Yid Army to lead attack on antisemitism?

In between games, we've been wondering ...

Is it time to drop Yid, Yiddo, Yid Army chants?

Last week a survey questionnaire popped into the inbox of Spurs season ticket holders and members, part of THFC's consultation on the use of the "Y word".  We commend THFC for initiating a conversation with fans, and for taking a responsible leading role in this important conversation. The issue has been rumbling around in a pretty high-profile way for a couple of years now, and it will keep coming back if we do not address it and deal with it.The FA has issued a statement, and even the Prime Minister has commented on it. It is better that we take a proactive role and lead and steer the conversation, rather than being pushed onto the back foot, constantly having to explain, defend, justify, or deny. 

As to whether "Yid" should be dropped, I can see both sides of the argument. On the one hand, "we'll sing what we want". The problem is not with our use of the word Yid: Spurs fans have taken ownership of what has been used a racist term of abuse and reclaimed it with pride. Other communities have done the same with the word "queer" and the "N word". We do not use the word with intent to offend; quite the reverse. The problem lies with others - it is illogical that Spurs fans are being criticised for using the word, and it would be downright perverse if a Spurs fan were to be arrested for "using threatening, abusive or insulting words" simply for chanting Yid Army or Yiddo. The FA and the Metropolitan Police are being naive if they think this is the way to deal with the issue.

On the other hand, racism is abhorrent and society has to challenge it. Words do have power; the fact that Spurs fans are not being antisemitic does not stop other people from using the word in a racist fashion. Personally, I have always felt uneasy hearing the word Yid in chants, and I don't use it myself (lily livered, middle class, wuss that I am). On one level, the Y word is used simply because it is part of the songbook. I wouldn't use the "N word" either; over time that word has become clearly unacceptable. And if we're thinking about chants and songs, consider what has happened with "Eany, meany, miny, mo ..." (if you're old enough to remember the original words).  During one of the recent flurries of online debate, Twitter revealed that some Spurs fans did not even realise what the word Yid meant. (Truly). 

My own view is that we should stop using the word Yid now, but we should drive the change ourselves from within.

But how? I do get annoyed that some individuals present the issue as if it is straightforward and clear cut. It is not. It is complex, and is tied up with issues of club history, identity, loyalty, traditional rivalries, and pride, as well as race. As a football fan, David Baddiel must know that. Baddiel's film, part of Kick Racism Out of Football, would be more powerful, and more likely to succeed, if it explicitly acknowledged that there is a significant difference between Spurs fans' Yid chants and the despicable antisemitic songs from some West Ham or Chelsea fans. David - you'd be better trying to get Spurs fans on side, rather than antagonising them.

Is it really a sensible strategy to antagonise Spurs fans and try to force change from the outside by threatening arrest? That will simply rile loyal fans, increase stubborn defiance, and make the desired outcome all the more difficult.  If we Spurs fans decided ourselves, voluntarily, to drop the word, we could get such massive R.E.S.P.E.CT. Show that Tottenham Hotspur has awesome, intelligent fans, with a respectful club heritage. Show that we are better than the racists and we are proud of our diverse community. Show integrity and dignity, and claim the racially aware and socially responsible high ground.

Agatha

Exciting times, but loyalty cuts both ways

View at The Lane, Spurs v Swansea

Agatha and Mildred love the tingling anticipation that is the start of a new season. Great opening games in the League and Europa: four wins, a clean sheet, and new players. Lots of new players. The Magnificent Seven (so far): Paulinho, Soldado, Chadli, Capoue, Lamela, Chiriches and Eriksen. We are excited at the prospect of these considerable talents joining the squad. It already feels a very different team. Amidst the anticipation and the excitement, two important questions are nagging Agatha:

1. How long will it take us to compose chants for all the new players?
2. What effect will it have on the club and our tradition of growing young talent internally, that the balance of foreign and British players has shifted significantly?

There has long been discussion about foreign players in the Premier League. Paul Wilson reports on Roy Hodgson's expressed concern about highly rated young players, like Tom Carroll, not getting enough play in the first team. One of the reasons we've always loved supporting Spurs is that we're not like Chelsea or Man U, who simply buy their way to the top. Success is so much sweeter when it's hard won. And the satisfaction of competing at the top with home-grown players is hard to beat.

