Vital Spurs Debate Section

Match Thread – Nothing To See Here, Move Along For Newcastle v Spurs

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After another dull, and pretty boring break in the fixture list for those who aren’t that interested in international football, the proper action is back for Tottenham Hotspur fans as we make the trip up to newly minted Newcastle United.

Following their recent majority takeover by Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund, but the Premier League being ‘assured’ the Saudi Arabian Government will not be involved in the running of the club – even though Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman is the Chairman of PIF and it’s basically the states savings account whose raison d’etre is to secure non-oil based revenue for Saudi Arabia as a whole – what this actually means for our trip up to St James’ Park is open for debate.

Newcastle United fans will definitely be boosted after all their battles with Mike Ashley, but given the wealth of the new ‘non-Government linked’ owners, it’s easy to imagine there will be a good degree of uncertainty, both amongst management and players when it comes to their futures.

Having ended our three game losing streak with the 2-1 victory over Aston Villa, we will be looking to make that back to back wins again and given their start to the season, you’d have to make us firm favourites to do just that, as long as we turn up.

But of course, so far that has been the story of 2021/22 – will Spurs turn up?

Newcastle...

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  • TQ2Spurs says:

    No surprise to see Kane subbed off tonight, never looked like scoring and indicates how out of form he is. To be fair the England performance has been poor all round.

  • Danny Winter says:

    Just returned to say the same thing TQ2. Maybe we had somewhat overread his performances for us as there was certainly no extra spark from him tonight – which is also a massive worry in itself from our point of view.

  • Niall D says:

    Hi folks,
    There were those on this site (almost) saying England are nailed on for world Cup glory on the back of a very successful Euro campaign, however, playing most of your competition matches at home is different from playing abroad, I would argue that that was their best chance this generation to lift a trophy as there are many teams out there who can beat England.
    England should be in and around the last 4 in the WC, if they get a decent run of games and avoid some of the better teams.
    However back to HK, yep he was a bit lack lustre tonite, perhaps he is just off form in general and not just for us.
    I would like to see us spoil Newcastle party at the weekend, after all they, feked us last year with a dodgy pen.

  • BelgianSpur says:

    From a neutral perspective, I still think England look good in general. I see Southgate gambled on a more attacking 11, which should have pleased the fans calling for it. The result, however, was a disjointed performance and a dull game. Was this simply the result of a lack of fluency, players adapting to a new system they were playing for the first time, or was this simply an imbalanced selection?

    As much as the Phillips/Rice midfield has been criticised for being too conservative, it has delivered results more often than not, and on last night’s evidence, packing the 11 with attacking players doesn’t always lead to more attacking play.

    Last year’s CL final is another example, with Pep opting ot play without a holding midfielder despite dominating the PL with one. It backfired then too.

    To be fair, every England player struggled last night. In that context, should we read too much into Kane’s poor game? It’s hard to be definitive either way. It could be a general trend or it could be an outlier. Hard to say.

    As far as the Newcastle game is concerned, this is the sort of game we should be winning more often than not. Even if we might struggle against the PL’s best teams, we should normally be cruising against those teams.

    It will be very interesting to see how Newcastle evolve in the next few years. It may be the last time we play them before they become the PL’s latest “mega team”.

  • TK says:

    Nothing to see here? Wow, what a commentry on watching our team these days. Ouch.

    Tottenham Hotspur Football Club still isn’t owned by petroleum gangsters, thanks be to the gods. We have no need to hang our heads in disgrace.

    My sympathies to the supporters of Newcastle who now have their beloved club put under unfortunate ownership. It’s been known for an awfully long time that winning can be a danger to the soul. If any kind of things have souls, clubs do. May God have mercy.

    In comparison, THCF can hold its head high. Not too high, though. We dance with the devil of the NFL.

  • block 108 spurs says:

    The game sunday will be a difficult game for us… Newcastle fans will be up for this as new owners at last…now fans energy will help their players step up their game. As Dw says will spurs players turn up on the day, is a worrying thought. IMO.. toons will start at 100 mph and spurs will have to respond or we will be 1 or 2 goals down by half time. But a 2-1 win for us COYS

  • Niall D says:

    Hi folks
    Re Sunday, whilst indeed Newcastle have been bought over, and indeed there is a feel good factor.
    Will this filter down onto the pitch, Players and manager many of whom know that they are on borrowed time, and come January they will be gone.
    There are no new players there yet, so there is little more than a message of intent from the new owners, I reality they’re still the same bunch of players who are eeking out an odd point here and there.
    My worry is that for some reason they always get a lucky result against us… 🤔

  • Geofspurs says:

    TK ….
    Not sure why your sympathies are being offered to the happiest supporters, with the biggest smiles, in the PL!

