Adebayor: Spurs suffering at home because of fans

[jacomo]

Interesting article about how Spurs fans are increasingly restless at home:

http://www.theguardian.com/football/2014/nov/10/emmanuel-adebayor-tottenham-crowd-white-hart-lane-stoke


Adebayor says the players are feeling the heat. “It’s kind of hard when you know the first bad ball you make the fans are going to boo you,” he said. “When you are playing in front of your own crowd you want them to support you. But now it is like going through a sad moment and your family not welcoming you home. That’s the worst thing ever because you have nowhere to go. At the moment I don’t know whether we should play at home or whether we should play away.

Adebayor is a bit of a complex character, and circumstances at every club are different, but it's interesting to hear a footballer's perspective on the importance of a supportive home crowd.

[rcarter1]

Interesting article about how Spurs fans are increasingly restless at home:

http://www.theguardian.com/football/2014/nov/10/emmanuel-adebayor-tottenham-crowd-white-hart-lane-stoke



Adebayor is a bit of a complex character, and circumstances at every club are different, but it's interesting to hear a footballer's perspective on the importance of a supportive home crowd.

No doubt this effects some players more so than others. Rapid fire booing to each little mistake however would either annoy/demoralise/scare most people. Sociopaths might be the exception.

[Stranraer]

I've got no idea what Spurs look for in a manager. Would I be right in saying Sherwood recorded a record amount of points?

[silverhibee]

Interesting article about how Spurs fans are increasingly restless at home:

http://www.theguardian.com/football/2014/nov/10/emmanuel-adebayor-tottenham-crowd-white-hart-lane-stoke



Adebayor is a bit of a complex character, and circumstances at every club are different, but it's interesting to hear a footballer's perspective on the importance of a supportive home crowd.

It happens all over the world, your team not playing well and the fans boo them, it happens and it's not going to go away, in other countries the fans will turn up at the training ground and smash players cars up if they think they have played badly for one game, these players, Adebayor is paid a bloody fortune to play football, maybe if he was looking interested in games he might not get booed, but for a player who is paid a fortune and is not playing well himself to come out and have a go at supporters who pay good money to watch good players under performing is a joke.

Get the head down and work harder on the pitch for the money he is making.

Take it this is going down well with the Spurs fans.

[emerald green]

Here we go again with this old boring chestnut. It's the fans fault!

Absolutely nothing to do with overpaid, under performing prima donnas playing badly. Or even worse, not trying because they don't like the manager?

[Deansy]

It happens all over the world, your team not playing well and the fans boo them, it happens and it's not going to go away, in other countries the fans will turn up at the training ground and smash players cars up if they think they have played badly for one game, these players, Adebayor is paid a bloody fortune to play football, maybe if he was looking interested in games he might not get booed, but for a player who is paid a fortune and is not playing well himself to come out and have a go at supporters who pay good money to watch good players under performing is a joke.

Get the head down and work harder on the pitch for the money he is making.

Take it this is going down well with the Spurs fans.

Since Bosman, 'Loyalty' between players and the clubs is a thing of the past but so has the 'loyalty' between the fans and the players. The fans loyalty will always be to the club and not a player who'll probably only be there 2/3years. I always think though, that fans can accept bad-form but won't accept players seen as not trying or making the effort for their club.

[NAE NOOKIE]

The Spurs players got slaughtered by the pundits on MOTD2 last night for "failing to take responsibility"

When you earn 70K a week to play football your leeway to moan about the fans is diminished somewhat I would suggest.

[silverhibee]

The Spurs players got slaughtered by the pundits on MOTD2 last night for "failing to take responsibility"

When you earn 70K a week to play football your leeway to moan about the fans is diminished somewhat I would suggest.

Pretty sure he is earning £170k p/w.

Link is a year old but even a year ago he was being described as a misfit, and he is blaming the fans, he must be looking for a move in January.

[Pete]

Maybe if they weren't paying £1000 for a season ticket their expectations might be a bit lower and they'd cut the players some slack.

[PeterboroHibee]

I do agree that fans getting on the players backs must be difficult, but it leaves a bad taste when players/managers come out and essentially blame the fans for bad form. Fans dont turn against a team overnight, and often the criticism they receive is for long periods of under-performance, and probably justified (even if its not helpful).

As others have also suggested, the divide between the players and fans, particularly at the highest level, is probably as big as its ever been. The price of football must be at an all time high, and when fans see players on obscene wages acting as if they dont care, or arent putting the effort in, its not surprising it takes less for them to start booing.

