A Trip Down Memory (White Hart) Lane

I was sorting through some boxes the other day in preparation for a house move. With motivation running pretty low and a total mess to sort in front of me, I could truly empathise with what Hugo Lloris must have been thinking after 35 minutes at the Emirates in September.

Thankfully for Hugo and his boss Nuno, we may cautiously suggest that a corner has been turned in Spurs’ season following the satisfying win against a decent Villa side and an even more satisfying win at St James’ Park in Newcastle’s first game as the world’s biggest football club (long way to go, lads).

Unfortunately my box-sorting efficiency has yet to turn any such corner and I was quickly distracted by a pile of old match tickets tucked away in a book I’d forgotten about. Full disclaimer – I followed Bristol Rovers growing up so there are some classics in there like the 2007 League Two play-off final and the 3-1 FA Cup third-round win at Derby in 2002 (first time a fourth-tier side beat a first-tier side in the FA Cup; Ravanelli with the consolation for the Rams).

Now for the segway back to Spurs. I only ever kept the tickets from matches that were memorable in one way or another (see above), so you might wonder why I kept my ticket for Spurs against Birmingham City on the final day of the 2010/2011 Premier League season at White Hart Lane.

I’d always wanted to go to the Lane but following a crap team does tend to make trips to such grounds more rare, so I jumped at the offer of a ticket from my bluenose housemate. All the best betting sites had Wigan and Blackpool as favourites for the drop on the last day, but Blues still needed to at least match their results to stay up and Wolves weren’t clear either.

There was plenty riding on the game for both sets of fans. My housemate was hoping Spurs could do Blues a solid and not try too hard in recognition of Obafemi Martins’ humiliation of Laurent Koscielny & co. in the League Cup final a few months prior. Meanwhile, Spurs had done their usual just-missed-out-on-a-Champions-League-spot again but still needed a win to make sure of the Europa League place.

Having spent most of my football spectating career watching games featuring more balls sent over the stand than goals scored, it truly was a pleasure to watch the likes of Modric glide about in midfield (to be fair, 90 minutes against Barry Ferguson and Keith Fahey probably wasn’t the most strenuous test of his career). It was also great as a fan of English football in general to see a legend like Ledley King play for Spurs at the Lane.

Watching Jermaine Defoe in the flesh for the first time was another highlight (one of my favourite players of all time – partly because of the funny way he used to wear his shorts up high with the drawstrings flipped out, but mostly because he was a stupidly good finisher). However, the player whose performance sticks in my head the most – obviously, because he scored twice – is Roman Pavlyuchenko.

Honestly, I was never the best striker of the ball but I did manage to hit a good shot once or twice in my glittering youth and amateur days. But I’m not sure many could hit the ball harder than Super Pav when he could be bothered. His second goal was vintage Pavlyuchenko: a lazy saunter into the final third (a knackered Stephen Carr not putting up much resistance) followed by a rocket past everyone’s favourite cycling Youtuber Ben Foster.

All in all, a perfect day out. I got to see all the players I wanted to see and there was everything to play for right up until Pav put Birmingham to the sword in injury time. As a neutral, the ups and downs in the away end (blues were safely staying up as it stood with 10 minutes to go) were for once enjoyable rather than agonising, and I could tick one of the great football grounds off the list.]
I’ve visited both old and new stadiums of that other North London-based Premier League club and, while seeing a certain French forward score a hattrick at the old ground was admittedly decent, White Hart Lane was levels better than Highbury or the Emirates. I’m looking forward to a trip to the new Tottenham Hotspur Stadium soon, but watching ‘Arry’s triffic lads at The Lane will take some beating.