If you follow football, and especially if you’re a Spurs fan, you don’t need me to tell you this has been a terrible season for Tottenham. To date we’ve lost 19 Premier League matches.
There have been two rare bright spots. First, we are in the semis of the Europa League. You never know; we might even win the thing.
But above all else – which puts into perspective whether twenty two men running around after a ball manage to win, lose or draw – the release of Emily Damari after 471 days as Hamas’ captive in Gaza was a moment of pure joy.
Emily (her first name alone is enough to identify her to Spurs fans) is a lifelong supporter, and she was pictured soon after her release wearing a Spurs scarf. Supporters campaigned tirelessly to keep her name at the centre of coverage of the hostages, with yellow ribbons and posters of her surrounding the areas outside the stadium. She is one of our own.
It is wonderful news that Emily is coming to watch Spurs play Crystal Palace on 11 May (and yes, ha-very-ha, I get the joke that she has surely suffered enough already).
It’s almost miraculous that, having been in the grip of an evil death cult, she is now able to breathe the air of freedom – and will soon be able to inhale the atmosphere at the Spurs stadium on her first trip abroad since her release.
Emily isn’t just like the rest of us. She has endured unimaginable depravity and come through it – and her love of the club helped her do that. She is not only a true heroine, she is a true Spurs heroine.
There could be no more fitting gesture than for the club to welcome her as the VIP she really is – to roll out the red carpet for her and give her a day to remember. It needn’t be public; Emily might not want that, and there are private visitors to the Directors’ Box or to the hospitality suites at every match. She loves Spurs – and Spurs should show her some love back.
Daniel Levy is often criticised as being more interested in Spurs as a business than as a club. I know that’s not fair; he is a fan, too.
So go on: give Emily what she deserves. You know it’s the right thing to do.
