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Down White Hart Memory Lane

Spur of the moment said:
Back in 1982 - to my later regret - I decided against taking my 6yo son with me to the League Cup final at Wembley vs Liverpool. Despite the fact we lost he has never forgiven me, especially as his 6yo friend, also a Spurs fan, was taken by his dad.

However the boot is now totally on the other foot because my son now has a 6yo of his own who is already an ardent Spurs fan. When he had the chance to take him to WHL for his first ever game vs Bournemouth the other day, guess what, he decided against it! We both agreed he would have been a bit overwhelmed by the noise, especially the excessively booming announcements just prior to k/off. He does intend to take him to Wembley next season though - but by then he'll be 7 so it should be okay.

I do think the club should rethink that pre-match build-up, to my mind it is way OTT. Would go down much better if they chose a slightly more understated approach.
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As I've said before it makes an impact when you first see and hear it but after half a dozen times it sounds trite and pretentious.
 
Only visited once - September, 1979. We beat Emirates Marketing Project 2-1. Hoddle scoring on the stroke of half time. City equalized late on but we won it in injury time. Didn't see the winner. The end we were standing at had a lot of disgruntled fans moving out and we had shifted back to let them pass by.

Great day, though. I was in London with my brother to visit a pal working the summer for a hotel. He got us tickets to see Led Zeppelin's concert at Knebworth - their last one ever, as it turned out - a couple of weeks earlier. We had a great time at that event. Went back to the family place in Scotland and got to see Rangers beat Celtic 3-1 at Hampden. Then my pal asked if I wanted one final fling in London before returning to Canada to begin school. I said yes and had a great time, pubbing and clubbing with hotel staffers and using their privileges to stay for free in vacant hotel rooms. The hotel had a connection to tickets to various games and I was offered a choice. Took the Spurs game because that was my granddad's team, an Ulsterman and a huge fan of Danny Blanchflower.

Four of us from the hotel went, took the tube and the long walk, hitting pubs near WHL and had a great time listening to all the lively chatter and the quick-witted banter. Got more than a couple of pints down and in a happy state heading in to the ground. Can't recall a great many specifics about the game. We stood for the game on a terrace - no idea which end. Everybody was in awe of Hoddle, but Ardiles was a big favourite as well. A fun walk back to the tube with fans in great voice celebrating the first win of the season. Bought a souvenir scarf which I still have, hanging as I type, on my office wall not three feet away.

Two years after that visit, standing on a university pub seat, I was twirling it over my head at the TV set, celebrating wildly after Ricky Villa scored that famous F.A. Cup winner. That was the final drop of glue, binding me to Spurs forever. Happily, another connection from that great day was about to form.

Looking up at me, laughing and wondering just what in the world she was doing keeping company with this wild man, was the woman who became my wife.
 
greatwhitenorf said:
Only visited once - September, 1979. We beat Emirates Marketing Project 2-1. Hoddle scoring on the stroke of half time. City equalized late on but we won it in injury time. Didn't see the winner. The end we were standing at had a lot of disgruntled fans moving out and we had shifted back to let them pass by.

Great day, though. I was in London with my brother to visit a pal working the summer for a hotel. He got us tickets to see Led Zeppelin's concert at Knebworth - their last one ever, as it turned out - a couple of weeks earlier. We had a great time at that event. Went back to the family place in Scotland and got to see Rangers beat Celtic 3-1 at Hampden. Then my pal asked if I wanted one final fling in London before returning to Canada to begin school. I said yes and had a great time, pubbing and clubbing with hotel staffers and using their privileges to stay for free in vacant hotel rooms. The hotel had a connection to tickets to various games and I was offered a choice. Took the Spurs game because that was my granddad's team, an Ulsterman and a huge fan of Danny Blanchflower.

