SOCCER SPORT !

[GaryF]

I think he'll give us another year IF we get CL next season. Otherwise, maybe not.

[tribe125]

Farewell White Hart Lane.

There wasn't a football club where I grew up, which is why me and my schoolmates ended up supporting clubs all over Britain. For me it was Manchester United, mainly because of the goodwill to Matt Busby that spread across the land following the Munich tragedy in 1958.

But we were hungry for big days out to any football ground, and that meant London. We didn't have much money, and most of our parents didn't have cars, so a football trip was a red-letter day, maybe once or twice a year. It was thrilling.

Spurs and White Hart Lane was a favourite. It was more welcoming than Highbury, classier than Chelsea. And you could watch Jimmy Greaves, a player that would walk into any top European side if he were playing today (if he kept his drinking under wraps).

Later, I lived near London and went everywhere - Arsenal, QPR, Fulham, Chelsea, Wimbledon, Charlton, West Ham, Crystal Palace, Millwall and Brentford. I missed Leyton Orient, for some reason.

I became a connoisseur of football grounds, especially those designed by Archibald Leitch. These were the classic English (and Scottish) stadiums. Pitched rooves, criss-crossed ironwork on the balustrades, a central gable with the club crest or a clock.

Mostly, I went to White Hart Lane. A couple of pints and then out into the human river approaching the ground. Programmes and scarves sold from front gardens, ticket touts, police horses, the smell of fried onions. In through turnstiles hardly wide enough, up the concrete stairs and then out into the open and there was the impossibly green grass, Tannoy announcer listing the teams, players warming up.

White Hart Lane had it all. History, romance, tradition - and more often than not, enterprising and attractive football. Compared to Stamford Bridge or Highbury, it was a nice place to be. It changed a bit down the years, but it was still the same old stadium under the skin. I would be a Spurs supporter for the day, unless United were visiting, when I would just be... quiet.

At least they're not moving, just expanding on the same site. People will drink in the same pubs and follow the same routes to the ground. There won't be the disconnect suffered by West Ham and Arsenal. But it's still the end of something. Another grand old stadium, generation-rich in memories, has gone. Football carries on getting bigger, and more anonymous.

[Raza]

Come on, Sunderland! Need a miracle from you!

[OTGabe]

Farewell White Hart Lane...

Very nicely said, Alan. It was shocking seeing the place torn down just hours after the match ended, but such is progress.



The new stadium does look grand in the renderings, and it's head and shoulders above the glorified slinky that Chelsea wants to build.

[Raza]

How is handling a back pass not a penalty!?

[OTGabe]

How is handling a back pass not a penalty!?

It's been an indirect free kick since the rule came along 25 years ago. Very lucky for Arsenal.

[OTGabe]

No magic from Sunderland today. On the surface, LFC looks fine with nothing but a win against the 19th place side needed for top 4. But Liverpool has a problem with breaking down the bottom half of the table, and the pressure will be huge. I don't expect Arsenal to lose to Everton.

How about this one for a laugh (not that the Spectator has a rich sports reporting pedigree):

https://www.spectator.co.uk/2017/05/...arsene-wenger/

So this gent:

1. Didn't grow up liking football since he's 'middle class'
2. Started following football when Rupert Murdoch marketed it to him properly
3. Chose ManU and followed them for 20 years
4. Jumped ship when Fergie left and became an Arsenal fan
5. Has decided that those who don't love Wenger need to leave Arsenal as fans
6. Apparently expects people to take him seriously when he writes this stuff

[tribe125]

PAC-MAN

[tribe125]

How about this one for a laugh (not that the Spectator has a rich sports reporting pedigree):

https://www.spectator.co.uk/2017/05/...arsene-wenger/

What a prat. He was the kind of supporter that Roy Keane had in mind when he made his remark about prawn sandwiches. Good old Roy.

The bloke is at the right club now, though. Arsenal has always been middle-class. Well, since they left Woolwich a hundred years ago. Look at the succession of Old Etonian Hill-Woods that ran the club. Until recently, Lady Bracewell-Smith owned a bunch of inherited shares. To these people it has never been 'Arsenal' but 'The Arsenal', a form that was officially dropped well before the war. In the summer they watched cricket at Lords, wearing their MCC Members ties and blazers, in the winter they cheered on The Arsenal. Denis Hill-Wood even played cricket for Oxford University and the MCC.

Spurs had some wealthy patrons too, but typically (or stereotypically), they were London Jewish boys made good, like Alan Sugar and Daniel Levy. Arsenal were 'old money', Spurs were 'new money'. Give me Spurs any day.

And does the Spectator prat think it was just the middle-classes that went out and bought satellite dishes? From memory, it was the working class that were busy nailing them up at odd angles, while the middle class fretted about lowering the tone of their streets.

Yes, Spectator man will be well at home at Arsenal, with its noble heritage and its liking for patrician stability.

[tribe125]

Here we go again - manager vacancy at Watford.

It adds interest.