What makes a big club? And who is to blame for Tottenham’s demise?

 

 

• Time for a pick-me-up after a disappointing draw.
• 100 seasons in the top division: cracks appear in late 1970

By Tony Attwood

Ange Postecoglou has stated that Tottenham Hotspur is “not a big club”.  And while as an Arsenal supporter, that gives me a smile, I did also stop for a moment to ask myself, how do I define “a big club?”   And can a big club stop being a big club?  Can a little club become a big club?   And which are the big clubs now?

Well, my guess is that Tottenham certainly think of themselves as a big club (they have to, to keep the money lenders happy).  But there is more to it than that.   The club might never talk about Joe Lewis and his crimes, and the papers might have dutifully shut up about him when told to do so (or, as the story goes, risk having their accreditation for WHL removed if they did not).  But most of us do remember.   Tottenham had an owner who was quite simply a crook who was sentenced to three years’ probation and fined $5m for his business activities.   True, he didn’t go to prison because of his age and health and I think there was a pardon from President Trump, yet journalists don’t say, “This is a club that for years was owned by a crook.”  And I wonder why that is.

Tottenham made it fairly clear that being a big club didn’t actually mean winning the league, which they have only done twice, and not done for over 60 years.   It means seeing Tottenham as a big club because everyone says they are.  

So maybe we should ask the question afresh, are Tottenham a “big club”?   

Certainly, despite not winning the league for a couple of generations, Tottenham have, won the FA Cup eight times, although they haven’t done that this century.  Arsenal by comparison, has won it 14 times.   And yes, Tottenahm won the Europa League last season – but sort of spoiled that by immediately sacking their manager, and then more recently, sacking his successor.  It all looks a bit lower-class.

And that I think is the problem – Tottenham do win bits and pieces occasionally, but they make two mistakes.  First, they talk those bits and pieces up, and second sack the man who delivered a trophy, and then second, sack his successor.  

Arsenal’s reputation was, of course, built on the success of their move to north London, the success that allowed Chapman to be appointed manager which led to success through the 1930s and 1940s and their reputation for always behaving with decency.  Of course, the Arsenal board has behaved appallingly, as when it attempted to blacken the name of Sir Henry Norris after he saved the club from oblivion – but other than that, the club has avoided most of the pitfalls that seem to be a part of the lives of many football clubs.  As a result, during the barren years in the late 1950s and 1960s, Arsenal could still prepare themselves for their rebirth in the 1970s.

In short, there seems to be something very unstructured about restricting a manager’s budget, watching him take his club to Europa League glory, sacking him, bringing in someone else, and then sacking him after he delivered a fourth-place finish in the Champions League eight-game table.

It really is worth comparing Tottenham’s efforts with the work of Arsenal’s board, when it became apparent that Unai Emery had spent virtually all the club’s transfer budget on a winger who was barely suitable for the reserve team.   Arsenal, in fact, sacked Emery, brought in Arteta and supported him totally through two 8th placed finishes, followed by a fifth place, and then runners-up three times.   

Meanwhile, Tottenham’s ground is plastered with the odd phrase ‘To Dare Is To Do’ yet there is no way the club would ever dare do what Arsenal have done, be it moving from Plumstead to Highbury, or getting rid of Adebayor and Ozil.

Now Tottenham look at Arsenal jealously, noting that they can spend £100m on the wonderful Declan Rice, while forgetting that Arsenal kicked out the players who were not delivering, built a brilliant youth system, and allowed the manager to follow his course.  Talk about doing and daring.

Tottenham’s current way of thinking seems to demand instant improvement.   Arsenal’s way was to bring in Arteta in 2019, a year when José Mourinho was manager at Tottenham.  Since then, Tottenham have had Ryan Mason, Nuno Espírito Santo,  Antonio Conte, Cristian Stellini, Ryan Mason (again), Ange Postecoglou and Thomas Frank.    And yes, I know some of those names have come up twice – and that’s really the point.   They go round and round in circles.

But consider this: they have just sacked the manager who took the club to fourth in the Champions League table, above Barcelona, Manchester City, Real Madrid, Inter Milan, PSG….

And what that board of theirs can never quite grasp is that it might not be the manager who is the problem.

Ange is right.  Tottenham are not a big club.  And the reason they aren’t is the petty-minded littleness of the board of directors.