To boo or not to boo?

"Nice to see your own fans booing you" - but does it generate a response?

I was going to post about the romance of White Hart Lane, taking my girlfriend to her first Spurs game and about the need to take stock after the stalemate with Sunderland. Instead, it seems that the media have become fixed on the story that Spurs fans booed their team. To what extent is that true and are fans who boo their own team achieving anything?

The game started rather tepidly and if I am totally honest, there wasn’t a lot of chanting at all before the match. It was only really in the second half of the match that the fans made some real noise and got a reaction from the players. The was an extreme amount of vitriol directed towards Howard Webb which I thought was a bit close to the bone but in my opinion he did have a truly awful match. Van Der Vaart continued his excellent run of being in the right place at the right time to bundle home for us but Gallas and Kaboul, both Frenchman I should add, clearly weren’t speaking the same language as they tripped over each other and allowed Gyan to run forward and slot past Gomes. I thought Bentley was particularly underwhelming at times and seemed unsure whether to try and run at the defenders or cross the ball – invariably he would be tackled while he made up his mind.

I will be totally honest, I was unbelievably frustrated, as was everyone in the ground and in the end Sunderland looked more likely to score. The boo at the end of the match was several things; it was short (lasting no more than a second); it was half-hearted; it was a shock and it was idiotic. This may be a new blog but you will note from my first post below that I said that us Spurs fans were the best because we didn’t boo our team off the pitch like Arsenal did. Unfortunately the commentator’s curse struck in one respect and a small minority decided to vent their frustration, shaming the rest of us.

I’d like to start by saying that the boo lasted under a second and was followed immediately by applause for the team, mainly I would imagine from those who were so shocked that the same fans who rode the crest of media adulation 7 days earlier could have such short memories. Arsenal fans booing their team is nothing new and they booed their team literally off the pitch but it is now a common trend in football, perhaps started by ‘fans’ of the national team. I will point out that there are a multitude of intelligent, articulate, and passionate Arsenal fans who, like myself and many other Spurs fans yesterday, don’t deserve to be tarred by the same brush as the booers. Hooliganism was called the “English Disease”, perhaps freely booing teams is the newest Anglo-affliction.

There is the argument that fans pay a lot of money and when they don’t see obvious return on their investment from the players who earn ridiculous amounts every day, they have a right to voice their discontent.  The obvious question here is what good does it do? Do the players go back to the dressing room and think ”Ooh, that Neanderthal horde were eloquently convincing with their swearing and booing, they’ve convinced me to play better next time out”. Do fans really think booing is going to have a positive impact on someone like Benoit Assou-Ekotto who has declared how much less seriously he takes the drama of the game? I can see him not caring, or worse, caring less. Harry Redknapp was obviously extremely pissed off with the fans reaction after all he has done. He was right in saying that we played well and right too that we couldn’t score and that Craig Gordon was on top form and one slip us cost us a goal. I really hope he isn’t too disillusioned with the apparent expectations of our ‘fans’ – he may be more open to a chat with the FA in 2012 because of it.

I did not boo and I disagree entirely with it. Most Spurs players especially the ever grounded and humble Gareth Bale made a point of walking nearer to all four stands to applaud the fans and he was rewarded with applause in return.

There was not one single time last night when I felt confident that we would score, we lacked any cutting edge but on another day would have ground out the 1-0 win and no more would be said. It says a lot for how far we have come that we can treat a draw as a loss but therein lies the paradox – we must not forget how far we have come – from the bottom of the Premier league to beating the European Champions. There will be plenty more occasions when we WILL get a lucky decision or when we WILL ground out a win or even snatch a fortuitous and undeserved point for ourselves. We are not out of the running for the top four yet and whilst we cannot dine off of the Inter Milan win forever, we must learn to take the rough with the smooth.

I hope the trend of booing in English football dies down much like hooliganism did and that fans of all clubs get back to doing what they should do best – passionately support their team. I know I and many other Spurs fans do.

I’d love to hear your comments or views on this topic.