60 years a Spurs fan

[sammyj]

1964 was my first game Blackburn rovers ,my dad was a fanatic mutdfan from the 40s and I worshiped him I asked him how I became a Tottenham fan he’d said he took me to a couple of united games but once he took me too whl a certain player called Jimmy was playing and that was that . I have loved this club of ours ever since All through the 60s and the 70s once I got too about 16 I got involved with the hooligan side I will never regret or apologise it was what thousands of boys got involved with and gave me some great memories especially chasing Gooners out of the north bank. My favourite team was the 70s side with pat Jennings big chiv among my favourite players , getting relegated was dreadful but if you was around then following the lillywhite in the old 2nd division was brilliant we took thousands too away grounds every week and made lasting friends that remain too this day my favourite all time player was Glenn hoddle absolutely magnificent player and one of us . One of my biggest regrets was selling garth bale if we had kept him and played him in that poch side we would have won 4it all . I truly have loved this club since I haven’t never booed our lillywhite white but have cried loads of times none more than the Ajax game sobbed like a baby that night . I truly believe we might be on too something big with this new manager but but has we all know it could goes tits up . It’s been a proper privilege too be in that number since the 60s and a must mention too billy nick the greatest yid of us all

 

[sammyj]

1964 was my first game Blackburn rovers ,my dad was a fanatic mutdfan from the 40s and I worshiped him I asked him how I became a Tottenham fan he’d said he took me to a couple of united games but once he took me too whl a certain player called Jimmy was playing and that was that . I have loved this club of ours ever since All through the 60s and the 70s once I got too about 16 I got involved with the hooligan side I will never regret or apologise it was what thousands of boys got involved with and gave me some great memories especially chasing Gooners out of the north bank. My favourite team was the 70s side with pat Jennings big chiv among my favourite players , getting relegated was dreadful but if you was around then following the lillywhite in the old 2nd division was brilliant we took thousands too away grounds every week and made lasting friends that remain too this day my favourite all time player was Glenn hoddle absolutely magnificent player and one of us . One of my biggest regrets was selling garth bale if we had kept him and played him in that poch side we would have won 4it all . I truly have loved this club since I haven’t never booed our lillywhite white but have cried loads of times none more than the Ajax game sobbed like a baby that night . I truly believe we might be on too something big with this new manager but but has we all know it could goes tits up . It’s been a proper privilege too be in that number since the 60s and a must mention too billy nick the greatest yid of us all

Sorry for my spelling and punctuation but we speak a different language in Stepney

 

[Spurslove]

I’m from the North West and where I grew up was too far from a League club to follow them coupled with the fact that back in 1961 the only football on TV was the World Cup, the Home Internationals and the FA Cup Final. So I didn’t really have team then that year Tottenham were playing in the FA Cup Final hoping to win to complete the League and Cup Double. Both my parents were from Northern Ireland and wanted Spurs to win because their captain was Danny Blanchflower who was also the N. Ireland Team captain and a legend to them. Their enthusiasm rubbed off on me and for the first time I was really invested in the FA Cup Final. As we all know we completed, what was back then, a legendary Double. After the game I went outside with my brother to play kick about(3 and in) with the kids next door and said “I’m Tottenham”. I was 9 years old then and I’ve been Tottenham ever since and I will be Tottenham till I die.
I saw Tottenham live for the first time at Old Trafford when I was about 11. Can’t remember the score but we lost because believe it or not even though I’ve probably been to Old Trafford more times than any other away ground I’ve never seen Tottenham win there live.
I first went to WHL when I was about 13-14. Travelled down by myself on the train. Back then there was no Seven Sisters Tube Station so the nearest Stations we’re Manor House or Wood Green. I opted for Wood Green, asked outside which bus took me to Tottenham. The bus conductor told me to get off at Bruce Castle Park. I walked down Lordship Lane and when I got to the High Road l looked to my left and I could just glimpse the stadium. I almost cried because after all the previous 4 or 5 years following Spurs from afar(and all over the North of England whenever I could ) now I was finally home. And that’s how it felt, Home. Ironically years later in the 90’s I lived in Tottenham.
I’ve spent most of my adult life abroad but whenever I’ve returned to England I’ve followed Spurs all over. I had one of the first away season tickets back then. To be honest whilst abroad the only thing I’ve ever really missed about England is watching Tottenham live. There is nothing like it.

