An Echo of Glory

I could preach to you about backing the team (again). I could tell you that the only way to succeed is if we believe we can as fans. I could tell you that the people that slag off players are twats etc. etc.

Truth is, it's not worth it.

You see, we will always have yids that like to abuse certain players. A lot of the time, they are just scapegoating them to ease their frustration. But most of the time, they are just being cunts.

Last night, I think I may have experienced every emotion a fan can have. Joy. Elation. Hope. Shock. Frustration. Dispair. But as ever, it all ends the same way: sadness.

Basel away, lads. Who would've thought it would turn out this way? 

He felt it more than any of us

Whatever I think, it's the players, though, that are much more important than anything we say.

They didn't just put in 100%. They put in that and more, more than any fan expected of them. The manager too. AVB wanted it more than anyone did; he believed in this competition. Just the image of him praising the players for their efforts with a tear in his eye brings tears to mine. Sad? Pathetic? Perhaps, but that's football.

Basel won't go on to win it, as much as I want them to for their equally impressive performance. It'll be the only club left who couldn't give a fuck what happened. A club that cares more about league positions than silverware. A club that- oh you know the rest. 

It makes me think though. The passion shown by players that many fans have discarded, deemed unfit and unworthy. Walker, Hudllestone, Sigurdsson, Dempsey! The promise of Carroll and Holtby. The leadership of Dawson, our rock in the team. It gives me hope. 

After Dempsey's equalizer, we all though we could do it.

Hope for what? Champions League? Yeah sure, why not? It is, as of recently, our main objective. But, guys, remember our ultimate objective, one that has been engraved into our history:

'The game is about glory. It is about doing things in style and with a flourish, about going out and beating the other lot, not waiting for them to die of boredom.'

I don't like defeat. Defeat shows weakness, an inability to compete with a greater opponent. On that basis though, I don't think we were defeated, merely lost the tie. We were strong and firm when we easily could've rolled over and conceded. We caused them problems, creating just as many chances as they did for 120 minutes. 

Nevertheless, we're out. Gone till next year. The positive is, we were not outclassed.

Last 6 games. The final hurdle. City will be tough. The other games with be just as difficult  Whatever happens, promise me this guys:

Be proud of our players.

To finish this post off nicely, some words from the great Bill Nicholson, without whom, Tottenham Hotspur wouldn't be.

'It is better to fail aiming high than to succeed aiming low. And we of Spurs have set our sights very high, so high in fact that even failure will have in it an echo of glory.' 

It all ends in tears. But aren't you proud of them?

Reviewing our fans

So I went to White Hart Lane on Thursday to watch our match against Basel. It was the first time I've been to the Lane in quite some time. I enjoyed the day very much, great day, even if the result wasn't ideal.

I had high hopes for the Basel match and, as a result, I massively underestimated their team, thinking we'd get a strong result. Streller, Stocker, Salah and Serey Die were amazing for Basel; they played out of their skins. It was a surprise, but it shouldn't have been looking at their season. Looking at our performance, I thought we were lucky to get the draw. We were poor to say the least.

But this isn't a match review. This is a fan review

The Basel fans were in the stadium at 7pm and were going at it from then on. Singing, jumping, lighting flares, waving flags. Meanwhile, there were about a classroom of Yids in the stadium. Of course, we couldn't respond being so few, so I studied their antics for an hour.

The players names were read out. They not only cheered at the player's name; they repeated it, screamed it aloud. Meanwhile, the Spurs faithful lightly cheered at our players' names. Worrying reports say that fans actually booed Adebayor and Gallas when the teams were read out. Now I personally didn't hear anything malicious, but I could certainly imagine a few disgruntled fans booing the ex-gooners.

Siggo smashes in the equalizer, benefiting from a cheeky deflection

At times, we were loud. Waves of 'yid army' and 'come on you spurs' were heard, along with a few faint-hearted renditions of 'Oh when the Spurs', not strong though to make an impact. Jan Vertonghen's song and Lewis Holtby's song were heard in the first half. We stopped singing when Basel applied themselves. The Basel fans didn't stop. Not from the moment they entered the ground. That's the difference for me.

