It seems like there's a lot of negativity among us Spurs fans at the moment. Which is understandable, given our awful recent run in all competitions, culminating in our early exit from the CL. And it's also understandable that we try and explain our unusually poor form, and that this inevitably leads to questions about the manager, the dressing room, and the players' mentality. But I think the truth is much simpler, and is something that we need to constantly remind ourselves of:
We are trying to compete for 4 league spots against 5 other teams, all of whom have spent way more money than us! Here's a reminder of net transfer fee spend over the last 9 seasons, and wage bill this season:
Emirates Marketing Project: 779m / 225m
Chelsea: 397m / 218m
United: 414m / 221m
Arsenal: 161m / 201m
Liverpool: 153m / 166m
Tottenham: 14m / 121m
The difference is absurd! We're in such a difficult (and unique) position because we're a bigger club than the rest of the teams in the league, but we're just nowhere near the top 5 spenders in wages and transfer expenditure. So we're in our own little impossible bubble, expecting and expected to compete with the other superclubs, despite having nowhere near the resources.
This might all be very obvious; and of course it doesn't mean that we should just accept and be happy with losing to those fudgers, and/or just accept our lot as perennial Europa league qualifiers. It's natural that we all feel so frustrated and disappointed with how things have gone recently. But let's at least try and bear the facts in mind, and so get behind the team with pride for what we're striving to achieve, rather than becoming blindly obsessed with competing for the CL without acknowleding that the odds are so stacked against us. As per another thread, a start would be not having such an embarassing fudging atmosphere at WHL during one of the club's most successful periods in recent memory.
This season
I think this fundamental point is the foundation for our recent struggle in form, played out as follows:
- Because of our recent history as a club, we expect and are expected to compete with 5 other clubs for the CL, despite spending far less money than them
- This dynamic was magnified last season, after genuinely challenging (at least mathematically) for the title, which has raised expectations even higher for this season
- Those magnified expectations are misplaced though - we only got 70 points last season, which often would have seen us finishing 5th or even 6th - or at best, certainly nowhere near challenging for the title
- And we're in more difficult circumstances this year - we've had injuries to all of our key players (which we were very lucky to avoid last year), and we've had to stretch our squad against higher quality competition in the CL than EL
So essentially we've had even more articifically raised expectations than normal, and an even more challenging context in which to meet them, and I think the combination of those two things has then led to a young team having serious struggles with confidence. Which naturally might also have led to struggles to maintain the physical energy that Poch demands in his training and matches.
Of course I'm not trying to argue that the manager and players should be 100% free of criticism. No doubt they've made mistakes. But that doesn't mean those mistakes are the main reason we're not challenging more in the league and CL. Though it hurts and is disheartening to hear Poch talking down our quality and our chances to succeed at this level in the PL and CL, I think there's truth in it - and maybe he's trying to do the right thing by tempering expectations and reducing unrealistic pressure on a young and burned out squad.
I'll just finish by saying that on balance we still have a very talented young manager and team, with key players under contract and keen to stay, and a big new stadium on the way. As fans, let's not ruin all of that by sinking into a spiral of unwarranted negativity that drags the club down with it, just as we're on the cusp of a financial position that will allow us to truly compete with these other fudgers. More than anyone else we are the ones who have to shake the club's tradition of crumbling under pressure, because we are the only thing that is permanent. And judging by the atmosphere at WHL, we are failing. So let's fudging get behind our young team and manager, and make the Lane a fudging fortress whilst we still can. COYS.
We are trying to compete for 4 league spots against 5 other teams, all of whom have spent way more money than us! Here's a reminder of net transfer fee spend over the last 9 seasons, and wage bill this season:
Emirates Marketing Project: 779m / 225m
Chelsea: 397m / 218m
United: 414m / 221m
Arsenal: 161m / 201m
Liverpool: 153m / 166m
Tottenham: 14m / 121m
The difference is absurd! We're in such a difficult (and unique) position because we're a bigger club than the rest of the teams in the league, but we're just nowhere near the top 5 spenders in wages and transfer expenditure. So we're in our own little impossible bubble, expecting and expected to compete with the other superclubs, despite having nowhere near the resources.
This might all be very obvious; and of course it doesn't mean that we should just accept and be happy with losing to those fudgers, and/or just accept our lot as perennial Europa league qualifiers. It's natural that we all feel so frustrated and disappointed with how things have gone recently. But let's at least try and bear the facts in mind, and so get behind the team with pride for what we're striving to achieve, rather than becoming blindly obsessed with competing for the CL without acknowleding that the odds are so stacked against us. As per another thread, a start would be not having such an embarassing fudging atmosphere at WHL during one of the club's most successful periods in recent memory.
This season
I think this fundamental point is the foundation for our recent struggle in form, played out as follows:
- Because of our recent history as a club, we expect and are expected to compete with 5 other clubs for the CL, despite spending far less money than them
- This dynamic was magnified last season, after genuinely challenging (at least mathematically) for the title, which has raised expectations even higher for this season
- Those magnified expectations are misplaced though - we only got 70 points last season, which often would have seen us finishing 5th or even 6th - or at best, certainly nowhere near challenging for the title
- And we're in more difficult circumstances this year - we've had injuries to all of our key players (which we were very lucky to avoid last year), and we've had to stretch our squad against higher quality competition in the CL than EL
So essentially we've had even more articifically raised expectations than normal, and an even more challenging context in which to meet them, and I think the combination of those two things has then led to a young team having serious struggles with confidence. Which naturally might also have led to struggles to maintain the physical energy that Poch demands in his training and matches.
Of course I'm not trying to argue that the manager and players should be 100% free of criticism. No doubt they've made mistakes. But that doesn't mean those mistakes are the main reason we're not challenging more in the league and CL. Though it hurts and is disheartening to hear Poch talking down our quality and our chances to succeed at this level in the PL and CL, I think there's truth in it - and maybe he's trying to do the right thing by tempering expectations and reducing unrealistic pressure on a young and burned out squad.
I'll just finish by saying that on balance we still have a very talented young manager and team, with key players under contract and keen to stay, and a big new stadium on the way. As fans, let's not ruin all of that by sinking into a spiral of unwarranted negativity that drags the club down with it, just as we're on the cusp of a financial position that will allow us to truly compete with these other fudgers. More than anyone else we are the ones who have to shake the club's tradition of crumbling under pressure, because we are the only thing that is permanent. And judging by the atmosphere at WHL, we are failing. So let's fudging get behind our young team and manager, and make the Lane a fudging fortress whilst we still can. COYS.
