With the Guardian’s unstoppable rise to global dominance** we at Guardian US thought we’d run a series of articles for fans wishing to improve their knowledge of the sport’s history and storylines, hopefully in a way that doesn’t patronise you to within an inch of your life. A warning: If you’re the kind of person that finds The Blizzard too populist this may not be the series for you.
** Actual dominance may not be global. Or dominant
When Tottenham Hotspur, so slick and so dominant, outclassed Arsenal at White Hart Lane in April the ramifications for Spurs fans extended beyond those of a deeply satisfying 2-0 win. Not only did it mean Tottenham, in the final derby to be held at their creaking White Hart Lane stadium, would be guaranteed to finish above their north London neighbours in the Premier League standings, keeping alive their faint title hopes; it confirmed they would do so for the first time in 22 years and, in the process, breathe life into a rivalry that had turned into a procession.
The timing could not have been better: next season Tottenham move into a brand new, 61,559-capacity stadium that will change forever the area in which they are based and will embody a shift in the dynamic of London’s most famous contretemps. Tottenham, based in a less prosperous neighbourhood four miles north-east of the demure, leafy streets that make up much of the area around Arsenal’s Islington home, had been the poor relations on and off the pitch for decades. Now, even if the truth is less than palatable to longstanding Arsenal supporters, the clubs have more in common than at any point since the Premier League’s formation. Should Tottenham, four points and three places ahead of Arsenal in the standings, prevail when they meet for a 181st competitive derby at the Emirates Stadium on Saturday it will be tempting to peddle narratives that the balance of power has conclusively shifted. A couple of games cannot do that but it has certainly levelled and that, in the context of what has passed before, stands to give this famous old fixture a more potent significance than ever.
The first match between these two was not even a north London derby. It took place on 19 November 1887, as a workaday friendly between clubs from opposite ends of London. Arsenal, then known as Royal Arsenal, were based in easterly Plumstead and the fixture did not even go the distance due to fading light. It was not until Arsenal moved to the more geographically-favoured Highbury, a few hundred metres from their present-day home, in the summer of 1913 that genuine local spice was added to the argument. London was, and is, packed with football clubs of high standing – there are five in this season’s Premier League and seven in the Football League’s three divisions – and antagonisms of varying degree lie under every rock. Arsenal’s arrivistes caused discord from the outset: their relocation, masterminded by their chairman Sir Henry Norris, was the kind of project that would cause a scandal today but tends to be recalled by history as a necessary rearranging of football’s deck. Nowadays there is little reason to care; the “authenticity” stick is, however, one that Tottenham’s supporters have traditionally been pleased to brandish.
At that stage Tottenham were in the top flight and Arsenal, the less established club, sat in the tier below. The first north London derby to take place in the English top flight occurred at White Hart Lane on 15 January 1921. Tottenham won 2-1 and there was an obvious enmity even then: 18 months later tempers escalated to the extent that the FA threatened to move the fixture behind closed doors.
That scandal was avoided: the rivalry continued in full view, Arsenal’s wonderful team of the early 1930s enjoying themselves in particular with 5-1 and 6-0 victories in the 1934-35 season. From 1950 onwards, the pair have been in the same division for all but one season: it means there has been enough time for myths and legends to accrue although Arsenal have landed the more noteworthy blows. In May 1971, Ray Kennedy’s goal gave Arsenal the win they needed to take the title in their enemies’ own backyard; amazingly the scenario repeated itself when Arsène Wenger’s team, requiring just a point to win the league in their unbeaten 2003-04 season, drew 2-2 and rendered their hosts’ modest pleasure at coming back from two goals down entirely insignificant.
Back then there was a sense that Sir Alex Ferguson’s famous words to Manchester United whenever Tottenham turned up for a big game – “Lads, it’s Tottenham” – applied far more widely. They went 21 derbies in all competitions without a win while Wenger and company, playing the thrilling football dictated by Patrick Vieira, Thierry Henry and company, were in their pomp. Tottenham have had their moments too – the marvellous, Paul Gascoigne-inspired FA Cup semi-final victory at Wembley in 1991; the 5-1 League Cup last-four win that put their barren run to rest in 2008 – but, in general, their highs could not quite match up in both consistency and significance.
That may well be about to change now, and the north London derby needs it to. Two and a half hours northwards, Manchester United and Manchester City stand first and second in what passes for a Premier League title race, managed by two of the biggest box-office figures around. Mauricio Pochettino, the Tottenham coach, will surely join Pep Guardiola and José Mourinho in the pantheon as soon as major silverware comes his way. Wenger’s own propulsion of Arsenal into the modern era need no introduction although his cycle, and thus that of Arsenal, as the dominant figure in this part of London appears to have drawn to a close.
Whoever finishes on top, and however big or small the national significance, the old feelings remain. North London, according to a dominant percentage of 1,294 inhabitants of the English capital surveyed in 2014, is best described as “intellectual” but it did not feel that way whenever Sol Campbell, who learned his trade at Tottenham before making a stellar career in defence for Arsenal in the 2000s, returned to a bear pit – and a host of deeply unsavoury insults – at White Hart Lane. Nor did Emmanuel Adebayor, who is slightly bizarrely the fixture’s leading scorer with eight goals, receive a red carpet reception when playing for Spurs in front of an Arsenal faithful that had never quite taken to him.
None of the players on show this Saturday can be accused of having crossed the divide – not at first-team level anyway. The focus will be on the present and Tottenham, 19 wins behind Arsenal, would love to close a gap that reflects well the state of affairs down the years. In May 2016 they blew a chance to end Arsenal’s supremacy a year early when, improbably, they lost 5-1 to relegated Newcastle on the final day of the season. Pochettino’s team does not really do that anymore: it is Arsenal who seem to have the slip-ups in them but if both clubs can at long last strike an upwards curve at the same time then the north London derby could yet become what its proponents consider it to be: the most important in the Premier League.
Comments (…)
Sign in or create your Guardian account to join the discussion