A farewell to White Hart Lane

[Tomo]

Much as the Boleyn farewell was cheesy and in some cases overdone it did make me think how we are going to approach what will be our last game at the Lane at the end of next season. Obviously in our case we are not leaving our home, our home is being rebuilt but surely we will give the old girl a good send off, although most likely in our case we will lose the last game at the Lane handing the title to Woolwich in true Spursy style.

The West Ham experience did make me realise the pitfalls of leaving and the lessons we should take into account considering for some reason now leaving a stadium is a world wide event and eyes will be on us. Our fans need to show same passion as the Hammers did but without the stupidity beforehand but I am confident we will do that, mostly we show good passion but without going overboard. No gimmicky jokes either like London Cabs on the pitch, interviewing 'legends' as great as Carlton Cole or Marlon Harwood. Very embarrassing I felt but to be fair while their club and fans acted like idiots their players where exceptional on the day and showed their club in a good light.

I hope and kind of expect Levy to get real legends like Hoddle, Klinsmann, Greeves and perhaps songs from the likes of fans such as Adele but to be honest I don't know. The point of the thread was really to get a sense from fellow fans what the feeling are about this. I know it's still a year off but it will come soon enough.

1. Should we consider this the same as West Ham leaving the Boleyn or is this more just an upgrade and not so big?
2. How should we handle this occasion, what would you like to see as we say goodbye or should it be low key?
3. What are you favourite memories of the Lane (I know we still have one season left)?

 

[Luda]

Royal Rumble.

 

[Blanchflower]

A PL trophy presentation would be nice

 

[Tomo]

A PL trophy presentation would be nice

That would be some send off.

 

[Blanchflower]

That would be some send off.

If God is up there and wants to prove a point......then the only possible better scenario is that the game is against the Scum and we've already won it in the previous away game.....guard of honour from Wenger, Wilshere et al

 

[Eskimo]

Adele? Chas and Dave or no one.

 

[Eskimo]

If God is up there and wants to prove a point......then the only possible better scenario is that the game is against the Scum and we've already won it in the previous away game.....guard of honour from Wenger, Wilshere et al

The reverse would be far more spursy

 

[Eskimo]

Favourite memory for me I think it's Hoddles farewell goal...wasnt lucky enough to be there in 84 for the final.

 

[Tomo]

Hopefully palace won't be our final game.

 

[Guido 🇺🇦]

Celebrating the new one is more important to me than saying goodbye to the old one. I know I sound like an old grump but all of my romantic feelings towards WHL are held with the old east stand, I simply do not have an attachment to this current version than the one I had with Mr Archibald Leitch's masterpiece & a terraced Park lane and Paxton. Obviously I'm very aware that for some WHL in it's current incarnation is all that is known and because of that the emotions felt would be the same as mine for the old, old WHL so I would respect a send off if wanted.

Seeing as we lose or at best draw every game that sees us celebrate something significant, I'd rather have the last game played as a testimonial game. A number of players left recently that were at this club for a very long time, so it would be appropriate for them to have a joint testimonial. By doing this it also keeps football at the centre of the celebration rather than some tacky variety show. Testimonials are also light hearted and good fun without the micro penis's getting anxious & twitchy.

 

[Mensa]

Danny Rose goal v Woolwich and that whole game a highlight

Was going 8-10 times a season during Jol era and loved the atmosphere, coming from such a low point everything was upside, I remember even one of his first games the crowd rallying as we lost 3-2 to charlton trying to equalise, great times, no panic no plastic

 

[Tomo]

Celebrating the new one is more important to me than saying goodbye to the old one. I know I sound like an old grump but all of my romantic feelings towards WHL are held with the old east stand, I simply do not have an attachment to this current version than the one I had with Mr Archibald Leitch's masterpiece & a terraced Park lane and Paxton. Obviously I'm very aware that for some WHL in it's current incarnation is all that is known and because of that the emotions felt would be the same as mine for the old, old WHL so I would respect a send off if wanted.

Seeing as we lose or at best draw every game that sees us celebrate something significant, I'd rather have the last game played as a testimonial game. A number of players left recently that were at this club for a very long time, so it would be appropriate for them to have a joint testimonial. By doing this it also keeps football at the centre of the celebration rather than some tacky variety show. Testimonials are also light hearted and good fun without the micro penis's getting anxious & twitchy.

