Posts By: Alan

The setting was quintessentially English: the sportsclub lost at the end of a narrow lane, a ground with no stands and a pitch as green as grass in a five year old’s painting. On Saturday afternoon a few hundred Spurs fans gathered to share a minute’s applause for John White, tragically killed in 1964 as he […]

Yesterday there was a job to be done and Spurs did what they had to do. Not in a straightforward manner, of course, why break the habit of my lifetime? After conceding the most pathetic set-piece I have ever seen, which is an accolade in itself given our recent sorry history at corners, Tottenham applied […]

Sometimes a bit of distance helps. Time to breathe. Sense of perspective, which is impossible to achieve in the midst of the white hot heat of a Chelsea derby with Champions League qualification hanging on the result. May the deity who does not exist strike me down but yesterday I had Other Things to do, so […]

Before kick-off Villas-Boas and Martinez embraced and chatted warmly. For a moment I wondered if they might turn away and find a quiet corner for tapas and a glass of white, leaving the vulgar hurly-burly of a tense top and bottom game behind them. They have much in common. Serious, earnest students of the game, they [...]

This year Tottenham On My Mind has often been in a reflective, philosophical mood. Underneath the delights and frustrations of this or any other season lies a search for something deeper, more profound. There’s something about being a Spurs fan, a culture and heritage that connects to generations of supporters past and future. Conversations with [...]

Although I usually take little notice of the electronic hoardings that surround the pitch at Spurs, it’s been impossible to avoid the recent spate of ads for Stubhub. However, it’s only recently that I discovered what it is. Rather than being the tagline for a new co-ordinated anti-smoking campaign, Stubhub is a secondary ticketing service about to embark on a partnership with [...]

On the good days, there’s nowhere like it. White Hart Lane is a proper football ground, steepling stands enclosing the pitch so the noise cannot escape. The old place shakes beneath our feet, inspiring the lilywhite shirts and evoking glories past. At night, it is our world. For ninety minutes nothing exists beyond the tight glare of the lights. Things have changed. The [...]

Spurs’ European campaign has produced tension and drama at times but frankly when messrs Cloake and Powley produce the 2040 edition of the Glory Glory Nights 2012-13 won’t merit more than a page. There have been too many inglorious nights, nothing dreadful but too many the definition of average. The elongated format saps the energy of fans and players [...]

Is it only us? Only Spurs could go a goal up after a single minute in a crucial home match, then sit back and let the other team back into the game. Before yesterday’s match I was listening to Jon Ronson, whose engaging fascination for the human condition makes for fine radio. It proved to be timely because his [...]

Another in my occasional series of posts about football. Spurs not even mentioned once. Careless of Sunderland to miss that fascist thing during the interview process for their new manager. Guess Di Canio omitted it from his C.V. The club seem genuinely surprised that it’s cropped up and unprepared for the almighty stench it’s caused. Yesterday on [...]

In his entertaining and perceptive book about Spurs, Topspurs maestro Jim Duggan nails the highs and lows of being a Spurs fan. It’s all there, from eleven umissable terrace moments and ’17 goals and a miss that define the Tottenham way’ through to ’22 ignominious defeats’. There’s a delight to be found on every page but flicking [...]

Despite their reputation as money-grabbing, self-centred primadonnas, many Premier League footballers contribute their time and energy to charity work. It’s rare however to see a player actively involved with a small local project that genuinely makes a difference for vulnerable young people. Jermain Defoe’s work with E18ghteen deserves a great deal of respect. The project helps young [...]

Can’t hang about. These tenders won’t write themselves, you know, and Ofsted will be here tomorrow. Endless pages of submissions, evidence and method statements. 11,368 words to be precise. That’s an eighth of a book, just for one tender. Not that I have time to write a book. Too busy doing bloody tenders. I’m pleased to be [...]

Building for the new stadium has not yet begun but already it looks as if they are moving ahead on the naming rights. White Hart Lane has become the Pleasure Dome, a place of euphoria and delight. Last night Spurs overwhelmed a weakened Inter Milan side with 90 minutes of sustained flowing football that simply [...]

I didn’t see it coming. We’d been squeezed back into our own half from the very beginning, a dog on a leash struggling in vain to free himself. From where I sit, you see every bead of sweat, each straining muscle, look into the players’ eyes and beyond, deep into their psyche and their soul, determination [...]

