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Most of you won't remember..........

Archibald&Crooks

Aegina Expat
Admin
Feb 1, 2005
55,533
204,720
Standing almost everywhere in the ground, being able to turn up to a game on a whim and get in, the old alphabet style Half Time placards that let you know the scores elsewhere, peanuts! peanuts! as the vendors walked around the edge of the pitch, skillfully and accurately lobbing small packets of Percy Daltons at whoever bought some.

The crowd 'bobbing' on the shelf to Knees up Mother Brown and everyone trying to give the poor sod next to them a dead leg, avoiding being squeezed against the barriers when we scored, not having some tosser who was too lazy to go the the bog piss up your leg, the bogs being 3 inches deep in piss, a traditional cup of bovril at away games up north.

Ticker tape welcomes when we signed Ossie and Ricky, singing Burkinshaw's Blue & White army or Born is the King of White Hart Lane. Match of the Day on a saturday night, the Big Match on a Sunday.

Chris Jones being 'oooh unlucky Chris', Ralph Coates and his combover hair, Peter Taylor on the wing, going down, coming up again and the choice of food was basically fish and chips or a hot dog from some dodgy guy pushing a trolley.

I miss the good old days :cry:
 

Banjo

Member
May 29, 2005
778
10
Yes, I remember - very well indeed!

It's what I did yesterday, or should do tomorrow, that baffles!
:wink:
 

adidave

Member
Sep 20, 2005
39
12
Squeezing though the turnstile with your dad, and not paying. Kids sitting on the gravel track round the pitch to see the game. Single page programs. Being able to stand next to a visiting supporter. - How things have changed!
 

Paxtonite

Active Member
Nov 28, 2004
1,956
32
Remember those days well.

Used to walk into school on match days asking mates if they were going to the game and we'd all turn up on masse. No need to pre-book. No need for season tickets. Used the Paxton Road turnstiles and walked round to the shelf to stand together.

Remember my dad taking me when i was really young. Junior turnstile for me (35p) and Adult turnstile for him (70p). Seats were £1 something!!

Different age :)
 

Dinghy

Well-Known Member
Jun 22, 2005
6,326
15,561
being able to turn up to a game on a whim and get in
I personally think that the loss of this is what has killed the crowds/games more than anything else. It's stopping all but (the very dedicated) season tickets holders getting to games and makes it very difficult for the casual fan to turn into the most passionate supporters.
I fear for the next generation of fans.
 

stevenqoz

Well-Known Member
Apr 10, 2006
2,776
553
Always remember it that way AC.....our match at WHL was called off one afternoon when we got there...we just said "where shall we go instead" jumped a couple off trains and went to see West Ham play Man City instead:) No problem getting in...even all ticket games you could usually slip them a few bob.....did it against Millwall at the Den....bad move:(
 

padgateyids

Active Member
Nov 27, 2006
442
118
I personally think that the loss of this is what has killed the crowds/games more than anything else. It's stopping all but (the very dedicated) season tickets holders getting to games and makes it very difficult for the casual fan to turn into the most passionate supporters.
I fear for the next generation of fans.


Agreet to an extent, but most tickets go on general sale and is pretty easy to order online,
it was 04 when I started regulary going and could only go by getting tickets online through general sale, then ended up in 09 getting a season ticket and haven't looked back since. Theres a lot of things i have heard about how it use to be, some of the what the A&C said in the OP sound great and some other things I have heard about like the football trains sound like I have missed on some fun times
 

Dinghy

Well-Known Member
Jun 22, 2005
6,326
15,561
Agreet to an extent, but most tickets go on general sale and is pretty easy to order online,
it was 04 when I started regulary going and could only go by getting tickets online through general sale, then ended up in 09 getting a season ticket and haven't looked back since. Theres a lot of things i have heard about how it use to be, some of the what the A&C said in the OP sound great and some other things I have heard about like the football trains sound like I have missed on some fun times
They might go on general sale but you can't rock up on match day and get in to see a game.
 

TheChosenOne

A dislike or neg rep = fat fingers
Dec 13, 2005
47,870
49,699
If you were posh you paid a bit extra to go in the "enclosure" under the old West Stand.

Percy Dalton's .......... Peeeee Naaaarts.

Floodlights.

Skol lager in the Supporters Club, a very good reason not to go there.

Sitting on the concrete terracing back in the bad old days of the seventies when we were shit and and low crowds.

