Neil Ashton has delivered a scathing piece on the whole League cup, MK Dons and Spurs situation in today’s Sun, which culminates in the line, ‘it would be good for the sport if Watford dealt another knockout blow.’
Ouch.
So between Ashton wanting us to lose and our own Supporter’s Trust not wanting anyone to attend, there really isn’t much love in the room for Daniel Levy.
My belief is that the fans will go to Milton Keynes in number, and that the 30,500 capacity will have a good time, despite risking all manner of unimaginable perils as they brave the 30minute train ride out of London.
All this against a backdrop the Football League losing perhaps’s it’s biggest Levy fan, Richard Scudamore.
My thanks to Jay Rajdev for highlighting this interesting piece from GQ Magazine (extracts below) which sheds some light on how our beloved chairman has scraped through another deal by the skin of his teeth.
Regular readers will be very familiar with my take on the new stadium, not to mention my unshakable belief that you’ll be hard pressed to find anyone in Haringey who regards ENIC’s soul harvesting project to be either outstanding or optimistic.
Those are words to usually attributed Children’s Hospitals, or meaningful Social Care initiatives.
Optimism was always in short supply win N17.
To those who have had their lives tipped upside down by compulsory purchase orders, or becomes next door neighbours to a light blocking, dust belching homage to secondary double glazing – quality of life has taken an even glummer turn over the last year or so.
The Spurs fan in me still exists, despite what thick people wish to espouse, so I cannot subscribe to wishing the team to lose, nor to fans boycotting games. This is the path if the religious nut job who wreaks his wrath by blowing up kids at a pop concert. Nasty and dramatic, but ultimately it’s all a bit needy and self defeating.
What needs to be guarded against with Levy is the contempt with which he has liberally dished out to everyone involved.
You can’t tell a football club they have been ‘removed’ from a competition for failing to adhere to the basic requirements of entry these days, the League cup struggles to entice it’s bigger entrants to play their best starting XI until the semi finals.
Threatening to eject someone from a party they don’t want to be at doesn’t hold much sway.
You can’t start deducting points either, because you’re effectively penalising the players – who like the fans – are civilians in this war.
The solution is to fine Tottenham and fine them hard.
‘Football Clubs won’t tolerate it!’ will come the cry.
Well, boo hoo to them.
This is a very very basic thing we’re discussing, what levels of gigantic incompetence has a football club reached when it doesn’t have it’s own ground to host games on?
Clubs have lots of money, and it is their god.
White Hart Lane wasn’t demolished so more fans could watch the resplendent Lilywhites charge onwards to greater glory.
White Hart Lane was demolished so an investment company could make more money.
I take a view that the only thing that would curb ENIC’s enthusiasm for p*ςsing people about would be the enforcement of wounding financial sanctions.
After all, who amongst us ‘forgot’ their PE kit at school once, was forced to do it in their under-crackers …and never ever forgot their kit again?
The Prize monies are ball park still as this graphic.
The real money is generated from the broadcast rights.
By my back of beer mat maths, if THFC were made to pay all the competitors, that’s the wrong end of £900,000.
Enough to encourage Levy to be the first and last chairman to ever ‘forget’ to bring his stadium again.
