Tag Archives: Spurs

Idiot Spurs fans get what they deserve

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I have blogged before about how fans are doing the Old Bill’s job by constantly videoing everything that happens on the concourse of stadiums and in pubs around ground. That fans are inadvertently grassing each other up by posting these videos on YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, etc, and that these videos are being used by the police to ban and convict fans.

Even if the police do not push for a conviction for the fans, if the video go’s viral on social media, and they can clearly be identified, those fans involved will soon find themselves hauled in before their manager and warned about their future behaviour, or worse, fired.

The LAD bible Banter Boys who record everything for a few likes or RTs, or in the hope they become famous for 20 seconds and their video go’s viral are basically walking CCTV cameras doing the Old Bill’s job.

I look back at the Chelsea incident in Paris. For me, the fans did little wrong. They refused to let an away supporter on a train, then when accused of being racist (I am still of the opinion it was because he was a PSG they refuse to let him on, not his skin colour) they chanted we are racist, we are racist ironically.

This sort of behaviour, and worse, happens up and down the country, over land and sea, and is usually just harmless fun. No malice intended. In the context of the game day, it is just normal, acceptable behaviour. Rugby fans are just as bad, or perhaps even worse. Everyone remembers the dwarf tossing incident.

90% of the behaviour of fans, mainly travelling fans, go’s unreported. Whether that bit a little bit of handbags, a chant with questionable language, a flare going off on a train. It is not recorded, it is ignored, and we all get on with the day.

But the 10% which is caught on camera always ends up going viral, and, like with the Chelsea fans, can result in bans, convictions and job losses.

Why fans both film other fans, and allow themselves to be filmed is beyond me. Last season at West Ham, I had the Arsenal Fan TV cameraman in front of me (the only one not in it for fame and fortune). He started to record the fans around him and I politely asked him to not film me (and that if he does, his camera will end up on the pitch)(. Fair play to him, he ensured he did not film me or my mates during the game.

Whilst I think fans who record themselves and others at games for a little bit of fame are idiots, and will only end up grassing up other fans with their footage, I did laugh at this weeks incident involving Spurs and West Ham.

Video footage circulated on social media following the game of one person urinating into a plastic cup before handing to another to throw towards the visiting rival fans at Wembley Stadium.

Spurs investigated the incident and, after identifying the individuals concerned, have now issued lifetime bans to both men.

Now whilst this type of incident is disgusting, it is not unusual. Both Liverpool and Everton have been known to use the urine-throwing technique at games previously. Although in Liverpool’s case, it was never their fault.

It is a key reason why Arsenal do not let away fans sit above home fans – to protect those underneath from object thrown, whether that be coins, urine, pies and people spitting.

Normally I would think unlucky lads. That they have been grassed up by someone catching their behaviour on camera and posting it to social media. That they have been grassed by fellow fans.

But in this case, I have zero sympathy.

It seems the two fans involved, who received the bans, videoed the incident themselves, put it up on their own social media, and basically grassed themselves up.

They deserve everything they get for their own stupidity.

I wonder if their life time bans are worth the thousands of hits, likes and RTs they got. I wonder if next time they go for a job interview and the company Google’s their names, seeing what they did, will result in a job offer being pulled. But it was worth it for the 30 seconds of fame hey lads?

The new generation of fans are idiots. It is not about going to games, getting up to whathever you get up to, and talking about it in the boozer with like minded fans. It is about recording everything, for that little bit of fame.

Imagine in 15 years, when these fans have their own kids;

Daddy can we go football
No Son
Why Daddy?
Because Daddy is an idiot who videoed himself peeing into a cup before throwing it at West Ham fans. Daddy is banned from football for life
Daddy, you’re a twat
I know son, I know

These fans are now not only grassing up fellow fans, leading to bans, they are now grassing up themselves.

I bet both Spurs fans, handed the life time bans, feel a little bit silly now. All for a little bit of attention.

Think before you post.

Keenos

Spurs fail to sell 50% of tickets for match against London rivals

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Just over a month ago, I wrote a blog about how the League Cup highlighted that Spurs were still, and always will be, in Arsenal’s shadow.

It was very basic stuff, about attendances. That Spurs basically did not have the high attendances to justify such a big stadium. That whilst they might get 90,000 turn up for a big game, they have had attendances as low as 20,000 in recent year for smaller games.

The point I was making was that when it came to lesser games, either Premier League, League Cup, or European, Spurs will probably be best off closing their upper tier.

Against Barnsley, just 23,826 turned up to watch at Wembley, highlighting that Spurs do not have the fan base to sell tickets for minor games.

