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The game was decided after five minutes
yesterday. It was about this time when one of the Liverpool players (I can't
recall who) was given so much space and time in the penalty area, it felt
that he was going to split the pitch apart as if it was the red sea. In the
end woeful finishing let Spurs off the hook but it was a sign that Spurs did
not want to win the match and were determined to let everyone know as much. I
had felt all week this was going to happen. Our previous three matches had
felt the same. End of season games where the players feel they have nothing
to play for (even if they have) are the worst type (at least with pre-season
friendlies you expect it and pay less for the privilege).
Liverpool were the same in patches, yet when they did turn up the heat they
were superb and they could have got into double figures yesterday if all
their chances had been converted. When Keane got one back I hoped that we
would at least push for an equaliser but the way the players trundled back to
the centre circle showed that they were already on their summer holidays.
A few of us spoke about this a few weeks ago when thinking that European
qualification may be decided in the last game. A pre-season tournament in
China has been muted this week which is due to be played at the same time as
Spurs would have been playing their first qualifying game in Europe. It
appears then that Asian money (and more importantly further exposure to the
Asian market) is more important than European glory. Even though a lot of
supporters were in two minds about whether to qualify due to the format of
the Europa League the fact that the club had decided even before the end of
the season and, although we've known for a long time that the interests of shareholders
are all that matter and the supporters are just a number to rack up the
income, it still hurts to see it so brutually exposed on the field of play.
At the end then another season has gone by and little has been achieved.
Tottenham decided not to try in the second half of the FA Cup tie against
Manchester United as progression in that tournament could have harmed our
position in the gravy train that is the Premier League. Tottenham decided not
to try in the first leg of the UEFA Cup tie in Ukraine for exactly the same
reason. We did try in the League Cup but, having scrapped through against a
Burnley team who should have beaten us, we were brutually exposed at Wembley.
Despite controlling possession a lack of a quality strikeforce cost us dear.
The strikeforce that got sold by Levy in last summer's transfer window to
appease the shareholders whilst maintaining the stronghold of the Cartel. The
club would say that we tried hard and were unlucky. In the back of the mind
though one can't help feeling cheated.
In the end Tottenham finished in a comfortable eighth place in the Premier
League. Redknapp no doubt thinks it's a magnificent achievement given that
Spurs only had two points from our first eight games and many supporters feel
the same. It seems to have been forgotten that it was largely the player's
fault that we were in that position in the first place and that, far from a
magnificient achievement, it was the minimum expected of a group of players
who, on paper at the very least, sit in the top six squads in the division.
But then perhaps this is wrong. Perhaps, on a day when Hull City celebrated a
home defeat, celebrated ending the season on a run of eleven games without a
win and with a points total of less than the number of games they played;
perhaps on a day when all the bottom teams lost and the top teams won to
re-affirm the chasm that exists in the Premier League; perhaps it has finally
hit home that the boundaries of success and failure has
finally changed for good.
In the modern world of football where money is everything and fans are just
part of the gravy train that feed the money machine, perhaps eighth place in
the Premier League is success after all. It keeps the shareholders content,
the players go away thinking they have achieved something, the manager gets
his bonus and the gravy train rolls on. But what of the supporter? Those that
have realised that there is no such thing anymore, that we are just mere
customers, will accept their fate. But those that feel an attachment to the club,
a belonging, a feeling that they are inextricably linked with the club and
that their feelings are determined by what happens to the club, will feel
cheated this morning. They will have a feeling of hollowness, emptiness and
it will hurt.
Therefore what will their overwhelming feeling be now that this long season
is finally over? Relief; that they don't have to suffer anymore. Relief; that
they are free from the pitfalls, from the trappings, at least until the start
of next season. Relief. Has there ever been an emotion that better portrays
the current state of the beautiful game?
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