Laughing when you heard the attendance for the match, knowing that Sid & Co had shaved off 10,000 for slush money.

Happy days.
 

3Dnata

Well-Known Member
Oct 5, 2008
5,879
1,345
That reminds of the Hull game where we won promotion , the official capacity was down as 28,000 but it was absolutely packed.
 

JimmyG2

SC Supporter
Dec 7, 2006
15,014
20,779
Being left in the boys enclosure and then my uncles forgetting to meet me outside
because they'd gone to the pub.
Standing for an hour holding a policeman's hand because he said they were sure to remember eventually.
Them getting a right bollocking when they got back and I got half a crown not to tell my mum.
Happy innocent days.

Thinking for some time that being at pitch level was the best view of the game
until one day we went a bit higher up.
Blimey them legs have got bodies attached.

Being passed over the heads to the front. The original crowd surfing revived in the punk era.
 

ShelfSide18

Well-Known Member
Aug 23, 2006
8,386
3,122
I never knew all this, I'm 23 and started going with my dad and granddad in 94/95 just when the Premier League was taking hold. I'm sure this current generation will reminisce about what it's like now though, these will be the 'good old days' one day too!

My granddad's first Spurs game was in the '30s, he's got a few stories to tell.
 

Ionman34

SC Supporter
Jun 1, 2011
7,182
16,793
Remember the old steward with the limp? Every time he walked around the pitch edge he'd do it to the Laurel & Hardy tune and always with a smile on his face.

Ballot cards dished up for semi and final ticket draws. Got my '81 Cup Final ticket on a ballot draw.

Some great memories going back to '75, but some real bad ones too. Nearly got crushed when around 500 goons got into the Paxton end, typical cowards picking the boys enclosure as the stand to 'take.' They didn't reckon on virtually the entire Shelf being in there though as they'd got wind of it. What a tear up that was!
Getting 'legged' by a bunch of nasty Manc monkeys who saw two 12 year old as easy pickings. I'd have left Usain Bolt for dead that night!
Exciting times back then.
 

AngerManagement

Well-Known Member
May 15, 2004
12,518
2,739
First game I went to was Vs Luton on boxing day 1987

There was standing in the ground then, although I barely remember it as I was very young and think I was on my dads shoulders more than standing myself.

Probably just the Paxton and Park Lane were still standing and the East and West were already all seater (or mostly seated) by then.

I think all seating became compulsory shortly after, or perhaps my dad just started taking me to the west stand cos I remember going to a lot of games in the 1987/88 season
 

garyhopkins

Well-Known Member
Jun 22, 2008
1,528
903
I turned up for my first game on a whim in '84. But it was a full house and we couldn't get in. Got told to come back after half time as they'd open the gates and let us in for free! Sure enough with thirty minutes to go we sneaked almost to the front, and Graham Roberts suddenly appeared, towering above us. Magical it was, magical.
 

whitelightwhiteheat

SC Supporter
Jul 21, 2006
6,517
3,195
Being able to just turn up on a whim (with your kids) is the thing which is the huge loss to football, I think.

Well, not so much to football itself. That bandwagon has sailed. But a loss to the average punter on the street.

The game's changed unrecognisably from those days. From 1992, onwards, I guess. The game's a business first and foremost. "Got to make the Champions League, or we won't be able to buy a shiny new striker..." or whatever.

Sometimes I wonder whether I'd be best off following the Stock Exchange or something.

I can afford to get to maybe half a dozen games per season and bring my kids to one game. How will the next generation "get the bug" if it's out of their reach?

Although, in fairness, I got the bug and didn't get to my first game until I was 18. So I guess it didn't do me any harm. I was obsessed from an early age, and still am now!

My kids aged 6 and 4 are obsessed too. Well, as obsessed as you can be at that age, anyway.

To them:

1) Spurs are the best team in the world.
2) Everyone else are "rubbish" - their word, not mine!

My 4 year old just came bolting down the stairs randomly singing "Spurs are on their way to Wembley, Tottenham's gonna do it again!" out of nowhere.

Moments like that are worth it. Tremendous!
 

theShiznit

Well-Known Member
Jul 26, 2004
17,799
23,813
i used to hate standing (why stand when you can sit?)
first season i went regularly 1990 used to stand in Paxton lower, bad enough couldn't see as everyone was taller but just standing up in one place for that long is tiresome.
 
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