Everyone has an opinion, but Spurs remain quiet

Ears may well have been burning at Tottenham Hotspur last week as another poor performance and home defeat prompted more debate among fans over just what’s going wrong at the club.

Our ears were certainly ringing at the final whistle, as the club’s PA blasted in at top volume. The perception, not just among supporters but also the press covering the game, was that this was to drown out the booing that had come after the last poor performance.

The club later said it was a mistake by a new PA operator, but the damage was done. Drowning out the dissent had served only to amplify the dissent. There are so many questions being asked by the fans, about matters on the pitch and off. We’ve asked many of those questions in this column. And yet, as this paper’s editor also observed, the club remains silent. For too many fans it feels like the club doesn’t want to speak or listen to us. The line that comes up time and time again in the messages we receive at the trust is ‘I’ve never felt so distant from the club I support’.

We’re also getting some messages that we’re not taking a hard enough line with the club. Luckily, two of the trust board’s members were invited onto one of the popular fan podcasts, The Fighting Cock, alongside another fan who has been running a Twitter account called @ENIC_OUT.

It’s a long discussion, but a valuable one. We explain a bit about the work of supporters’ trusts generally, and talk about the situation at Spurs. We put the trust’s position, which is that calling for the removal of any group or individual at the club is not, in itself, the answer. We’ve had ‘sack the board’ campaigns at Spurs before, what we need is constructive dialogue.

The culture of blame, we say, is one that is damaging the club, we’d prefer to work together to fix what’s wrong. So we ask for people to express their views and apply pressure, but to do so in a way that will get results. The @ENIC_OUT guy agrees, saying he’s attempting to set out the issues fans have, so that problems can be solved.

The podcast has been overwhelmingly well-received, with hundreds of membership applications pouring in via the trust website. It’s encouraging. We know our ‘constructive engagement’ line can seem to be one that takes the momentum out of fan protest rather than one that seeks to focus it. And there are still some fans accusing us of doing just that. We also get a note from one fan who says he wants to join and get involved. Because we are “too harshly anti-ENIC”.

There’s also another minor media storm developing. Emmanuel Adebayor was quoted apparently blaming the fans for the team’s poor performances. We were asked for a response. As a supporters’ organisation we naturally reject the idea that fans are to blame for the way players’ play, and defend fans’ right to express their feelings. We also point out that there’s a link between high ticket prices and expressions of discontent at poor performance, while mentioning the efforts of groups such as the 1882 movement to improve the atmosphere and ‘support the shirt’.

We also point out that Adebayor’s performance wasn’t great away from home the previous week, when our magnificent away support was in full voice. This provides the media hook. ‘Fans group hits back at player’ is the story. It could just as easily have been ‘Fans’ group defends fans’. Our stance is generally well received by members, who are never afraid to speak up, and by a section of the press. Some think we shouldn’t have criticised one of our own players.

Adebayor issues a statement saying his comments were misinterpreted. We take the line that there has been a full and frank exchange of views, and that now it’s time to move on.

The story has now become both ‘do fans have a right to boo?’ and ‘Is it right that Spurs fans boo for 90 minutes in every game?’. We’re invited to discuss this on TalkSport, with Jason Cundy leading into the discussion by lambasting the stupid fans for booing. So we point out that, really, there’s not that much booing. Really. And that fans are actually quite loyal and supportive. But that the real questions about what’s happening at Spurs, and in football generally, need to be directed further up. The discussion moves on.

It’s an example of why we try to do as much direct media work as possible. All too often, the view of fans is presented by other people who claim to understand what we’re saying, but who are really following some preconceived ideas. There’s no substitute for directly explaining our own views, and it seems to be working, with many of those joining up saying they hadn’t realised what we were actually saying before, but it takes up vast amounts of our time on top of day jobs, families and life in general.

Membership applications are still flooding in. As are offers of help from people with expertise in finance, planning, architecture, engineering, legal affairs… The postbag is running at about 90/10 in favour of the line we’re taking. And a tiny hard core of the ten per cent are quite vitriolic.

Another night, anther meeting. This time an informal chat with members of local community groups about the stadium development – something that has been organised as a direct result of articles in the Independent group of newspapers. The community groups are at pains to assure us they don’t oppose the stadium expansion – most of the people there are Spurs fans too. But there are serious issues with the associated developments. We are at pains to assure them that many fans share the concerns, but that as a fan group we must stay focussed on the issues that directly concern our members.

We discuss where our concerns overlap, and there are plenty of areas where they do. Common themes emerge; lack of consultation, lack of trust, concern over whose interests are being served by various proposals. Most of all, there is uncertainty about what exactly is being proposed. Where once there was agreement and support across the board for a set of plans that seemed to deliver a better stadium that was a part of a vibrant community, now there is suspicion and fear. What a sad failure that represents.

The meeting finishes with all agreeing to consider next steps. And meanwhile there are a host of projects and dull but vital membership admin tasks to deal with. It’s been a busy week for us.

And from the club? No answers to the questions that are being asked, no explanations about what is happening, no acknowledgement that the distance more and more fans are feeling from the club is an issue.

Tottenham Hotspur Supporters' Trust

The Fighting Cock Podcast