Like many non-season ticket holders I had managed to secure a ticket through a friend at a reasonable price considering the exchange rate on the streets was running into many hundreds if not thousands.
The day started the standard way with parking at Enfield, followed by a Turkish lunch opposite the stadium and long walk up the High Road to meet SDS at the Gilpin pub. A regular pre-match haunt prior to the madness of LT’s. After a brief social I decided to walk back down the High Road as I wanted to arrive at WHL early and record some pictures of the old stands and savour the atmosphere. I walked the mile or so with a gentlemen in his late 50’s and of course chatted about the team, the future in deed anything Spurs. On arrival at Bill Nicholson Way we paused for a moment. The gentlemen, who I had only met a few moments ago, turned to me and with tears in his eyes, promptly apologised as his emotions had taken over and for him this was an extremely sad day. More confirmation that this place had more heart than just steel, concrete and girders. I’m sure similar feelings were displayed when the Baseball Ground and Upton Park sustained the wrong end of a wrecking ball. I spot Charlton and Jol being hustled through the crowds before I take flight.
One circumnavigation of the old exterior and I was in the ground. Flag and T-Shirt allocated to the each seat to help build the atmosphere. Towards the later part of the day I would wish that a multi tool was part of that package. Teams enter the playing area to a crescendo of noise and flags fluttering wildly. Spurs v Manchester United – no more a fitting fixture for a match of this magnitude. But today of all days this secondary to everything else. As the final moments of the game draw to a close, the atmosphere changed. We have beaten Manchester United but the thoughts of the majority were not to celebrate this rare victory but to turn from football fan to pitch invader, seat stealer and toilet sign remover (Baylis). One mission – anything that is Spurs is going home today. The pitch invasion was something to behold but how some people managed to smuggle gardening tools in to enable removal of the half way line is beyond me. I can’t even smuggle a plastic bottle in without having the damn lid removed.
I left the ground and stood for one final time close to the Spurs shop. Stevie Carr signing autographs, Son and Danny Rose exiting the area swiftly in their cars and a bloke of Asian origin removing the Spurs Shop opening hours sign with a screw driver. No one cared as tomorrow our home, our place of special memories, scene of those famous glory, glory nights would be at the end of that very large wrecking ball.