And there's also the associated question of loyalty. Not only the loyalty of players to clubs (consider our own Ledley King, and see Stephen Gerrard's interview comments in today's Observer), which comes to form part of a club's spirit, but the loyalty of fans to players. Where should fans' loyalties lie, when hard-working, long-serving, still-talented Spurs stalwarts lose their place to expensive new players? We will not be the only Spurs fans sorry to have said goodbye to players like Tom Huddlestone and Jake Livermore, although you could argue they had their chance to really shine last season and maybe didn't quite cut it. And it's true that Jermain Defoe - who we have always staunchly supported above Adebayor - just seemed to stop scoring midway through last season. However, Agatha is already fretting most on behalf of Aaron Lennon, who has been such a solid, skilful, loyal player for Spurs. And Dawson?

Don't misunderstand: we are hugely looking forward to seeing our fabulous new players at White Hart Lane and anticipating the joys of a successful season. Let's just make sure that we duly appreciate the loyal service our lads have shown over many years, and that we continue to value and nurture our young talent and our very ethos.

This is going to be an amazing season for Spurs. AVB has been given the goods, and surely it is not just a Champions League place but a serious title challenge he will be expected to deliver?

Bye bye Bale
At the beginning of last season we said goodbye to Luka Modric on our blog. This year he will joined at Real Madrid by Gareth Bale, and we can't let that departure go without comment. In a brilliant piece, @spursblogger Alan Fisher says goodbye and good luck to Bale, expressing our thoughts far more eloquently than we could. In his first matches at White Hart Lane, we remarked how he was like a super keen wee boy at school sports day, legs and arms pumping as he ran up and down the wing, leaving everyone else standing. The level of natural skill he demonstrated begged early comparison with Gazza. It has been an honour to watch him develop into the world-class player he has become. All best wishes Gareth. xx

Agatha and Mildred

January review

A quick review of games during January reveals a good start to 2013, which saw us still in fourth place at the end of the month.

1st January: Spurs v Reading (3-1)
A lovely sunny day in north London, Agatha and Norman went off up to the Lane in sunny mood. We went behind in the fourth minute, but controlled the game overall. The win took us back to 3rd place. Happy New Year!
Goalscorers - Dawson, Dempsey and Adebayor
A&M's MOTM - Aaron Lennon, who was phenomenal
Best photo - Dawson celebrating his goal
Game in a word? - Comfortable

5th January: Spurs v Coventry, FA Cup (3-0)
Work commitments barred Agatha and Mildred both from watching this one. Great result. Scott Parker was in starting line-up after absence - good news - and Bale was back after suspension. Agatha most upset to have missed the lovely Benoit's return to the side too.
Goalscorers - Dempsey, Bale, Dempsey
Best commentary moment - "Bale's 'go-go-gadget' legs" (BBC London)

12th January: QPR v Spurs (0-0)
Agatha in pub for this one. We started strongly but faded a bit when goals were not forthcoming. Sandro sadly went off injured after 25 minutes, (and he's still out). Cesar had a great game, unfortunately.
Game in a word? - Frustrating

20th January: Man United v Spurs (1-1)
Sooo glad Dempsey managed to put away the equaliser in this evenly-matched game. Enjoyed the irony of scoring in "Fergie time" too! Lots of Spurs fans moaning about not signing another striker, but, for the seocnd game in a row, it was great goalkeeping that kept the score so low. Good game; we were happy with that performance.
Game in a word? - Snowy. Made for great pictures - see the photogallery on the Spurs' Facebook page.

27th January: Leeds v Spurs, FA Cup (2-1)
Dempsey scored our only goal in this unsatisafactory game. We had more possession and more chances, but could not convert that into a lead. First time Agatha and Mildred have seen Jon Obika; shame he missed a half-chance towards the end. Could have been a real glory moment for the young player. Agatha was quite taken with the young Scot in the Leeds team, Ross McCormack - can't we sign him then?
Game in a word? - Horrible

30th January: Norwich v Spurs (1-1)

Photo: tottenhamhotspur.com

Victory continued to elude us in windy conditions at Carrow Road. Thank goodness for the brilliance that is Gareth Bale. Just scraped a draw here. Pleased to see our new signing Lewis Holtby make his first appearance, a very assured one too. I think we may seeing - and liking - more of him ...


We're looking forward to the rest of the season. See you at The Lane!

Agatha and Mildred

Festive cheer!

On Boxing Day Agatha and Norman got to the pub midway through the first half of the Aston Villa v Spurs game. The performance and the stats (15 corners?) were clearly demonstrating dominance but no goals. Agatha was a trifle unnerved at half time, fearing a frustrating second half. Couldn't have been more wrong! An hour later the festive cheer was mightily enhanced by the 0-4 scoreline.

