Why we are not right to boo Adebayor

There are a few things that are beginning to become consistent at Tottenham recently. In no particular order they have ranged from; one goal wins, late winning goals, Eriksen strikes that seal the points and, ah yes, the Tottenham boo-boys.

Whether it’s because of losing, negative substitutions or under-performing players, there is one name that unites this small section of the Tottenham faithful = Emmanuel Adebayor.

They struck on the hour

Sixty minutes into the game, Roberto Soldado was substituted for the man mentioned above. Although it was a small section of the crowd, the sound of booing was there for all to hear as Emmanuel Adebayor took to the field.

Now, we all have our own opinion on Adebayor and it wouldn’t surprise me if they follow a similar suit. My personal opinion is that he is a player who does not perform consistently enough to play for our club, and the less said about his attitude – the better.

You will obviously have your own opinion, and whether you agree or disagree I whole heartedly respect that. But booing Adebayor, in my opinion, is a step too far.

Past fooling no-one

I can understand why people would want to boo Adebayor. He has, while at Spurs, done little to dispel the persona of him being a money-motivated footballer, who only performs to his best ability when there is a bumper-new deal involved somewhere along the line.

Yes, people like him can be dubbed the worst of the worse in this sport – rightly so, as he is someone who gives footballers a bad reputation in society. Does this give us the right to boo him? Absolutely not.

The whole ‘we the fans pay your wages argument’ is getting old and tiresome and even if this holds resonance for you, I then ask you the question – what do you achieve by booing, or more importantly, who does it help? The answer, no-one!

Who does it help? No-one

Booing any player, no matter if you feel it justified, is going to have an adverse effect, not only on the player, but also the entire squad. Whether the rest of the squad are overly keen on Adebayor is not for public discussion, but the term to describe the relationship between them is usually that of ‘teammates’.

It is bound to negatively affect the team if one of their ‘teammates’ receives a chorus of boos from the fans. This is someone they train with every day and have constant contact with in their life. Imagine a work colleague of yours receiving boos as he steps into work one morning – it would, in one way or another, have an impact on the environment in which you go about your business.

The other factor in how it does not help the players, let alone Ade, is that some players may lose an element of faith in our supporters. Despite the huge following we sent to Burnley and the fact that ‘the Lane was rocking against Chelsea’, that immense support is being let done by those who boo.

Players may even begin to think – if I underperform/ have issues at the club/ or do something that could be frowned upon – will I be next in the booing line?

Aim your boos in the right direction

Despite my best efforts, this piece will do little to convince the minority that Adebayor should be exempt from booing – and to that, I understand also. So if you are wholeheartedly set on hearing boos ring around White Hart Lane to the name of Adebayor, I ask you aim them in the right direction!

The old saying is that a ‘leopard doesn’t change his spots’ – and for Adebayor this couldn’t be truer. He has had the same characteristics and displayed the same attitude since he was the 18-year-old boy who was sold by Monaco for refusing to train. At least he’s consistent!

Instead of booing or questioning Adebayor, it would be wiser to direct the criticism in the direction of Daniel Levy and the board – the individuals responsible for giving Adebayor his, reportedly, £100,000 per-week contract!

Until Adebayor leaves for definite, he is still one of our own and should be treated as such. No-one is obviously exempt from criticism in the Adebayor-booing saga, but maybe we can show our class (which I know is there) as fans, and prove ourselves a better breed of football supporters for the time being.

COYS

 

He is a parasite. I make no excuses for booing when he came on. You are right about Levy but he can hear the reaction so should realise it is also aimed at him. It's not typical of Spurs fans, if we just boo'd people that can't score then ok but look at the support we continue to give Soldado, look at the reaction JD got yesterday. The guy is a scumbag and should never have been allowed to pull on our shirt in the first place - I just can't believe it has taken so long for everyone else to realise that!

 

I didnt boo Ade yesterday but i can easily see why people do, he is an insult to us the paying fans.
But he is not as much of an insult as Levy is who is the single most biggest problem at Spurs!

 

Whatever he is, he was wearing a Spurs shirt and we needed a goal. We actually don't know anything about him and we only believe what the tabloids tell us because we want to.

 

I don't think you're understanding why people don't like him. It's not really about his laziness or his mercenary attitude. We knew that when he came here. The reason is much more specific: his very public fall out with Harry Kane and Ryan Mason. His attitude toward players that should be looking up to him. That's why he will continue to get booed until he has gone. He drew a line in the sand between him and the current darling of the Lane. Kaboul stood with him, the rest of the squad and the entire fan base stood with Kane. It is 100% over for Ade.

