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Premiership Football News: My Team - Iain Duncan Smith

Andy Greeves

It's fair to say the relationship between football and politics has always been an uneasy one. The Premier League's increased popularity over the last few decades has led to a rise in politicians nailing their flag to the mast as far as footballing allegiances go. These declarations of loyalty have been viewed with suspicion by the average fan and ex-Conservative leader Iain Duncan Smith can understand why.

"There have been a few politicians that have use football divisively," says the MP for Chingford and Woodford Green. "Tony Blair for example jumped onto the Newcastle bandwagon in the 1990's but doesn't give a damn about football. He's in a minority though… there's some big football fans across all the political parties and everyone knows who those real supporters are."

Duncan Smith, or IDS, falls distinctly into the category of real fan. He plays five-a-side football every week, turns out in charity matches between the Tories and members of the press every year and up until recently, was a long-standing season ticket holder at his beloved Tottenham Hotspur.

"I had two season tickets at Tottenham up until last season, which I shared with friends," IDS explains. "If one of us was away, the other two would take up the tickets and that's how it worked. The problem is, we all seemed to be going away more and more. The last thing I wanted was to be responsible for two empty blue seats in the ground, so I had to give the season ticket up."

The current Chairman for the Centre of Social Justice admits giving up his season ticket has proven far from easy. "I do miss going to the Lane regularly," he says. "I've still been to games with my son this season, but I'd like to be going much more often. In a couple more years when Spurs move to the new ground, I am determined to get a season ticket again and start going to most of the games."

IDS' interest in Tottenham began in the early 60's, when he watched the 1962 FA Cup Final against Burnley. "I was eight watching that game on black and white TV and became a Spurs fan there and then," Duncan Smith recalls. "That team, around the early to mid 60s, became what I'd class as ‘my generation' of Spurs. Jimmy Greaves was my boyhood idol, a fantastic striker who was always in the right place at the right time inside the six yard box."

"I got to go to White Hart Lane a few years after the ‘62 cup final with a friend of my father. I couldn't be specific as to what the fixture was, because I was completely overawed with the actual experience of going to a football match. Tottenham's ground was probably one of ‘the' grounds of the early 60s, it used to get one of the biggest turn outs. Of course it still would to this date, which is obviously why we need to move to the new stadium."

"The sixties was a real golden period for Tottenham, so it's not hard for any Spurs fan who was around in those days to talk about that era as their favourite. What a great team, with the likes of Danny Blanchflower, Dave Mackay, Bobby Smith and Maurice Norman. The whole side was just sensational."

Duncan Smith has been impressed with the work done by Harry Redknapp over the last 12 months and hopes for a bright future under the ex-Portsmouth boss. "He (Harry Redknapp) has done a very good job turning around some very difficult circumstances last season and carrying on the work this season," comments IDS. "Redknapp has a fantastic eye for a player and pretty much all of his purchases have improved our team. Wilson Palacios is a particularly great capture."

Duncan Smith bemoans the injury problems the club has experienced in defense this campaign with Jonathan Woodgate amongst the long-term absentees. His particular grievance has been with Ledley King's on-going knee problems, which has seen him continue to come in and out of the Spurs starting line-up.

"It pains me to see the problems Ledley has to content with his knee," says Duncan Smith. "Ledley is without doubt one of the most accomplished players of his generation and I honestly believe had he not suffered with injuries, we could be talking right now about the current England captain. He has tremendous versatility, he's a great defender first and foremost, but his pace, strength and passing quality means he could play a variety of positions. He can do a job as a holding midfielder as well as in defence."

The former Leader of the Opposition has cheered Spurs at their last two Wembley appearances against Chelsea and Manchester United and is hoping cup form can be brought into the league this season.

"We have a fantastic cup pedigree, but what every Spurs fan yearns for is to win the Premiership title. Failing that, what I think we would all like to see is a top four finish. If you told me now we wouldn't win any silverware this season, but we'd qualify for the Champions League, I take that right now."

A top four finish would certainly give Iain some welcome bragging rights in the House of Commons, with a number of MPs supporting certain Premiership rivals. "It's hard to hold your head up in the company of Arsenal and Chelsea fans when you don't play in the Champions League," laments Duncan Smith. "Especially given that they have both the league in the last ten years."

As the Conservative Party look to return to government after a thirteen-year absence at next year's election, Iain Duncan Smith is also hoping that Tottenham Hotspur can re-establish themselves as one of English football's leading lights.

Andy Greeves

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