TOTTENHAM — From Bilbao to the Tottenham High Road, the party has not stopped.
As Ange Postecoglou and his Europa League winners paraded through the streets of north London, the claim kept being repeated by their supporters: “We’ve got our Tottenham back.”
It has been 41 years since they could last sing “champions of Europe.” As far as the eye can see, they are climbing on top of the bus stops and dancing on the roofs of the off-licenses of N17 with their inflatable Europa League trophies. “Make some noise for the Spurs” cries one vendor selling horns.
At times in this torrid season it has felt as though there has been a lifeless disconnect between club and fan. That is partly a product of being 17th in the league with 21 defeats, but it is also the inevitable result of a seismic changing of the guard over the past few years.
No Spurs player who started the final was signed before 2022. None came from the academy, so there is no obvious cult figure like Harry Kane to cling to. Some have had intermittent success, others have struggled.
These are the products of the rebuild Mauricio Pochettino warned would be “painful” in his final months at the club in 2019. In Bilbao against Manchester United Son Heung-min and Ben Davies were the only survivors from the Champions League final defeat to Liverpool in that year. The architects of that great Pochettino side are long gone – Dele Alli, Christian Eriksen, Hugo Lloris, Jan Vertonghen.
Perhaps that is why fans immediately took to Postecoglou when he arrived in 2023 – if so much else about Spurs felt unrecognisable, in his bold, uncompromising style “the Tottenham way” of glory years past was reborn.
It is a very different story this season of course, and even the football has been anaemic for much of the league campaign, the results bloody. There was time for one more prophecy when the Australian took the mic: “All the best television series – season three is better than season two.”
Moments like this allow all that has gone wrong in the last 12 months to be forgotten, if only for a few blissful hours spent by Tottenham fans in the sun. This is the only Premier League ground still on the High Road of its area and it made for a perfect afternoon.
The Spurs went marching in to the tune of Micky van de Ven chants; the back of one shirt bore the exact minute and second of his goal line clearance. Who cares how the goal was scored? Johnson again, ole ole.
It was the day Johnson turned 24 and he celebrated with more than a few Heinekens – after fans had sung a rendition of Happy Birthday staff could barely get him to leave the stage. James Maddison jigged and Son Heung-min’s smile could not be contained as he screamed “I f***ing love you!” at the crowd.
As he proclaimed at the final whistle on Wednesday night, the South Korean’s place as a legend” at Tottenham is now indisputable. The shirts read “winners, 2025”. It has been 17 years since they could say that. “We’re not Spursy anymore,” they sang.
— Tottenham Hotspur (@SpursOfficial) May 23, 2025
The open-top bus – and the trophy itself – made its way through a cacophony of noise, blue flares and a sea of flags. “Can’t smile without you.” “All I care about is THFC.”
In this far corner of north-east London for 143 years Tottenham Hotspur has been a way of life, the rhythm to which the thousands clad in navy and white set their clocks and dictate their calendars. Even the younger ones have withstood their fair share of misery since the last day like this.
It is part of so many people’s identities and still the club itself has found it difficult in recent years to articulate what exactly that identity looks like. White Hart Lane is no more.
With the prevalence of non-sporting events at the new stadium, there are on non-matchdays few indicators of what actually happens here.
A Bill Nicholson statue would be a good start. Judging by the mood amongst some on the High Road – “OHOHOHOH ANGE POSTECOGLOU!” they roared – at this rate maybe he’ll be in the running for one too…
from Football - The i Paper https://ift.tt/4OVm2f0
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