St. Totteringham’s Day — as a Tottenham Hotspur supporter since about 1996, it has been something I have been aware of since the beginning of my fandom. The wanderers of Woolwich have always had the upper hand by season’s end and that’s just the way it has been.
In fact, its been the case since the 1994-95 season to be exact (where Spurs finished 7th to Aresnal’s 12th btw). However, let’s also get one thing straight — this “day” only exists because Arsenal literally had nothing more to celebrate than being better than another London club.
Trophies were not even a twinkle in the club’s eye and the term only exists because a group of online supporters for the wanderers needed something to amuse themselves while never reaching success.
Sure, since the start of the table dominance of Woolwich, that club from down the road has seen plenty of the success all clubs dream about — league titles, FA Cups and the like.
However, that sort of success has been fleeting in recent years, and it has meant St. Totteringham’s Day taking on more importance for supporters of that nomadic club once again.
Just last season, the Gunners spent their season worried about where Spurs were in the table on a weekly basis and while they got to celebrate their made up “holiday,” one article summed up all that needed to be known about how fleeting their time above Spurs was about to be.
It also showed just how delusional the media and supporters were just this time last season.
Said article on ESPNFC decided that money, stadium, transfer policies, the squad and the structure of the clubs were the reasons why this day was likely to be celebrated long in to the future.
Fast forward one year and there’s little doubt the advantages Arsenal once knew have ended or are on their way to ending. Domination over Spurs is about to be finished for a season, barring a major collapse against a light set of fixtures ahead.
As for the apparent reasons for the Gunners continuing their domination? The money is getting larger at WHL thanks to a set of astute business deals and a near doubling of the stadium in the near future. As for that “transfer business?”
How is that “laughed at” move for Erick Lamela looking now? What a terrible piece of business were moves for Toby Alderweireld, Kevin Wimmer, Kieran Trippier huh? Oh, and that awful piece of business for some 19-year-old kid named Dele Alli….oops.
While the 2013 class produced some major duds for Spurs’ big Gareth Bale-sized haul, it had some big value in Christian Eriksen and Erik Lamela. Those two have been key pieces to Spurs’ puzzle and both have some of their best footballing days ahead of them as well.
Meanwhile, some of the big-money moves of the Gunners recent history have flamed out in pretty big ways as well. Alexis Sanchez was a £35 million move back in 2014 and this season has netted just nine goals in 22 EPL starts.
But all “good natured” things must come to an end, and this tradition is now about to be turned around on those who created it as a way to mock their older and real North London resident rivals. With Spurs up by five points, it is becoming ever closer to being an end of an era.
If 2014-15 was a sign of long-term dominance of Woolwich, what should 2015-16 say for the long-term of these two clubs?
If we’re comparing the two clubs, it is hard not to see a long-term trending upwards for everything Spurs under Mauricio Pochettino and a continued slow decline of Arsenal in the twilight of Arsene Wenger’s career at the Emirates.
So, in one way, thank you for the day of celebration that you created out of desperation for relevancy. It now belongs to us and we’ll gladly take that time to celebrate our club once again.
While Spurs may have failed to win as much as Arsenal over the past 20 years or so…the fact that it comes to an end in 2015-16 reminds us all of the words of the great Bill Nicholson —
“It is better to fail aiming high than to succeed aiming low. And we of Spurs have set our sights very high, so high in fact that even failure will have in it an echo of glory.”
