Today, in 1984...

[EastLondonYid]

That Barcelona game I was in the west lower, me and two lads were trying to gib in somewhere, found ourselves mooching around the west stand area, saw Pat Jennings and an entourage of about 6 people about to get let into a door at the bottom right of the west stand, being casuals we were reasonably well turned out, so just tagged ourselves onto the end of the entourage and walked in. Took us a while to find odd seats because the ground was packed. Sure Clemence conceded a really soppy goal, and didn't someone like Miller equalise ?

What happened in the cage ?

Basically the league game before the Barca game, my mates little brother got into a scrap with a skinhead in the cage, they were just kids and we all stood laughing really as this skinhead got a few slaps.
The next game however this kid 'stupidly' brought an older gang of spurs skinheads to seek some sought of revenge on us in the cage,why i don't know as it was a fight between the two of them, well they got absolutely pasted .It was hilarious cos there were never any coppers in the cage and these poor skinheads just about got out alive.

 

[bomberH]

I was 9 at the time and was sitting behind the goal. Was a bit too young to fully appreciate the awesomeness of it all but I remember it being a fucking brilliant night and getting crushed lots.

 

[Mullers]

about £38 million reasons

What happen to those £38 million reasons when we qualified last time?

 

[AngerManagement]

What happen to those £38 million reasons when we qualified last time?

I suppose they brought us 38 million steps closer to a new stadium?

 

[Mullers]

I suppose they brought us 38 million steps closer to a new stadium?

So then at what point would 38 million be actually spent on players? After we've qualified for the CL twice? Three times? Four?

 

[AngerManagement]

So then at what point would 38 million be actually spent on players? After we've qualified for the CL twice? Three times? Four?

I think CL football would help us grow as a club

Not massively or quickly because frankly our wage structure prevents us buying any world class players in the bracket

I think had we qualified this time we would have been more established than we were last time, we may have been able to sign a player or two of a certain quality that would progress us forward (certainly feel that we could sign some players we'd be unable to sign

I mean I don't think it would be the difference between us signing a Hazard or an Aguero, but its not impossible we could sign a player of a slightly higher calibre than we can without CL football (as we did last time with Van Der Vaart)

If for example we could sign one player of Van Der Vaart's quality every time we were in CL and we were making CL year in year out we would slowly and surely be building a better and better squad.

The money CL football brings in would make us more competitive, help us fund our stadium help us potentially increase our wage structure.

I think CL football would be a faster route toward becoming a successful club in the long term than not having regular CL football, I wouldn't expect one season to magically transform us into a league winner but I think the extra money and stature could increase the quality of our squad with players we could bring in and the participation and experience of playing against top European teams could increase the quality of the talented young players we already have (also having regular CL football could help us keep those players, so all in all having CL football is a better way to become a successful outfit even if on face value it doesn't instantly make you one)

 

[Mullers]

I think CL football would help us grow as a club

Not massively or quickly because frankly our wage structure prevents us buying any world class players in the bracket

I think had we qualified this time we would have been more established than we were last time, we may have been able to sign a player or two of a certain quality that would progress us forward (certainly feel that we could sign some players we'd be unable to sign

I mean I don't think it would be the difference between us signing a Hazard or an Aguero, but its not impossible we could sign a player of a slightly higher calibre than we can without CL football (as we did last time with Van Der Vaart)

If for example we could sign one player of Van Der Vaart's quality every time we were in CL and we were making CL year in year out we would slowly and surely be building a better and better squad.

The money CL football brings in would make us more competitive, help us fund our stadium help us potentially increase our wage structure.

