Kmflett's Blog

As a lifelong Spurs fan and someone who lives near the ground in central Tottenham (full disclosure I’m sometimes in central Cardiff for work and personal reasons) I of course paid close attention to the last Premiership game of the season on Sunday. Essentially it was either Spurs or near neighbours West Ham who were going to be relegated. The odds were on the Hammers and so it turned out.

I was interested to read a paragraph in Jonathan Wilson’s view of the game in the Guardian (25th May)which suggested that some Spurs fans preferred to avoid the stress of watching. I can understand that. I was around when Spurs were last relegated in 1977 and every season I look first of all to see of they have got enough points to avoid relegation more than a CL place. In 2026 only just- two more points in fact.

I could have watched the game on Sky but in fact I was at my local craft beer bar, PopnHops in Cardiff. My late partner Megan, also a Spurs fan, would have been watching on her phone. That was a bit much for me. I kept a close eye on the BBC Sport website for match updates. That includes stats and text commentary and usually gives a fairly good idea of how a game is going.

Anyway all is well that ends well, though I was conscious that the lengthy pieces in the Guardian and the Times about what has gone wrong at West Ham and what will happen now might very easily have been written about Spurs instead

Some Spurs fans had been doubtful about attending, or even following the game on television or the radio. There was a lot of talk of long walks or gardening, avoiding the anxiety until it was all done, but football is about emotion whether positive or negative; about moments of crisis such as this. The duty of a fan is to bear witness, the beauty of fandom is the common experience of emotion. Imagine if you were a regular who had not been there and they had gone down; to be absent for the lowest low would be just as bad as missing the highest high. Collective memory is the lifeblood of community.

Guardian 25th May

My Guardian Obituary of Megan Davies featuring our different approaches to watching Spurs

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2025/dec/18/megan-davies-obituary?CMP=share_btn_url