If people ever ask me why I am a Tottenham Hotspur
supporter (and they do) then I have a very simple answer: Glenn Hoddle
is the reason!
Here in South Africa we only got television in
1976 and our family had to wait a further two years because my dad had
some inexplicable hatred of TV, so it was only as a teenager in 1978 -
around the time of the World Cup hosted (and won) by Argentina - that I
finally started watching football on TV.
Tottenham were
actually one of the promoted teams in that 1978/79 season having been
relegated two seasons before, but they were in the news to some extent
because they had just signed two of the Argentine stars of the World
Cup, Osvaldo Ardiles and Ricky Villa. Back then it was quite unusual to
have foreign players at English clubs but it wasn't Ardiles and Villa
who caught my eye, it was the elegant and supremely talented Glenn
Hoddle. He was a great dribbler and he had a thunderous volley, but it
was his uncanny ability to spray perfectly placed passes around the
field that set him apart. When Spurs played, he was the player I always
looked for and Spurs became the team I always wanted to watch.
It's been a tough job being a Spurs supporter over the years.
Liverpool were the dominant team back in the 70s and 80s and I still
have painful memories a 7-0 thumping at Anfield. Another more recent
but just as painful memory was going 3-0 up against Manchester United
at White Hart Lane only to lose 5-3! Tottenham last won a league title
in 1961 which means they haven't won it in my lifetime. They did manage
to win the occasional FA or League Cup - especially when the year
ended in a "1" (although we found out later that they only won Cups
when the year started with a "1" as well!) - but despite two 3rd placed
finishes in the mid 1980s, they have never seriously threatened to win
a league title.
Spurs have certainly had some world-class
attacking players over the years. Apart from Hoddle, White Hart Lane
has been graced by the likes of Chris Waddle, Paul Gascoigne, Gary
Lineker, Jurgen Klinsmann, David Ginola and Gareth Bale; but their
defence has almost always been rubbish . . . even when they've had
quality individual defenders like Graham Roberts, Gary Mabbutt, Sol
Campbell and Ledley King. For some strange reason, good defenders
always turned to muck as soon as they arrived at White Hart Lane.
Tottenham's tendency over the years to score plenty of goals but leak
even more has meant supporters like me grumbling about the coach,
complaining about a lack of funds, demanding new players and saying
"wait until next year" quite often!
This season, out of the
blue, everything seems to have changed. Mauricio Pochettino - a coach I
admit I didn't warm to initially - has transformed the team into
genuine title contenders. The transformation has been sudden and
unexpected. Spurs have been in disarray the past few seasons after
squandering all the money they made on the sale of Gareth Bale on
under-achieving players like Roberto Soldado and Paulinho and then
firing managers Harry Redknapp, Andre Villas-Boas and Tim Sherwood in
quick succession for failing to clean up the mess.
Pochettino had tried to play a high pressing and attacking game in his
time at Southampton and I for one didn't believe he had the ability or
the players to make that same game plan work at Tottenham, but he's
done it. The Spurs team that's recently won 10 of their last 13 games
is unrecognisable from any other Spurs team I've ever supported. They
fight hard for possession and when they get it, they pass it around
beautifully and create a lot of chances. So apart from Pochettino (and
the always excellent goalkeeper and team captain Hugo Lloris), what's
changed at Spurs?
First off there are the Belgians. Tottenham have 4 Belgian players on their books but it’s the most recent arrival Toby Alderweireld who’s made the most significant impact. His partnership with fellow Belgian Jan Vertonghen in the heart of defence has seen Tottenham’s traditional leaky defence changed into the best organised and most miserly defence in the Premier League with the fewest goals conceded of any team. Jan Vertonghen has always been a quality individual defender but until Alderweireld’s arrival, he and his fellow backs Danny Rose and Kyle Walker have suffered from the Spurs defensive curse that turns good defenders into muck. I have to also mention the Austrian Kevin Wimmer who filled in while Vertonghen was injured and ensured the defence remained just as solid.
It’s another Belgian Moussa Dembele who is the heart of the Spurs midfield. Dembele’s ability to win the ball is only surpassed by his incredible ability to hang on to it against almost any odds. The number of times this season that Dembele has been able to shake off defenders and emerge from heavy traffic with the ball is literally phenomenal. He is the unsung hero in a midfield that boasts the defensive steel of young Eric Dier, the cunning and invention of the vastly improved Erik Lamela, the creativity of dead-ball specialist Christian Erikson and – of course – the precocious talents of teenage sensation Dele Alli. Not much to be said of Dele Alli that the UK football scribes haven’t said already, suffice to say that he will almost certainly be named young player of the year and looks like a Tottenham legend in the making.
Finally, the great Harry Kane. Two seasons ago Kane was getting the occasional substitute appearance while the likes of Emmanuel Adebayor and Roberto Soldado botched chance after goalscoring chance. Last season, Spurs dumped their overpriced and underachieving strikers and gave the young and inexperienced Kane a chance to prove himself. Doubters like myself were soon silenced and Kane was nothing short of sensational, banging in quality goals with style and composure. This year, he’s been even better! He had a bit of a goal drought at the start of the season but he’s turned it around and is currently the top scorer in the Premiership with just a few games to go. Kane is only 22 years of age but he plays like a seasoned professional with a calm authority . . . and he does it all without the silly haircut, the “look-at-me” tattoos, the prima-donna play-acting or yelling at the ref and generally behaving like a plonker. The single biggest problem Tottenham have right now is that Harry Kane is irreplaceable.
If Spurs don’t catch Leicester City and win this year’s Premiership title then I will be heartbroken. I’ll rue the missed chances – especially the frustrating home loss to Leicester and the 2-2 draw with the hated Arsenal – and I’ll dwell on every missed goal or refereeing decision that went against us . . . but I will still believe! This is the youngest team in the Premiership with a great coach, a fantastic team spirit and huge scope for improvement.
But I don’t want to end this brilliant season saying “wait until next year”. That’s what I’ve said about every other Spurs team I’ve ever supported . . . I want this great young team to win it NOW, so COME ON YOU SPURS!
My team, my passion!
Edit: PS I should add that Leicester have also been magnificent this year. A relatively small club who were almost relegated last season and started this season at 5000-1 odds, they are on the verge of doing what people said could never be done in this age of multi-million pound budgets . . . but really Leicester, save the fairytale rags-to-riches heroics for a season when you can prevent big spending clubs like Manchester City or Chelsea from buying another title . . . not in the same year when Tottenham finally get a shot at winning a League title in my lifetime!