I think CL football would be a faster route toward becoming a successful club in the long term than not having regular CL football, I wouldn't expect one season to magically transform us into a league winner but I think the extra money and stature could increase the quality of our squad with players we could bring in and the participation and experience of playing against top European teams could increase the quality of the talented young players we already have (also having regular CL football could help us keep those players, so all in all having CL football is a better way to become a successful outfit even if on face value it doesn't instantly make you one)

So all this excitement over CL football and the money that everyone is salivating over goes into the stadium but not new players?
We had a window of opportunity to qualify 3 times on the trott instead of the once. I have to say I am not very convinced that even if we had qualified that things would have changed much. We still would be haggling over a few million and trying to do late deadline deals imo. Newcastle have proved you don't need CL football to sign good players for cheap. Ben Afra a player who we have been linked to since the Ramos days, we didn't go for. Ultimately those kind of decisions could cost us because the window of opportunity may now be firmly shut.

 

[AngerManagement]

So all this excitement over CL football and the money that everyone is salivating over goes into the stadium but not new players?
We had a window of opportunity to qualify 3 times on the trott instead of the once. I have to say I am not very convinced that even if we had qualified that things would have changed much. We still would be haggling over a few million and trying to do late deadline deals imo. Newcastle have proved you don't need CL football to sign good players for cheap. Ben Afra a player who we have been linked to since the Ramos days, we didn't go for. Ultimately those kind of decisions could cost us because the window of opportunity may now be firmly shut.

I think most certainly there wouldn't have been massive changes to our transfer policy and I agree that yes Newcastle and our previous activity (when we signed the likes of Bale, Modric and Berbatov) have proved it possible to sign players that can improve your squad without the need for CL football and in all honesty without or without Cl football we would still need to make those types of signings (players in the Remy at Nice and Cisse and Friebery position)

That's not to say that regular CL football wouldn't help us progress faster as a club because I very much believe it would. The experience it gives your players to be competing against the best alone is valuable, as is the fact players want CL football meaning we have a better chance of keeping our better players as they become more high profile.

We also have the opportunity to mix the policy we have shown when signing Modric and Bale and Newcastle have shown with Krul, Cabaye, Cisse and Ba with the odd higher profile player to blend a little proven top class quality with the promising youngster or less than established star (as Van Der Vaart's signing proves, a player I doubt we would/could have signed without having CL football at the time)

The extra income would enable us to extent our budget, maybe sign an extra player than we would have without it so even if we weren't signing a Hazard we could sign an extra Bale with the funds, or a slight increase to our wage structure that slowly enables us to purchase bigger and better players.

Its ok referencing Newcastle but remember they have been paying big wages (bigger than us) since the days of Shearer, Owen, Dyer etc etc and have been armed with cash from the sale of Carroll.

I think you're looking fairly simplistically at the benefits of CL football and dismissing them because they do not result in a magical instant transformation to a side, of course it isn't going to propel us into a top team over night, that doesn't mean it doesn't have benefits and that doesn't mean it isn't the best way to take us forward as a club, because I personally believe it is (not the only way but the best way)

For the record I totally agree with your comment about us hesitating on signing players, Ben Arfa can just as easily be added to a list of Canvani, Falcao and many many more. Its very frustrating to see the club having missed out on such players due to not being sure when you know they have pulled the trigger on other big deals like Bent for 16m when we already had a settled strike force and Bentley when Lennon was already at the club.

 

[Mullers]

We also have the opportunity to mix the policy we have shown when signing Modric and Bale and Newcastle have shown with Krul, Cabaye, Cisse and Ba with the odd higher profile player to blend a little proven top class quality with the promising youngster or less than established star (as Van Der Vaart's signing proves, a player I doubt we would/could have signed without having CL football at the time)

I disagree VDV is a rare breed of footballer, he seems like a very down to earth fellow, he hasn't thrown his rattle out of the pram because we haven't qualified for the CL.

The extra income would enable us to extent our budget, maybe sign an extra player than we would have without it so even if we weren't signing a Hazard we could sign an extra Bale with the funds, or a slight increase to our wage structure that slowly enables us to purchase bigger and better players.

Perhaps, perhaps not, personally I am rather pessimistic on that score.

