It felt like a throwback – a walk to the past – when I arrived in Ipswich at the weekend.
Somehow, in the midst of the countless journeys to watch and report over football, Portman Road had always passed me on, and it was the way that club connected to his place that lifted the soul. 'Always proud. Always Ipswich, always Suffolk 'read the legend on the wall outside the club shop.
There was no mistake in the city, because of the tensions of 'We are the Park Lane Tottenham' that publish out of the train station at 6 pm, after a 4-1 victory for the visitors of the day.
Those exuberant singers seemed blissfully unconsciously that they were out of Kaar with a new edict – the club calls it 'guidance' – in which Tottenham has asked broadcasters not to call them 'Tottenham'.
No, April Fool's Day is more than a month off. This request is really included in a Spurs -e -Mail – entitled 'Tottenham Hotspur Naming Update' – with different do's and not about acceptable nomenclature for the club.
A 'remastered brand identity' has been rolled out over all the physical and digital contact points of the club, “we are told. It emphasizes on broadcasters that 'traces' is great for concise and 'Tottenham Hotspur' very desirable, but just old 'Tottenham'? Absolutely not.
That 'hotspur' is so good -a name with romantic, Shakespeare -BOVENDONS, who, like a Tottenham -supporting friend, tells me, 'felt magical as a child, because in a world full of united cities, cities, athletics and albions, there, there Is only one hotspur. If more people call us as Tottenham Hotspur, then I am happy. '
But seven small words in the club -E – mail – 'Never refer to our club as' Tottenham '' – were enough to let your heart sink.
It is of course all about the global brand. A form of words that looks best on mugs and bags and clothing to sell the 'product' from New York to Nairobi and all the points in between.
Well, I'd rather brand management completely about optics – the image you make for your product. The geniuses of Tottenham neglect that 'Tottenham' quietly withdraws.
That the locals have to transcend the Global at every British club. That without the district whose name seems like a minor inconvenience, there would be no 'Tottenham Hotspur'. That random decisions about what a club is called by someone – are just not theirs to make.
The area has been synonymous with that club since the days of the Tottenham boys who kicked balls in the district and formed the first great team of Arthur Rowe. It was the Tottenham community that fought in 1977 against the move of the club by London. The locals of Tottenham who show up, week in, week out, when the club was up after the war.
'Tottenham' was good enough for Ossie Ardiles in a recording studio before the FA Cup final of 1981, singing of how he would play a blinder, in the cup for Tipping-Ham. “Another indelible part of the historic material, apparently no longer part of the new 'brand' than Chas & Dave's 'Tottenham, Tottenham, nobody can stop them.'
No one can deny the work that Tottenham has done over the years in the area. I clearly remember that the faces of the children light up at a primary school where I interviewed Kieran Trippier seven years ago.
But, God knows that the district – with the highest percentage of claimed unemployment in London and countless compelling property on the Tottenham High Road – needs all carer, promotion and encouragement that can collect it.
An edict that takes 'Spurs', a purely nickname, ascendancy on 'Tottenham', does nothing to tell a new global fan base that there is actually a place called 'Tottenham', postcode N17, in the London Borough or Haringey, Who – while he was missing – while he was missing – while he was missing – while they were missing a lot of wealth – has enabled traces to rise.
Incidentally, a place where pensioners have just been told that concessional tickets for the club's home game are attached. A 'Save our seniors' campaign against this is underway.
Tottenham is by no means the only club that wants to reach a global future with an informal contempt for the past.
Clubbadges, the dream of a brand advisor, are routinely manipulated for financial goals. Manchester United 'dropped the words' football club' of them in 1998.
Tottenham 're -conceived' last November, by removing the name of the club. It was a “more playful, daring approach,” said the PR -spin. “They ruined a big badge,” says my friend.
The names of land are equally interchangeable. West Ham demands that their stadium is called 'London Stadium', when most fans think it should be 'the London Stadium'.
A few years ago I received an e -mail from Wrexham – on whose land, the racing course, I watched football for most of my life – instructed me to use a new name in copy, with the name of a Colorado-based cold coffee firm. Sorry, Wrexham. Absolutely no chance.
Such considerations seemed Double Dutch for the local supporters of Ipswich that I found under an image of Bobby Robson, Mick Mills and the great team of that city from the 80s on Saturday lunch.
They told me that they were just happy to see their small place on the map again, even if this stay between the elite of football does not go beyond May. “We love our Ipswich,” said someone, a sentiment that, like the place, seemed an explosion from the past.
Brace yourself for a wild week
Next week's European luminaire list is enough to be shivered, with two of our clubs in the Dutch citadels of hooliganism – Arsenal in Eindhoven on Tuesday and Tottenham near AZ Alkmaar two nights later, when Eintracht Frankfurt also arrives in Amsterdam to Ajax .
Some aspects of continental football have never left the dark centuries. Stuck the pants by hand.
Bury FC the opera?
Bury FC and English National Opera, an unlikely combination, work together on a project, called 'Perfect Pitch', to explore the impact of mass -singing on team performance.
ENO has chosen the ideal club, which again climb their feet, the top of the North West Counties League, after shameful rogue owner Steve Dale has taken them bankrupt.
Eno move quickly to Manchester. Bury FC the opera? It could fly.
What the hell do United eat?
Do the people of Sir Jim Ratcliffe seriously ask us to believe that they save Manchester United £ 1 million by cutting canteen lunches?
Even if United had 1,000 employees – which they no longer have at the place five days a week for 50 weeks a year, that would yield up to £ 40 per meal at that figure.
United is on track to earn £ 34 million less Premier League prize money this season than last year.
Since, based on last year's figures, they would earn themselves £ 11.5 million more by ending up 14th, instead of their current position of 15th, perhaps the genius of the company Sir Jim would suggest that Rubem Amorim His precious 'philosophy' and claws leave points at all costs.
Given the canteen, his current priority is, for £ 40 per lunch it seems fair to ask: “What the hell did they eat in that place?”
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