 

think he was booed not only for attitude and Us seemingly trying to squeeze him out but also think this is the first time he's played since he spoke out about the rubbish atmosphere at the Lane - which I think he was right about, few people mention Ade as a cancer, I'd say the fans negative atmosphere is more of a cancer

 

It might have been something to do with Ades comments about home support and a section of fans have been waiting quite a while to let him know what they think of those comments but at the end of the day all he needs to do is put in a shift and net a few to get us back on side and wether we like it or not when he wants to play he's still a player that can score goals and is always a better option than Soldado. And for what its worth I think its weak gutted for fans to boo our shirt.

 

Josh, I understand your argument to a degree however, I have to agree with Rob's comment in that Adebayor is a parasite to the club and in fact has been so for sometime now. His first season with us was a good one which in hindsight foolishly gave us all hope that he had turned the corner and was perhaps misunderstood by the other clubs he had let down with his selfish attitude and childish behaviour. How wrong we were to even entertain that thought.
I lay the blame fairly and squarely at the feet of Daniel Levy for ignoring all the warning signs which were glaringly obvious and I don't need to tell ANY of you about the follies of our esteemed Chairman.

 

Boring anti Levy rant. Without Levy we would be stuck in mid low table or in massive debt. Nothing like ignoring the facts to suit an argument. Boo Levy for not spending money we don't have, boo Levy for being on the cusp of building a new stadium, boo Levy for getting Spurs performing consistently in the top 6 and in European competition. Booooooooo!!! Mug.

 

You are, of course, operating off the back of unproven rumours.

What we think we know about Adebayor and what we actually see are two different things. We do not know for definite what happens behind closed doors. But the rumours have been translated into fact by fas who have been wanting to stab a knife in his back ever since he arrived.

There was an interview with his a season or so ago that was very illuminating, including his thoughts on the bus attack and why he tries to get the highest wage possible (in part due to the amount he consistently gives to charities in Togo).

Therefore I think that Adebayor should only be judged on what he has done on the field. Has he done enough this year? No. Not since Sherwood got the boot. But to assume the reasons why is to get suckered into treating rumour as fact. The article is 100% right. Booing solves nothing, especially when you consider that the man you loathe still goes home with his paycheque and you, the supporter, are the one that has done your money and helped encourage a loss of confidence in the squad.

What public fallout with Mason and Kane? That came from ITK rumour, which was picked up by the tabloids.

Where's the actual evidence of it? Was it confirmed by any of the players involved? The manager? Anyone else at the club? Not that I am aware of.

Absolutely. WHL is dire during league matches these days. I even go less now as a result. I tire of the constant whinging by over-spoiled "fans" who think they are owed 5-0 wins every week.

The crowd is the 12th man. That should never be underestimated. Adebayor was just exposing the elephant in the room and the moaners and boo boys don't like being called on their ****. He's not the first either, with AVB mentioning it last season.

 

Forgive me for my ignorance but why can't Tottenham just terminate his contract???

 

There's physical evidence in that Ade and Kaboul were dropped from the squad after the Stoke game. The rumours about the altercation started surfacing within hours of the game and so it's too much for it to be coincidence. It is clear to see that Ade and Kaboul had been completely maginalised until a perceived improvement in attitude. Poch recently said that Ade was 'close to being considered for squad selection' which shows that since the Stoke game he wasn't even close to the squad. You don't drop someone you started the first 10 or so games from the squad entirely without a big reason. Likewise you don't drop your club captain from the squad without a big reason. That's enough smoke for me to believe something like this happened.

 

I've enjoyed this article, for the fact i'm so tired of all this booing nonsence, what ever happened to backing your players whilst they wear a lily white shirt??? booing does nothing its just brings negative energy and there's plenty of that around WHL these days. if we had gone 1-0 down yesterday, after all the decent performances of late there would of been a section of the fans getting pissed off, moaning, booing and offering no support to the team. I used to say back in 2009-2010 we had the best fans the way we used to rock WHL, but these days i think at home were probably one of the worst, saddens me to say it but its true.

