Holidays In #BatCountry: A Paean To The Silly Season

Stereotypically, transfer windows are not supposed to be a fun time for fans of Tottenham Hotspur FC. We have the traditional beginning-of-the-window deadwood clear-out, maybe we lose a few key players along with them. We'll probably add a few decent replacements as the months drag on. But the real business, the stuff that upgrades and otherwise beefs out our squad and makes us truly ready to compete for the year ahead? You usually have to wait until the clock's showing 11:59 on deadline day for that. If it happens at all. This is the essence of what #BatCountry is all about. From now until August 31st, as a Spurs fan, I should be generally experiencing moods ranging from bored to frustrated. Right?

Confession: I love silly season. I love the gossip, I love the drama, I love the rosterbation. I love the "my dad's gym buddy's friend's cleaner's dog's best friend saw Samuel Eto'o getting into a cab bound for Sheffield this morning". I love the opportunities the transfer window provides to let your imagination run wild- the challenge of trying to keep that little spark of optimism and excitement alive in the face of the battering winds of reality. If anything, there's more fun in riding the roller coaster of being a Spurs fan in summer than the immediate gratification of supporting other top-four clubs can offer. And I can think of no better environment to enjoy the ride in than this very community.

If there is one thing I have always loved about this site, it is the ability of the community to turn lemons into lemonade. When the chairman gave us Roman Pavlyuchenko, we created Pav Memes. When Luka Modric left, we made 'Modric replacement' into a thing. When the club was consigned to the Europa League two years running, we made a widely-derided tournament into an opportunity for some of our greatest-ever match threads.

As Spurs fans, it is our lot to experience endless tragedy. As CFC users, it is our virtue that we have shown the ability to own that tragedy, and through a kind of alchemy turn pain into hilarity and enjoyment. So I beseech you, wise commentariat of Cartilage Free Captain. This summer, let us reclaim and embrace silly season. Let us annex #BatCountry and turn it into our vacation destination. When we resign Saha, let's have the scumbag hats ready to shoop on. When we don't sign anyone, let's fill the void with deliciously silly ITK made up on the fly. Let's take every tenuous link as an excuse to compile endless fantasy XIs, and celebrate any signing our club is merciful enough to bequeath us with the rabid excitement of a thousand Holtbys. In sharing the experience together, we can keep a shared focus on that all-important maxim that however slow we are to get going, however barren the road ahead might look, it is still a privilege to be counted among the supporters of this club. Who knows, with a DoF installed and AVB given charge of pursuing his own targets, it might all end up being much more easy to do than in recent years.

But even if not, then regardless, let's put the 'fun' back into 'fundamental lack of squad depth'.