. .

..

25^th May 2009 – Relief its all over 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?

. .

. .

TOPSPURS COLUMNISTS

	Mark Rose	Graham Gardner	Martin Cloake	Greg Meyer	Sean Morley	Logan Holmes	Jim Duggan	Colin Ashby	Mike King	Slabber	Guest Column
	Guy Edema	Clive Francis	Laurence Coss	Chris Dean	Il Falcone	Rabbi Crackers	JimmyG2	1Danny Thomas	Richard Pymont	Dan Wetzels	David Hayes
	Columnists Homepage		The index and archive page of the TOPSPURS columnists
9^thMarch 2008 - The Big Four Disease Our League Cup final victory, all ready a distant memory following our two subsequent defeats, was a great day for our club and for all our supporters. I do not need to regurgitate the stories and emotions from that day because all fellow Spurs supporters would have felt the same. As a football fan the victory was more than just a victory for Spurs however. It was a victory for the game as a whole because it showed that other teams outside of the Big Four can win domestic trophies. It gave hope to fans of all other clubs. For anyone reading the English tabloids in the aftermath of the final though it was anything but. It was, apparently, all about how Chelsea, a Big Four team, had lost and how Avram Grant was the architect of the defeat rather than how Spurs had played the better football and won. After all a Big Four team is all that any football fan cares about. A Big Four team is all that Joe Public wants to read about. A Big Four team sells newspapers. The Big Four, a name devised by the media to encompass Arsenal, Chelsea, Liverpool, and Manchester United could well be described by various other, equally nauseating, trademarks. The Sky Sports Four, named after the station that created them and continue to fund them. The Rupert Murdoch four, named after the way the media devote all their coverage to them and continue to gain funding from them. The G-14 Top Four perhaps. But for the purpose of the remainder of this article I will label them as the Cartel. Tottenham winning the Football League Cup (I have never labelled the competition with the name of its sponsor when describing it) was important for football but what the game really needed this season was for a team outside of the Cartel to win the FA Cup. Despite Arsenal and Liverpool being knocked out of the competition it appeared unlikely with Manchester United and Chelsea having both reached the last eight. Yesterday, at the time of writing, this changed with both teams exiting the competition to leave the tournament wide open for the six remaining clubs. What a day in the history of the world’s oldest Cup competition. For the first time since 1995 a team that do not make up the top four in the Premier League will have their name engraved on the trophy. I’ve not watched an FA Cup final for years because I’ve had no interest in watching a Cartel retain the Cup to enhance their domination of the game. This time I will and I will share in the joy of the winning supporters, understanding the highs they will experience at Wembley, delight that I experienced just two weeks ago. Upon purchasing my regular Sunday paper, the Sunday Express, this morning, I had hoped to read articles from journalists with similar sentiment. I had hoped to read how Barnsley had thoroughly deserved to beat the mighty Chelsea and how Portsmouth’s brilliant defending propelled them to their first victory at Old Trafford in fifty years. Instead I was appalled, but not surprised, to instead read about how Chelsea and Manchester United had lost and worse why they had lost Most of the Manchester United v Portsmouth report centred on Sir Alex Ferguson’s vitriol at the referee. His comments were only surmised in the paper but elsewhere he stated: “The game was decided by the decision not to give us a penalty.” No, that is a blatant lie, one of many portrayed by the Cartel. Manchester United lost because they missed numerous clear cut chances and then wilted at the back at a crucial moment. The penalty incident, in which Distin let Ronaldo run into him, and then shoulder charged the winger to stop him getting past, was not a penalty. On the day when the International Football Association Board met to review the Laws of the Game it is worth noting that the majority of people within the game – players, managers, the media and supporters – are not actually aware of those laws. Law XII states that an in-direct free-kick should be awarded for players that: “impede the progress of an opponent.” This, arguably, is what Distin did and thus at the very worst Manchester United could have been awarded an in-direct free-kick inside the penalty area. Yet three so-called experts on BBC’s Match of the Day stated that Manchester United should have been awarded a penalty. Why? Because many of their viewers support Manchester United and, if they side with those viewers, ignoring what is actually right in favour of hyperbole, then their viewing figures will increase and those so-called pundits will keep their jobs.  Ferguson continues: “Managers get sacked because of things like that but he’ll referee next week. Keith Hackett has a lot to answer for. He’s not doing his job properly. He’s got his favourites. He has to be assessed.” Who is Sir Alex Ferguson to demand that the referee’s assessor should himself be assessed? Surely that is the role of the Football Association? Yet Ferguson makes these comments not only to deflect the attention away from his side’s defeat but because he knows that the media, to protect their own vested interests, will publish his comments, which they did. Now Ronaldo: “"The referee against Portsmouth was unbelievable. In the first five minutes, there were three fouls and he took no action and then he failed to give a penalty. It's difficult to play like this. Sometimes they just protect the defenders and I am thinking about having to change my game because it is difficult to play like that.” This follows on from Arsene Wenger’s comments about referee’s needing to protect skilful players following the broken leg of one of his players. Law V states that the