My Five Best Spurs Moments of 2021

2021 was an intriguing year, to say the least. Football continued without fans, before they returned during the Euros, reminding us what the game is truly about. From a Spurs perspective, it was utter chaos. We had 4 different managers, a new DoF, joined and left the infamous ESL, and so much more. There were some good moments too, which had us beaming and giving us some joy to distract ourselves from the other non-football things going on in our lives.

1. Opening Day Win Against City

Just as we got through a summer that had our best player publicly demanding a move, skipping training, a circus of a managerial appointment, fan outrage on social media, and whatnot, we came up against the reigning champions who our aforementioned player wanted to join.

Perennial pessimism filled the atmosphere and we were all prepared for another dismal opening day defeat at home. Man City had another English golden boy making his debut, and the nine-figure price tag made us believe that he is going to skin our shaky backline which still didn’t have any reinforcements. The first half was relentless, and City were all over us. But our other academy boy, Japhet Tanganga understood the assignment and never gave an inch to Grealish or Sterling. Finally, after somewhat getting back into the game, a counter saw Son making space for himself and beating Ake and Dias to bang a shot into the bottom corner.

The scoreline remained the same throughout, Tanganga got a standing ovation and walked off to the chorus of “he’s one of our own”, while Harry Kane was reminded that he can have all the accolades he wants at City, but the love he gets from Tottenham will never be replicated at a soulless sports washing project. The stinging chants of “are you watching Harry Kane?” made me feel happy to be a part of the Spurs fandom after so long.

2. Antonio Conte’s Appointment

Nuno Espirito Santos never seemed an ideal manager to begin with. Levy had promised "free-flowing, attacking and entertaining football" and Nuno’s Wolves team, as good as they were, never fit this profile. What was more disappointing was that after links and talks with managers like Conte, Nagelsman, ETH, and Potter, we got someone who was underwhelming, to say the least. Despite a good start, things unraveled quickly for Nuno and it culminated into some of the loudest boos I have ever heard at The Lane when he subbed out our most effective player in Moura against a pretty bad United team. Fabio Paraticci stormed down the tunnel, and the next thing we knew was that Antonio Conte was (finally) coming.

A world-class manager who is at the peak of his powers, knows how to get the best out of limited players, bleeds winning, and demands the highest standards from everyone was exactly what we needed, and it was what we got. The initial results have been promising, and we can be optimistic that this was the start of something good under the Italian gaffer.

3. Son’s New Contract

Kane’s interview and publicly demanding a move disillusioned a lot of us. He had an almost fairytale-like story at Spurs; boyhood Tottenham supporter, rising through the academy, facing setbacks on loans, but finally coming through and becoming one of Europe’s elite marksmen and on course to be a cult hero. But all of that seemed gone. We all were angry at someone we idolized, and despite being a good move for him for his own career, I think we can all agree that a trophy with Spurs would have gotten him more satisfaction than a dozen so at City. For us, he would have been Harry Kane the legend, for them, he would have been just another of the scores of good players they have.

But to put our minds at ease and give us something to be happy about (like he always does) Son Heung-Min put pen to paper on a 5-year contract. The beatific smile of his was something all Spurs fans could use to heal the wounds of our hearts from so many disappointments we had the previous season. The contract would see Son at the club till 2026, till which he would have surely led us to a few cups and cemented his reputation as Mr. Tottenham.

4. Bale Masterclass Against Burnley

19th September 2020 was a dream come true for the Tottenham faithful. The player who made a whole generation of us fall in love with the game was returning to N17 after becoming one of the best wingers in the world.

Everyone was raving at the prospect of Gareth Bale’s second spell at the club and the team morale was at an all-time high. But this Bale was different to the one who used to have jetpacks in his ankles: he was coming off of a knee problem and hadn’t played in months. The first 3 months or so were an utter disappointment as he mostly found himself on the bench, and struggled to make any impact. This all changed on 28th February 2021, when Bale exploded to life and scored twice along with an outrageous assist to Kane. The front 3 of Kane, Son, and Bale were all on fire and finally clicked together, putting up an amazing display, linking up effortlessly, with Bale turning back the clock to turn on the rockets and beat defenders for pace like he used to. A really memorable moment for me, and it helped Bale kick on as he finished the season with the best goals p90 in the league.

5. Final Day of the 20/21 Season

By the time the 20/21 season concluded, we had seen us playing in empty stadiums, be top of the table, Jose Mourinho sacked, losing 3-0 to a team whose manager was in prison, Ryan Mason coming in, playing an 8th tier side in someone’s backyard, and whatnot.

It was only fitting that the end to this season was just as chaotic. We were playing a high-flying Leicester on the final day, who had just won the FA Cup and had UCL football on the line. Vardy put The Foxes ahead from the spot after 18 minutes before Kane put in a superb volley. Vardy got another penalty though, and it was 2-1. But Schmeichel's own goal got us level.

It looked dead and buried, and we seemed to have finished behind Arsenal and out of Europe. But lo and behold, off the bench comes Gareth Bale who gets us the lead in the 86th minute, before a solo goal to kill off the game in stoppage time. Once again, it was the Welshman who took the game by the scruff of the neck and dragged us over the line, reminiscent of his earlier spell at the club. His last kick of his Spurs loan was the one that got us European football and helped us finish above Arsenal, concluding a bizarre season in an emphatic way. Being a Kanye West fan, it made me remark: “I hate supporting Spurs, it’s awesome”