The first goal came from Jermain Defoe, thanks to a perfect through ball from Kyle Naughton. Adebayor and Defoe are not linking well together at the moment. In Agatha's humble opinion, Ade is just not doing it this season. Defoe would be better up front on his own, with Sigurdsson or Dempsey behind him.

The second goal was not far behind: Bale strolled past Guzan and popped the ball away comfortably. With an assist from Aaron Lennon, Bale's next goal went flying straight into the corner. Another lovely build up involving Kyle Walker and Gylfi Sigurdsson (who had come on to replace Adebayor), and Bale got his first Premier League hat trick. Loved his photo on Twitter later that evening! He is such a talent, Bale. Happy to be reminded so emphatically of that fact.

All in all, a very satisfying victory. Great to see Scott Parker playing for some of the game after having been out most of the season with injury. He is a galvanising presence and seems to get the team passing well. Agatha was also impressed by Kyle Walker getting forward so effectively. The defence was solid - Gallas and Naughton starting instead of Dawson and Caulker. And Super Jan played a blinder, as we have come to expect.

Boring Stoke

Saturday's game against Stoke

The play against Aston Villa was a pleasure to watch. Which is (a whole lot) more than can be said of Saturday's game against Stoke City. A goalless, guileless, graceless draw. Stoke are such a boring team. Reminds Agatha of Wimbledon FC in the 80s. Frustrating, is the word that summed the game up, as Ben Pearce described in the Ham and High.

January transfers

There's much interest, as usual, around the January transfer window. Agatha and Mildred are generally happy with our squad at present (especially when we get Kaboul and the lovely Benoit back). It would be handy to get another striker, (let Adebayor go). Agatha is sticking with her staunch support of JD. Do we need a midfield playmaker? Maybe, maybe not. Lots of hype around January transfers; might we not be better working with, and perfecting, the talented team we have?

Season's greetings from
Agatha and Mildred

Normal Service Resumed

White Hart Lane on a crisp sunny Sunday afternoon - you can't beat it! Especially when you come home with 3 points and a clean sheet: a 1-0 win against Swansea City.

Man Of The Match must be (Super) Jan Vertonghen, and not just for his goal from Kyle Walker's free kick in the 75th minute. He is a real presence on the field, especially when playing in his preferred central defending position. We had lots of other chances on goals - Kyle Walker's belter of a shot was particularly memorable. Swansea had a worrying couple of chances as well, but didn't manage to convert. Michu did look good for Swansea, but Agatha was so relieved at Lloris's punched save in the dying minutes of the game that she didn't even notice how Michu got caught up in it. With Michu flat out on the ground, and play continuing, it all ended in a bit of a confused shambles. Will need to wait to see it all again on Match of the Day 2 tonight.

Today's view at The Lane

Naughton had a good game in defence, alongside Walker, Gallas and Vertonghen. Lennon, Dembele, Sandro and Dempsey worked well in midfield.  In the past, Agatha and Mildred have expressed support for playing both Defoe and Adebayor up front, but not sure that worked so well today. What was pleasing to see was Andros Townsend's performance, when he came on to replace Adebayor with 20 minutes to go. He acquitted himself very well, and must surely be in contention for a start soon. Another highlight of today was the return of Scott Parker, who came on in injury time to a standing ovation. We have sorely missed his organisation. Great to see him back after injury. Wonder how Benoit and Kaboul are doing?

Agatha was sat next to a German fan today at The Lane, a Bayern Munich fan over in London for a weekend to take in a few football games. He reckoned football in England was very expensive, about twice the price he pays in Germany. Reminded her of this interesting article by @David_Conn about affordable tickets, standing areas, and member-owned clubs in the Bundesliga.

Technical problems at Agatha's have scuppered blogs over the past few weeks, which is a shame given our winning run of late. Mildred particularly enjoyed her first away match, winning 0-3 against Fulham at Craven Cottage on 1 December. And our shelfside view of the 2-1 midweek win against Liverpool before that. And our UEFA Europa League 3-1 win against Panathinaikos (love young Tom Carroll!). We won't mention the Everton result. Normal blogging service is now resumed.

Agatha and Mildred

Best Game at The Lane This Season

It all came together today. We've known all season we had top class individual players, and today they played together fantastically well. Great passing, great confidence, and great goals. 3-1 against West Ham at home - 3 much needed, and well deserved, points.



Today's view at The Lane

Defoe's first goal was possibly the best goal Agatha has witnessed at White Hart Lane. Pure class. (Norman has long said that Harry never gave Defoe enough play). Dempsey's lovely chip and Bale's finish made for a sweet second. And Lennon's skilful run and selfless pass for Defoe to score the third, was a joy to behold. Add to that, two shots against the woodwork (Bale and Dempsey) - the boys looked hungry today! Bit of a shame that Andy Carroll's header got past Lloris (who had a really impressive game today). Agatha chuckled when the Tottenham fans responded to the West Ham fans' chant "He scores when he wants ..." with "He scores once a year ...".

Loved the atmosphere at White Hart Lane today too. The supporters really got behind the team and spurred them on. (Didn't hear the reported abuse from the West Ham fans, but another blog coming shortly on the whole issue of (alleged) anti-semitic chants and the (re)claiming of the "yid" label).

But for today, Agatha and Mildred are smiling sweetly at a team who played to their potential, individually and together. We liked: Dawson as captain - keeping the team together; Lloris - sound performance; Walker - back to his confident best; Caulker - a solid presence; Vertonghen - real class, fast becoming Agatha's favourite; Sandro - our rock (hope he wasn't badly injured when he was taken off); Huddlestone - safe and solid; Lennon - speedy and spritely, as always; Dempsey - some lovely touches; Bale - AMAZING! all over the field; Defoe - what a finisher; Dembele - fab to see him back! (came on as substitute towards the end).

A busy week coming up. We're looking forward to coming back to The Lane on Wednesday for the Liverpool game. And we'll also be at Craven Cottage on Saturday. Come on You Spurs!

Agatha and Mildred

A Week of Two Games

Last Saturday's game against Wigan, it has to be said, was a pretty lacklustre affair. With Mildred on holiday and Norman away for the weekend, Agatha was accompanied to White Hart Lane by son number 2 - normally a lucky charm. Not this time. He's not been to The Lane for a while, and he was struck by the bad tempered, dejected atmosphere in the crowd. I could see what he meant. There was a sense of resignation present throughout. A few bursts of vocal support from the Park Lane/Shelf-side fans, but pretty subdued overall.

Saturday's view at The Lane

On the pitch, there was a distinct lack of urgency and we looked devoid of ideas. AVB played 4-2-3-1, his preferred lone striker position being occupied by Defoe, with Bale (back from paternity leave), Lennon (on good form), and Dempsey behind him. Bale and Defoe played well, and there were some flashes of creativity and hope - Jan Vertonghen is looking better all the time. He had the best shot on goal, about 20 minutes in, and was tireless and persistent in defence. Despite decent performances too from Walker, Caulker and Gallas, and some fine saves from Friedel, Wigan scored the only goal of the match early in the second half. Agatha's inexpert opinion is that our main problems lay in a lack of imagination and skill in midfield. Unfortunately Sandro had to come off injured fairly early on, to be replaced by Sigurdsson, who is skilful on occasion but frustratingly inconsistent. Huddleston is just, well, a bit too slow. Nobody looked as though they wanted the ball. The crowd was cheering Adebayor warming up, but I don't think anyone expected Defoe to be taken off. Wouldn't it have been better to substitute Dempsey? Wigan played far better than we expected. Their back five kept a strong defensive line, and they also demonstrated some impressive passing midfield and nimble attacking play. Kone, particularly, and Maloney had us worried on quite a few occasions.

Rushing home from work on Thursday to watch the Maribor Europa League game on TV, Agatha and Mildred were struck by the different atmosphere - lots of vocal support. Did it just come over louder on TV? And it was like watching a different team altogether. Jermain's hat-trick was a joy, Bale setting up two of them so sweetly. Young Tom Carroll, who had come on towards the end of the Wigan game, was in the starting line-up. What a treat to see this young talent, who had a great game in central midfield and fed a lovely pass through to Defoe for the second goal. (We won't mention Naughton's dreadful pass back to Lloris that gave Maribor their goal). Agatha and Mildred do like playing Defoe and Adebayor up front with Bale and Lennon wide. More of this please! A completely different match to last Saturday. Agatha was musing over cause and effect - was the support more vocal because the team was playing well, or was it The Lane in full voice spurring the lads on? Or a virtuous circle? She's since discovered (via @LustDoctor's blog post) that there had been a concerted campaign by the 1882 movement to show vocal support at the match. Well, it worked. Let's all get behind this, and bring the atmosphere back to White Hart Lane.

A final note on the appearance of Fabrice Muamba at half time. Agatha and Mildred were at the game against Bolton last March, sat down near the pitch opposite where Muamba collapsed. The eery silence as doctors fought on the pitch to save his life will stay with us forever. It was clearly emotional for him to walk back over to the spot on the pitch where his heart had stopped. So glad to see him fit and well. Thanks for coming back Fabrice.

Agatha and Mildred