referee: “has full authority to enforce the Laws of the Game in connection to the match to which he has been appointed.” Where, within the Laws, does it state that the referee is charged with protecting skilful players? The referee’s job is to assess each foul, or potential foul, on its merit regardless of the players involved in the situation. What Manchester United and Arsenal really mean by their comments is that they want referee’s to make decisions in their favour, to give the Ronaldo’s of this world a free-kick even if a opposing defender makes a legitimate challenge, not because he is a skilful player, but because he is player that plays for the Cartel. The media allow the Cartel to make their views heard and sadly some within the game accept it as fact. Ferguson concludes: “Earlier in the season at Bolton we had Mark Clattenburg – Jesus, God!” Spurs fans do not need reminding that this was the referee at Old Trafford who denied us our first win their since 1989 by not allowing a goal when the ball had clearly crossed the line by at least three feet, the worst decision I’ve seen in the time since I started following the beautiful game. I was behind the goal at that match and, when the ball crossed the line, looked immediately at the linesman on the nearside. He was level with the edge of the penalty area and looked straight at the incident. I firmly believe to this day that he saw the ball cross the line (although I admit that I wasn’t quite sure myself from my own vantage point at the time) but didn’t give it in case he was wrong. In case he received the wrath of Ferguson. In case his life was ruined forever by media hounding instigated by Manchester United to protect their own interests. I believe, to this day, that we were cheated and the game was cheated in the interests of money. The Barnsley v Chelsea report largely talks about whether Avram Grant will lose his job as manager of Chelsea instead of how well Barnsley played and how most neutrals will surely want them to now go all the way and lift the Cup. On the following page of the paper is an article by Harry Harris. He states that, because the Cartel will reach the last eight of the “Champions” League (a ridiculous name for a competition involving teams that finish as low as fourth in their domestic League), the Premier League is the best in the world. In fact, he goes on to say: “Watch out for some spectacular signings from Chelsea and Manchester United.” I would say that the Premier League is one of the worst divisions in the world. Every year the Cartel gets stronger and the competition gets weaker. Every year the quality of matches involving the other sixteen teams in the Premier League gets poorer (in the Reading v Manchester City report the journalist comments: “The only other notable moment of the half – yes it was that boring – came via referee Uriah Rennie”). On the other hand Sky Sports create Grand Slam Sunday, making the Cartel seem the only relevant clubs in the land and the other Premier League matches on the preceding Saturday a mere sideshow. I remember a time when finishing second not fifth in the League gained UEFA Cup qualification and when finishing fourth was a failure not an aim of the entire season at the expense of anything else. I’ve stopped buying the Daily Express but continue to buy the Sunday Edition. One of the previous Chief Sports Writers, James Lawton, often wrote and lamented about traditional values and beliefs in sports. Jim Holden, the current top sports journalist has a lot to live up to but I think the reason I continue to buy the Sunday version of the paper is to read his articles which I largely agree with. He often stands up for the morals in all sports (and I follow all sports) and in football correctly laments at the true reasons behind the failure of our national team and quality of English players: the lack of training pitches and facilities, the lack of school coaches, the failure of the government to see all the advantages that competitive sport can bring to young people and so forth. Unfortunately Jim is fighting a losing battle. His very paper today, and every day, contains stories about the Cartel, in the interests of the Cartel, to protect the Cartel and in turn to protect the sales of the newspaper and therefore its staff. But by doing so the interests of all other aspects of the game are brushed to one side. By doing so his department, along with the rest of the media, is killing the very game that we love. I now don’t mind which of the remaining six teams win the FA Cup but I personally hope for a Barnsley v Bristol Rovers final. What a great day out that would be for both sets of supporters and what a moment in the history of the victorious club There are ninety two professional football clubs in England and approximately thirty six thousand amateur clubs affiliated to the FA. Football is not about the media, the players, the managers, the other club staff that work in the game, the stewards, the police, the programme sellers, the sponsors, the VIPs, the corporate fans or, to an extent, the new football fan that only watches games on Sky TV. Football is about supporters who follow those clubs, who attend their club’s matches and the joy and despair it brings to them. No matter how large the Cartel continues to grow, no matter whether the thirty ninth game takes place, no matter even whether a European Super League is formed amongst the G-14, football, at the grassroots level, in the lower leagues and in the non-leagues will always belong to the true proprietors of the game, its supporters. On a day like today, when the magic of the FA Cup has finally been revived, it is a truth worth holding onto.

Disclaimer: Please note the words on this page are the opinion of the topspurs columnist and are just that, opinions, not facts and are nothing to do with Tottenham Hotspur Football club PLC. Just a supporter having his say nothing more nothing less. Any commentary on betting is meant for discussion purposes only and does not constitute any form of advice or recommendation.