Dear Mr. Holland

A Rebuttal

There is an interview with actor and Tottenham Hotspur supporter, Tom Holland, making the rounds on Twitter today.

In it he states “we haven’t won anything” along with some interesting ideas on what Harry Kane and Son Heung-min should do with their footballing talents. He does not sound dissimilar to many fans, but on one key point, he, and they, are very wrong. We have won things and we’ve won big.

I am not using win metaphorically here. These are the facts: we have two league titles, two UEFA Cups (a more prestigious trophy in its previous form), that famous Cup Winners Cup, four League Cups, and eight FA Cups. We haven’t won a trophy lately, sure, but Tom (I can call you Tom, right?) this club did not begin to exist solely for your purpose, nor—for that matter—mine. The club exists in its totality and when we support, truly, all that history; good, bad, and otherwise (often embarrassing to be fair) comes with it.

On Keith Burkinshaw’s birthday, no less, let us remember we are the club of Ricky Villa’s winding run and Ossie’s Dream (which very much came true.) We are also each and every one of our glory, glory nights in Europe from Bill Nicholson’s conquering heroes to “Taxi for Maicon”, even if that Champions League run did not end with a shiny pot. A season that did end in champagne was 1984 with a beautiful UEFA Cup. I know I’m trying to be literal about wins but doesn’t it mean just a little bit more because we sang “There’s only one Danny Thomas!” after he missed his penalty during the shootout? It does to me, even though I was three years old and thousands of miles away when that actual event happened.

And, Tom, you are correct, we are not a trophy factory. Because of who we are, approaching football as a zero sum game has not worked. Just look at the managers we love, their resumes, and compare them to some of the serial winners we couldn’t wait to leave. It’s true, being a successful club historically doesn’t make it easy to watch us fumble about, trying to become a big club in this modern era of sports washing and Sky Sports narratives. This local institution is now a global entity and, admittedly, we haven’t gotten the football right in the last handful of years. Hell, most of my newsletter is me complaining. But that’s because I have this club, for better or worse, in my blood, and these pages are the meds that keep me sane when the club drives me up the wall. And I’m not alone in this.

So Tom, in ending, I’d like you to be a little less ashamed. Football fans are known for gatekeeping but I’d like to go the other way here. You aren’t just the failures of the recent past but Tottenham, through and through. If you want to be, of course. It might exact a toll but it means so much. For as the saying goes “In a world full of Uniteds, Citys and Rovers, there is only one Hotspur. We are Tottenham Hotspur.” And, warts and all, what a beautiful thing that is.