Home » I Believe Fans Are Being Led Down A Dark Path By A Supporter’s Trust That’s Lost The Run Of Itself

I Believe Fans Are Being Led Down A Dark Path By A Supporter’s Trust That’s Lost The Run Of Itself

By The Boy -

The Tottenham Hotspur Supporters’ Trust is no longer fulfilling a brief that it gave itself, it is now hell-bent on starting a fight with THFC, a fight that it cannot possibly win.

Like it or not, we live in a western democracy and private businesses that conduct themselves within the law are afforded rights. Unelected organizations have no right to inflict their unsolicited business modifications on others.

The Trust’s latest statement (or perhaps more accurately, edict) is frankly a pretty tetchy reply to the club, who in their recent apology reached out again, asking to meet. As the initial request was denied.

For a group talking about mediation and seeking change, it strikes me as an ill-conceived tactic to take such a petulant and aggressive tone.

The Trust doesn’t represent me. I’d welcome a Club Advisory Panel. Largely because it would diminish the Trust’s involvement, and then someone can start a new dialogue with ENIC that isn’t soaked in contempt.

ENIC owes the THST nothing, by the way.

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East Stand
East Stand
2 years ago
Reply to  legoverlass

Great insight.

Finn
Finn
2 years ago
Reply to  legoverlass

Well said -well written.

The pariah treatment worked on Sugar, but Levy has the hide of a Rhino!

phil
phil
2 years ago

Not all on Dear Mr Levy are pro ENIC mate

East Stand
East Stand
2 years ago
Reply to  Tangangry

I have no doubt it’ll be s good little paid-off customer. Absolutely agree.

England Mike
England Mike
2 years ago
Reply to  Pablito

Fans need to stand up to be recognised as fans and not what the club owners want to change, otherwise they are not realising how they are being manipulated .
I would love for them to show some guts and stay away long enough to force the issue.

Pablito
Pablito
2 years ago
Reply to  England Mike

We are not fans, we are customers. Our only power lies in the ability to vote with your feet. If you don’t like the product don’t buy it. Apart from that we have no power. The TV money is king and they are the only people the clubs have to listen to for now.

MitchellThomas
MitchellThomas
2 years ago

I second this motion. I’ve dipped in and out for donkey’s years to the Blog. H is the only blogger/content producer (ugh sorry) who has correctly called the failings of ENIC out over the years. Plus he cottoned on to Redschnapps whilst so many of the morons writing were apologists for him

legoverlass
legoverlass
2 years ago
Reply to  Ginger doc

No need to guess who Agent Smith is then in this scenario.

England Mike
England Mike
2 years ago

The critical point of this whole debate must surely be the position the true fans find themselves in, and how to effect the way football clubs are being allowed to be run.
I am not a person who could even begin to suggest possible ways forward for representing the future of fans. However their surely has to be a way for the football authorities, government, ex players and fan representatives to get round a table to thrash out the future of the game, with club ownership the top of the agenda, or is it too late.

Steve 'Killer Cushion' Williams
Steve 'Killer Cushion' Williams
2 years ago
Reply to  The Boy

Any new poster here can easily look up your vast library of past blogs and see this, so there are no excuses.. 12 years ago you were the only man and blogger who was telling the truth, lambasted by idiots at times, and other bloggers like the pro enic ‘dear mr levy’ bunch coming with abuse aimed at you. I admire your efforts and thanks for sticking with the programme. I thought you may fold once or twice. Glad you’re still going. Best Spurs blog by far, thanks for all the years man, much appreciated 👌

Steve 'Killer Cushion' Williams
Steve 'Killer Cushion' Williams
2 years ago

Lol… Some good posts near the top, then I scrolled down to the madness.

MitchellThomas
MitchellThomas
2 years ago
Reply to  legoverlass

I feel like I’ve taken the red pill and The Matrix has been unveiled before my very eyes

mikeyhughes
mikeyhughes
2 years ago
Reply to  Andy

Where were you a decade ago when some of us were pointing out the true motives of enic? Snivelling up to them no doubt.

Ginger doc
Ginger doc
2 years ago
Reply to  Big Mal

Andy and more specifically the trust are controlled opposition. It’s how it works

Ginger doc
Ginger doc
2 years ago

Don’t worry mr igghc, the veil is slowly being lifted on all

Ginger doc
Ginger doc
2 years ago
Reply to  legoverlass

Together with marbella spurs’ post and elevenstones’ on earlier blogs, this is a great summary of the reality. Thank you

Hendrix
Hendrix
2 years ago
Reply to  Andy

To suggest THFT have forced anything is short sighted and they certainly won’t have anything to do with turning our club around. ENIC will do what they like, as they have done for 20 years. All we can do is watch and support our team, engage in debate like this and take solice that we are not alone in knowing how badly our club is being run.

I honestly don’t give a flying one about Silverware, and it irks me that all these pundits seem to talk about with Spurs is lack of it. The laziness is staggering, do some research and talk about what’s actually happening at our club.

All I want for next season is to see us playing something resembling football, with players who actually care and a manager that will use the squad he has in front of him in the best way……I know, I ask too much!

