And so, on May 14, 2024, modern Premier League football reached its next logical step. Tottenham Hotspur fans cheered their team when they faced Manchester City because it would be better for their rivals Arsenal to lose than to win.
First of all, this is in no way a criticism of the fans who chose it. It was entirely their choice to do so and it was unreasonable for anyone to suggest what they did. Well, have you ever met a football fan? Considering how intrinsic schadenfreude has been to the experience of football fans, there is a degree to which this could happen in any era.
However, much of the pre-game conversation on this topic focused on whether it was right or wrong to want the team to lose, but maybe that was slightly missing the point.
Perhaps we should consider why we’ve gotten to a point where celebrating a rival’s misfortune rather than telling fans how to feel is the most fans of most teams can hope for each season. Yes, laughing at your rivals has always been a big part of being a football supporter, but if that’s the only part of being a football supporter, that’s a problem.
deeper
When the fans wanted to lose, ‘they booed our players every time we attacked’
City, cheered by their own fans and many Spurs fans, beat Tottenham 2-0 on Tuesday. They look set to win their fourth Premier League title in a row on Sunday. No team in the history of English football has won four titles in a row.
This is a period of unprecedented dominance, and in that context it is no surprise that supporters of different clubs should be looking to entertain themselves in any way possible.
And it’s not just the Premier League. City also tend to win domestic cup competitions. In the past decade, only seven clubs in England have won a major trophy (the Premier League, domestic cup or one of the three European cups). In the past 10 years (2005-2014), that number was 10. There were 10 people from 1995 to 2004 and 13 from 1985 to 1994.
Essentially, it is becoming increasingly difficult for non-elite clubs to win anything, let alone the Premier League. An honorable mention to Watford, who almost added seven goals when they reached the 2019 FA Cup final… but lost 6-0 to Manchester City in the final.
Manchester City’s Ruben Dias celebrates with teammate Stefan Ortega after Tuesday’s match (Justin Setterfield/Getty Images)
Spurs, a much larger club than Watford and a member of the Premier League’s ‘Big Six’, have not lifted a trophy for 16 years. City can’t be blamed for that. They did not emerge as a major force until several years later. But that was the context of the strange situation that unfolded ahead of and festered during Tuesday’s game.
Spurs coach Ange Postecoglou was annoyed by the pre-match discourse and said he could never understand why his team did not want to win. And he was furious about it.
Asked whether the strangely subdued atmosphere had an effect on his players against City, Postekoglou said: “Of course it does.” “That’s it. I can’t dictate what people do. They can express themselves any way they want. But yes, when we do get late winners in games it’s because the crowd helps us.”
Spurs fans weren’t hostile towards their team and many cheered as usual, but it was a very different atmosphere to a typical big game and City’s goal was followed by cheers for Arsenal.
A small group of supporters staged a “Poznan” celebration for City after taking the lead, with some donning Tottenham’s old light blue away kit to show their loyalty. A video emerged Tuesday night showing Postekoglou arguing with a supporter who was reportedly celebrating one of the city’s goals. On the way back from the 2-1 win over Burnley on Saturday, some Tottenham fans were singing City’s national anthem “Blue Moon”.
What’s stranger about all this is not how much Spurs fans wanted to revel in Arsenal’s misfortune (that was entirely expected), but how little emotion City evoked in their rivals’ fans. As the dominant team in English football, they can be expected to evoke a mixture of hatred and grudging admiration. Just like Manchester United and Liverpool once did. Instead, we often end up becoming numb to City in general, or actually appreciative of the useful role they play in denying fans of rival clubs a team they actually care about.
When I take a step back, the situation is strange. The competitive league is almost certain to have the same team winning it through Sunday, as it has for the past four years and six of the past seven years. Oh, and the same team are facing 115 charges of breaching Premier League rules (which they deny).
But is that team hated or disliked? No, it’s not. No one really has the energy or can think of an alternative. City just won the league what’s the matter. Being bothered by it is like being annoyed by the color of the sky or complaining that there are only seven days in a week.
Tottenham’s players showed their frustration during the 2-0 loss to City (Justin Setterfield/Getty Images)
It’s a situation so strange that collateral damage is bound to occur at times for those encountering it for the first time. Like Postekoglou on Tuesday, he was furious at the narrow-minded, petty mentality within and without the club that favored self-destruction over progress against City.
“I think the last 48 hours have revealed that the foundation is quite weak.” He added sharply: “I don’t care how other people want to feel or what their priorities are. me.”
Postecoglou is desperate to compete with City, but with Pep Guardiola now in ownership, how realistic is that? As Arsenal and Liverpool found out, you can do all the right things and still almost always fall short. So the general feeling is that I will definitely go. But in the meantime, most club fans will play their hearts out when they get the chance.
Almost forgotten in the local rivalry psychodrama is the fact that Tottenham would have had a good chance of qualifying for the Champions League had they beaten City on Tuesday night. But even that prospect has left many fans cold over the past few months, with many believing they barely deserved to enter the competition and had no real chance of winning.
And by the final day of the Premier League season, it’s naturally going to be a day of hype, even though everyone knows there’s little chance of drama.
There was genuine laughter in the press room on Tuesday night as Sky Sports tried to expand on the final match and the odds for a thrilling finish. City last lost in the league last December and are two points off their Premier League record for 2024, excluding games against title rivals Arsenal and Liverpool.
Their record fourth title would be met with largely indifference from the rest of the country. Apart from the relief Tottenham fans feel that Arsenal did not win the title; It’s exactly what Everton and other supporters felt two years ago when Liverpool were denied by City on the final day.
This feeling is about as close to what you’ll get from most supporters in 2024, and it has been to some extent, but never like this.
(Top photo: Julian Finney/Getty Images)
