We Need A Miracle
In 1991 we lifted the FA Cup for a record 8th time. At the time there was really only two teams in London and there wasn't much between them.
London's trophy league 1991
1. Arsenal 16
2. Tottenham Hotspur 15
3. West Ham 4
4. Chelsea 3
Some 23 years later and there is hardly any pride left.
London trophy league 2014
1. Arsenal 28
2. Chelsea 19
3. Tottenham Hotspur 17
4. West Ham 4
There's so many threads on whether or not Levy is the problem or a case being put forward for a manager to take over but at this rate we need a miracle, we're being left behind. The fans are bitterly diappointed by the lack of CL football but when you look at the lack of silverware over the past 20 or so years then that really should be the last of their worries. It's as if London's footballing landscapre has gone the same way Portugal's did, only we are the crumbling sleeping giant that is Sporting Lisbon, with Arsenal being Benfica and Chelsea being the recently emerged power that is Porto.
1991 is now 23 years ago thus making this the second longest period of time in our history that we've gone without winning the FA Cup.
1. 1921 - 1960
2. 1991 -
3. 1882 - 1900
4. 1967 - 1980
5. 1982 - 1990
I could go on and on and on. It is all depressing reading and if I went on any further then the NHS would run out of Valium.
I don't believe it's all doom and gloom but it is sobering reading for so many of us, it should make us think about what this club's ambitions should really be.
The Champions League season in 2010/11 was one of the best I've ever enjoyed, when we beat Inter at home and then Milan away I was on cloud 9, laying awake at night half drunk thinking 'is this real, am I dreaming?' whilst pinching myself to sleep. Now though it feels like a life time away. With the trophy cabinet somewhat diminishing I feel that we haven't failed in CL qualification these past years but have put all our hopes and dreams into one thing thus over looking what really matters most in football, trophies.
A lot of people talk about how important CL qualification is in terms of building something special and how it will put us back on the map, attract better players and then the rest will follow. Horse sh!t. We all remember the '4th place final' of 2010 up at 'Eastlands', most on here most probably thought we had hit the jackpot, what we didn't know was that all it did was delay the inevitable. As it was Emirates Marketing Project who'd won the real lottery only two years earliar. The summer that followed Crouch's 'famous' header proved that we needed much more than just CL qualififcation
Emirates Marketing Project's summer 2010 window:
IN: James Milner (Aston Villa, £26m), Yaya Toure (Barcelona, £28m), Jerome Boateng (Hamburg, £10m), David Silva (Valencia, £24m), Aleksandar Kolarov (Lazio, £17m), Alex Henshall (Swindon Town, free), Albert Rusnak (MFK Kosice, undisclosed), Mario Balotelli (Inter Milan, £23m)
Whilst many will argue that is how you spend £110m whilst in the Europa League you must remember the wages on show, Yaya Toure alone was reportedly on £200-250k per week and that was after tax, so Gods knows what he's on now.
At the moment we can build on the current squad, it has plenty of use, depth and still some exciting young players coming through such as bentaleb and Pritchard. Yes it isn't good enough to win the league (which is my personal goal as a Tottenham fan) nor finish in the top four but it has enough to win trophies. Whilst we need the right man in the hot seat, whilst we need to strengthen in key areas (LB, CM, ST), we need to focus on what's most important, trophies or CL football. In an ideal World we'd want both with the constant focus on CL I think we need to re-examine our ambitions. The competition in the league is too strong for us but in a cup anything can happen, just ask the members of our 2007/08 squad and the current Sevilla squad who had a more memorable season than Barcelona, despite losing out on CL football again.
Arsenal have ended their wait for silverware whilst ours continues (6 years), we could continue to hate Arsenal as we do or we can focus on our own ambitions. We'll never like them (of course) but we won't get anywhere just hoping they slip whilst we fail to achieve any success ourselves. They won the cup, big whoop, they're in the CL again, big whoop, and Jack Wheelchair sung some stupid song, big whoop. Whilst they're our arch rivals it is time to focus on ourselves and winning trophies.
I'll leave you with this.
Tottenham Hotspur Honours:
League Champions: 1951, 1961
FA Cup: 1901, 1921, 1961, 1962, 1967, 1981, 1982, 1991
League Cup: 1971, 1973, 1999, 2008
Europa League: 1972, 1984
European Cup Winners' Cup: 1963
Where does it say top four?
To create a winning mentality you must win trophies. This club is obsessed with CL qualification, the only thing you should obsess over is being the best, nothing else.
