admin | 15 May 2012
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Spurs season in one day

It doesn’t pay to make predictions
Sleeping on an unmade bed
Finding wherever there is comfort there is pain
Only one step away
Like four seasons in one day.

The words of Crowded House’s Four Seasons in One Day came into my head as i was thinking about how to sum up a final day which somehow seemed fitting for this extraordinary season, a day in which everything and nothing seemed possible at different times. Before the game, Dan Louw – maker of the splendid Spurs Away Days videos – summed it up nicely by Tweet. “3rd – best season in 22 years; 4th – not bad; 5th – season tickets on the pitch”. As it happened, 5th never really looked possible, 3rd was tantalisingly close, and we ended up with a fourth that may yet feel like 5th. So what can we make of it all? Read more

Category: Football, On Spurs | Tags: , , , , , , , ,
admin | 10 May 2012
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Print’s not dead

I’ve been subscribing to The Times iPhone app. I’m not a massive fan of reading  on my phone screen. Especially as I spend my working day looking at a screen. But I read The Times for years in print and I still like reading the sport, and the opinion – even though I disagree with most of it – and I just think there’s more in it and less to annoy me than in The Guardian, which I read for years before it became too smug to bear. But this isn’t a newspaper review. It’s a tale of digital failure. Read more

Category: Journalism, Media, Technology | Tags: , , , , , ,
admin | 8 April 2012
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Weirdo – Cathi Unsworth’s new novel

Cover of Cathi Unsworth novel WeirdoFew writers evoke a sense of time and place quite as vividly as Cathi Unsworth. In her latest novel, Weirdo, she leaves the London she has got under the skin of so thoroughly in her previous three books, taking the reader instead to a Norfolk seaside town for a yarn brimming with Eastern Gothic. It’s not only a tale convincingly told, but one that makes some important points about the notions of normality and the concept of the outsider while remaining a proper page-turner.

The device she uses to explore these themes is a familiar enough one in crime fiction – a former cop turned private investigator who is asked to re-examine a old case. This time it concerns a 15-year-old schoolgirl who was convicted of the shocking murder of one of her classmates. But what marks Unsworth out as among the best crime writers is that it’s always the crime that remains central, how the act affects the lives of those it touches. It’s this that allows the exploration of victimhood and values that sits at the dark heart of this tale. Read more

Category: Books | Tags: , , ,
admin | 8 April 2012
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Spurs and a strange kind of loyalty

As so often happens when there’s something to feel good about at Spurs, the club has managed to bring the mood down. New season ticket prices and conditions have been announced and it would be possible to write a long post dismantling the decisions made and the, frankly, insulting justifications. But there would be little point, especially as I’m going to renew – although doing so will be tougher than ever in the current climate, and a little more of the goodwill I’ve still got left for THFC plc has been eroded.

Alan Fisher on Tottenham On My Mind – a consistent source of well-informed, well-written comment with lashings of real heart – has made some well-considered points about how the activities of the greed is good league are changing the relationship between the game and its audience. I agree wholeheartedly with what he says, and would add a few more brief points – particularly regarding what can no longer be called the loyalty points system. Read more

Category: Football, On Spurs | Tags: , ,
admin | 23 March 2012
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Fabrice Muamba

I’ve waited a while to write about Fabrice Muamba after being at the match. I wanted to gather my thoughts, and also to step back a little as so much was being said. And I wanted to see if how I felt at the time was how I would feel a week later.

At the match last Saturday, sitting in my usual seat high in the Park Lane, I just caught sight of Muamba flat out on the turf at the top of my field of vision. With play coming towards us I was following the ball until one of the people I sit with said, “His legs are twitching. It looks like he’s fitting.” It was the moment when everyone in the stadium realised something was very wrong. Read more

Category: Football | Tags: , , ,
admin | 11 March 2012
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Here is (not) the sports news

A few weeks ago I had what’s probably best termed an exchange of views with Guardian sports editor Ian Prior on Twitter. It concerned news values, and in particular the reaction to the Suarez affair. Twitter is not the best place to have a detailed debate, so I’ve been wanting to expand on the subject ever since, and Jonathan Wilson’s observations in The Blizzard’s latest editorial have prompted me to get my thoughts in order. Read more

Category: Football, Journalism | Tags: , , , , ,
admin | 11 March 2012
7 comments

Calm down, it’s only a Spurs dip

Three defeats on the bounce and suddenly the club sitting third in the league is in crisis. The factions are emerging, some are even whispering ‘Redknapp Out’. A month ago we were the best team since the Double side and the manager was a genius. Now we’re useless and the manager’s “tactically clueless”. Some people need to get a grip. Read more

Category: Football, On Spurs | Tags: ,
admin | 26 February 2012
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Derby day dunces

Too much talk about “the best team since 1961″, too much crowing about how only one Arsenal player would get in the Spurs team, too much guff about the tables turning. Tottenham’s performance in today’s North London Derby was as poor as anything witnessed during the years when we used to turn up hoping for a lucky break and a fluked win but knowing even that was beyond us. You might want to say that was a “much-needed reality check”. I’d prefer to call it a golden opportunity missed. After Stevenage and today’s sorry excuse for a performance, I’m going to stick my neck out and say the boys of 61 are under no threat. Nor are the boys of 81 or 91.  Read more

Category: On Spurs | Tags: ,
admin | 25 February 2012
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Arthur Rowe and The Blizzard

I’m really pleased to have had an article selected for the latest issue of the excellent football quarterly The Blizzard. It’s an appreciation of Arthur Rowe, who managed Spurs to the 1951 League title, and it’s something I hope will help restore Arthur to his rightful place in football history, and also spark interest in a larger project I have in the pipeline. I’ve had some invaluable assistance so far from Arthur’s son Graham and from Fleet Street legend Norman Giller, so I wanted to put my thanks to both on record. The Blizzard issue four is now available to pre-order, and will be published on 5 March. If you don’t know about The Blizzard, read on.

What is The Blizzard?

 

Read more

Category: Football, Journalism, Media, On Spurs, Sport | Tags: ,
admin | 24 February 2012
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Update on Spurs stadium

Supporting our Future, the loose network of individuals I’ve been working with for some time to try to make some progress on issues around Tottenham Hotspur’s new stadium, has posted an update which I’d recommend taking the time to read. That update came just before a very honest and thoughtful piece from my SoF colleague and friend Tommy Maguire, which I’d also recommend reading. I agree with pretty much every word.

Category: Football, On Spurs |
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