I wonder if any of the older ones on here remember the little terrace houses that adjoined the ground in Park Lane where on match days you could leave your bike for sixpence in the '50s? I can still see the sweet old couple who welcomed us into their 2 up 2 down. We were always first as we liked to be in the ground by 1pm to bag our favourite place. By the time we retrieved our bikes the house was bursting, with bikes in the back room, front room & all down the passage! Must have been a 'nice little earner' to supplement their 2 bob pension! Also does anyone recall the first Spurs shop? It was a kiosk actually that appeared in Paxton Road around 1959/60 and was only there on match days. The stock was fairly limited among which were programme binders (I still have mine for 60/61) and, what I believe to be, the first Spurs scarf. It was pure wool, navy blue with white stripes, double sided & lovely & warm. Needless to say I have mine still, in perfect condition although it has been worn & washed hundreds of times. They don't make 'em like that any more! Are there any old rattle carriers still around? What a magnificent noise they made when twirled as one after a goal. I used to customize mine with blue background & white lettering. Spent hours on it! Who would have thought, in those peaceful law abiding days, that they would become offensive weapons! I could prattle on for hours about my beloved Spurs but at the risk of boring you all to death I'll say thank you & goodnight......
Prattle away Maggie. I love hearing these anecdotal tales from days gone by. You could even start your own blog and fill it periodically with these nuggets.
Your story isn't boring at all, it makes damn good reading, please post more memories of those days. I can't say I remember a lot of those days, my first visit to the Lane was in September 1964 when the matchday uniform was bobble hat, scarf and rosette with of course the obligatory wooden rattle in hand. Nowadays, Health and Safety would prevent a rattle being taken into the ground. I remember well the small hooped railings all around the ground and of course the teams would climb steps to enter the pitch from the tunnel which in those days was close to the Park Lane stand. Happy days and good times !!
I enjoyed hearing about your memories of going to Spurs, Maggie My Dad would've started going in the 70s/80s and the only stories I get out of him are how things used to be much cheaper and that you wouldn't see kids in United tops running around the streets before a game back then
Great memories, Maggie!! Keep on Prattling!! A few years before my time, although my ex grew up in Park Lane from 1952-68 and used to recount similar tales. They were a few houses further down. When I started going to the Lane in 66/67 rosettes, bobble hats and scarves were standard wear, although don't recall ever taking a rattle. My spot from 1970-75 was the top of the tunnel - and there were a few characters there - and then I moved over to the Shelf.
By the early 70's the atmosphere changed at the ground - the plague of football hooliganism arrived and the only running around the streets (and in the ground) were when being chased by bovver booted skinheads!! The worst instances were generally London-based, with Chelsea and Arsenal probably the pick of the bunch, but the Spammers and occasional Millwall games were dodgy. Took a long time for the game to recover.
I started going in the late 50's. we used to get there for just after 12.00, when they opened the ground In those days. We needed to be down the front as we were kids - couldn't see otherwise. I think, from memory, that a kids ticket was 1s 3d which had gone up to 1s 6d by 60-61. There's a lot of things I remember. The crowds, well over 60,000 sometimes. Percy Dalton's peanuts. The terraces were carpeted in the shells by the time you left. I suppose my brightest memory was being there on the night we beat Sheffield Wednesday 2-1 to clinch the title. I was told that I couldn't go because of school the next day. Cost me a belting from my old man when I got home!.
Great stuff Maggie I remember the rattles well. A hang over from World War 2 when they were used by Home Guard/ Fire Wardens I understand. My first use was when I was just 3 years old and I was taken by my Dad and Granddad to see Dulwich Hamlet play Nigeria (yes the national team) who played in bare feet. The second match I didn't rattle it, just held it, when the grown ups encouraged me to use it, I replied that I had not seen anything worth rattling it for yet! By the time of my first Spurs game early seventies they had all but disappeared I think.
Bloody hell - I went to see Hamlet play a few times and they never played in bare feet - the Nigerian team must have thought that very strange!!!
Dulwich Hamlet one of Sutton's old opponents,usually still play them in a ps game,one of my mates brother played for them in the 70's i think
I was born in huddersfield.....i miss this aspect of being a fan of Spurs..the kinda things ive heard a few of you say about the old days. love articles like this...brings me that little bit closer.
Good story Maggie The old men used to take me to stand by the Tunnel and he would bung the attendent on the main stand gate a couple of bob to let us in . Do you remember the blokes that sold programmes from away games that used to be down the Paxton lane end ? COYS
They're still there. Well maybe not the same guys, but there are some who still sell all the away programmes just before you reach the Paxton Road.
Are there still a couple of guys selling badges and programmes set up pretty much opposite the main club shop on the High Road? I haven't been past that way for awhile but that's where they were weren't they? When I was about 7/8 I used to buy a few programmes from the 80s and early 90s which I got from somewhere outside the ground with my Dad teaching me to haggle for them. I have a feeling I might have thrown them out but they were mostly home ones so probably not very desirable and I've got some of the badges that are still pinned to my scarves that I kept. I wish I still had those programmes though, giving me one of them before bed was the closest my parents could get me to reading a book back then
Speaking of programmes, does anyone still buy them? I think the last one I bought was for the Young Boys game, a fiver but still worth it for a bit of history. Some of the filler they had was unbelievably tedious, like the Player A-Z they did where before a cup game U would always be for "Up for the Cup" and X without fail would always be "X-Ray" if they were injury prone and "X factor" if not. I say they were tedious but I always read the A-Z and talk about our players being "up for the cup"
Do they still sell the Tottenham year book ? I have my dads collection in the loft which dates back to the mid 50's He used to buy one at the first game of the season and then when he gave up going in the mid 70's it was then my job to get them for him. Seem to remember back then they were small and would fit in your pocket.
A sixpence to park your bike! What entrepreneurs. Predecessors of Alan Sugar, obviously The kids from Salford threaten to scratch your car unless you pay them £10 to mind it
YV, I still buy the programmes, £3.50 each for home ones but those from the CL were £5 each that season. I must have well over 4500 now, which along with all the rest of Spurs Membrobillia I've got is sending the wife mad!
Alfie, Still sell the year/handbooks. Those from the 50's are worth a few quid, go from between £8-£20 depending on condition.
