What makes a football club?

Article by Daniel Norman

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What makes a football club? It seems an easy question to answer and most would list something like the following attributes: the fans, the players, the ethos, the history, the location. The latter item is something that’s been thrust to the forefront this week with the news that Tottenham will definitely have to raise anchor and dock in another stadium for the season 2017-18 season.

The media as ever have leapt on the story, with the ‘Spurs to ground share with Arsenal’ bandwagon quickly gaining momentum, enabling anyone who fancies it to have a giggle at our expense. That’s fine by me, I actively rejected the opinions of the mainstream media a long time ago. What this event did do is really make me question what the key strands of this adoration of my club are. How much does the fact the club was founded in Tottenham, and has always been in Tottenham, matter when compared to the above attributes?

Fandom is a multi-national occupation in the modern world, the wider the fanbase the more hard cash rolls into the coffers, I accept that. Football is a beautiful game which should be enjoyed by all, and if a New Yorker or a Namibian felt the dizzying agony which I did when Liverpool’s third went in a week last Sunday, then brother, you’re alright by me.

 

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Players are a tough one. Gone are the days of Celtic’s Lisbon Lions, conquerors of Europe in ’67 and all born within a 10 mile radius of Parkhead. If players play with passion, and a love for the badge, that is enough for most fans nowadays regardless of their nationalities. Thankfully we really do have a crop of players produced by our academy which we can be excited about, with Harry Kane obdurately kicking on in his development, and the likes of Carroll, Pritchard, Mason and Veljkovic looking to follow in the trail blazed by Townsend and Bentaleb. Granted they are not all born within the sound of Bow Bells but at least they have grown up as part of us.

Tottenham’s ethos is a defining characteristic: attractive, flowing football punctuated by moments of dash, skill and flair. This never seems like a burden to me, more a responsibility (and sadly a lot of the time just a hopeful aspiration!). The stadium is steeped in this history and the ghosts of heroes past still influence the team today, in that a real connection between crowd and players is never made until these unwritten expectations are met.

So to the stadium news and the forced exile which seems an inevitably. It is (hopefully) only a season and ultimately we will be moving back to our spiritual home, but a swankier version thereof, so I can just about handle that. But where to go? The names bandied around are as follows: The Emirates, Wembley, Stadium MK, The Olympic Stadium. Sharing with the Arsenal just isn’t an option. If this did happen it would highlight an even greater detachment between the decision makers and the supporters than I have so far dared to imagine. Wembley is an option, it’s in North London and no other club plays there so this would be my choice from the four. The Olympic Stadium means associating in some way with West Ham, not something I am personally comfortable with for a number of reasons. Finally the Milton Keynes idea – I don’t see any positives in this proposal, it’s as confusing to me as the roundabout system and as attractive as the architecture.

How does moving affect what makes us who we are? As mentioned above it’s bearable for one season, but beyond that I do feel like our identity is affected. I’ll finish with an anecdote which both highlights this and fills me with great happiness. A workmate who does not like football accompanied me to a conference at the Emirates. When I told him that it was Arsenal’s stadium he said, “So Arsenal are from London? I didn’t realise they came from anywhere I just thought they were like a brand.” This outlook astonished me, and also made me realise that we only really remain true to ourselves if Tottenham stay in Tottenham…but at least we’ll be guaranteed a few days out at Wembley! COYS!

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