 

My mum says, "if you have nothing positive to say, say nothing at all"…

So on a more positive note - here is a new song called…

The Mighty Tottenham Hotspur

(sung to ‘Bad Moon Rising’ by Creedence Clearwater Revival)

We are… the mighty Tottenham Hotspur
And we play at the famous White Hart Lane
We are… the greatest team in Europe
Once you seen us… you’ll never be the same

We are brilliant and we’re bright
We play in lilywhite
And Arsenal are ****en shitte…


Again!

 

I have been going to the lane since 1959 and have never known the atmosphere so dire as this and last season. I think our expectation's are to high and booing does nothing to help the team, I travel over 200 miles round trip and I am starting to wonder if it is worth it (I never thought I would say that) when you come away from the lane feeling down and the boo's still ringing in your ears. I will be going to Sheffield and Florence for the cup games at least the away support it still great. COYS

Rich

 

Another Spurs blog mentioned that Adebayor had pocketed the best part of one million pounds in wages since he last graced WHL with his presence, and yet there are STILL people making excuses for him! Do they just shrug and smile if their postman doesn't deliver the mail because he's had a row with his mum? Do they forgive the tyre fitter who doesn't tighten their wheel nuts properly because the boss has told him off for wearing a beanie at work? No, of course not, so why is an overpaid, greedy, lazy twerp like Adebayor above criticism? 'One of our own'? To bracket him with the likes of Knowles, Roberts or Mabbutt as 'one of our own' is an insult to the club, so boo as much as you want - he's worth it.

PS Why does Soldado get such an easy ride? He's worse even than Chris Armstrong or Gary Doherty, but neither of them got applause for routinely missing a cow's arse with a banjo game after game.

 

Guys we need to be smart he's not going any where so lets get the best put of him then once he's gone we can move on. For now reader on his day he's lethal. We also know he needs love because of his character. So give him love and get back performance. Sing his name to get him up for it and he could nick us another 2 1 win. Be smart and get the best put of him. Which is what pouch is doing. He's a liability but essentially what in his day he's fab so let squeeze the best we can from Mr unpredictable.

 

Personally I don't like Adebayor and I can't wait to see the back of him but, as long he is wearing the white shirt with a Cockerel on it I will support him. The fans who boo'd have the right too that's for sure, but at the time we were searching desperately for that goal, and booing Adebayor did him or the team no good at all.

 

Davetheyid, no one disputes the fact that Levy has done pretty well keeping the club afloat but this is perhaps his only strength. He has been in charge of Spurs for the past 13 years (forgive me if I'm incorrect) and to date we have nothing to show for it apart from promises. The lure/smell of money motivates and drives the man, selling the clubs best players replacing them with bargain buys in the name of profit is a recipe for mediocrity and does not enable advancement. Levy is penny wise and pound foolish. The top clubs are willing to speculate in order to accumulate and they are right. Why should Spurs fans be content and happy with constantly finishing 6th or worse?
Profit is the name of the game for Mr Levy, apportioning blame for ill judged purchases on his Director of football and anyone else instead of himself. Managers are usually the whipping boys. One step forward and two backwards, always having to rebuild a team season after season. A few jewels may emerge from time to time like Eriksen, Chadli to name but a few from the latest crop but how long will they be around before the smell of money from overseas reaches his nostrils. Levy also prides himself on his negotiating skills. We had a perfect chance to buy 23 year old Christian Benteke from AV a year ago for £25M instead we bought a 28 year old Spanish midget for £26M, a man who has never played outside his native Spain except for the odd International match. Sadly, the rest is history. I wonder how much Levy will try and sell him for now. Lets now talk about Levy building a new stadium shall we. He has been looking for someone else to put their hands in their pockets to build the stadium for the past 10 years when the idea was first muted. To date no one has emerged to shoulder the burden. Naming rights is a façade/ smoke screen.

 

He is an insult to mankind, let alone Spurs. He seems to think that the world revolves around him and when he's in the mood he'll put it in and when he's not he won't.
I don't give a toss about his 'personal issues'. As the top paid player at Spurs (what an insult) I expect 100% every day, all day. I expect yes sir, no sir to the manager. Who the **** does he think he is.
He's a disruptive influence and has no place in the Spurs ethos.
Subsidise his wages until the end of his contract in 2016, if necessary, but get him out of the club and get somebody without an attitude problem.

Moreover make psychological testing a fundamental requirement for any future player joining us to weed out the self absorbed, narcissistic, gutless type of loser that embarrasses the club and its supporters.

He's not working for the ****ing council, he's working for the glorious Spurs FFS