Echo
In its purest form as a Tottenham supporter we should value and treasure our traditions to play fanciful attractive football. Beautiful free flowing expressive football. This hasn't always led to success but the lack of backbone is something we accepted as a trait to our personality. In recent years a strong spine has meant that we've been able to complement the fluidity with bullish belief and have taken massive steps forward. Our expectations have risen. The pressure of wanting to be successful can be troublesome when the performance doesn't match the new founded ambition.
Even when we have this tangible progress, supporters still find ways to complain. Justifiable weaknesses are pointed out but also the fickle nature of some means sanctification is forever out of reach. We've not had actual success, the type you can quantify on a trophy cabinet. And yet so many of us are relentless and blood thirsty in our pursuit for it.
You can't have everything. Actually you can, but it's not as straightforward as it plays out in your head. If it was, we'd be swashbuckling our way through the fixture list.
Bill Nicholson and Danny Blanchflower are more than just iconic figures in our history. Following on from the achievements of Arthur Rowe in the early 50's, they built the foundation for what it means to be Tottenham Hotspur. Nicholson wanted success, to be the very best. Blanchflower played with flourish and grace. To play football magnificently and to win magnificently. We might have achieved that in black and white but those achievements are still revered today and will probably go on to out last many of the teams of the HD and 3D generation. The ethos is to attack and to do so with flair. The reality is you need to be able to defend, be astute and be shrewd. It's a difficult path to enlightenment, one that can be spectacular yet flawed (as witnessed brilliantly under Harry Redknapp). It's taken us a long time to find a balance. So why do we remain so dizzy with our support?
If the football played is in its purest form as 'Tottenham' football, should that not be enough? And if we win something playing with a gung-ho mentality it can be treasured and remembered as something won in the right way. Our history is littered with glory. It's never truly sustained, but that doesn't mean its never special. It doesn't matter what others think, it's our club and it's our history and our identity means everything to us.
It's still not enough though, is it? We as a collective want more. It's what Nicholson would have desired. Yet our journey remains skewered with confused emotions and expectations.
Football isn't the same game today that it was back then. It changes in some way every ten or so years. In that same period of time we tend to change managers every few seasons, in the hope someone gets it right. Villas-Boas is not adhering to our traditions but that doesn't mean he wont in the long term. He might need to make sacrifices. With the players we're missing and the players we need, if we did attempt to attack attack attack it might still result in defeat. Be it glorious. But it would still be Tottenham. Yet somehow I still don't think that will be enough. Some people would still expect more. Look what happened when we got 4th spot for the first time and what followed.
To repeat again:
"In its purest form as a Tottenham supporter we should value and treasure our traditions to play fanciful attractive football. Beautiful free flowing expressive football. This hasn't always led to success but the lack of backbone is something we accepted as trait to our personality"
It's no longer being accepted. It's great to aspire to be something more, but at what cost? Trying to better ourselves shouldn't be a chore. It should be glorious, no matter the struggle. Audere est facere will only ever work if the coach the players and the fans embrace it together without fear. All of us are accountable and responsible in some way. But we can't have it both ways. Either accept one or the other. Our previous manager played the Tottenham way and yet was practically hounded out by some. Why? Because when we didn't play well and struggled to break down teams, people felt we were under achieving. The Tottenham way is not without its faults. As for the under achieving, compared to what? Compared to their expectations and the exceptions of what modern football stipulates as warranted success.
The way we rationalise retains no perspective either. Once again, how many players do we currently have missing? How many of the new signings are ones that Villas-Boas personally requested? How many times has he complained about it?
Accountable and responsible, we have to all sing from the same hymn sheet. At the moment we don't even know the words.
I've got no conclusion to this muse. It's up to you how you wish to take it from here.
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