Is Gascoigne gonna have a crack?
Is Gascoigne gonna have a crack?
2 years ago

Very much so…

legoverlass
legoverlass
2 years ago

Having been the MD of a group of companies in the past and having myself appointed non-executives to the various boards of different companies I can only endorse what HH is saying, When the decision was made by ENIC to reprivatize THFC it was done with a strategic direction in mind. I would propose that one of those directions was to have total control(Does that ring a bell with Levy aficionado’s?). The reprivatised business did not want to have to engage, communicate or listen to the fans, customer base, or CRN’s unless it directly affected their vision or finances. That is why we are where we are today. 20 years of non-football success. Why? Because that was the agenda. The agenda was and remains to develop the real estate assets of the business. Introduce multiple income streams that marginalised the dependency on football activities and eventually exit stage left having sold the business to an NFL corporation. To do this the plan was not to invest their own money but to leverage debt against the brand, and money flows from football activities. Had THFC remained a public entity all of these objectives would have been subject to scrutiny by the shareholders and I suspect it is not unreasonable to assume that they realised that these shareholders may have asked questions about 20 years of failure on the pitch and burdening the club with generational debt financing whilst not investing in making the football activities successful. ENIC are not a democracy. They are a totalitarian operation with Lewis at the top of the tree and Levy as one of his henchmen. The ESL debacle has caused a problem for ENIC. It is not the opinion of the fans of that senario that bothers them. It is the damage to the brand that is the most concerning for them as the club now appears to have lifted its skirt to the scrutiny of the public and people are not liking what they are seeing.THFC is now not an attractive proposition to purchasers, sponsors, managers, players, or now even its fans. I put fans at the bottom of that list as that is where I believe they sit in the ENIC scheme of things. That is not to say the fanbase is not important at the moment. As a result of the pandemic, the fact that ENIC has not been able to develop its myriad of alternative income streams via the multiplex event arena, and the fact that football finances are in a poor condition generally, ENIC are much more dependant on fans returning and the income from those fans than they had planned and would like to have been at this stage. Had the ESL gone through as planned then it would have been hasta la vista baby to the legacy fans So the fans do hold considerable power at the moment. It is not in the boardroom but in their own pockets. If the fans really want change and to make an impact then boycott season ticket sales. merchandise and matches. Make ENIC pariah owners that devalue all associations with them to the degree that they decide that the only solution is to seek a purchaser. Lewis will be the one to pull the plug if push comes to shove. Maybe a deal can be done where new owners have overall control with Levy staying on as a board member responsible for all non-THFC -related matters and a new CEO comes in to run the football activities of THFC reporting directly to the mainboard with a focus on success on the pitch and investment into that brand.

Last edited 2 years ago by legoverlass
Richard David Bernard Taylor
Richard David Bernard Taylor
2 years ago
Reply to  Andy

You’ve been sitting on the fence a long while – without meaningful input – until you’ve belatedly taken your wake up call.

Richard David Bernard Taylor
Richard David Bernard Taylor
2 years ago

Quite! Fans on this blog, who weren’t wholly behind Levy and believers in our glorious future destiny, were regularly savaged by the pro Levy crowd until Harry turfed them out.

Is Gascoigne gonna have a crack?
Is Gascoigne gonna have a crack?
2 years ago

They’re certainly not like the fans I used to stand with.

Is Gascoigne gonna have a crack?
Is Gascoigne gonna have a crack?
2 years ago
Reply to  MitchellThomas

Right. On.

Is Gascoigne gonna have a crack?
Is Gascoigne gonna have a crack?
2 years ago
Reply to  Andy

Change??

They’re trying to close the stable door after the horse is in a dog food tin mate.

Party’s over, you’ve all missed the boat. The clubs dead.

Last edited 2 years ago by Is Gascoigne gonna have a crack?
MitchellThomas
MitchellThomas
2 years ago
Reply to  Tangangry

I’m damned if any vote of mine is going towards a THST member having any position of consultation or ‘influence’ at my football club.

Last edited 2 years ago by MitchellThomas
MitchellThomas
MitchellThomas
2 years ago

I don’t want to pick apart the statement they’ve made but this is a humdinger:
“We also note the description of the Club’s Board as “individuals who have lived and breathed this Club for the best part of two decades”. The obvious implication is that the Trust and the fans we represent are somehow not”

Gadzooks! My dingaling is bigger than yours and i’ve been waving it about in the wind for longer.

This statement really is 6th Form twaddle, it reads as though written by disaffected teenaged Emo fans.

THST – you do not represent me and never will. How dare you posture and preen in MY name as a Spurs fan.

Last edited 2 years ago by MitchellThomas
Is Gascoigne gonna have a crack?
Is Gascoigne gonna have a crack?
2 years ago
Reply to  East Stand

Its testament to the complete mind control the media has over people. If it’s something cooked up on the news and like you said, social media, it’s suddenly a reality.
These reptiles have needed ousting for a decade and the few fans who have stated this for a long time, mainly us here, have been scathed…..by our own kind. Utter madness, and just sums up the modern world post Convid.

