4th March 2005
By
Jody Jamieson
With Tottenham brushing aside Forest in the replay we now have an
all Premiership quarter final to look forward to. The banter has already
started on the message board, and it's already shaping up to be rather
feisty. We seem to overlook the rivalry we seem to have with Spurs
most of the time, but come our meetings, it can be very tasty. They
don't like us, and we certainly don't like them.
They don't like us because we've sent them homewards to think again
(in the words of the greatest national anthem there is nudge nudge
wink wink) in recent times, coupled with the fact that in the 90's
we became a force to be reckoned with, albeit with no silverware to
show for it, and it rankled with them. Both with our 'success' and
our confidence We hate them because we find them arrogant and the
fact that they think they're a bigger club than they really are.
Now I'm not going to be popular with this next line, but here goes........
Is it possible that we hate them and they hate us because we're so
similar?
Let's be honest, neither club has achieved much in recent times, Tottenham's
cup wins aside of the past 15 years, but we both think we're huge
clubs who must have success and should be spending huge money on huge
players. For ever player like Davids and Morientes that get linked
with Tottenham, you'll get the "arrogant bastards, who do they think
they are?!?!" cries. But then again they'll probably say the same
when the Michael Owen and Ronaldo links appeared.
All in all I feel that it's a jostle for position. Neither club has
proved itself to be better than the other indefinitely. Although we've
had the end in recent years in terms of league placings, any self
respecting Newcastle fan would admit they'd have loved to have slammed
home the last minute winner Tottenham did in the Worthington Cup Final
a few years back. Those who are trying to win an argument might say
otherwise though.
We'd cut off our right arms for the trophies that Tottenham have had,
and Tottenham may do the same for our European adventures of the past
5 years. Would the Tottenham fans have ever forgotten it if it had
been Robbie Keane slamming the ball into the Feyenoord net to take
them into the next phase, completing the most unlikely of revivals,
or if Sheringham had put them 2-1 up in the San Siro? Not likely.
All in all I feel it's an interesting rivalry which is based purely
on superiority complexes. And how interesting it be for both sets
of fans that while each fan says that the other side is arrogant for
believing that they deserve bigger success than they have achieved
in recent times, that both sets of supporters believe their own sides
deserves loads more than they have got in the past 5 or 10 years.
Both clubs believe the other side doesn't deserve anymore success
than they've had. Let's look at that objectively. We have 50,000 through
the turnstiles every week. Tottenham get 40,000, and it would probably
be more on both sides should they have bigger stadiums. Both sides
are decked in rich traditions for many different reasons. Both sides
have won European honours, both sides have been 1st Division Champions
(albeit for us we're going back pre war) and both clubs have lifted
the greatest cup trophy in the world. But when you look at recent
teams to have won trophies then let's be completely honest and look
at the under achievement of both sides.
Tottenham fans I ask you. Who deserves a trophy more? Newcastle United,
or last seasons Carling Cup winners Middlesbrough? Newcastle fans,
who deserves to be in Europe more? Tottenham Hotspur, or last years
BEATEN FA Cup finalists and first division Millwall?
There will always be the "Yids/Where were you when you were shite?"
nonsense from either side which makes both sides as bad as each other.
But in reality both sides have underachieved woefully in recent times.
When the Premiership was created Tottenham were one of the bigger
clubs who have fell away. We pretty much took their place, blew it,
managed to crawl back into the elite, and then blew it again. Every
time Tottenham look like making a fist of it they fall away, and every
time we look like finally lifting that elusive trophy, we find new
ways of throwing it away.
So we can get at them with our "Champions League, when were you last
in it?" slangings and they can bite back with their "Silverware, when
did you last win any?" jibes, but the truth is both clubs have achieved
nothing like what they could and should have achieved with the backing,
both in numbers and financially, in recent years. It's a sad state
of affairs when Newcastle and Spurs look at how far behind the big
4 we've dropped, and then look at Everton, who've spent nothing and
lost their two best players, who are looking more and more like the
Champions League will be a reality. For every Rudd Gullit there's
been a Glenn Hoddle. For every Mike Hooper there's been a Erik Thorsvelt,
and for every Freddie Shepherd there's been a Sir Alan Sugar. Poor
management, poor spending, and ultimately substandard players have
accounted for the continued under achievement of two of England's
big clubs. We've had the great league placings in the last 15 years,
and Spurs have had the Cup wins.
Who's the bigger club? Well it's 2005 now. I bet this argument will
be rumbling on in 3005 and we'll be no further forward.
Here's to a great cup game and for us hopefully a Newcastle win. |
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