I’ve been writing about that Champions League night- a year ago today – for most of the morning and afternoon, and I won’t apologise for it.
For any fan 30 or younger, the Ajax comeback is likely the most jubilant memory of their Spurs-supporting lives. For some over 30 too, it will be.
MORE: The Story Of Ajax Vs. Spurs In Amsterdam [Video]
A quick exploration through Twitter just now took me to a dark place of the Tottenham fandom that I never wish to revisit; Amsterdam deniers.
Warning, some of these tweets contain explicit language.
Why do people keep feeling the need to fcukin go on about this Ajax game???WE LOST THE FCUKING FINAL ?? HELLLOOOOO?? TOTTENHAM DIVS WAKE UP🤯yeah was a game to remember but also a game to quickly fcuking forget coz it was painfull but nah let’s have an anniversary ALL WEEK🖕🏼🤬🖕🏼
— L’Chapo YIDDO🏴🇮🇱 (@L_ChapoYIDDO_) May 8, 2020
Can we please STOP 🛑 with the repeated tweeting of the Ajax game please. We won a semi final that is all and went on to compete in the worst CL final of all time and lost. It’s a bit sad now. #THFC #COYS
— Karl B 🎙 (@Karl_Banner) November 17, 2019
Can we stop celebrating the semi final in Ajax like a cup win. Thanks.
— archer (@archermonkeys) May 8, 2020
Just because we lost the final doesn’t mean that what happened in the semi-final isn’t one of the best experiences in the history of the club. The two events can be treated exclusively, otherwise logic dictates that any happy memory is immediately made redundant if an unhappy one should follow.
It’s like saying that you can’t look back at your wedding day fondly because three weeks later you had a row with your Mrs. And its not any worse than a row; nobody died in Madrid, it wasn’t the end of anything. We still get to keep supporting this club we love. We didn’t win and that’s a shame, but we had no right to. What right did we have to even be in the final? And if that’s a small-club mentality, that is because we are a small club, by Champions League standards. Or at least were; maybe last year’s exploits changed that.
We have won three major trophies in the last 30 years; that is the club that we are, and any Spurs fan whose happiness is determined by the number of trophies we win lives a very sad existence. They are the sad ones; not us. By those standards; forget Clive Allen’s 49-goal season, forget Gareth Bale’s all-conquering 2012-13 campaign. Forget the Spurs careers of Rafael van der Vaart, Jermain Defoe, Mousa Dembele; they aren’t worth remembering.
There is a context to all stories. If we’d have won each leg of the semi-final 1-0, there wouldn’t be half as much adulation and reminiscing. Amsterdam is about the remembering the journey as much as the achievement.
And if fans of other clubs want to laugh at us because the best moment of our modern era is winning a semi-final; let them. Don’t be so insecure as to let that mockery stop you from rewatching it, talking about it, reading every article about it. Other clubs may have more to boast about and that is their right; they’ve earned it. But for now, this is what we have, and it’s special.
Brilliant post. A post about the actual football for a change and not transfers, owners, stadiums and players running into stands for a row. Agree with every word of the post. A stunning night of football that I’ll never forget.
Glory Days mate, compared to what we currently have and have coming up that was football at the top table. Our days of dining at that table were brief and will not return for many a year…
ENIC OUT.