This board is far too small to spread sentiment about anything. It’s a collection of obscure private jokes about badgers and custard; mainstream Spurs fandom won’t be infected by its oddities. Further, you could take everyone who posts on here and on TFC and on SC and COYS and whatever other sites are still limping along, and you could fit us into a single block of Wembley. With our wives and children. Even acting in concert, even with the wittiest chant imaginable, even with valid opinions about formations, or in any equally implausible circumstance, message board sentiment is irrelevant.
I agree that this board in isolation is small, but I also think the idea that narrative and hive mind kind of does carry some weight. Sissoko was seen as laughing stock material way longer than his performances actually merited it, but because the general vibe is that he sucks, that kind of carries over. Almost every other player got lots of praise, lots of support, lots of understanding if they had a bad game. Sissoko never did.
To be fair to the away fans, they’ve always been great. They offer support and truly get behind the team, and didn’t treat Sissoko any differently. But the home fans treat him as a laughing stock. I still remember Sissoko coming on against Dortmund at Wembley and some kid, probably no more than 15 years old, was giving it the ‘yeah let’s get Sissoko on, that will make a massive difference’ and really dialling the sarcasm up to 11, while looking around at all the blokes in the block giving him knowing nods, as if everyone’s in on the big joke. I just thought...fudge you kid. And most of the blokes generally only need one stray pass (which literally ever player makes multiple times a game) to stand up on their feet and shout ‘fudging HELL SISSOKO!!!!’. It was pressure and scrutiny that no other player needed to deal with, because every single other player got the benefit of our support, which is so important when we aren’t the richest club, we always had the idea that we were one club pulling in the same direction, fans and players all in it together. And as the England players have alluded to over the summer, that stuff helps.
So I don’t think this thread title is actually going to affect much, because luckily most people are now on the side of ‘oh, he’s actually quite good’ and this is more an ironic nod to past criticism. But I will always maintain it was unsavoury at best for the majority of the fan base to single one player out, and it isn’t the first time we have done it. I’m not sure if other clubs do it to the same extent, where they literally treat one player like a laughing stock. And I think the jokes can take root, from forums, to Twitter, to pubs, to the stands. Narratives get established, a hive mind develops and not many people want to be the one to say something different, because everyone is having fun being a part of the group. Luckily now the narrative is shifting, and long may it stay positive. Because whether or not you thought Sissoko was rubbish or average or quite good, no one can tell me singling him out like the way he had to deal with was in any way helpful. Particularly when we’ve given other players who have clearly struggled in the past unwavering support.
