Opinion: No more doubt about it, The Special One has brought Spurs back

A guest blog by Marcus Beacham

Just been listening to TalkSport (I know 🤦‍♂️) and they’ve been chatting about Spurs, Jose, The “Spurs way” of football and the way Jose is currently playing the game (get the lead and defend).

It got me wondering, are there any Spurs fans out there who still doubt Jose? This time last year, he definitely split a crowd…

My stance back then was that I wanted Jose in probably from that Bayern hammering under Poch, and was elated when he arrived. I defended the decisions he made at what was probably the most challenging start to a manager’s career at the club that I can remember (injuries, split crowd, bad league position, then later Covid…). I maintained that it was unfair to cast judgement on him until he had a new season and a fit squad (actually said that if we aren’t in the top 4 by this Christmas then we could begin to judge him a failure)…. Have to say, I’m extremely grateful to him now that he was the boss through such a difficult time and, well, look at us now….

There are those amongst our fanbase who say/said that he’s “destroyed the Spurs style of play” and that they find it boring. Other than stating the obvious to those guys – that our alleged “Spurs way” of playing never won us any silverware in the PL and that Jose’s way has seen us collecting points where we’d previously be dropping points – There is one more very important thing that many of those guys are overlooking….

Way back in the early 50’s (before my time, but I know the history), after we won the 50/51 title, Spurs slumped and were in a relatively similar state to what we’d become accustomed to during the 90’s and early 00’s…. middle of the road results, not really winning much and slipping away. Then, in 1958, we appointed a fresh new manager from our background coaching staff by the name of Sir Bill Nicholson.

Sir Bill took that declining team and instilled his own ethos of football. 2 years later his methods were so successful that he led our glorious club to win the first double of the century in the 60/61 season, and to date remains our most prolific manager as he continued to oversee our club to multiple successes throughout his 16-year tenure as our manager.

All fans know this story and it is at the heart of our club – it is the genesis of the “Spurs way” that many believe to be the way we should be playing football all the time…. but many are missing the abstract point that was the reason for Sir Billy Nick’s success!

He arrived, he analysed, he adapted, he conquered. Bill recognised that the way we were playing football was not going to yield us success at that time and that we were no longer competing with the way the game was being played, so changed to a style that he believed would be Successful – and it worked.

That is what Jose is doing.

He has arrived, he has analysed, he has began to make his adaptations and is in the process of conquering.

So those who say that Jose is “ruining our style of play” – you must recognise that the game constantly evolves and as such, a successful club’s “style” must also evolve with the times. The recipe for success from 60 years ago is absolutely not applicable to the way the game is played today, and it has taken a top-class manager to recognise that these changes must be made and employ them.

I honestly believe that we are set for great things under Jose and that he has already eradicated that most hated label of “Spursy”. He has made us a team that other teams hate to play against. We’ve turned the corner and I’m bloody loving it!

The most difficult games for us each season are at Anfield, Old Trafford, Stamford Bridge and the Emirates (in that order). I’ve deliberately omitted the Emptihad because biVARly we seem to do alright against Citeh….

We’ve won at Old Trafford in style.

We earned a very tough point at the Bridge.

We’ll probably still have the beating of the Gooners at their place.

…. That leaves Anfield as the last real challenge for us next week. IF we can get out of there with a point – and it is a big IF – I will begin to really believe that we can actually become champions this season!

The year ends in a 1, just imagine if we got a double in the bag this year for the first time since sir Bill!

What a time to be a Spurs fan! COYS!