Lovely post. One of my biggest regrets is that I only really found out what football was on the day I described in my opening post, so I never saw the famous double side playing, although many of them were still playing for Spurs when I started taking an interest 6 months afterwards, so I can't actually say 'I saw the double side' so that's one thing you have over the likes of myself, and good on you for that.

?‍

 

[jonnie83]

It’s 30 years since my first game. It was around Christmas 91, a 3-0 win over Norwich. Goals from Lineker, Allen and Nayim. I think Sherwood was in the Norwich team that day. Have the game on video in the loft just no way to play it!

 

[Spurslove]

It’s 30 years since my first game. It was around Christmas 91, a 3-0 win over Norwich. Goals from Lineker, Allen and Nayim. I think Sherwood was in the Norwich team that day. Have the game on video in the loft just no way to play it!

Isn't there some way your video could be converted into some sort of modernised format like a DVD or something similar?

You can probably tell I'm no technical whizz.

.

 

[jonnie83]

Isn't there some way your video could be converted into some sort of modernised format like a DVD or something similar?

You can probably tell I'm no technical whizz.

.

I think you are right. Will look into it ?

 

[Chezaspur]

60 years and 6 months. 1961 F.A. cup final, sealed my fate.

 

[ShelfWatcher]

60 years and 6 months. 1961 F.A. cup final, sealed my fate.

Yep, that's the first game I remember seeing, on TV. But I can't quite place when I started supporting Spurs. Sometime in the year before the Final, but no defining moment stands out. I think it's the Dukla Prague game on TV late in 61, I remember watching and kind of understanding as a confirmed Spur
And I vividly remember my first football argument the Monday after the 62 final at junior school. My friend, a Scot, reckoned Burnley deserved to win. I soon put him straight with a dazzling array of stats and post match analysis ?

 

[Spurslove]

The peanuts were strange in that, IIRC, he would sometimes throw you a bag, if the crowd was packed and hard to get through
I guess you handed the money to someone nearer and they passed it on, but I can't remember exactly how it worked
Percy Dalton was the brand, quite healthy as unsalted

I think the way it worked was he'd walk though the packed crowd (no seats on the shelf side at that time) shouting 'Peanuts, fresh roasted peanuts" and people would shout to him stuff like 'Over 'ere mate' waving their arms at him and he'd somehow find his way to you. Yes, Percy Dalton rings a very loud bell. At the end of th games when much of the crowd had vanished down the stairs, you could see the ground absolutely littered with peanut shells. I think he made a pretty decent living out of us on a match day.

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[ShelfWatcher]

I think the way it worked was he'd walk though the packed crowd (no seats on the shelf side at that time) shouting 'Peanuts, fresh roasted peanuts" and people would shout to him stuff like 'Over 'ere mate' waving their arms at him and he'd somehow find his way to you. Yes, Percy Dalton rings a very loud bell. At the end of th games when much of the crowd had vanished down the stairs, you could see the ground absolutely littered with peanut shells. I think he made a pretty decent living out of us on a match day.

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Yep, makes sense. Most games there was a way through. But some games the crowds were really packed even half an hour before kick off. But where there's a will...
Pretty confident about Percy Dalton ??

 

[M.I.B.]

"Peanuts......Roasted peanuts. Don't eat the hot dogs, they'll give you worms"..........will live with me forever!!!

 

[ShelfWatcher]

"Peanuts......Roasted peanuts. Don't eat the hot dogs, they'll give you worms"..........will live with me forever!!!

? That's a new one on me
Those hot dogs were pretty rough at times, stale rolls for example, but never gave me worms ?
Do you remember the peanut seller throwing bags to people, or did I make that up?

