The end is almost upon us in a season that truly concluded back at the turn of the year when a forced managerial change impacted us beyond immediate repair rendering the remaining games a combination of experimental man-management by the caretaker Tim Sherwood and calamitous team spirit that punctured any chance of an upturn. Tottenham didn't just bring the circus to town, they signed up the entire cast of Jumanji. A chaotic rampant abuse of our senses, Spurs fans trampled over as they watched their white elephant of a football club head towards the graveyard.
I've written countless autopsies, post-mortems, squad analysis and critiques of how the board and chairman run the club. I've done all this with a philosophical undertone for a couple of reasons. Firstly, because it's not the first time we've endeavoured to screw up our season from within. Secondly, it's not half as bad as it looks. It looks pretty bad because there is a detachment with the team and the coach and with the supporters and the club. A new man in at the helm will rejuvenate all concerned. The problem is, we love a new man in and we love getting rid of them just as quick.
I'm so utterly drained with Tottenham and their persistence in defaulting to the fetal position that my expectations are now practically null and void. So if something positive does happen, I'll lap it up with glee but I won't sit around and bemoan the lack of progress whilst waiting. I'm looking forward to the break and I'm not in anyway excited by the prospect of next season until I can gauge how much of my sanity I'll be willing to sacrifice in the build up. The past summer was a wonderful mirage that has left us choking on sand.
As citied, the season ended when Andre Villas-Boas left. It had to happen. It signalled the end of this fallacy that Spurs were a project, a club to be defined by the coach in terms of football ethos. This fallacy having been born when Harry Redknapp was disposed and replaced.
It failed for a multitude of reasons, ranging from AVB's stubbornness with tactics and the lack of cohesiveness with the director of football and what the coach supposedly required to make said failed tactics work. There was no connection inside the club and politics once again consumed the purity of the enjoyment of the football. No shape and a lack of identifiable style found ourselves deflecting away from the first eleven and quizzing what the clubs true agenda consisted of. Are we simply a club seeking to buy potential and sell them on for masses of profit? Or do we simply co-exist with this as the backbone for our fiscal dependency to allow us to speculate occasionally in the transfer marker?
Our spending spree (the £100M dream) was one that happened because of Gareth Bale's departure. In the past when consolidation was key to cementing an upper tie position, we didn't seek to achieve it and suffered the consequences in the latter stages of the season. There's an imbalance here that presides over the tenure of ENIC with plenty of chin scratching accompanied by mind numb headaches.
Then you've got the stadium rebuild and other controversies such at the Y word debate and StubHub. Most of the action has been in the form of talking - off the pitch. The action on it as been mediocrity personified. Yet we found ourselves a few points adrift off the top four (closer to it a month or two back) and since Sherwood's appointment have accumulated a few points. Just not enough. Making it doubly more frustrating that we've not got our act together. Although accumulation of points and 'tables since Sherwood took over' are about as weighty as propaganda as our early season clean sheets. Featherlite.
To add to our torment, we lose three times to a diablocal West Ham side which pretty much digs the shallow grave that 2014 deserves to be pushed into. This being West Ham United, a club that is so devoid of personality it exists completely to wish to defeat Spurs, so let's not dismiss the achievement of their treble - probably on par with a Spurs full-back managing England to a World Cup on home territory with the help of a blind Russian linesman.
So what next Tottenham? Another groundhog day or can we expect to go from fetal to star-jumps? Will the club change from within? Will it embrace patience? Will it back the coach unequivocally with all matters concerning football, or will we it continue to poke its head into matters best left to those that are paid to manage and coach? Will Sherwood linger on at the club lack a dirty chest infection, all phlegm no pedigree?
Over to you, Spurs. Be a pal and gently answer the questions with clarity and poise.
Until then, best I retain a reactionary stance on blogging. There are only so many times I can state the same thing. We all know what went wrong and we all know why. The end of season write-ups have already been published, so best I concentrate on the present and tomorrow (well, aside from the odd humorous look-back).
Clean slate. It's still over to Tottenham to provide the material and considering our predicament I would not bet against us dominating the summer months outside of the World Cup.