Four of us from the hotel went, took the tube and the long walk, hitting pubs near WHL and had a great time listening to all the lively chatter and the quick-witted banter. Got more than a couple of pints down and in a happy state heading in to the ground. Can't recall a great many specifics about the game. We stood for the game on a terrace - no idea which end. Everybody was in awe of Hoddle, but Ardiles was a big favourite as well. A fun walk back to the tube with fans in great voice celebrating the first win of the season. Bought a souvenir scarf which I still have, hanging as I type, on my office wall not three feet away.

Two years after that visit, standing on a university pub seat, I was twirling it over my head at the TV set, celebrating wildly after Ricky Villa scored that famous F.A. Cup winner. That was the final drop of glue, binding me to Spurs forever. Happily, another connection from that great day was about to form.

Looking up at me, laughing and wondering just what in the world she was doing keeping company with this wild man, was the woman who became my wife.
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Great story.
You should send that in to the club for their Memories project.
"A Spurs scarf - the link between the loves of my life" !
 
Bullet said:
This made me think of old black typewriters and that ribbon covered in ink...



And old wooden toilet seats with the cistern head-high and a chain to pull


COYS
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...oh and the terraced house in Park Lane where every home game the lounge was converted into a bicycle park. Who else remembers paying a tanner (6d, worth 2.5p nowadays) to ensure their bike was not stolen during a game?
 
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greatwhitenorf said:
Only visited once - September, 1979. We beat Emirates Marketing Project 2-1. Hoddle scoring on the stroke of half time. City equalized late on but we won it in injury time. Didn't see the winner. The end we were standing at had a lot of disgruntled fans moving out and we had shifted back to let them pass by.

Great day, though. I was in London with my brother to visit a pal working the summer for a hotel. He got us tickets to see Led Zeppelin's concert at Knebworth - their last one ever, as it turned out - a couple of weeks earlier. We had a great time at that event. Went back to the family place in Scotland and got to see Rangers beat Celtic 3-1 at Hampden. Then my pal asked if I wanted one final fling in London before returning to Canada to begin school. I said yes and had a great time, pubbing and clubbing with hotel staffers and using their privileges to stay for free in vacant hotel rooms. The hotel had a connection to tickets to various games and I was offered a choice. Took the Spurs game because that was my granddad's team, an Ulsterman and a huge fan of Danny Blanchflower.

Four of us from the hotel went, took the tube and the long walk, hitting pubs near WHL and had a great time listening to all the lively chatter and the quick-witted banter. Got more than a couple of pints down and in a happy state heading in to the ground. Can't recall a great many specifics about the game. We stood for the game on a terrace - no idea which end. Everybody was in awe of Hoddle, but Ardiles was a big favourite as well. A fun walk back to the tube with fans in great voice celebrating the first win of the season. Bought a souvenir scarf which I still have, hanging as I type, on my office wall not three feet away.

Two years after that visit, standing on a university pub seat, I was twirling it over my head at the TV set, celebrating wildly after Ricky Villa scored that famous F.A. Cup winner. That was the final drop of glue, binding me to Spurs forever. Happily, another connection from that great day was about to form.

Looking up at me, laughing and wondering just what in the world she was doing keeping company with this wild man, was the woman who became my wife.
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Wow, that's some trip.
 
Bullet said:
This made me think of old black typewriters and that ribbon covered in ink...



And old wooden toilet seats with the cistern head-high and a chain to pull


COYS
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My first professional writing machine. Still have it for nostalgia. Loved the 'clack-clackity-clack-clack...'
 
Glenda's Legs said:
Great story.
You should send that in to the club for their Memories project.
"A Spurs scarf - the link between the loves of my life" !
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It's like a link between boyhood and manhood. That was a great summer for me before a whole new journey began. A 'holy flannel' as they'd say in Quebec. It's almost identical to the layout of this one - same colour scheme, slightly different letter font:

s-l225.jpg


Had it packed away in my young adult years when work had me travelling constantly. When I got my own business going, I began decorating my office with sporting paraphernalia. The one gets pride of place. I have several other, more modern scarves to wear outside, the latest coming when my nephew visited WHL the night Giovanni Dos Santos potted a pair in a Europa League game. Strict orders to bring a new one home and didn't fail.
 
thfcsteff said:
My first professional writing machine. Still have it for nostalgia. Loved the 'clack-clackity-clack-clack...'
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"clackity-clack BING!! Zzzzziiiiip!"