The replies from Spurs fans were predictably laughable.

We then come to this week. A game against West Ham. It is half term. Surely no excuses to sell out, or near sell out?

Or so you would think.

Interestingly, Spurs have failed to release attendance figures for their home time against West Ham, but reports are they are around the 36,000 mark.

Now we all remember the criticism Arsenal drew when “just” 44,064 turned up for this seasons League Cup 3rd round tie with Doncaster Rovers:

So what has been the media response to Spurs having nearly 10,000 fans turn up against another West Ham side?

In reality 36,000 for a midweek third-tier domestic cup competition is pretty sensational going.

The low attendance and the positivity from the media once more shows that Spurs are still in the shadow of Arsenal. That the bar of achievement is a lot lower for them than Arsenal. The level of expectations a lot lower for Spurs than Arsenal.

Spurs, the joke of a club who think progression is a trophy and release DVDs celebrating losing in Europe. They will talk about that night in Madrid for decades to come.

https://twitter.com/ShaneBurns_/status/923268979271061504

Small silly club.

Keenos

 

 

League Cup highlights Spurs are still in Arsenal’s shadow

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I remember a few years ago writing a blog about attendances at Arsenal and Spurs. It was basically questioning why Spurs are building such a big stadium.

The blog was about Spurs struggling to fill White Hart Lane for certain games:

The point I was making in the blog was that if Spurs struggle to sell out for every game now, there were only be more empty seats in a bigger stadium.

I then returned to Arsenal. Even for League Cup games at Highbury, we sold out. And since the move to the Emirates, Arsenal’s lowest attendance (before the Doncaster game) is 46,539, against Shrewsbury Town in the League Cup third round way back on the 20th September 2011.

The Doncaster attendance was 44,064. 

So Arsenal get near enough twice as many fans turn up for small games than Spurs, but Spurs are building a stadium bigger than Arsenal? It is all just very odd.

When I wrote the original blog, many Spurs fans pointed out that Arsenal’s Stadium is bigger than White Hart Lane. That Spurs can not get 46,539 into their current stadium so it was an unfair comparison.

This argument was stupid, because whilst I would not expect Spurs to have more fans in the ground than their capacity, the point is they are not filling their current stadium.

The Spurs argument was that if they build a bigger stadium, more fans will turn up for the smaller games. If you build it, they will come.

This completely missed the point that every year over the last half a decade, there have been games where 10,000 tickets have gone unsold. They have been advertised at train stations and in the Evening Standard, yet still tickets were unsold.

A bigger stadium would not magically create more fans. They had an opportunity to take one of the 10,000 unsold tickets, and chose not too. A bigger stadium would just leave more seats empty.

In 2012, 25,030 turned up to watch Spurs play Lazio in the Europa League. That is around 10,000 tickets unsold (maybe a little less with the reduced capacity). If Spurs played in a 60,000 seater stadium, the attendance would still be 25,030, meaning that their would be 34,970 unsold seats.

But if the stadium was bigger, more would turn up the window lickers kept shouting at me.

Well on Tuesday Spurs were playing a League Cup game at Wembley. A 90,000 seater stadium. It was against Barnsley. 23,826 people turned up to watch. That is 61,686 less than what turned up to watch Spurs play Bayer Leverkuson last year in the Champions League.

So they built it, but they did not come.

In comparison, Arsenal’s attendance yesterday for the game against Doncaster was 44,064. Nearly twice as many Arsenal fans turned up for a game in the same competition as Spurs.

Of course, Spurs fans will have their excuses. Like it being at Wembley instead of Tottenham – even though hardly any of their fans actually live in Haringey.

They will point to it being the League Cup, yet Arsenal had more turn up, and are they then saying they only want to go to the big games?

The fact is, their new stadium is a vanity project. They are hoping that by building a bigger stadium ,it will elevate them to a top team, a more popular team, and their fan base will grow.

In reality, you only grow as a club, become more popular, with success. And no matter how big Spurs build their stadium, it will not hide the fact that they have won just a single League Cup in 18 years. No FA Cup in 26 years. No league title in 56 years.

It will be hilarious when Spurs play in their new stadium, whether it be next season or the year after. Their League Cup 3rd round tie against a lower league side will just be a case of déjà vu.

It will not see them sell out. It will not even see them get above 45,000. As history has shown, for these smaller games, Spurs only have around 25,000 who actually want to go.

Spurs will always be in Arsenal’s shadow, no matter how big they build their stadium.

A big new stadium does not make you a big club.

Keenos