Pre-season friendlies and WTF

It is always interesting reading social media, more so after a defeat, a lousy run or whatever difficulties Spurs find themselves in (according to the fans). What we supporters have in common with other supporters from across the globe is that we have a cornucopia of intelligences (or lack of it in some cases). From the understanding to the complete ignorant; the obliviousness of real knowledge of the mechanics of football, Spurs, in particular, its businesses and the workings in the background etc.

Take pre-season friendlies. Spurs had a reasonable run, I would say, when we faced Rome (4-1), Barcelona (2-2) and AC Milan (1-0) in America. Social media was pretty tepid, that was until we hit the buffers and were beaten by Girona 4-1. Then the language started turning blue (putting it mildly). “We are crap,” and “we are going to struggle in the league,” or even “sack the manager and Levy out.” And those are just the mild quotes.

Do people know what pre-season tours are about? Some do, some don’t. It is about making money (as tours are lucrative), selling shirts, creating a big fan base and of course getting the product name, Spurs, to a wider audience.

Tottenham Hotspur is more than just a football team, even though some of you will moan about that. But it has to be to compete with the big boys of the world. Either that or accept a status on the level of Brighton, Reading, West Ham… or, dare I say it, Arsenal (hopefully… we can only pray… the b*stards!)…

Building a new stadium and buying up the property in the surrounding areas has a purpose… and that is to create a bigger and better financial structure. Anyway, enough of the economic lessons. So, back to pre-season friendlies.

Some fans feel cheated, not only those that went to watch, but those that look at how we are doing. Some think that if they see a store that says Harrods on it, then they expect to look at Harrods on the inside, but when they walk in, its Pound Land (they do do good bargains though!). Some feel that is precisely what they are getting when they go to see a pre-season friendly. Even United’s manager José Mourinho said he wouldn’t pay to see United in a pre-season friendly, and he is their bloody manager. They put out a weak squad as well.

When Pochettino spoke after the Girona match, he said that there was a lot of positiveness to take from the game, and he was right. He could assess those that were on the fringes and see if there were any ready for the next step. It wasn’t just about winning – or the main priority wasn’t winning – but assessing and finances.

You look at the team that was out against Girona; Vorm, Aurier, Eyoma, Davies, Georgiou, Amos, Marsh, Skipp, Nkoudou, Lucas and Son. Only Davies and Son are in the full team. And another point, do you really expect those players – apart from youngsters that wanted to impress – to go out there full throttle and risk injury? For what? A friendly. Even if the full squad, Kane, Lloris et al., were out there, would you expect them to be in full throttle so that they could possibly get injured? The game was what it said it was on the tin (pre-season-money-maker).

But to be fair, most of those whiners knew that, the real reason behind their tirade was that they wanted to use any stick to beat Levy with. And their main axe was no purchases (yet).

Now let us look at it sensibly. Pochettino has been headhunted by other clubs and is a very much a wanted man. But he has just signed an extended contract, the same with Kane. They know how Levy works, do you think they would sign or even stay if they weren’t confident with the situation and Levy? Of course not. They are confident, and of course, they know things you don’t. That leads to the only logical conclusion. Remember what Sherlock Holmes said, Once you eliminate the impossible, whatever remains, no matter how improbable, must be the truth. And that is either the supporters can’t join the dots, or that they can, but they are so blinded with hatred – of Levy – that it makes them a bit Bruce Bannerish… i.e. they turn into the Green – one brain cell – Hulk. We’ve all been there after a few sherbet’s… but just not when we’ve been sober.

Then again, and to be fair, isn’t that what social media is for, to use one’s anus (isn’t that between Saturn and Neptune, I hear you ask!) anonymously, without showing the world your real identity, that way you are then free to escape back to the lunatic asylum after spouting such nonsense… I know, I used to be there until the brain surgeons did a transplant… now look at me, you can’t even see the joint.

(A knock on the door)

“Sorry matron… just finished…”