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'We boo because we care, Manu - so stop being rubbish'

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What better way to answer your striker's gripes about not wanting to play at home to avoid the boo boys than by telling him he is rubbish on the road as well?

That's what happened to Tottenham's Emmanuel Adebayor, whose claim that negative feedback from the stands at White Hart Lane is making it harder for the team to play at their best was countered by fan group leader Martin Cloake.

The Tottenham Supporters' Trust board member replied to the striker's comments at considerable length in The Telegraph, outlining exactly why the fans were booing, why they were well within their rights to boo, and why Manu and Co should feel lucky to have fans who care enough to boo.

Jose's right - football fans matter

Jose Mourinho has called for more passion from the Chelsea fans to lift the team © Getty Images

• Emmanuel Adebayor may have a point - after all, fans do have an influence the result, for better or worse. Consider the impact of Manchester City's nerve-wracked fans during the narrow derby win over United, or Chelsea's flat displays in front of the chattering masses at Stamford Bridge, writes Alan Tyers.
• Read the article here.

"There is this narrative about Spurs fans being hard to please but it's still an old-fashioned English football ground with the stands close to the pitch and, when it bounces, there is some great passion there," Cloake said.

"Considering we have only won two trophies in the last 24 years I don't think that is a particularly grumbly or hard-to-please crowd. I think it is a very, very loyal crowd."

Loyal, yes. Grumbly, certainly. Within their rights? Sure. Hurting the team? Potentially. Set to back off? Don't bet on it.

"Are players not playing well because of booing or is the booing because players are not playing well?" Cloake pondered. "It's a bit of both. Adebayor is a player on £170,000 a week. We know that he needs to be loved. But it does seem a little bit rich to be complaining that people paying between £50 and £80 to watch a single game are not being massively supportive when it doesn't appear as if all the time he is putting the effort in."

To his credit, Cloake did back up his criticism of the striker's logic with one devastating fact and one widely held opinion. Fact: Adebayor hasn't scored on the road for Tottenham this season. Opinion: Because he has been rubbish.

(Bonus fact: Adebayor hasn't played away for Spurs in Europe for the past two seasons, which doesn't leave the Togolese with much football between now and the end of the current campaign should he get his way.)

"What was also interesting about Adebayor's comments is that he was talking about how difficult it is to play at home but at Villa [Park, where Tottenham rallied to win 2-1] the support was absolutely brilliant and he was still rubbish - and in fact it was a really terrible performance by the entire team," Cloake added.

"People are saying, 'we hear these are really good players but we are not seeing that on the pitch. How good actually are these people?'"

The take-home message here is simple: If you're looking for a sure-fire way to silence the critics, Emmanuel, score goals, win matches, and work hard. Is that too much to ask?

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