Its ok referencing Newcastle but remember they have been paying big wages (bigger than us) since the days of Shearer, Owen, Dyer etc etc and have been armed with cash from the sale of Carroll.

None of those players are at the club now and I would be surprised if we couldn't raise 35 million to buy those group of players after playing in the CL and hardly spending anything in the last few windows.

I think you're looking fairly simplistically at the benefits of CL football and dismissing them because they do not result in a magical instant transformation to a side, of course it isn't going to propel us into a top team over night, that doesn't mean it doesn't have benefits and that doesn't mean it isn't the best way to take us forward as a club, because I personally believe it is (not the only way but the best way)

Not at all, I just think that CL football isn't necessarily going to turn us into winners. I want us to win trophies (ie FA cup, Carling cup, Europa) and I want us do that right now or try our best do that right now rather than wait for us to consecutively qualify a number of times for the CL then buy better players to compete in these competitions. I think that is where you and I differ.

 

[AngerManagement]

VdV certainly is a rare breed, his comments about staying regardless of whether we had CL football or not suggest that.....but I do suspect getting him in the first place was vastly aided by CL football

I want us to win cups now too of course, but I believe we are not likely to win them currently as they are mostly only shared out by the top teams so I feel the best way to see us winning them at any faster a rate than that we have been doing the past 2 decades (like one or two per decade) then we need to become a big more competitive club and personally I feel the CL participation gives us the better chance of doing that

I totally agree that transfer activity is the key and I highlighted myself when it first looked like we wouldn't get CL football that it wouldn't be the end of the world we would just have to revert to making the type of signings that brought us relative success in the first place

I do however think there are many benefits to having CL football, ones that give us the best chance of progressing to become a competitive outfit capable of winning the type of honours you want to see us winning on a regular basis

I think the extra revenue would add to our budget for a start so we would have extra money to spend even if we can't sign the Augero type players we can still buy better or buy more.

Our own players could improve from the variety of competition and the higher standard of competition, maybe they would grow in stature from been regularly involved in big big matches and stop freezing like bunnies in the headlights when they play at Old Trafford for example

Maybe being a CL outfit and a CL player would give the players the confidence and experience to lose whatever inferiority complex seems to hold us back.

Players want to be involved in the CL, players want to play against the BArca's, Real's, Munich's of this world....right now this is the top level of football and this is where players want to be, it would in my opinion help us keep hold of our better players (as well as improving them from the experience of competing with such opposition and playing at such stadia and under such spotlights etc)

If we could budget a slightly higher wage structure on the back of CL revenue (without risking our stability of course) then we can again retain our best and buy better, all steps toward growth and all in my opinion valid reasons to support my view that regular CL football is the best way for us to grow as a club, the best way for us to become a bigger club and indeed the best way for us to be competitive enough to win major honours.

 

[Richmond_Spurs]

Did you always stand there? cos thats where me and about 20 or so mates stood every week, we were mostly of greek cypriot origin and thus alot of people in the cage used to call that little part of the lane 'Kebab Corner'

Stood there for years untill i got a decent job and became a west stand lower ST holder, boring ...but comfortable.

We were always stood in the Kebab, unless we managed to get in with the visitors in the Park Lane! Good times..... Still used to 'stand' at the back of that section until the old ground shut.

 

[mightyspur]

We were always stood in the Kebab, unless we managed to get in with the visitors in the Park Lane! Good times..... Still used to 'stand' at the back of that section until the old ground shut.

Replying to a post from 2012! Christ this is a necro!

 

[PCozzie]

Ah, thought this was a thread about a dystopian future where the state ruled our lives, but that would be mad. As you were....

 

[Richmond_Spurs]

Replying to a post from 2012! Christ this is a necro!

HMP dont have internet access.....unfortunately

 

[fletch82]

Ahhh 1984
Things could still be new and life was like the wild west

 

[yido_number1]

HMP dont have internet access.....unfortunately

Everyone nervously laughing along not knowing if you're being serious