Ipswich Expose Thirty Years Of Failure

In a sense, to put my impressions down on yesterdays match at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium would be a waste of time and effort. In the main that's down to the fact that I've done it all before. Anyone that happens upon it and reads it will have read it all before, even if they've never seen anything written by me and certainly anyone that was there or watched it by whatever means they were able to, would have seen it all before.

Ipswich arrived at the game having aquitted themselves quite well so far for a newly promoted team that two seasons ago were playing in League One, without actually picking up a victory that would be their first in the top division for twenty two years. Having checked on the fixtures and league standings on Sunday morning I realised that a home win plus a victory for Newcastle at Forest (not completely out of the question) and a draw in the Chelsea v Arsenal game (quite likely) would mean Spurs going into the International break remarkably in third due to their superior goal difference.

Of course, as soon as I realised that I knew we would lose the game. Call it intuition, call it pessimism brought on by over thirty years of being constantly let down as a supporter I just knew that as soon as an opportunity appears to put ourselves in a decent position Spurs will blow it.

Now obviously Ange and the players aren't responsible for being three nil up at half-time against ten man Man City, when they were rubbish, in the FA Cup and losing four three or making a super human effort to get to a Champions League final only to completely fold after conceding a penalty in only the second minute. We can hold them to account for yesterday and the other debacles so far this season but perhaps there is just something underlying at the club.

The Turkish poet Rumi who died in 1273 is credited with coining the phrase "The Fish Rots From The Head". In my book the current owners are a bit like a successful populist politician. They know that a certain percentage of the fan base have had enough of them and want a change but they also know they can concentrate on the other section of fans by the use of constant deflection. One big difference is though that we very rarely hear from them. Unless they're announcing record profits or a new hotel etc etc.

The fact that the club has only one trophy in their tenure and that was the one that some clubs aren't really that interested in until the semi-final stage doesn't seem to bother some people. Off the pitch they're actively trying to discourage 'legacy' fans because they'd prefer tourists who spend in the shop and buy more food and drink in the stadium. The phasing out of concessions tickets is an absolute disgrace.

None of that should in theory effect what happens on the pitch but there's a very thin line in modern football, especially at Premier League level, between support and toxicity in the stadiums. If things don't improve I can see the atmosphere in the stadium getting very ugly.

With regard to the game, Ipswich were two up at half time. A good finish by Szmodics after we failed to clear a cross and a tap in for Delap after Vicario pushed a save straight into Dragusin. Early in the second half Solanke had a goal ruled out for handball. Bentancur replied with a header from a Porro corner with just over twenty minutes to go. It was Sonny's turn to be trotted out at the end of the game to apologise to the fans. That's like water off a ducks back to me now as we've heard it so many times before. Its significant that the disallowed goal and Bentancurs effort were the only two things Spurs did on the clubs own highlight reel of the game. Usually this is as likely as Russian state TV showing Putin tripping over his own shoelaces.

Lolo scores. The one highlight in 98 minutes.

I'm not sure the coaching staff can do too much over the next couple of weeks with so many of the players away. I expect Romero takes all his gear in with him to the final match for a fast getaway at full time. A bit like Alan Gilzean heading to The British Queen at full time back in the day. 

The British Queen N17. Things are that bad I'm using pictures of pubs.

The next fixture is Manchester City away. Pep's lost four games on the spin for the first time in his career. Remarklably, there was a fan on the radio saying he's getting fed up with City. He wants to try supporting Spurs. Despite the weird anomaly that we've generally done ok at the Etihad surely there's no other side in Europe City would rather be playing in that next match. Its definately going to be a case of fingers crossed on November 23rd.