Talking about my generation... Spurs fans' first-game memories

Tottenham Hotspur Football Club celebrated its 131st birthday last week, so we asked a number of Spurs supporters from different generations to give an account of their first-ever Spurs game.

Here's what they came back with...

Spurs 1-1 Wolves - FA Cup 4th round, Jan 1996  By Taxi For Maicon

It was freezing and, to put it kindly, Spurs were genuinely terrible. We were right at the back of the upper shelf - although the  lower north-east corner was to become home until Paxton Road was expanded.

I remember panicking during the week, firstly that it would get called off over snow, and secondly that Chris Armstrong would play (this was totally unfair as Chris Armstrong did well for Spurs, scoring 48 goals in 141 games, but I was a huge Jurgen Klinsmann fan and unless his replacement was, well, Jurgen Klinsmann, then I was always going to be an unfair critic.)

Anyway, Dean Austin misplaced a backpass for their goal and I'm pretty sure Clive Wilson brought us back to 1-1. Don't quote me on that, as my memory is terrible.

The rest of it is hazy other than my dad refusing to "stand up if you hate Arsenal", getting top-class chips from a chippie on Tottenham High Road and playing Sensible World of Soccer when I got home.

Spurs 5-1 Oldham - League Division Two, Oct 1977  By Hounslow's Finest (via Ja606.com)

We were in the players bar after the game as the bloke I went with's niece was married to Neil McNab.

We came out of the ground in Neil's wife's Austin 1300 (how times have changed).

We went up that season to Division One after finishing third behind table-toppers Bolton and  Southampton.

My 35 years of watching spurs has cost me loads of money, my fringe and a good few wind ups from my mates but I wouldn't change it for the world.

Spurs 5-1 Crewe Alexandra - FA Cup 4th round, Jan 1961 By ThePieKing (via Twitter)

We parked up at Wingate trading estate, which isn't there any more. I think it has made way for  the development of the new stadium.

I remember it being full. Around 60,000, mostly standing although funnily enough I was sat down.

Cliff Jones and Dave Mackay were among the scorers but my lasting memory from the game is Bobby Smith hammering a shot wide from close range.

The ball arrowed straight into the crowd and hit someone down the front. It looked nasty and there was some sort of commotion - maybe a stretcher, but I can't be sure.

We never did find out if they were OK afterwards.

Bolton 2-2 Spurs - Premier League, Oct 2009 By LancslassinLdn (via Twitter)

Living up north, we didn't get to many home matches, and started going to the Lancashire away games.

We waited by the coach before and after the game and Peter Crouch was doing well for England at the time, so he stood out.

Afterwards, my partner pointed out one of the Spurs youngsters stood away from the crowd - it was Gareth Bale.

He was tiny! He hadn't played and nobody really went over for his autograph and he was picked up by two people, probably his parents. 

Who would have thought he would become the world's most expensive player!

Spurs 2-1 West Brom - Premier League, March 2006 By Spurs boy (via Ja606.com)

Curtis Davies opened the scoring and we left it late to get back in the game.

Robbie Keane chipped an equaliser and then Mido scored only for it to be disallowed as Jermain Defoe had been brought down in the box seconds beforehand. 

Mido was furious! Keane scored the pen.

Some sort of perspective

I've had to wait a day before writing about the Wolves game. If I hadn't, you'd probably just be reading a four-letter diatribe of 'Why?' this and 'Why?' that.

Now that the nerves have settled and my blood has stopped boiling, I can take a proper look at the situation - how Harry Redknapp manages to immediately compose himself and do a post-match interview is beyond me.

The man's got nerves of steel, and he has an uncanny ability to put the whole thing in some sort of perspective. We're all sat there, head in hands, concerned that our wonderful journey is at an end, and 'Arry comes out and says "That's football", then points out that Wolves have beaten Man United, Chelsea and Man City at Molineux and suddenly we all feel that little bit better about things.

Make no mistake, our last two results have made a Top 4 finish an uphill struggle, but Spurs have never made things easy for themselves and, the result aside, there were a lot of encouraging signs to come from yesterday.

Obviously, the sight of Gareth Bale careering down the flank is a timely boost as we look towards another difficult run-in. And, never mind Kolo Toure, I want some of whatever Jermain Defoe's been having, as both those goals were not only out of the top drawer, but completely out of nothing - and that surprise element is something we've been badly missing.

Defoe is famed for slamming the ball home from 18 yards with no regard for the keeper's positioning, but both strikes yesterday were placed carefully out of Wayne Hennessey's reach. Now, if he can just learn to take it round the keeper in a one-on-one situation… one step at a time.

It was nice to see Roman Pavlyuchenko on the scoresheet, you have to go back to November for the last time two of our strikers scored in the same game. But for me, he puts very little into his off-the-ball game. Countless times yesterday he gave up the moment he was dispossessed, in stark contrast, Jermain Defoe harried and chased down every ball, highlighting the lack of effort from the man alongside him, and maybe that's the reason Redknapp is hesitant to give Pav a run in the side.

Sandro had a much better game on Sunday and is starting to look like he's getting to grips with the Premier League. He's got a good awareness, he seems to know when to get stuck in or pile forward and when to hold off, protect the space behind. Even if his development isn't as meteroic as Bale's last season, in future seasons he could prove to be the solid general midfielder we've been craving for so long.

Chelsea may have beaten Blackpool last night but then their following Premier League game is against Man City, so someone is guaranteed to drop points. Our next three games are West Ham, Wigan and Stoke so finger crossed we can make up some ground.

If all that's not enough, then we still have to play both Chelsea and Man City so, whilst recent results have not been what we'd hoped for, the situation is still very much in our hands.