[Hibernia&Alba]

Spurs fans have a reputation for impatience. It's the chicken and egg argument. Perform for them and they mightn't boo!

[DH1875]

We should sign him :greengrin

[Onion]

How do these top paid EPL players manage to do their jobs in such terrible working conditions. Poor wee lambs :greengrin

[Pete]

We should sign him :greengrin

...as back up for Malonga. Good call.

[Smartie]

Overbearing club chairman.
Chairman who fail to back his managers.
High turnover of managers.
Track record of underachievement for a big club in that league.
Fans charged top whack for season tickets.
Fans possibly/possibly not unreasonable with their expectations.
Fans who always blame the manager when things aren't going right.
Fans blamed by players for not creating the right atmosphere.

Familiar eh?

[PeterboroHibee]

Overbearing club chairman.
Chairman who fail to back his managers.
High turnover of managers.
Track record of underachievement for a big club in that league.
Fans charged top whack for season tickets.
Fans possibly/possibly not unreasonable with their expectations.
Fans who always blame the manager when things aren't going right.
Fans blamed by players for not creating the right atmosphere.

Familiar eh?

Do they really underachieve though? They are a big club, but theyve more or less finished 5th or 6th since Martin Jol took over (with a few blips). In a league where there are quite a few clubs who are either a) bigger, and/or b) spend considerably more money, beyond winning a cup, they are probably doing as well as possible.

Id agree about the other similarities though.

[SouthsideHarp_Bhoy]

Do they really underachieve though? They are a big club, but theyve more or less finished 5th or 6th since Martin Jol took over (with a few blips). In a league where there are quite a few clubs who are either a) bigger, and/or b) spend considerably more money, beyond winning a cup, they are probably doing as well as possible.

Id agree about the other similarities though.


I think i'm right in saying that Spurs were one of the traditional 'big 6' in England (Man U, Everton, Arsenal, Spurs, Liverpool and Aston Villa??), and I would say in comparison to Arsenal, they have underachieved over the years. Recently, I think they have simply been replaced in the big 6, which is now the rich five? (take out Spurs, Everton and Villa and add in Chelsea, Man City). Considering Spurs are now competing with clubs for whom money is literally no object, I don't think we can say they are underachieving now.

I have always thought Spurs are a lot like Hibs though. Constantly fail to live up to fans expectations, a traditional big club with a soft centre.

[Jones28]

£80k a week victims, gosh what a moral dilemma. They were slaughtered on MOTD 2 last night and rightly so, poor defending isn't the fans booing.

[jacomo]

Maybe if they weren't paying £1000 for a season ticket their expectations might be a bit lower and they'd cut the players some slack.

I think this is a good point. When you are paying through the nose to watch a football match, expectations go up and patience decreases. Especially when the players have no attachment to the club and act like prima donnas.

[Bronson]

The players obviously have to do more, but we should know first hand what a negative home atmosphere does to a team on the pitch. Some on here refuse to admit it but the fans can be a hindrance rather than a help at times.

It's a vicious cycle, bad performances = negative atmosphere = lower confidence = bad performances.

[RyeSloan]

I think this is a good point. When you are paying through the nose to watch a football match, expectations go up and patience decreases. Especially when the players have no attachment to the club and act like prima donnas.

Speaking to a Spurs fan in work who was at the recent defeat he's pretty clear it's the teams fault...useless was his politest description!

Fact is fans can tell the difference between a team that is trying and a team that is just going through the motions, as we know all too well Hibs fans are well placed to know that.

[greenlex]

At what point does the manager need to take responsibility?

[jacomo]

Speaking to a Spurs fan in work who was at the recent defeat he's pretty clear it's the teams fault...useless was his politest description!

Fact is fans can tell the difference between a team that is trying and a team that is just going through the motions, as we know all too well Hibs fans are well placed to know that.

I think the point is that the home atmosphere has a real influence on whether the players just go through the motions or bust a gut.

[Smartie]

Some of the stuff pointed out on MOTD 2 was unbelievable though. Adebayor not being ready to go on, the captain pussying out of challenges in his own box and this being pointed out by team-mates at the side of the park.

It screams of a lack of leadership to me, not necessarily that the manager isn't good enough. The manager is clearly talented but may lack a bit of self-belief knowing that his chairman is a clown who punts managers at the first sign of trouble. For clubs to succeed they need to have a strong axis where the chairman has faith in a manager and will back him. Players daren't act like clowns because they'll be out on their ar*e.

There are talented players earning a lot of money there that are frankly taking the piss.

