over Real Madrid, the game’s greatest club dynasty

Barney Ronay

Again, this is not an attempt to criticise, but a comment on the basic idea of meaning in sport, that craving we have for narrative. A couple of weeks ago I found myself engaged in a heated outburst on this subject during a Guardian Football Weekly podcast with my much-cherished colleague Barry Glendenning.
Barry was talking about Tottenham’s losing run in semi-finals. In the course of which I found myself disturbed by the suggestion this is some kind of hex, a shared fear, something passed down through the generations like – I suggested – a witch’s curse.

People who listened to the podcast were upset by this heated discussion. It rumbled on over social media. The following day some passers-by spotted Barry in a pub and chanted “witch’s curse” at him, behaviour I cannot possibly condone unless people really want to do it, and which is not funny or proof that I was right.

I see now what had unsettled me was the suggestion of a lack of order, the idea this can be explained away because some teams win and some lose. I wanted science. Instead I got people tweeting “witch’s curse” at me the whole time and always out of context. Witch’s curse has become my Lineker’s shat-on.

Even worse, this week has been spent writing about precisely this subject, the fact some teams do just seem to win. That the inverse of the witch’s curse, a shared regal magic, seems to hang over the greatest club dynasty in football. All of which is obviously not funny or even the slightest proof that Barry is right.
 
Madrid are where they are because they were francos play thing. They then built on that history.

Chelsea are only where they are because Roman brought them just as the money in the game exploded otherwise they would be as relevant as Leeds.

We are where we are because for years we owned by crap owners including sugar who could not grasp the change that was going on around him (and some people think he is a guru) the current owners are building us up but living within our means, which I really admire by the way.

We are not cursed, the media go on about sprursy thing and some of our weak minded players are swayed by it, those semi finals we lost except to Portsmouth and Everton we always lost to the better team. Man U are crap but they have big name players who when they want to will turn it on.

We need a Roy Keane type of cnut in the middle of the park who is talented but does not mind telling people to buck their fudging ideas up. Dier is not it, I hope more then anything we sign one.
 
Yes. Something separates us from 'normal' sides - in the biggest moments, when the biggest things are at stake, there is something lurking in the minds of our players that turns them soft, spineless and weak at the worst possible times.

'Normal' sides win, and normal sides lose, but this streak of self-destruction doesn't seem to be present in them. And sometimes, they're capable of miracles - like with Leicester and their title win, which was a monument to the power of sheer will and bloody-mindedness.

I guarantee you, that will never, ever happen with us.

Even when (if) we do win something, it will be the most perilous possible way, with the most self-sabotaging weakness thrown in as it is humanly possible to endure.

There's something about us that nothing can change - not even Poch, despite his minor miracles.
 
we-re-all-doomed-doooooomed-i-tell-you.jpg
 
DubaiSpur said:
Yes. Something separates us from 'normal' sides - in the biggest moments, when the biggest things are at stake, there is something lurking in the minds of our players that turns them soft, spineless and weak at the worst possible times.

'Normal' sides win, and normal sides lose, but this streak of self-destruction doesn't seem to be present in them. And sometimes, they're capable of miracles - like with Leicester and their title win, which was a monument to the power of sheer will and bloody-mindedness.

I guarantee you, that will never, ever happen with us.

Even when (if) we do win something, it will be the most perilous possible way, with the most self-sabotaging weakness thrown in as it is humanly possible to endure.

There's something about us that nothing can change - not even Poch, despite his minor miracles.
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Oh for Ghod’s sake. Let’s get some perspective. We played a crap game by all accounts. Hugely frustrating, disappointing, annoying, and not of the standard we expect.
But playing rubbish doesn’t equal “soft and spineless”. Doesn’t make us ‘self destructive’. We are still top 4. Ok we’ve made securing that CL spot harder work than it should have been. We lost to a relegation battling side and didn’t put in a good showing in the process. Look back 24 hours. It happens. Not good, but not that unique.
 
Glenda's Legs said:
Oh for Ghod’s sake. Let’s get some perspective. We played a crap game by all accounts. Hugely frustrating, disappointing, annoying, and not of the standard we expect.
But playing rubbish doesn’t equal “soft and spineless”. Doesn’t make us ‘self destructive’. We are still top 4. Ok we’ve made securing that CL spot harder work than it should have been. We lost to a relegation battling side and didn’t put in a good showing in the process. Look back 24 hours. It happens. Not good, but not that unique.
Click to expand...
You are wrong It is a gypsy cuuuuuuuuurrrssssseee............aaarrrrrrrrgggggghhh.......uuuuhhhhh. Blah.
Curse-on-the-fat-man-Thinner.png
 
Glenda's Legs said:
Oh for Ghod’s sake. Let’s get some perspective. We played a crap game by all accounts. Hugely frustrating, disappointing, annoying, and not of the standard we expect.
But playing rubbish doesn’t equal “soft and spineless”. Doesn’t make us ‘self destructive’. We are still top 4. Ok we’ve made securing that CL spot harder work than it should have been. We lost to a relegation battling side and didn’t put in a good showing in the process. Look back 24 hours. It happens. Not good, but not that unique.
Click to expand...

It’s a lot of bad games in a row now though.
 
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