The Lane - The End of a Wonderful Season and a Great Era

Discussion in 'Tottenham forum' started by Bazza47, May 11, 2017.

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  1. Bazza47

    Bazza47 Well-Known Member

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    This Sunday we travel to The Lane for the last time. From Monday the Club will hand over the keys and our iconic and famous home will be no more. In a few weeks it will be gone, in its place a magnificent new modern and equally iconic new home for the Club – The New Lane.

    So many of us have such wonderful memories of the stadium. I first visited with my cousin and uncles back it in the mid 50’s when they used to hold a Public Trial Game the week before the start of the season. As a teenage schoolboy I’ve played for the school in the morning, then taken the train to Silver Street, Edmonton and headed to the Alpha Café for a full English, before taking our place at the locked turnstiles waiting for them to open, so we could rush to get a spot behind one of the concrete stairwells, so that we had a good view. I still go to games with my cousin, more than 60 years on.

    I’ve seen such quality, such passion, many good results and a few bad ones as well. Blanchflower, Mackay, Greaves, Jones, White, England, Jennings, Hoddle, Gascoigne, Ginola, Lineker, Klinsmann, Bale and so many more.

    We now come to the LAST game there – against Manchester United. Apart from it being the North London derby to finish with, I couldn’t have imagined a better final fixture. We’ve amassed a truly magnificent 50 points at The Lane this season, on a 16-2-0 run, unprecedented in my memory. We have been absolutely stunning in every way. Goals galore, stuffed Chelski, Sheik City and in our last NLD blew the Woolwich Wanderers away. Just one more and it will be a near perfect finale to what has been a stunning team performance all the way.

    No talk of so near and yet so far. We are simply the best team over these last two seasons, bar none. I don’t care if we haven’t won silverware. I can cope with that, after all I’m a Yiddo.

    One last push lads, show Manure and Mourinho that we are simply the best. Give the old girl a great farewell. It’s been memorable to be a part of it.

    COYS
     
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  2. barney Guest

    me too mate we my have past each other in the past do you remember a young boy blowing a bugle after every spurs goal that was me I still have it also all my plastic star badges of the double team happy days hey I will shed a tear on Sunday but nothing lasts forever onwards and upwards C.O.Y.S
     
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  3. Bazza47

    Bazza47 Well-Known Member

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    We may have Barney, but even if we hadn't our memories will mirror one another and I'll definitely shed a tear on the day........priceless.......
     
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  4. Nomadico Well-Known Member

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    I reckon a lot of us 'oldies' will have a few wet eye's come Sunday evening!!Sad to see the old girl go but progress is needed,as Bazza said, what ever happens Sunday we have had one hell of a season and next year we start again,forever a Yid and proud of it.COYS
     
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  5. barney Guest

    too true Nomadico this season has been wonderful just like the old days when you never thought that anyone could beat us and not many did also the peanut sellers what ever happened to them there used to be an old boy in the high road just shouting NUTS that used to always tickle me I wonder if they locked him up in the end and the bloke who walked round the pitch in blue n white striped pyjamas oh happy days if only we had a time machine :)
     
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  6. Bazza47

    Bazza47 Well-Known Member

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    Funny you should say that about the peanut sellers Barney....Percy Dalton's...there was one who used to speak through his nose, like he had a permanent cold....my mates used to mimic him......take the pee out of him to be fair....not that I did...
     
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  7. barney Guest

    thats him Bazza he was always outside the bell and hare if i remember right that's all he said (nuts nuts) I used to laugh to myself id think don't advertise the fact your nuts mate and he always had a dew drop on the end of his nose
     
  8. dppsinanan Guest

    I was a boy growing up in Trinidad the West Indies it was 1970 the World Cup , England v W/Germany -Mullery and Martin Peters scored a Spurs duo I was backing England they became my heroes and Spurs my team -I became a lifelong fan of Spurs and WHL. I never thought that 4 years later we would move to England . I grew up in the UK and was able to go the Lane and standing on " the shelf ' was my favourite spot-come rain or shine. It was around 3 - 5 quid to get in to see a game and a programme was 25 p - the teas were horrible tasting and the pies were stale but on a winter's day they were most welcomed. I saw some great games -Hoddle's blaster too beat Shilton from way outside the area , a rainy , cold and wintry night a 5-3 win over Ipswich when Ipswich boasted stars like -Gates , Murren et al !! In that game Daines played on with a busted leg -what commitment and what dedication. In another game Graham Roberts who had 3 teeth knocked out and a black eye but played on and score I think a hat-trick !! My only visit to an FA Cup final was when Villa and Crooks mesmerized everyone with a brilliant display to win the game 3-2 for us! I was there -part of the history.