I started out as a kid on a manual Underwood like this heavy metal beast, only slightly lighter than a bank vault:

852d13cf82f904c9ed2d681445b68e5c.jpg


Had to absolutely pound the keys to make a mark on the paper. Left me with fingers like a lumberjack. When I finally scored a lovely, lightweight Olivetti electric, I hit the keys so hard the type heads were puncturing the paper.
 
my first game was in 1979 i was 11 & went by myself we played Derby & won 1-0 the rest of it was pretty much a blur. i remember getting home & my dear old mum went nuts because i'd gone to the game & i'd gone alone.

i will never forget the uefa cup final the noise was unbelievable white hart lane was truly rocking that night.
For me the next day was mixture of happiness & sadness we'd one the uefa cup but lost a great manager. i can still see Burkinshaw stepping forward & clapping the fans as the players were being photographed. once the cameramen started to try & take his picture he simply turned & left.
 
Of all the games I've been to, five games that I went to stand out to me. I think the choice of games mostly reflect how sh1t we have been for the period of time I've been into football!

Spurs 3-4 Villa. In 1994, I was ten and my first game at WHL. Gerry Francis' first game in charge iirc. 0-3 down at half-time, gutted, came back to 3-3, elated, and then lost it in the last minute with Dean Saunders getting the winner. A rollercoaster ride ultimately ending with my hopes dashed, a microcosm of my life as a Spurs fan, little did I know it at the time!

Spurs 0 - 3 Boro. I can't remember the year, Teddy and Iversen were in the team though. The only game I've ever left early, I remember looking at the scoreboard and it saying 86 mins when I left (this is the main reason this game stands out to me). Ghod was manager iirc, but the details are hazy. Up there with the worst I have seen us play though.

Spurs 9-1 Wigan. My mate's brother was ill, so he had a spare ticket. "Only Wigan" I thought, "but phuck it, why not?" Good call.

Spurs 2-1 Chelsea. We should have beaten them 10-1, brilliant to tear them apart and see that qunt Terry so wound up by the crowd, getting sent off. Great atmosphere. And a Bale goal with his right foot.

Spurs 0-0 Milan. Most enjoyable 0-0 I've watched! Got us into the quarter-finals of the Champions League.
 
I have really enjoyed reading these memories of the lane so thought I would offer some of mine...

My first memory of going to Spurs was in about 1967 when I was 7.. We beat Burnley 5 nil I think.. I went with my dad while my mum and younger sister went shopping in Tottenham High Road... I don't think I'd let my wife and daughter do that now..

The first game I went without my dad was in 1970 at home to Chelscum.. Went with my mate from school , Elliot R... He still goes as well but is worth a few bob now and has a box I think..

In the early seventies I was working Saturdays so couldn't go then but went to the midweek games... A long way on two buses and didn't get home until gone midnight and then up early for my paper round.. The hardship..

The season I went most was in the second division as had just started work and had a bit of cash.. Went to 37 league games that season.. Beating Hull 1 nil midweek towards the end of the season was a big result and went on the pitch at end to celebrate...

Southampton away last day of season was huge as we got promoted that day... Again on the pitch at the end and a bloke next to me got a dart in the head...

Due to working shifts most of my time I have never been a season ticket holder but took my lad to his first game when about 5 and we still go fairly. Getting tickets is not easy now!

Favourite player must be Hoddle and the 1981 cup winning team were the best side - so far!

