Spur of the moment
Spurs fan since 1953, courtesy of regular free admission to WHL generously donated by Tottenham to the convent orphanage in Mill Hill where I was a boarder. A shrewd move by the club that will have paid handsome dividends as a result of myself and other converts regularly paying for admission in the decades that followed.
Earliest memory that sticks - other than having to keep jumping to even get a glimpse of the play over the heads of the crowd (no kids' section in those days) - is watching (Sir) Alf Ramsey - no less - lobbing a dreadful back-pass over the head of Ted Ditchburn for an excruciating og to compound a 1-4 defeat at home to Charlton that day.
The following season I recall being utterly mesmerised by the dribbling skills of an ageing Len Shackleton as the Sunderland legend waltzed through our defence time and again whilst helping his side humiliate us 0-3 at the Lane.
In the mid/late fifties it was often the breathtaking ball-juggling skills of Tommy Harmer or the uncanny guile of Danny Blanchflower that took my breath away.
An agreeable memory a couple of years later was catching the huge banner headline TOT-10-HAM right across the back page of the Daily Express (then a broadsheet, remember) after we had beaten Everton 10-4 the previous day. The incipient Double-team had heralded it's arrival on the day Sir Billy Nicholson took over as our manager.
Needless to say I feel immensely privileged to have been able to witness the likes of Blanchflower, Mackay, White and Jones dazzle their way to the Double in 60-61. It wasn't so much the victories themselves as the consistently scintillating style of our play that thrilled the most. Only twice since have i seen anything come close to that level of quality from us: David Pleat's side of the mid-80s, and more recently the first half of Harry Redknap's last season as our manager.
Going back to the ' 60s, I was fortunate enough to witness some of our most memorable games in that era. In the European Cup there was the 8-1 trouncing of Gornik and the glorious second-leg 2-1 victory over Benfica, even though we got knocked out on aggregate. In the League I was there for the amazing 9-2 victory against Forest and the 7-2 mauling of Liverpool.
On the downside I was one of the unlucky 51,992 that witnessed Groundhog Day, 3 May 1971. Saynahmore!
Earliest memory that sticks - other than having to keep jumping to even get a glimpse of the play over the heads of the crowd (no kids' section in those days) - is watching (Sir) Alf Ramsey - no less - lobbing a dreadful back-pass over the head of Ted Ditchburn for an excruciating og to compound a 1-4 defeat at home to Charlton that day.
The following season I recall being utterly mesmerised by the dribbling skills of an ageing Len Shackleton as the Sunderland legend waltzed through our defence time and again whilst helping his side humiliate us 0-3 at the Lane.
In the mid/late fifties it was often the breathtaking ball-juggling skills of Tommy Harmer or the uncanny guile of Danny Blanchflower that took my breath away.
An agreeable memory a couple of years later was catching the huge banner headline TOT-10-HAM right across the back page of the Daily Express (then a broadsheet, remember) after we had beaten Everton 10-4 the previous day. The incipient Double-team had heralded it's arrival on the day Sir Billy Nicholson took over as our manager.
Needless to say I feel immensely privileged to have been able to witness the likes of Blanchflower, Mackay, White and Jones dazzle their way to the Double in 60-61. It wasn't so much the victories themselves as the consistently scintillating style of our play that thrilled the most. Only twice since have i seen anything come close to that level of quality from us: David Pleat's side of the mid-80s, and more recently the first half of Harry Redknap's last season as our manager.
Going back to the ' 60s, I was fortunate enough to witness some of our most memorable games in that era. In the European Cup there was the 8-1 trouncing of Gornik and the glorious second-leg 2-1 victory over Benfica, even though we got knocked out on aggregate. In the League I was there for the amazing 9-2 victory against Forest and the 7-2 mauling of Liverpool.
On the downside I was one of the unlucky 51,992 that witnessed Groundhog Day, 3 May 1971. Saynahmore!
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