 

[SirHarryHotspur]

This was my first game, 18th January 1958 v PNE score 3-3 , Tom Finney got taken off with concussion so PNE had to finish the game with 10 men no substitutes in those days and still we couldn't win .
My dad took me we were in the east stand upper in the seats on the half way line about 5/6 rows from the front, he got the seats from his boss who was a season ticket holder .
My dad's boss held season tickets for both Spurs & Arsenal but couldn't make the Preston game so gave them to my dad, just think if he couldn't have made an Arsenal game maybe I could have ended up going there for my first football match . I don't ever regret becoming Spurs, having met a few Arsenal fans since my introduction to football a slight arrogance comes to mind.

https://www.11v11.com/matches/tottenham-hotspur-v-preston-north-end-18-january-1958-74995/

 

[barrie]

I inherited Spurs from my best mate when I was 6yrs old. My Dad is a United fan (born up there) but for some reason he didn’t do the hard sell on me or my brother (a Liverpool fan!). I remember Dad waking me up in the middle of the night to say he’d got us FA Cup final tickets for 1982 final against QPR. So unbelievably excited. I remember the noise and the stray fan that climbed up into the gangways above the seats followed by a poor policewoman - cue 15,000 fans singing “We can see up yer skirt, up yer skirt”. After a tight game I CHEERED Hoddle’s deflected shot…. and shortly after I CHEERED Fenwick’s equaliser. I was too short to see over most people’s heads. “No, No son - that was QPR.” At the final whistle I turned to Dad and said is it over and after being told of the whole new other game… “Can we go to that one too?!”… “Afraid not, you’ll be at school”. I trudged away from Wembley blinking, with an innate understanding of what I would come to know as the true essence of “Spursy”. Since then, success has been patchy but my support unwavering. The fact that the last trophy we won, I missed - as we were on our honeymoon on a pacific island. It will all mean so much when it finally happens. Can’t get our daughters to give a shit though!

 

[phil]

My father, a Gooner, took me to White Hart Lane to see the Push-and-Run side in 1951 and I've supported Spurs ever since. From the age of three I was taken to Highbury for home games but for some reason never supported Arsenal (it was a pretty poor team with the likes of Roper, Clapton, Leishman, Holton although they did have the great Jack Kelsey in goal). Until I was about 9 or 10, I only got to watch Spurs when they played Arsenal but as soon as I was old enough to go on my own I regularly went to the Lane. I watched pretty much every home game in the double season.

Even in my mid seventies, with 70 years as a supporter, I am still passionate about Spurs. My study is adorned with pictures of the double-winning team and scarves from my visits to Milan, Madrid and Munich. And I suspect that I will still get in a foul mood tonight if we lose to Liverpool.

 

[ShelfWatcher]

My father, a Gooner, took me to White Hart Lane to see the Push-and-Run side in 1951 and I've supported Spurs ever since. From the age of three I was taken to Highbury for home games but for some reason never supported Arsenal (it was a pretty poor team with the likes of Roper, Clapton, Leishman, Holton although they did have the great Jack Kelsey in goal). Until I was about 9 or 10, I only got to watch Spurs when they played Arsenal but as soon as I was old enough to go on my own I regularly went to the Lane. I watched pretty much every home game in the double season.

Even in my mid seventies, with 70 years as a supporter, I am still passionate about Spurs. My study is adorned with pictures of the double-winning team and scarves from my visits to Milan, Madrid and Munich. And I suspect that I will still get in a foul mood tonight if we lose to Liverpool.

Fantastic post, what great teams and players you have seen ?

 

[cliff jones]

Great thread. I think mine was 76, 5-2 stuffing of Villa. Sat in the Paxton Upper, wooden seats. Don’t remember anything about it other than wondering why there was no commentator?

 

[WannaDanceWithUdogie]

my first game was a bit later than most of yours, V Coventry in 2013. I was 10 and I think Bale scored and Dempsey got 2

 

[southlondonyiddo]

Slightly envious of people who can either remember their very first game or were told which was their first ever game

I was about 4/5 years old for my first game. Absolutely no idea what it was and obviously Dad didn’t have a Scooby!

 

[M.I.B.]

? That's a new one on me
Those hot dogs were pretty rough at times, stale rolls for example, but never gave me worms ?
Do you remember the peanut seller throwing bags to people, or did I make that up?

Absolutely right. Anyone not paying attention would quite often get a bag alongside the head.