    My sons supported other teams but always respected Spurs and I had the pleasure and privilege to take them both down the lane as their first visit ever to a football ground. I could never support another team and in the dark dismal seasons I have stood firm and taken all the flak from colleagues especially the red and white lot from down the road. We seem to be on the up and I hope we harness the ruthless , killer instinct to finish off teams and win games. I am back in Trinidad at present so I watch games live and will be watching Sunday's at a swanky sports bar /restaurant , it is Mother's day over here Sunday. I've told my wife it will be special - she does not know that it will be us having lunch and watching Spurs -LOL !

    So as this era ends another begins to all who graced the pitch of WHL -present , past and those remembered I say in a loud and sincere voice- THANK YOU FOR THE MEMORIES- COME ON YOU SPURS , COME ON YOU LILLY WHITES.

    TRAVMAN - SPURS FOREVER .
     
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  9. notnats

    notnats Well-Known Member

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    Great stuff Bazza, for me there's nothing better than bringing back those old memories of the lane. I started going at the age of 11 in 1977 also with my cousin who was a year older. We would walk up the High road from the Seven Sisters where i lived and it cost a whopping 35p for us kids to get in, 10p extra for a seat. I always loved the shelf partly coz i could get in early and find a spot where i could actualy see the action. First game Stoke in the FA cup, the atmosphere incredible i was instantly hooked and have never looked back when John Duncan scored the equalizer to make 1 - 1 the roof came off, ok there wasnt a roof but everyone who experienced the atmosphere back in those days knows what it was like. The lane is a special place and has been for more 100 years. I have very mixed emotions about this weekend and will be gutted to see the old place being knocked down. One of my greatest memories and maybe even the best day of my life was taking my family to the lane in 2013 after many years away ( live in Autralia ) to take on le arse. 2 - 1 to the good guys and having that momment with my daughters was special. Looking foward to going to the new stadium but the memories of White Hart Lane will burn forever.
     
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  10. Cheshuntboy Guest

    Growing up just up the road from the old Brookfield Lane training ground, I was used to seeing the players coming and going in their Cortinas and Escorts, but I didn't actually make it to WHL until 1969, when we'd pretty much ceased to be serious contenders for the League, and were settling into our role as the Cup Kings (and we all thought that was a comedown - little did we know what the future would hold!). We were beaten 3-0 by Man City, and were having a very 'Spursy' season - we beat Arsenal 3-2 at Highbury the following Tuesday night, then were thrashed 5-0 by newly promoted Derby - and I was more impressed with how colourful it all looked than with the quality of the football; MOTD and 'The Big Match' in black and white just couldn't convey the sounds, smells and impatience of the crowd, and the neatness of the blue and white colour scheme - even the repair plates on the old stand roofs couldn't spoil the look of the early season ground, and even the notoriously bad pitch of that era looked good in September! Maybe our inconsistency in the late Sixties/early Seventies formed my generally pessimistic attitude to Spurs, because it's the defeats that stand out for me - the 1-0 in 1971 that gave Arsenal the first leg of their undeserved first 'Double', the FA Cup defeat by Liverpool in the same year when the crowd of 56,000 was the biggest of my experience at WHL, the loss to Derby in 1973 when we were 3-1 up with a few minutes of normal time to go, there were a LOT of defeats in the Seventies. I'll finish with two happier memories - the 4-2 over Leeds that kept us up in 1975, and the UEFA Cup win against Anderlecht in 1984, both of which were fabulous night games when we were all on the same side, and we actually WON!
     
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