Hugo Lloris is sorry, Dele Alli is probably secretly chuffed, Christian Eriksen is refusing to sign while Daniel Levy is furious. For the rest of football, however, we’re all wondering how one club manages to remain the media’s darling despite a series of furores that would see many others castigated relentlessly.
They are, of course, fiascos of varying degrees of seriousness. You cannot compare being arrested for drunk driving with the leak of a sex tape but the collective value of everything that has happened at Tottenham this calendar year should result in significant pressure from the media to sort their shit out.
In case you’ve forgotten what Spurs have been up to in 2018 off the pitch, let’s recap some of the events and milestones the media don’t seem that bothered about
Club captain arrested
Someone who is meant to lead by example, there is simply no excuse for anyone caught drink-driving these days. We know how stupid it is and every offence should come with a compulsory, lengthy ban from driving. Mauricio Pochettino was said to be ‘very, very angry’ with his captain but not angry enough to strip of that honour for Spurs next match. No editorials followed demanding Spurs make an example of him.
Media outage rating 4/10
Star forward in sex tape
I don’t want to have to think about it either, but you and I know we’ve all seen Dele Alli’s knob and that is not something anyone should have to say.
Why did we watch? Because it was out there, but did it cause a ripple in his world? Not at all, if anything, it helped enhance his reputation the way it would have ruined a woman’s had she been the star.
Media outage rating 1/10
Christian Eriksen refusing to sign national team deal
We all got to watch John Jensen manage a team of Superligen players turn out for Denmark this week after Christian Eriksen and his mates refused to sign a new image rights deal with the Danish FA.
Is he being accused of holding his country to ransom? Is anyone saying playing for your country shouldn’t be about money or image? What do you think?
Media outage rating 1/10
Pushing EFL to allow them to play at MK Dons
Spurs got their way and will play their home tie in the Carabao Cup at the MK Dons’ stadium which could be their third home ground of the season. There are rules in place to stop this sort of nonsense, but they don’t seem to matter as the authorities bend to help Tottenham out of a sticky situation that is entirely of their own making.
Media outage rating 1/10
Spending over £1bn on a stadium that was meant to cost £400m
Most building projects run over schedule and over budget, apart from the Emirates but they had Arsene ‘Economic Whizz’ Wenger in charge of that. But it really is a special effort to increase costs by 150%. You’d also expect, if you’re paying £1bn for anything, somebody would be able to give you an idea of when you might be able to use it. The management of this project has been shambolic from Tottenham and it will be fans who have to pick up the tab.
Claiming their new ground would be the only place to watch Champions League football in London this season was just a little cherry thrown from Levy to the Arsenal and Chelsea fans.
Media outage rating 1/10
We can confirm that the EFL board has ratified our application to host our @Carabao_Cup Third Round fixture against Watford at Stadium MK.
The match is scheduled to take place on Wednesday 26 September (8pm).
Ticketing details shall follow in due course. pic.twitter.com/S9s9PzmGQT
— Tottenham Hotspur (@SpursOfficial) September 6, 2018
Not winning a trophy for 10 years
Normally, big clubs come under pressure to win things. Arsenal’s trophy drought became the lifeblood for many papers around the five-year mark and the pressure ramped up exponentially every year until they finally lifted a bit of silverware.
Spurs haven’t won a trophy in 10 years, and that was the League Cup. To find an FA Cup win you have to go back to 1991 (27 if you’re trying to count and ran out of fingers and toes) while we all know you have to go back to before colour television to find a league title win.
There has, of course, been some pressure on them, but not much and probably not even as much as they put on Chelsea the year they didn’t win the league but acted like they did.
Media outage rating 1/10
What I see here, unlike quite a lot of people – mostly Arsenal fans to be fair – is not a media that favours Tottenham. Rather, it is one that treats them normally, with the right amount of hyperbole when truly warranted which is, less face it, not that often.
We can wonder why they get hysterical over certain players and clubs. Mesut Ozil, Paul Pogba, and Raheem Sterling are just three who must be wondering what the headlines would have read like had they indulged in any of these activities
But the question here isn’t: why are the media so nice to Tottenham? It’s why are they so f*cking awful to so many others?
Spurs are 14/1 to win the 2018-19 Premier League