I talked before the match about our old anthem 'Can't smile without you' and questioned its absence from WHL in recent years. Th
e answer I got was that we replaced it with 'Oh when the Spurs', which not every Spurs fans sung too loudly. I question you now. Why don't we have an anthem? Before the match, I imagine players walking out to CSWY on the loudspeakers, with fans singing with them. The speakers would stop near the end, leaving us singing loud and proud. Can't this happen? I know 'Bubbles' is a stupid excuse for a song, but when they sing it, I always feel a little awe at their singing, only because I want that at the Lane. It's a small piece of identity, if nothing else.

Ade makes it 2-1. Very athletic finish.

I'd say the last 20 minutes, our reaction as fans was poor. Instead of trying to spur the team on (ha, pun), we just sat and stared at Basel pressing our team further and further into our own half. It was upsetting. With just a bit of spectator-input, the team could've had a few more chances.

It wasn't great as a fan watching us fall silent in shock, angry at a mis-touch or whatever trivial indiscretion occurred. I even heard a few dickheads on TalkSport criticize AVB's decisions! He's been excellent all season round, and should have earned more respect.

We have a responsible as fans, to stand up and support our team through thick and thin, through success and failure. Because if we do not support our team through hard times, nobody will.

Basel: The Journey Continues

At the start of the season, I had the attitude to the Europa League that everyone shared: it's a distraction from our league objective. More games to play. More chance of injury. Travelling. It didn't seem worthwhile. Well, it certainly didn't seem worthwhile when Redknapp was playing second teams in the group stages.

Thankfully, AVB does not share my former attitude. He values the competition for what it really is: a European competition. A good run would boost morale and a trophy would leave the fans elated. He won the competition with Porto, along with the unbeaten league title. Therefore, he has approached the competition with the  respect it deserves but not always gains.

Attitude

Whether or not the players value the competition is a different kettle of fish. We have not one away in the competition this year, with draws against Panathinaikos, Maribor, Lazio and Lyon and a horrific 4-1 loss against Inter Milan at the San Siro. Thankfully, that has been our only loss in Europe this season.

What is clear, though, is that it's time for the players to step up their attitude. All 7 of the other teams have to have been good to get to this position, and we are fully aware of the likes of Lazio and Chelsea. We have been VERY LUCKY to even get this far, despite the quality in our squad. Late goals have got us past Lyon and Inter. Late goals will not be good enough again.

Home Fortress

The late away goal at Inter. I hope to God we don't need this again

Our home performances, however, have been very positive. With 4 wins out of 5 at home, we should be very happy with that side of the competition, notably thrashing Inter at the Lane last month (that was probably one of our best performances all season). On paper, therefore, we should look at Basel and think we should try to settle the tie in one leg, not two.

That's never the case though.

All we needed is one away goal at the San Siro to finish Inter off. It took a fortunate Ade tap-in in extra time to win us the tie. In contrast to the game a week before, that was the worst performance of the season.

Basel, NOT BASLE

Marco Streller, carrying the team.

Basel sit on top of the Swiss league table, only losing 3 games all season and none at home. Their top scorer in the Europa League has been their prolific captain 31-year-old Marco Streller, who averages almost a goal every two games for Basel. They have only lost one in their last six.

However, I don't like saying it but someone has to: they are only Basel. I'm sorry. I had to say it. Apart from Alexander Frei and Streller, there are no stand out names on team list. Even Frei is on his way out of football, after saying he'll leave Basel at the end of the season.

What should be noted is that they did knock out Man United last year in the group stages of the Champions League, with strong performances in the competition last year. However, that was with their star talisman Xherdan Shaqiri, who is now making his trade at Bayern Munich.

After knocking out big-money Zenit in the last 16, I think they are feeling as fortunate as us to be in this position.

The Journey Continues

The Europa League has turned out to be an important competition and  an outlet for us this season, a break from the stress of the Premier League. At Spurs, we have a little motto, words spoken by Danny Blanchflower years ago: the game is about glory. And guys, what is more glorious than European silverware?

The journey continues. I'll be at the Lane on Thursday and whether you are there with me or watching the tele, I am sure you'll be cheering us on. COYS!