Lasting Memories: First Visits to White Hart Lane - UEFA Cup Quarter Final 2007
Monday, July 01, 2013
By Jack Mason-Jebb / @mahonschleb
Strictly speaking, this is not an account of my first experience of White Hart Lane – my childhood memories of watching Spurs at the Lane are blurred beyond recognition to the extent that I am not even confident of my first ever game!
My earliest memory (I think) is when I was with my dad, watching Bolton’s Jay Jay Okotcha run riot from our seats in the Park Lane Upper. The final score was 0-1 – perhaps a sign of things to come with supporting spurs: disappointment. The image of Bolton unlocking our defence time and time again is the first underlying memory I have of experiencing White Hart Lane in all its glory.
However, first game which truly sticks in my mind, roughly four years after the Bolton loss, was in 2007, when we hosted Sevilla in the Quarter finals of the Uefa Cup.
Aged 20 now, I feel I can be somewhat excused of having my first reliable memory of the Lane just six and a half years ago. Despite crashing out of the competition, the game sticks in my mind for all the right reasons. Coming into the game after a 2-1 loss in the first leg in Spain, we needed a bright start and more importantly a win. Typically, we got neither; Sevilla were 2-0 up within eight minutes, and the match ceased to be a contest after ex-Spur Frederick Kanoute, even more typically, scored for Sevilla against his former club. From this moment on, what I witnessed is what I will always recall as one of the best memories I have from watching Spurs up and down the country, from the highs of our maiden Champion’s League campaign to the lows of watching my beloved Tottenham Hotspur being dumped out of the FA cup, our cup, at the hands of lower league opposition.
Being seated one or two rows from the top at the back of the Park Lane Upper, me, my dad and brother (the latter being a Spurs sympathiser not a supporter) found ourselves among the more vocal element of the White Hart Lane crowd. With the Sevilla fans just a couple of blocks to the left, and the pitch under the floodlights, the atmosphere was intimidating and partisan; perfection in my view. Sensing that all was lost and that there was nothing more to lose, the fans backed the boys with noise which seemed alien to me at the time. The second half saw a lift in Spurs’ possession and chances, and this was matched with a lift in the stands. My most vivid memory of that night is ‘Martin Jol’s blue and white army’ chant echoing around the ground for a good 20 minutes straight. Coupled with the drum (which has since been farcically banned) in the Shelf-Park Lane corner, the old ground was jumping. This was everything I think that supporting a football team should be about; a support in the shirt that the players are wearing, be it in good times or bad; a sense of belonging, being in that number. Whether or not the immense support shown for Spurs that night was responsible for the team coming from 0-2 down to level the game at 2-2 is one thing, yet all the good things about being a football supporter, not just a Tottenham fan, were present in that game. The Spurs players fought for the shirt and the fans put the fact that Spurs were second best on the pitch to one side and made noise which I’m sure harked back to the days of the terrace and the famous ‘Shelf’ at White Hart Lane. After the game, I didn’t care about the fact we had failed to reach the semi-finals, none of us did. I was proud to be Spurs that night, more so than most other nights I can remember. The players gave their all and so did the fans, the only thing missing was a further touch of quality.
Unfortunately, all these elements which I can so fondly recall about that night seem to be an increasingly distant memory. The phrase ‘Against Modern Football’ is often overused, yet it is a phrase which is no doubt relevant to this occasion. Even though the Sevilla fixture was post Sky Sports, Premier League and all-seater stadia, that night in April showed none of the characteristics which football matches are so often plagued with nowadays: Crowds sitting in silence, waiting to be entertained, as if their presence alone merits a good performance. The frequent chant often heard in living rooms throughout the country (much to Sky’s discomfort), of, ‘Your support is f***ing s**t’ isn’t just a goading chant, but a symptom of modern day football.
That night in April, the fans at the Lane were not merely spectators, but supporters, and the very fact that fans seldom act proactively anymore is saddening. The reasons as to why this is the case are many and complex, and do not belong in piece, yet their absence in the game against Sevilla is why that game stands out. We didn’t boo at 0-2 down and nor should we. I long to go to the Lane next season to experience such excitement and unconditional passion; and whereas I might witness this in part at the North London Derby, and possibly Chelsea and West Ham, chances are I will not.
Going to White Hart Lane should be a positive experience, and in the recent past it was, yet the near future is not so promising. That night against Sevilla was a throwback to the support and atmosphere my 20-year-old self can only imagine was the norm at the Lane a few decades ago. I may not be able to go back to those days, yet that match in April 2007 is probably the closest I will get.
Up the Spurs!