One, two, three times he came and they cut him down. They saw yellow, we saw fear in their eyes. Not dirty or cynical fouls these, merely desperate. Let him past and disaster lay ahead. The fans were spellbound, defenders mesmerised as Gareth Bale was unplayable for the final twenty minutes. No option but to [...]

Gareth Bale rescued Spurs with two stunning free-kicks that secured a precious lead to take to Lyon, just when the European dream was fading away. May as well cut out the flab, trim the fat, cut out the middle man and just give him the ball. He’s going to sort it one way or another.  Might [...]

Bloggers are free and easy with words. We churn them out like manic 5 year-olds with their first Playdoh set, misshapen splurges of gloop strewn all around, ideas left incomprehensible to those who look on with tolerance and, sometimes, patience, but clear in our heads as we rush on to next one.  Words deserve more [...]

The team’s the thing. This season was always going to be about the manager, about how Andre Villas-Boas created something greater than the sum of its parts. That’s what he came with, his organisation and tactics to bring added value, his ambition to convince players that, like him, they could better themselves. The men who [...]

Of the many matters of concern for Spurs this week, most worrying is how easily Warnock and now the lovely Chrissie Hughton have outsmarted our Andre tactically. Yesterday it was less about the lack of a striker or even Dembele’s shameful admission that the players could not get motivated for the FA Cup, and more about [...]

Despite Spurs’ defeat, or perhaps partly because of it, this weekend conclusively demonstrated that the F.A. Cup is a vibrant, precious competition. At a time when the suggestion to do away with replays is being actively considered, the F.A.’s absolute priority should be to safeguard its future. The impact of the defeat sank in as the draw was [...]

Playing Manchester United at home is one of the benchmark matches of the season. It’s a guide to how we rate at the top end of the market, more accurate than playing Ars**al or Ch**sea because it’s intensely competitive without the frantic mayhem of a derby. Spurs came out of it rather well.  Not a classic by [...]

Harry Redknapp was always a kidder. Not interested in tactics, just go out and play, enjoy yourselves lads. Do me a favour. He came out on top in the tactical battle at Loftus Road yesterday, his QPR team retreating deep into their own half to restrict the space and deny Spurs the room to play. Dull but [...]

Fears of a Villa backlash after the Chel**a defeat were quickly dispelled as Tottenham Hotspur imposed themselves on the game and established the pattern of dominance that lasted almost as long as that of the Roman Empire. This was less a victory, more a rampaging conquest – we were so much on top, the Brummies [...]

The dreary combination of Stoke’s lack of ambition and a lacklustre Spurs side drained the life from this sullen and joyless match. By the time the referee mercifully ended proceedings, the bright opening period was long since forgotten. Dodging the downpours and puddles on the way home seemed by far the most reasonable option. Stoke [...]

The first in a new series of interviews with Spurs fans to find out what it means to be a Spurs fan. Julie Welch is an author, journalist and screenwriter.  Julie Welch is not merely a lifelong Spurs fan, she recently became the club’s biographer. It’s clear from first page to last that “The Biography of Tottenham Hotspur” [...]

Spurs painted pretty pictures with their passing all afternoon. Creative and beguiling, the movement and understanding had me purring with pleasure. No goals, though, and as the sun went behind the clouds an edge born of frustration crept into proceedings. Then a fine strike to settle matters, a deserved win for Tottenham. After exhibition pass and [...]

The case for the prosecution: another negative set of substitutions in the final quarter by Villas-Boas presented the initiative to Everton at the very point when their efforts to equalise were floundering. Anyway, Spurs always snatch defeat from the jaws of victory. Part of the DNA. The case for the defence: the substitutions gave us fresh legs in [...]

Spurs’ qualification into the knock-out stages of the Europa League won’t settle the long-running argument about the importance of this tournament. However, there’s no doubt that this Europa League has been of huge benefit to this Spurs team. In future years, maybe not, but it’s moved the team-building process on more swiftly than if we [...]

Nine points, eight goals and fourth place. More than that, belief. The belief that comes only from winning. Beating the Whammers convincingly and brushing aside Fulham’s challenge on Saturday, a supposedly difficult place to go. Sandwiched in between, a contrast. A gutsy backs against the wall defensive display, we hold on where previous Tottenham teams would have crumbled. Andre [...]