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Sport’s ability to ape and shape the world means it teaches us many things, often in a friendlier environment than real life. It is, for example, better to learn the Australian states and their capitals during an Ashes series than by rote in a geography lesson, just as the accordant failure and disappointment is – ultimately! – less painful to process when it’s happening to yet another bunch of hapless tourists than when it’s happening to us.
Football, though, is a slightly different thing, the constant competition and the way in which teams are passed down through families installing their nature as part of our personalities, both heirloom and genetics. And within that, there’s supporting Tottenham, a relentless barrage of dark nights and false dawns delivering martyrdom to the afflicted and mirth to everyone else.
Even in context, though, a summer spend in excess of £300m, to go from fourth-bottom to bottom, is exceptional behaviour, suggesting a malaise too encoded to alleviate. But it is also the case that their performances have been better than three points from six games suggest – which might be viewed as integral to the nature of it all, or might indicate an imminent upturn.
Tonight’s match will give us a decent idea as to which interpretation is accurate. Coventry – whose fans understand a misery far beyond the conception of Spurs types – arrive in N17 following an uplifting thrashing of Newcastle. As such, they will be confident, physical and beatable or, in other words, exactly the kind of outfit against which Spurs are prone to fail. A win tonight would take Frank Lampard’s men up the table from 16th to 11th but, more than that, with home games against Fulham and Sunderland coming up next, it could set them up for the season. This should be fun…