This entry was written by Jack Mason-Jebb, posted on Monday, July 01, 2013
By Jack Mason-Jebb / @mahonschleb
Strictly speaking, this is not an account of my first experience of White Hart Lane – my childhood memories of watching Spurs at the Lane are blurred beyond recognition to the extent that I am not even confident of my first ever game!
My earliest memory (I think) is when I was with my dad, watching Bolton’s Jay Jay Okotcha run riot from our seats in the Park Lane Upper. The final score was 0-1 – perhaps a sign of things to come with supporting spurs: disappointment. The image of Bolton unlocking our defence time and time again is the first underlying memory I have of experiencing White Hart Lane in all its glory.
However, first game which truly sticks in my mind, roughly four years after the Bolton loss, was in 2007, when we hosted Sevilla in the Quarter finals of the Uefa Cup.
Aged 20 now, I feel I can be somewhat excused of having my first reliable memory of the Lane just six and a half years ago. Despite crashing out of the competition, the game sticks in my mind for all the right reasons. Coming into the game after a 2-1 loss in the first leg in Spain, we needed a bright start and more importantly a win. Typically, we got neither; Sevilla were 2-0 up within eight minutes, and the match ceased to be a contest after ex-Spur Frederick Kanoute, even more typically, scored for Sevilla against his former club. From this moment on, what I witnessed is what I will always recall as one of the best memories I have from watching Spurs up and down the country, from the highs of our maiden Champion’s League campaign to the lows of watching my beloved Tottenham Hotspur being dumped out of the FA cup, our cup, at the hands of lower league opposition.
Being seated one or two rows from the top at the back of the Park Lane Upper, me, my dad and brother (the latter being a Spurs sympathiser not a supporter) found ourselves among the more vocal element of the White Hart Lane crowd. With the Sevilla fans just a couple of blocks to the left, and the pitch under the floodlights, the atmosphere was intimidating and partisan; perfection in my view. Sensing that all was lost and that there was nothing more to lose, the fans backed the boys with noise which seemed alien to me at the time. The second half saw a lift in Spurs’ possession and chances, and this was matched with a lift in the stands. My most vivid memory of that night is ‘Martin Jol’s blue and white army’ chant echoing around the ground for a good 20 minutes straight. Coupled with the drum (which has since been farcically banned) in the Shelf-Park Lane corner, the old ground was jumping. This was everything I think that supporting a football team should be about; a support in the shirt that the players are wearing, be it in good times or bad; a sense of belonging, being in that number. Whether or not the immense support shown for Spurs that night was responsible for the team coming from 0-2 down to level the game at 2-2 is one thing, yet all the good things about being a football supporter, not just a Tottenham fan, were present in that game. The Spurs players fought for the shirt and the fans put the fact that Spurs were second best on the pitch to one side and made noise which I’m sure harked back to the days of the terrace and the famous ‘Shelf’ at White Hart Lane. After the game, I didn’t care about the fact we had failed to reach the semi-finals, none of us did. I was proud to be Spurs that night, more so than most other nights I can remember. The players gave their all and so did the fans, the only thing missing was a further touch of quality.
Unfortunately, all these elements which I can so fondly recall about that night seem to be an increasingly distant memory. The phrase ‘Against Modern Football’ is often overused, yet it is a phrase which is no doubt relevant to this occasion. Even though the Sevilla fixture was post Sky Sports, Premier League and all-seater stadia, that night in April showed none of the characteristics which football matches are so often plagued with nowadays: Crowds sitting in silence, waiting to be entertained, as if their presence alone merits a good performance. The frequent chant often heard in living rooms throughout the country (much to Sky’s discomfort), of, ‘Your support is f***ing s**t’ isn’t just a goading chant, but a symptom of modern day football.
That night in April, the fans at the Lane were not merely spectators, but supporters, and the very fact that fans seldom act proactively anymore is saddening. The reasons as to why this is the case are many and complex, and do not belong in piece, yet their absence in the game against Sevilla is why that game stands out. We didn’t boo at 0-2 down and nor should we. I long to go to the Lane next season to experience such excitement and unconditional passion; and whereas I might witness this in part at the North London Derby, and possibly Chelsea and West Ham, chances are I will not.
Going to White Hart Lane should be a positive experience, and in the recent past it was, yet the near future is not so promising. That night against Sevilla was a throwback to the support and atmosphere my 20-year-old self can only imagine was the norm at the Lane a few decades ago. I may not be able to go back to those days, yet that match in April 2007 is probably the closest I will get.
Up the Spurs!
This entry was written by Jack Mason-Jebb, posted on Monday, July 01, 2013
