“We don’t want that here.” The remark by philosopher AJ Ayer when watching Spurs at the old White Hart Lane could be an apt summary of Lionel Barber’s proposition in “A Spurs takeover would be the final nail in the glory game’s coffin” (Opinion, February 18).

Ayer was reacting to a new neighbour who was effing and blinding in the manner of the terraces lower down. The remark worked, no more bad language was heard. It might not have passed Ayer’s own “verification principle”, which held that a proposition is verifiable if and only if its truth can be established conclusively by evidence or by a finite set of observation statements that logically entail it. Barber’s distaste for global mogul owners might equally fail this test. Most fans focus on their team’s exploits on the pitch in front of them. Spurs fans therefore enjoy a typical relationship with the club’s owners and are happy so long as none messes with our history of daring play.

Chris Crowcroft
Penrith, Cumbria, UK