Tottenham fans should treat Emmanuel Adebayor with silence

Tottenham fans should respond to anything Emmanuel Adebayor does today with a wall of silence

Many Tottenham fans will feel real anger when they see Emmanuel Adebayor take the field for Crystal Palace in today’s FA Cup match. Rather than fueling him with boos and songs, they should crush his spirit with a wall of silence.

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Let me begin by acknowledging that Adebayor did some great things at Tottenham. When he was in form he was absolutely unplayable. He scored big goals for the club and helped keep us afloat during some tough times.

With that being said, his total time at the club has to be classified as disgraceful. When I think back about Adebayor’s time at Tottenham I don’t remember his goals. I remember the multiple times that he quit on the club and the countless drama he wrought upon White Hart Lane.

Suffice it to say that I don’t look upon Ade fondly. I don’t begrudge his decision to play for another Premier League club, but I do have a significant issue with him doing so while still accepting money from Tottenham. He is absolutely stealing money from Spurs.

So the question becomes, how should we treat Adebayor when he steps on the pitch today? There are three central possibilities. A certain (misguided) subset of the fan base will choose to cheer Adebayor as a returning Spurs player. That’s just revisionist history on the whole and I can’t bring myself to acknowledge that as remotely appropriate.

Another subset of the fan base will hurl insults and boo Adebayor with malice and vigor. I can certainly understand why fans would want to do this. There’s a significant portion of my own heart that wants to do the same thing. It’s just not the best thing for the club.

Adebayor thrives on attention. It doesn’t really matter if it’s positive or negative in nature. He will be fueled by any Tottenham fans that express negative emotions or feelings towards him today. Jeering the Palace striker will increase his chances of finding his good form against Spurs.

That’s why the right move for us, as Tottenham fans, is to greet Adebayor entirely with indifference. Treat him as if he isn’t even on the pitch. At the very least, treat him like he’s any other striker who never played a minute for Tottenham. The crushing pressure of being anonymous on a pitch where he used to be cheered, will crush his spirit and render him ineffective.

The story of today’s FA Cup match versus Crystal Palace should be the continuation of Tottenham’s evolution under Mauricio Pochettino. It’s unfortunate that it’s devolved into a feature about Emmanuel Adebayor’s return to White Hart Lane. Tottenham fans should be deafening with their indifference towards their former striker.