Farewell to the Lane

Following the match against Manchester United on Sunday, White Hart Lane will shut its doors for the last time.

This season has been built up to this final game with the club doing many things to commemorate this momentous occasion. Speaking to ex players and fans they have a lot of memories of the ground and will be saddened come Sunday, but they were also filled with optimism as to what the new stadium will bring to the fans and the local area of Tottenham.


My earliest memories of White Hart Lane may not be some spectacular result or even an important
game but a pre season friendly fixture against Italian side Cagliari which ended in a 2-1 defeat.  However, it gave me the chance to watch my team play, which to that point I had only been able to do by watching them on TV. It might not have been the usual level of atmosphere but that game will always have a special place in my heart.



Through the coming years I saw many a Spurs side fly high and go through hard times but the atmosphere at the Lane never dwindled, always full of optimism and hope that good things were on the horizon. The era of Martin Jol was possibly the first time I saw Spurs competing at the right end of the table; that side gave Spurs fans some memorable games and brought back the European nights under the lights back to the Lane which are always special.




It was sad to see Jol leave in such way, given the poor start made in the 07/08 season, and the false dawn that was Juande Ramos but then we had a new beginning under Harry Redknapp and they were exciting times. The emergence of stars like Luka Modric and Gareth Bale under Harry showed that Tottenham could develop world class players. Redknapp also secured Spurs, Champions League
football for the 10/11 season and they were possibly the most magical nights at the Lane I can remember, especially the 3-1 win over then holders Inter Milan, in which Bale announced himself on the world stage.


Darker times grew after Redknapp's departure and the arrival of former Chelsea and Porto boss Andre Villais-Boas. Who knows what might have been if Bale hadn't saved our skin on multiple occasions in AVB's first season in charge but when Bale left, it left too big a hole and Villais-Boas lost  his job in December 2013.  Tim Sherwood arrived and steadied the ship before the arrival of Mauricio Pochettino in 2014. Pochettino brought through great players at Spurs and made us as fans believe the future is bright and hopefully our momentum can take us into successful times at the new stadium.

Uefa Cup 1984 Winners

The stadium also has special memories for my Dad who saw some magical moments of Spurs teams in the 70's and 80's. I will never forget the story he tells me about the 1984 Uefa Cup Final against Anderlecht. He tells me about being behind that goal that Tony Parkes saved the two Anderlecht penalties to give us our second Uefa Cup title. He tells me of seeing the greats in a Tottenham shirt like Ossie Ardiles, Ricky Villa, Glen Hoddle and Pat Jennings.

This was my Farewell to the Lane. Thanks for the memories.