[pontius pilate]

Adebayor is a goat he plays well for the contract then shows no interest. I know of some spurs fans who would be happy with the likes of kane and mason in the squad local lads who know what its like to play for the shirt. Fans all over want to see at least commitment and heart not some overpaid tosser not being able to hold onto a ball. The fans are more peeved off at the higher echelons of the club rather than the manager.

i suppose we are similiar a high turnover of managers who are left with the previous managers players and doesnt have time to change the philosophy and players

[Pretty Boy]

Team underperforming = less patience from fans.

I've told this story before but it is an example, admittedly extreme, of just how unforgiving football fans can be. Barcelona had beaten Arsenal in the Champions League in Paris. The start of the next season was a bit of a disaster, Ronaldhino fell out with Eto'o, Eto'o took the huff and Rijkaard had fallen out with just about everyone. The season started, by Barca standards quite poorly. I was at a game v Villareal where Barca went 0-1 down early doors. The reaction of the crowd was savage, 80000 people waving white hankies in surrender, booing and jeering for 15 minutes solid, flares thrown on the park. This was a team that had won the Champions League 4 months before FFS. As far as the fans were concerned playing for Barcelona was an honour and players should put aside egos and perform to their best every week without fail. A midweek cup game just after this attracted about 15000, a miniscule crowd for Barcelona.

Fans getting tetchy when the going gets tough is a reaction seen across the world and, for the most part, is relatively mild in the UK.

[The_Todd]

I think i'm right in saying that Spurs were one of the traditional 'big 6' in England (Man U, Everton, Arsenal, Spurs, Liverpool and Aston Villa??), and I would say in comparison to Arsenal, they have underachieved over the years. Recently, I think they have simply been replaced in the big 6, which is now the rich five? (take out Spurs, Everton and Villa and add in Chelsea, Man City). Considering Spurs are now competing with clubs for whom money is literally no object, I don't think we can say they are underachieving now.

I have always thought Spurs are a lot like Hibs though. Constantly fail to live up to fans expectations, a traditional big club with a soft centre.

You would be right, Spurs were one of the Big Six and were a major part of the first Sky deal and the Premier League breakaway.

Spurs and Hibs are so alike in many ways and it's no wonder I'm drawn to both.

[Bostonhibby]

It's those pesky damn fans again, I wondered where all the non happy clappers we suffered from went and now it seems it Spurs turn, obviously the very highly paid EPL player concerned needs someone to blame. Fans not happy when their well paid superstars are not performing, whatever next.

[Carheenlea]

Read a tweet from broadcaster and spurs fan Danny Kelly after the game where he talked of Spurs playing music at full time at extreme high volume trying to drown out the boos from the home support :hilarious

[RyeSloan]

I think the point is that the home atmosphere has a real influence on whether the players just go through the motions or bust a gut.

Surely it's the other way around!!

[EastCalderHibby]

Here we go again with this old boring chestnut. It's the fans fault!

Absolutely nothing to do with overpaid, under performing prima donnas playing badly. Or even worse, not trying because they don't like the manager?

sounds like the butchers squad of last season :dunno:

[weonlywon6-2]

Here we go again with this old boring chestnut. It's the fans fault!

Absolutely nothing to do with overpaid, under performing prima donnas playing badly. Or even worse, not trying because they don't like the manager?

Very true,theres probably not a player in spurs that isnt close to being a millionaire,they need to toughen up,big jessies

[jacomo]

Surely it's the other way around!!

Well yes, that too!

[Brooster]

That's rich coming from that non trying crank.

[jacomo]

Very true,theres probably not a player in spurs that isnt close to being a millionaire,they need to toughen up,big jessies

Any EPL club can afford to sign some of the very best players in the world, and part of that must be their mentality.

However, just because someone is a millionaire doesn't make them immune to the usual vagaries of mood, form and confidence. Arguably, Hibs players should be more motivated because they don't earn telephone number salaries and have to keep earning to pay the rent etc.

[Colr]

Interesting article about how Spurs fans are increasingly restless at home:

http://www.theguardian.com/football/2014/nov/10/emmanuel-adebayor-tottenham-crowd-white-hart-lane-stoke



Adebayor is a bit of a complex character, and circumstances at every club are different, but it's interesting to hear a footballer's perspective on the importance of a supportive home crowd.

Having watched these fan dancers huff and puff against Brighton the other night, I challenge Ade to watch the game himself and see how animated he is.

[Baader]

If Adebayor says it then it should be dismissed as anything close to credible immediately. Guys a total imposter.