Last edited 2 years ago by Is Gascoigne gonna have a crack?
Andy
Andy
2 years ago
Reply to  The Boy

Your anti THFT position is embarrassing. Irrespective of your criticisms of them what they are proposing today is right. They have already forced the club into fan representation and a change of board is essential based on ESL failure to accept responsibility for the clubs failure to communicate communicate with fans. I have only heard criticism of the THFT trust fron you without any positive comments on where change should occur. ENIC have failed the fans for 20 years on the pitch and anybody just sitting back saying nothing will change whatever we say is out of touch. I’m assuming you are just courting publicity with your anti THFT blogs.

Tangangry
Tangangry
2 years ago
Reply to  East Stand

Exactly, and as such they will want reasonably well adjusted Spurs “consumers” on their advisory panel, not emotional, militant, aggressive, demonstration-organising, “levy out”-ist extremists!

Is Gascoigne gonna have a crack?
Is Gascoigne gonna have a crack?
2 years ago
Reply to  The Boy

This is priceless. Now You’re getting lectured about the evils of ENIC??!!!😲

Where have these people been when the likes of us av been dug out on line for 10 plus years ffs??

East Stand
East Stand
2 years ago
Reply to  East Stand

Its been a critical mass thing, an awakening to what’s going on more broadly in top flight football. Add a few hashtags and hey presto!! 😂

MitchellThomas
MitchellThomas
2 years ago
Reply to  Big Mal

You’ve read my mind and written all the points I wanted to make., Thanks for giving me 2 minutes back Mal

Tangangry
Tangangry
2 years ago

OMG, these guys are like petulant teenagers or a moody ex! Why are they so defensive about this “lived and breathed for 2 decades’ business, there is no implication in the clubs statement that suggests these clowns are any less dedicated in their “support”!

The board are not offering “power” they are offering an advisory panel they may sometimes pay lip service to, I think if THST was representation on it they need to stop acting like children – I mean if I wrote an email like this to my boss, the first thing he would do is call me into his office and ask my why I’m being so emotional!

I can feel the quivering lip of the author bursting from the page!

East Stand
East Stand
2 years ago

Well, there is that. Why now!!? 🤔

Big Mal
Big Mal
2 years ago

Frankly the THST seems to be a shambles. It used to have meetings with Levy and play lip service and seemed to be happy ‘just to be there’. Now it is taking the opposite route and being incredibly aggressive and turning down the opportunity to have a meaningful meeting. They seem to have jumped on the bandwagon of ‘let’s all demonstrate’ without having the faintest idea how to do it. I’m intrigued to see what will happen at the Villa game; what their next moves are and what they are hoping to achieve. At the moment they simply appear to be incredibly naive.

Is Gascoigne gonna have a crack?
Is Gascoigne gonna have a crack?
2 years ago

Still cant believe this all started a couple weeks ago and nobody cared when the stadium was demolished and ENIC were using THFC as a centre piece for the regeneration of the area.

TOO LATE

Big Mal
Big Mal
2 years ago
Reply to  The Boy

I think that is a very fair and polite response. For Andy to make that comment he has clearly never read any of your previous blogs Judging by the early comments you may need to stay calm today!

East Stand
East Stand
2 years ago

‘Democracy’ cuts both ways (or so it’s meant to), a private business has its right to conduct itself as it sees fit within that framework. Legislation and law making sets the rules for everyone and every business.

However, the concept of democracy also must feature accountability and transparency. This from any organisation or individual within it when pertinent questions are put forward. As individuals we have our rights to privacy as well, so if there’s anything I’m not prepared to tell you then I guess i’ll see you in court.

Businesses and organisations don’t have individual rights so we have things like consumer rights and other legislation to make them accountable at certain times.

The nature of most businesses often revolves around a customer base. We have consumer groups etc, and we also have something like what we have with a supporters trust. The supporters ARE the consumers and the way these clubs are suddenly entertaining the idea of fan ‘involvement’ (even if it’s pure tokenism) actually proves that they are concerned about the relationship between them and the customer.

We can take football out of this and the flags and banners if we like. I see no difference between this and VW’s grovelling apology over its emissions scandal. They want to limit damage and protect their market share. Plus in football you have sponsor association with the brand, you have to spear clean and above board if you’re selling pensions in South East Asia I expect… 🤔

Sam Cooney
Sam Cooney
2 years ago

Well he’s obviously got me hook line and sinker. Pretty sure this crap is just written for click bait, he can’t be this deluded.


Sam Cooney
Sam Cooney
2 years ago

By the way, if you’d actually bother to get both sides of the story, you’d know why they refused the meeting with the club. Our democracy allows anyone to speak up against private businesses anyone or any group that shows such contempt for them (us) as supporters. What about the rights of fans, written in law or not, to at least be made aware of a shift to a new European league? To do so was a middle finger to us all, YOU included.

How is requesting change in any way ‘inflicting their unsolicited business modifications on others’?

Also, did you actually read the ‘apology’? It was a joke. Probably why you liked it so much.

Andy
Andy
2 years ago

You clearly want more of the same under ENIC. 20 years of football failure and you oppose change. Back the THFT who are at least proposing sense.

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