    Also not too sure how THFC supporters can hold their head up with the despair crushing their shoulders.

    Are you sure you haven’t got that the wrong way round. You know what Plato said about Newcastle United ….

    • TK says:

      Geof,

      I would be extremely unhappy were THFC were bought as a play toy by a group of petroleum rich dictatorial play buddies. So i’m sympathetic to the supporters of Newcastle who had this nasty fate dealt to their club. The worst part of such a thing is that supporters up there will think this is something good, but it’s a Faustian bargain, and they’re selling the soul of the club to win a few baubles. They may be happy now, and perhaps they;ll stay happy, but the club has sold its soul. Dr. Faustus is not a good partner.

      I’m sure i havne’t gotten it the wrong way round. The problem is that people mistak this kind of “success” with success. You know this. You have a poets sensibilities, and can tell apart false success from success in life.

      • Geofspurs says:

        The problem here is that you are allowing your own personal philosophy judge those who have a different philosophy, which is not only egotistical, but also illogical …. unless you can prove that your philosophy is a universal truth. Otherwise it’s probably best to accept that people develop their own views on life and have the right to do so …. as long as they don’t harm others. Wouldn’t you agree?

  • Niall D says:

    Geof
    No but I know what Pluto said about Mickey Mouse, if that’s any good 😄

  • Geofspurs says:

    He said, “Come on Micky, let’s go and have a few at the pub on the corner.”
    “What’s the pub called, Pluto?”
    “It’s called the ‘rePUBlic, Mick.”

  • TQ2Spurs says:

    Looks like the new owners are going to do the decent thing and allow Brucie to manage his 1000th game before sacking him.

  • PompeyYid says:

    I think something like… “Halal the Lads” was said!

  • BelgianSpur says:

    I have been reading/listening to a lot of opinions on the takeover and indeed, opinions seem to be quite diverse.

    While we can all rue the takeover from an ethical point of view, Newcastle fans will rationalise, saying that they have very little control over 1) who buys the club and 2) what those owners do in a country some can’t even place on a world map. And to a certain degree, rightly so.

    Those fans have invested lifetimes of emotion into a club and now they’re supposed to walk away from it all because something they have zero control over has happened? And this on the basis of moral high ground? It’s a lot to ask any football fan.

    I think any football fan base would struggle with this conundrum, even ours. So let’s not judge too quickly.

    There is also a tremendous amount of hypocrisy regarding the whole thing. We can all criticise the new Newcastle owners because of their track record on human rights. Yet how many of the people criticising them have a brand new iPhone in their pocket, manufactured in a factory where countless suicides have been committed because of horrendous working conditions, or wear Nike products made in sweat shops?Humans have always had the uncanny ability to look away when it suited them. It just feels a bit hollow coming from some people.

    In saying that, I am not condoning the actions of the Saudi government, far from it. I am just saying that we should all take a good look in the mirror and sweep in front of our own doorstep before we judge others.

    I think Newcastle fans have been put in an untenable situation and it’s not fair on them to have to be the moral compasses in this case. If anything, this is precisely why the Premier League has an “Owner’s and Director’s Test”. The fact that the PL was willing to ratify the transaction is the real problem, and that is who we should be blaming, if anyone – not the Newcastle fans who are just along for the ride and have no say either way.

    Let’s face it, the PL is in fact turning into a billionaire’s playground. The PL was hugely critical of the European Super League, but the reality is that they just want to create a domestic super league. Anything they have said about the competitive balance of the ESL rings very hollow, and the real reason why they disliked the ESL was only because it was a big threat – it had nothing to do with morals.

    We, as Spurs fans, can say very little about this as our very own club was instrumental in creating this environment. We were one of 5 leading clubs pushing for the creation of the PL in the first place (under Scholar then Sugar) and the subsequent deal with Sky. We created the very environment which is now coming back to threaten us. There is no moral high ground to be had as a Spurs fan, unfortunately, as our club has historically been more involved than most in the creation of the current situation.

