Camden Sports: Football | Arsenal | Tottenham Hotspur | Richard Osley | Pip Wroe

Publications by New Journal Enterprises

Home

Archive

Competition

Camden New Journal - CROW by RICHARD OSLEY and PIP WROE
Published: 8 January 2009

Seen from from the Emirates, Spurs’ Cup glory looks like thin gruel

IT’S a simple equation for Spurs fans. Carling Cup = Life. So no wonder the Tottenham first team’s heroic triumph against Burnley in the semi-finals on Tuesday night sparked yet more scenes of uncontrollable glee at White Hart Lane.
As the cameras panned across the home supporters section, you could see a magical sparkle in their eyes, faces absorbed by the rich glory in front of them. In their minds you could imagine them thinking “I was there, I was there the night we beat Burnley on that famous cup run of 2009”. The day after, they probably bought all the tabloids and have a prize picture of Burnley’s Mike Duff’s own goal on the kitchen clipboard.
It might have seemed disproportionate to anybody on the outside of this success-starved corner of north London, where no meaningful trophy has been brought back to stay since Gazza’s broken-leg cup final. And there will be those mealy-mouthed sceptics who will tell you of bothersome facts, like nobody really gives a Senderos about how far they progress in a lacklustre tournament which is won in February and long forgotten by March.
But it would take the grinchiest grinch to rain on this excitable parade.
Spurs fans – people me and you grew up with, friends and work colleagues – deserve a few days out at Wembley for the loyalty they have shown through the dustbowl of 18 barren years.
Yet even winning 10 Carling Cups won’t really register, until they win a big one.

IT was a pleasure to see someone earning their astronomical wages this week as Harry Redknapp put on the biggest boot he could find (probably one of Kanu’s size 17s, stolen from Portsmouth) and kicked the backsides of the Spurs players as they flopped against Burnley.
Tuesday night’s game was the epitome of the “game-of-two-halves” cliché with one consistent feature: the mocking of Arsenal. As Spurs stumbled woefully through the first half, the Burnley faithful taunted and jibed our team by singing “Are you Arsenal in disguise?” – only to have it thrown back at them as they conceded four in a rampant second-half performance. It was beautiful to see both teams sharing a joke about the farce of a team that Arsenal are rapidly becoming.
The moaners of the Emirates will remain glum for as long as Mad Professor Wenger can hold on to the purse strings, stubbornly refusing to spend money just as a child refuses to eat his vegetables. Fortunately for Spurs we now have a
wheeler-dealer cockney who loves to spend, although whether he knows what team he’s managing is yet unclear.
Of the Jermain Defoe transfer he said: “What a fantastic deal for Portsmouth.” Very true Harry, but an absolute shocker for Spurs.
Although our third-choice striker is now our first choice, it is great to have him back – the little hogger does score some wonderful goals.

Comment on this article.
(You must supply your full name and email address for your comment to be published)

Name:

Email:

Comment: