Time for the Tottenham army to march to a different tune

  • Chelsea have warned their supporters over an 'anti-Semitic' Alvaro Morata chant
  • Tottenham could work on blurred lines that surround fans' use of the word 'yid'
  • Joe Root doesn't need moving up the England order ahead of the Ashes tour
  • Jose Mourinho was just one of many to row with Mark Hughes over a handshake
  • Crystal Palace did not have the faith or patience for a Frank de Boer revolution
  • Chris Froome should command more respect and adulation for his achievements

When is a yid not a yid? This is a question the Football Association may need to answer in the coming weeks, not to mention Chelsea, and Tottenham.

In just about every walk of life, 'yid' is a derogatory term for a Jew. Although the word Yiddish also applies to Jewish dialect and culture, 'yid' in the mouth of a gentile is invariably intended to insult and demean. With anti-Semitism again rising, to allow its use to grow unchecked would be wildly irresponsible.

In English football, however, there is a complication. A yid can also be a supporter of Tottenham. 


'Yid' is a derogatory term for a Jew but some Tottenham supporters identify as the 'Yid Army'

'Yid' is a derogatory term for a Jew but some Tottenham supporters identify as the 'Yid Army'

Their fans identify as the 'Yid Army' to such an extent that in June 2014, the Metropolitan Police announced that use of the word 'yid' in chants at White Hart Lane would no longer be considered an offence worthy of arrest. One presumes the same now applies during Tottenham games at Wembley.

And now it gets interesting, for at Chelsea, the fans have a new song in honour of their striker Alvaro Morata. 'He came from Real Madrid,' they sing, 'he hates the f****** yids...'

Unsurprisingly, not everybody is comfortable with this, not least Chelsea and Morata. The club are threatening to use CCTV evidence to impose bans on those chanting the offensive song, and say they will show zero tolerance to offenders and support criminal prosecutions.

Morata has issued a statement calling on Chelsea's fans to 'respect everyone'. The FA has confirmed it will open an investigation.

Yet into what, exactly? Chelsea are admirably insistent there is no grey area here, but that isn't quite true. Football has allowed the word 'yid' to develop duality.

It could be argued that the Chelsea fans' song is not anti-Semitic, but merely against a rival club. Chelsea's fans could claim that they are not singing Morata hates Jews, but that he hates Tottenham — the way Willian does, in another Stamford Bridge favourite.

Now we all know that a supporter prepared to sing the line 'he hates the f****** yids' is going to have a hard time convincing any court, or reasonable person, that the words are not racially motivated. Yet there is a shade of grey, in football at least.

A section of Tottenham's support have been allowed to get away with the notion that they are reclaiming a word; a word that wasn't really theirs to reclaim.

Put it like this. Say there was a football club that was strongly identified with and part of the black community: Brixton United, for want of better. As time passed, the many black fans of this club had sought to reclaim the words they were called by rival supporters, making them their own.

Yet, as happens in football, the cultural and ethnic make-up of the fans group had also changed, become diluted, less identifiably black. And now you've got a load of white guys, at a football match, chanting: 'N***er Army!'

Chelsea fans have a new song for Alvaro Morata, including the line: 'He hates the f****** yids'

Chelsea fans have a new song for Alvaro Morata, including the line: 'He hates the f****** yids'

That's pretty much where Tottenham are now. The majority of supporters piously protecting their right to use the word 'yid' are not actually Jewish. Might they wish to consider the 0.4 per cent of the country that is, before affecting ownership?

The counter-argument is that Tottenham's 'Yid Army' are showing solidarity with previous generations of the club's supporters, who suffered anti-Semitic abuse.

Tottenham have long been identified as the Jewish club, even though it was Arsenal who were the first to wish supporters well over the holiest day in the Jewish calendar, Yom Kippur. Tottenham did not follow suit until 1973, a decade later. Arsenal's Jewish support, however, was relatively new.

It was Tottenham who first attracted the working-class Jewish community that grew up around the industrial-ised Tottenham Hale area at the beginning of the 20th century. It is this Jewish ancestry that modern Tottenham supporters can claim to be defending.

The 'Yid Army' chant is never intended in a pejorative sense, and comes from a position of affinity for crowds it was once estimated would contain as many as 10,000 Jews. To then blame Tottenham's fans for their rivals' racial slurs, it is argued, is like blaming the victims of sexual assault for being drunk or dressing provocatively.

And these are valid points — except it is indisputable that the only environment in which the use of 'yid' is tolerated is the football ground. And something has caused that.

Tottenham fans watch on as their team play at Wembley, their temporary home for this season

Tottenham fans watch on as their team play at Wembley, their temporary home for this season

Not every black man wishes to reclaim the N-word, as comedians like Chris Rock and Reginald D Hunter have done.

In the aftermath of Hunter's after-dinner turn at the Professional Footballers' Association dinner in 2013, opinion was divided. Many black players in the room were quite comfortable with the comedy of race, the frequent N-bombs, some less so. 'If my dad heard me say it, he would turn in his grave,' said PFA deputy chief executive Bobby Barnes, of the word that came to define Hunter's act.

One imagines there are Jewish Tottenham fans who feel the same about 'yid', or Jewish supporters at other clubs who greatly resent that their own fans feel safe singing racist songs because they can hide behind the lie of equivalency. Football has placed a minefield around racist language.

In 2013, when West Ham visited Tottenham shortly after the FA had intervened on the subject of anti-Semitism and cries of 'Yid Army' were temporarily outlawed, an appalling masterclass in provocation was delivered. The visiting fans pushed it as far as they could, without quite crossing the line.

'Without the Y-word, you've got f*** all,' they taunted. Another reference to Adolf Hitler was even less subtle. 'He's coming for you, he's coming for you,' they sneered. 'We won't say his name, but he's coming for you.' As a final act of triumph, the only person arrested for saying the word 'yid' at White Hart Lane that day was a Tottenham fan. It was horrid. 

Would so much be lost if the new White Hart Lane was to become a yid-free zone?

Would so much be lost if the new White Hart Lane was to become a yid-free zone?

And little has changed since then. Blurred lines, pushed buttons, claim and re-claim and counter-claim. Maybe it is time that Tottenham as a club considered a better way forward, maybe as a way of marking their return to a new stadium next season. Would so much be lost if the new White Hart Lane was to become a yid-free zone? Spurs is also a one-syllable word, too. It scans perfectly in all the same songs.

When the FA previously intervened in this debate four years ago, it provoked a strong response. 'If Spurs fans genuinely are going to stop using this word then it should be our decision,' said Darren Alexander, chairman of the Tottenham Hotspur Supporters' Trust.

And that is the problem. A section of Tottenham's support will always see the 'Yid Army' as part of their identity and feel protective of it.

To challenge this, it needs the club to take a stand — but what club wishes to get on the wrong side of its most vocal, and probably loyal, supporters? Throughout the years of debate, the strongest measure of disapproval from Tottenham came in a statement asking fans to be 'mindful' of their language, after a series of arrests.

Interestingly, though, the club referred throughout to 'the Y-word', suggesting it was not quite as inoffensive as some believe.

With the advent of the Morata chant, maybe it is time to take mindfulness to the next level. To think about when a word is not so much being reclaimed as handed over to the last group who should be allowed to use it: to racists, to anti-Semites and to bullies, to play with, spit and spew as they wish. Maybe the time has come for the 'Yid Army' to modernise, and march to a different tune.

 

IF ONLY WE COULD CLONE ROOT

There is a lot of debate about whether Joe Root should move up the order for the Ashes tour, from four to three. Memory of the last trip might help put that into perspective.

The last time England travelled to Australia, their top seven included Alastair Cook, Jonathan Trott, Kevin Pietersen, Ian Bell, Joe Root and Matt Prior — and England still lost 5-0.

Compare that to the top order touring this winter. Root doesn't need moving, he needs cloning.

Joe Root has been outstanding for England - but he does not need moving up the order

Joe Root has been outstanding for England - but he does not need moving up the order

 

HANDS UP IF YOU'VE FALLEN OUT WITH HUGHES! 

Stoke played very well against Manchester United at the weekend. They defended bravely and in striker Maxim Choupo-Moting, manager Mark Hughes appears to have unearthed another one.

It was a pity then that such a display should be overshadowed by a new spat over a handshake — Hughes accusing Jose Mourinho of snubbing him at the end of the match.

This adds Mourinho to a list including Tony Pulis, Roberto Mancini, Martin Jol and Arsene Wenger, all accused of refusing Hughes's proffered hand.

Has he ever considered it might be him?

Jose Mourinho and Mark Hughes failed to see eye to eye on the touchline at Stoke on Saturday

Jose Mourinho and Mark Hughes failed to see eye to eye on the touchline at Stoke on Saturday

 

The most risible presumption of the Premier League's new transfer-window deadline is that without English money, the market on the continent will dry up.