    We now have to make an individual choice to keep watching PL football or not, with the clear understanding that it is profoundly immoral.

    Either it has become an unhealthy environment, and we should walk away – an understandable opinion in itself, and plenty of people are doing precisely that and going back to supporting a club in the lower leagues;

    Or we value the entertainment factor of the PL, morals be damned.

    But we can’t have it both ways – keep watching it and criticising it at the same time.

  • Hot Tottingham says:

    Good post BS… I agree with you.

    Just living our lives in this 21st century in the way most of us do, could be perceived as immoral. Just the acts of day to day survival, whilst attempting not to be a complete outsider, dictates this. Cheap goods or expensive goods. Affordable stuff or luxury items. It makes no odds most of the time. Someone somewhere is being exploited. Whilst we in turn are funding such exploitation.

    Unless we live in caves and are completely self sufficient, we are all part of the way this world is run.
    It’s almost unavoidable.

    Do we stop our support of football during the world cup? (Temporarily?) Do we abandon our love of Spurs because our very own Kane will lead England out in Qatar. Another country with appalling human rights records. Actually, England itself has its own immoral history to contend with. Does it not…

    Newcastle fans are just like Spurs fans. Passionate about their club and hungry for success. But are they now, by default, supporters of a regime that we disapprove of? Are they responsible for another nations human rights record, every time they buy a ticket or cheer a goal? Well maybe!

    If there is a devil, then we all made our pact with him long, long ago. We are all part of it. We are not morally superior because we don’t approve of this and that. Morally different perhaps.? But not better for it. Not really…

    Well, I am. But I don’t know about the rest of you “dance with the devil” scallywags!

    Up the Devil and down with God! After all, Beelzebub has all the best tunes, for sure!

    Such as:

    Glory, glory Tottenham Hotspur….. And the Spurs…. Go marching on…

    Not sure what that all means really… I’m still half asleep!

  • wentworth says:

    Adele is a Spurs fan. We have one thing in common. We live a life in total misery. Great song though.

  • Hot Tottingham says:

    Adele? What a foul-mouthed Jezebel she is!

    But, adored by millions!

  • jod says:

    As far as the Newcastle takeover goes the hard truth is most football fans don’t give a damn about human rights, they don’t care where the money comes from as long as it keeps coming. Newcastle fans will be no different. The interesting thing for me is that while the premier league ignore human rights EUFA now address them, so maybe there will be a showdown somewhere down the road.

    The England game offered a parallel with Spurs. It’s simplistic to assume more attacking players automatically means more goals though that’s what a lot of fans do. Dispensing with a defensive midfield player did nothing for England. Its the same at Spurs, its only when Hojbjerg and Skipp play in tandem we look balanced though it’s criticised as too defensive.

  • BelgianSpur says:

    jod – I agree, most fans are prepared to look the other way.

    But for me, the big question lies elsewhere. For those Newcastle fans who actually DO care about human rights, what now?

    Are they just supposed to stop caring about a club they have supported for decades, all because something they have no control over has happened? It’s an incrdibly tough situation to be put in.

    If the PL doesn’t want to do anything about it, I sincerely hope someone like UEFA would step in. But much like with FFP, it’s unlikely they will.

  • Geofspurs says:

    It wasn’t until long after I left England’s green shores that I understood the long-term damaging effect that colonial rule has had on nations across the globe. In many ways, Australia opened my eyes. England’s role in the context of world history is no less shameful than any other major colonial power in terms of stealing land and resources, condoning slavery, crushing the spirit of millions by ignoring their basic human right for freedom and to govern themselves. These colonial powers reshaped world maps because they could. If you don’t want to have anything to do with people who have engaged in such unwelcome behaviours, then you’ll have to look elsewhere in the universe.
    The question is …. how far back do you go before it loses any meaning?

  • Niall D says:

    Hi Folks
    Yep BS /HT must agree with your comments, I tend to stay away as much as possible from politics, living in this place which is a political nightmare, do I really care who would own Spurs, If they bring success, then no, Re Newcastle, I think that they were so glad to be rid of Ashley they’d have taken any one. As has been said how many of us look into the background of where something we buy comes from.
    I will however say this, there are countries from where I won’t buy products, if I can consciously do it.

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