Dave Kidd: There’s no such thing as football clubs having their own ‘DNA’ – unless you’re talking about being ‘Spursy’
SIXTEEN years have passed since Dimitar Berbatov left Spurs, so we should forgive him a memory lapse.
But when the great Bulgarian soft-shoe shuffler turned up as a Sky pundit to watch his former club at Brighton, and claimed that tossing away a 2-0 lead to lose 3-2 “was not Spurs”, he could barely have been more wrong.
In fairness to Berbatov, while the term ‘Spursy’ feels like the oldest of cliches, it only actually entered the footballing lexicon ten years ago.
Although that’s only because, by 2014, Spurs had already been ‘Spursy’ for several decades and so everybody instinctively knew exactly what it meant.
It meant stuff like snatching defeat from the jaws of victory, style over substance, softness under stress, bottling it — and choking.
But can ‘Spursiness’ really be an actual thing?
Because most football supporters are fatalistic, believing their own club is cursed by bad luck and prone to most of those characteristics which define being ‘Spursy’.
To chuck in another old chestnut — can any football club really possess a ‘DNA’? Fundamental and distinctive qualities which are unchangeable?
In the decade since ‘Spursiness’ was coined, the club have gone through five managers, changed their entire playing squad apart from Ben Davies, moved into a magnificent new stadium and won nothing.
If we accept that Davies isn’t the problem, then we’re going to have to believe that several entirely different bunches of blokes have, by signing on the dotted line for Spurs, become individually and collectively flaky. Which is like believing in mermaids or unicorns.
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And yet, the thing is, it is actually true, isn’t it?
Giorgio Chiellini said it best, after Spurs blew a lead and were knocked out of the Champions League by his Juventus side back in 2018.
“It’s the history of the Tottenham,” said the legendary Italian defensive b*****d.
“They always create many chances and score so much but, in the end, they miss always something to arrive at the end. We believe in history.”
That’s Chiellini — who knows a thing or two about being definitely not, in any way, Spursy — telling us that Spursiness exists.
And to such an extent that even foreign clubs know exactly what it means.
Sunday’s capitulation was the tenth time Spurs have lost a Premier League match having led by two or more goals. No other club has achieved this ‘feat’ on more than seven occasions.
So the idea of an inherent ‘Spursiness’ is only a cliche because it holds large elements of truth.
Usually, great managers give a team an identity. But they don’t tend to give a club a ‘DNA’.
Sir Alex Ferguson’s Manchester United always found a way to win.
Since he left, United have found many different ways in which to lose.
Arsenal’s last two title-winning bosses, Arsene Wenger and George Graham, employed chalk-and-cheese playing styles.
Just five years apart, Chelsea won titles under Jose Mourinho, with the meanest defence English club football has ever seen, and Carlo Ancelotti, winning three of their final four home matches 7-1, 7-0 and 8-0.
So there’s no such thing as a football club’s ‘DNA’.
Except, perhaps, at Tottenham, who employed Mourinho and Antonio Conte — cynical men after Chiellini’s stony heart — and still ended up pretty damned Spursy all the same.
Ange Postecoglou has dismissed the ‘Spursy’ tag as ‘playground stuff’ because he is a big, gruff Aussie who doesn’t believe in pixies at the bottom of the garden.
And because he is paid handsomely not to believe that Tottenham’s problems are genetic and incurable.
But back in May — on the extraordinary night when Spurs lost 2-0 at home to Manchester City and most supporters went home happy because the result went a long way to denying Arsenal the title — Postecoglou suggested a fundamental weakness.
“The foundations are really fragile,” he said. “The last 48 hours have shown me that. It’s inside the club, outside the club . . . everywhere.”
Of course, the one permanent feature of any club is its fanbase. True supporters are in it for life.
So, do Spurs supporters make Spurs ‘Spursy’?
By lacking a big-club mentality, by being happier to see Arsenal denied the title than to see their own club qualify for the Champions League, as they would have done had they beaten City that night
This is surely too simplistic.
There are almost 60,000 match-going Spurs fans at every home game and hundreds of thousands more who are devoted to the club — some old, some young, some cynical, some dreamy, some who even wanted Spurs to beat City that night.
Perhaps it’s just that Spurs are in a unique position among English football clubs.
They are bracketed as one of the ‘Big Six’, suggesting they ought to win things, but do not enjoy the wealth of the other five, nor Saudi-backed Newcastle.
They have an enviable ancient history and a ‘To Dare Is To Do’ ethos which encapsulates the essence of the game, as part of the entertainment industry.
As Conte never tired of mentioning, Spurs also boast a world-class stadium and a training ground without a playing squad to match.
They now have a promising first-team forward, Mikey Moore, who was born on the first day of the 2007-08 season, the last campaign in which Tottenham actually won a trophy.
Postecoglou has pretty much promised to end that barren run by stating that he ALWAYS wins a trophy in his second season at a football club.
As if openly defying the idea of ‘Spursiness’ by saying such a thing out loud would banish any hint of Spursiness.
After that, Spurs won five matches in a row and went 2-0 up away at Brighton.
And then, as Chiellini would have it, ‘the history of the Tottenham’ repeated itself.
As if it were as fundamental and unchangeable as DNA.
SLOT MACHINE
HAVING promised not to do so, Arne Slot was reading from the Jurgen Klopp hymn sheet when he moaned about Saturday’s 12.30pm kick-off at Crystal Palace.
Slot has enjoyed the smoothest imaginable start to life as Liverpool boss — none of the seven teams the Reds have played are in the top nine of the table.
Next he must face Chelsea, Arsenal, Brighton, Aston Villa, Manchester City and Newcastle as six of his next seven Premier League fixtures, as well as European ties against Bayer Leverkusen and Real Madrid — the champions of Germany and Spain.
After that little lot, we can properly judge whether the Dutchman has more in common with Klopp than merely the ability to whine about TV scheduling.
A VIEW TO A VILL
THE atmosphere at Aston Villa’s Champions League win over Bayern Munich was one of the best I’ve ever experienced at a football ground, and the spectacular winner by Jhon Duran was unforgettable.
Which made it all the more sad to hear a radio phone-in during which Villa supporters spoke of being priced out by tickets costing between £85 and £97.
Last Wednesday night at Villa Park was a true ‘I was there’ occasion.
But clearly that was only for those who could afford it.
STRENGTH IN DEPTH
MIKEL ARTETA freshened up his Arsenal side for Saturday’s clash with Southampton by bringing in three fringe players.
Those bench-warming ‘stiffs’?
Raheem Sterling and Gabriel Jesus, who have eight Premier League titles between them.
And Jorginho, a European champion at club and international level.
Whatever problems the Gunners may encounter during this season’s title bid, it won’t be a lack of strength in depth.
Who are these famous footballers?
- I was West Ham captain but I almost went to jail over bankruptcy
- I’m a former Man Utd star and I once stole a girl from Ronaldo
- I’m an ex-Man Utd star – now I own a dog-themed B&B
- I was Thierry Henry’s toughest opponent but quit to become a pastor
- I’m a former Wolves striker but I left football behind to become a vicar