Fantastic ground and atmosphere and it will be sad to see the old lady go...

Come on you beautiful Spurs...
 
Glenda's Legs said:
https://twitter.com/x/status/857992406259703808
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Highly encourage anyone who has the opportunity to buy their seat or to acquire other items from an auction to do so. I've been professionally involved in the closing of three historic sports facilities(NHL, MLB) here in Norfa Merica and you won't regret it. One client has his office waiting room decorated with seats from the famous Montreal Forum and Boston Garden. A friend has a row of blue wooden seats from Toronto's Maple Leaf Gardens mounted on a platform in his basement den in front of a big screen TV. Always fun to sit in and reminisce.
 
This is a bit of a left-of-field memory. But the NLD at home the 2 points from 8 games season stands out for me as a coming of age. 'Arry in charge, we'd signed Palacios. Game finished 0-0 (think Lennon had a wonderful chance to seal it for us late on). What stuck in my head was seeing this player we'd signed from Wigan absolutely bossing the midfield. He was everywhere, think I even remember a Marseille Roulette in his repertoire that day. My mate turned round to me and said 'who the fudge is THIS guy?!' halfway through the second half.

We'd been known as perennial soft touches in midfield, loads of fancy dans and nice touches but if you got at us we'd lie on your lap and have our bellies tickled. Then this guy Wilson rocked up and owned it. I think his signing was a great platform for us to bring in nails centre-mids with steel, grit and determination (I guess Freund deserves a bit of a mention too). Shame things didn't work out in the end for Wilson with us, however he was integral to getting CL and the season we were in it.

T'riffic
 
My first memory of the Lane is going to a game with my dad in 1992, thinking we could buy tickets at the ground. It turned out we didn't, so I missed the 3-1 loss against Leeds on a day Lineker went off injured after 15 mins or so, but I heard the roar from the away fans inside and was very impressed. I bought my (only) scarf that day, which I still have and wear.

Living abroad, I only have the chance to visit every now and then, and for a long time the games I managed to get tickets for were dull games against average opposition. First proper game was vs. Norwich in March 1995 (Sheringham scored, 1-0). In the next few years I saw some awful matches, I remember a 0-0 at home against Blackburn, and a 1-6 loss against Chelsea with Di Matteo and Zola, but I did go to the League Cup final we won in 1999. I ended up living in London for the 1999-2000 season, and went to WHL 14 or 15 times that season. As fate would have it, it was a typically dull Spurs in the late 90s season, with Iversen leading the line, but I had the fortune of attending the 7-2 win against Saints (up in Block 49, corner of the West Stand/Paxton) and a wonderful European night under the lights against Kaiserslautern (we lost on aggregate).

My most memorable visit was the NLD (02-03?) when Ziege scored that free kick, but the memory of WHL that will remain with me forever is the entire Paxton, literally thousands of Spurs fans, 'welcoming' Seaman after half-time by reminding him that he had 'let his country down' the summer before. That's something I always think of on derby days like tomorrow. Even though he is one of the Arsenal players I disliked the most, I remember him applauding the Paxton end after the final whistle, and I had some strange appreciation for that (was it irony? relief? did he appreciate the banter?), but perhaps that is also because Kasey Keller who was in goal for us that day screwed it up by giving away a penalty. Come to think of it, another thing I remember very strongly is the collective love for Paul Robinson in the Park Lane Lower, I don't think I've ever attended games at the Lane where a single player was appreciated so much.

I took my wife to her first and only game so far in 11-12 when we were doing so extremely well, at home to Villa (2-0). Funnily enough I struggle to think what my last game was, in fact I had to look it up (this season I only went to Gent away - and that was the first time I saw Kane and Alli play, so my last home game was some time ago). I think it must have been against Bolton that same year when Cahill was sent off really early and we were so comfortable that it did not leave much of an impression.

From the very first time, despite the poor teams we had in those years, I have always absolutely loved the place.
 
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