Foreign owners will not be able to make late raids on English clubs, runs the logic, because their resources are largely financed by our spending. When we stop buying on August 9, their revenue will slow to a trickle, too.

If English clubs have to buy early, foreign clubs will already have  money for their spending

If English clubs have to buy early, foreign clubs will already have money for their spending

No it won't. If English clubs are forced to buy early by the new deadline, foreign clubs will already have the money to finance their spending; in fact, they'll know exactly what they can afford.

It is the same skewed logic driving the Brexit trade talks, one that fondly imagines a nation alone has the whip hand.

 

PALACE LACKED THE PATIENCE FOR DE BOER

It shouldn't be too hard for Roy Hodgson to improve Crystal Palace: after all, they couldn't get much worse. Not in their numbers at least.

Played four, lost four, goals none; the worst start made by any team in the top division since Preston North End in 1924-25.

Yet anyone who saw Palace's match with Burnley on Sunday will know that isn't the whole story. Palace murdered them. Burnley defended magnificently and their only goal came from a suicidal backpass by Lee Chung-yong.

It was impossible not to feel for Frank de Boer. Charged with re-imagining Palace's style of play having succeeded Sam Allardyce, he walked into a 3-0 home defeat by Huddersfield on the first day of the season and the pressure built from there.

Palace foolishly balked over making Mamadou Sakho's loan deal permanent, meaning De Boer never got to use one of the key figures from last season. Wilfried Zaha has also been missing since the Huddersfield game. Most importantly, De Boer was plainly sold a different job to the one he now occupied.

Steve Parish said he wanted Frank de Boer to get Crystal Palace playing like Swansea City

Steve Parish said he wanted Frank de Boer to get Crystal Palace playing like Swansea City

The club De Boer joined wanted to play like Swansea, according to chairman Steve Parish.

'This year when I watched them and us, I thought the way Swansea played gave them a higher percentage chance of getting a result,' he said. By the time Palace hit Burnley on Sunday that had changed.

Results, not tight, technical football, were Parish's concern. Palace no longer wanted De Boer's revolution, or even evolution, after all. They did not have the patience or faith to become Swans. If De Boer had beaten Burnley 3-0 playing ugly or utilising the most industrial, route one game his players could muster, he would still be in a job now.

Instead, he tweaked his system, compromised his beliefs, but found a game plan that might, given longer, have worked. Palace had 22 chances to Burnley's four; Andros Townsend was the game's outstanding player; and Palace mixed their game well.

That wasn't enough. Palace were no longer interested in philosophy: indeed, looking at the men who preceded and succeeded De Boer, one has to question whether they ever truly were.

 

If you were opening a show at the London Palladium, who would you want in the front row? No question: footballers. In a profession where Dele Alli's middle-finger gesture passes as great banter, is there any easier group of people to amuse?

 

Claude Puel was sacked by Southampton for playing boring football. The players were particularly vocal about this behind the scenes, apparently.

On Saturday, losing 2-0 at home to Watford, they managed one very tame shot on target the whole game. Maybe it was them, not him.

 

SERENA RETURN CAN'T COME FAST ENOUGH

Serena Williams is targeting a comeback at the Australian Open. It cannot come soon enough for women's tennis. With Williams away it was expected that Angelique Kerber or Simona Halep might assume her mantle, but both fell short.

And while an all-American US Open final will have gone down well in New York, it was a dismal affair won in 15 games and 61 minutes, by a player who came to the competition ranked 83 in the world, and who had last reached a semi-final at the 2013 Australian Open.

Serena Williams' return cannot come soon enough for women's tennis in its current state

Serena Williams' return cannot come soon enough for women's tennis in its current state

In the earlier rounds, the competition organisers were reduced to fast-tracking a player fresh off a doping ban, and putting her on the prime court in a desperate attempt to draw the crowds.

Sometimes Williams's domination of her sport is cited as a negative; without her, it would have drifted into mediocrity long before now. 

 

As his list of achievements grows greater and more astounding, it is increasingly asked why Chris Froome does not command more respect and adulation in Britain.

Quite simply — it's cycling. And the public are no longer sure they can believe what they see. Sad; but not entirely incomprehensible.

Chris Froome won the Tour de France and La Vuelta in another great year of achievement

Chris Froome won the Tour de France and La Vuelta in another great year of achievement

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