Yeh I would be all for a testimonial as our final game, it certainly would as you say make the event more light hearted.

For me I only know the current stadium, much as I like it I am looking forward to the new stadium on the account it looks bloody amazing. We are not selling our soul, we ain't leaving Tottenham so in that respect it won't be the end of an era like West Ham faced.

I would love to replicate the festival atmosphere we saw at Upton Park without all the negatives such as violence and crap night show.

 

[Tomo]

Favourite time for me was the CL run, Modric was just superb and playing Milan and Real Madrid was special. Felt like our club was 10 foot tall.

 

[Guido 🇺🇦]

Yeh I would be all for a testimonial as our final game, it certainly would as you say make the event more light hearted.

For me I only know the current stadium, much as I like it I am looking forward to the new stadium on the account it looks bloody amazing. We are not selling our soul, we ain't leaving Tottenham so in that respect it won't be the end of an era like West Ham faced.

I would love to replicate the festival atmosphere we saw at Upton Park without all the negatives such as violence and crap night show.

Agree. For me the soul is everything that is not bricks and steel. It's the walk up to the stadium with the smell of fried onions in the air. Helicopter buzzing above on derby days. The knowing nods to the people you don't know their name and the handshakes to those that you do. The bumping into an old school mate you have lost contact with or even an old teacher. Or it's smiling to yourself for being annoyed by that fat bloke who shouts "send it" everytime a CB has the ball. I watched The Guardian's short film they did on West Ham leaving, it reminded me what the soul of a club is (I posted it in the West Ham thread, well worth a watch), it's also why I am desperate to keep the historic buildings as part of the new build but looks like that ship has sailed.

 

[Kafkaesque]

Celebrating the new one is more important to me than saying goodbye to the old one. I know I sound like an old grump but all of my romantic feelings towards WHL are held with the old east stand, I simply do not have an attachment to this current version than the one I had with Mr Archibald Leitch's masterpiece & a terraced Park lane and Paxton. Obviously I'm very aware that for some WHL in it's current incarnation is all that is known and because of that the emotions felt would be the same as mine for the old, old WHL so I would respect a send off if wanted.

Seeing as we lose or at best draw every game that sees us celebrate something significant, I'd rather have the last game played as a testimonial game. A number of players left recently that were at this club for a very long time, so it would be appropriate for them to have a joint testimonial. By doing this it also keeps football at the centre of the celebration rather than some tacky variety show. Testimonials are also light hearted and good fun without the micro penis's getting anxious & twitchy.

How old are you mate? I can kinda see it now that you put it out there, but I always assumed, you were in the younger segment, because......

......somehow it feels wrong to me that it's not a teenager but you posting 90% of what gets reposted from social media on here

 

[Guido 🇺🇦]

How old are you mate? I can kinda see it now that you put it out there, but I always assumed, you were in the younger segment, because......

......somehow it feels wrong to me that it's not a teenager but you posting 90% of what gets reposted from social media on here

Haha 47yrs young mate, handful of kids and unbelievably a couple of Gand kids too. Jumpers for goal posts, don't get Facebook at all, don't get instagram one bit but love twitter (although that has taken me 2yrs to follow the right stuff, never follow our academy players as I have absolutely no idea what the fuck they are talking about and they fuck up my timeline).

 

[Smoked Salmon]

1. Should we consider this the same as West Ham leaving the Boleyn or is this more just an upgrade and not so big?

I think we should consider this the same. Yes the new stadium is right next to WHL, but it won't keep the name and, well, for those of us who have supported the club for a good number of years and have been to many many games at the Lane, it just won't be the same in the new place. So yes. We will lose memories....and you know, sometimes there are little things that you remember as well, like the time I had an emergency phone call from a client and one of the stewards understood and just let me sip out the wooden exit doors at the start of a second half and just winked me back in when I was finished, when policy was that omce out no getting back in. No way will that sort of thing happen in an ultra modern stadium.

Hell, where will the mad cow disease burger venders on the corner of the shelf and Park Lane be at the new place?

2. How should we handle this occasion, what would you like to see as we say goodbye or should it be low key?

Given that the club has already missed the boat on the kit, I don't want to see any money making scheme. But it would be nice maybe if the last game got some true legend ex-players in, and I don't just mean Micky Hazard, Ozzy, Ricky, Ledley and Anderton, but rather the less frequently seen guys. Ginola, Teddy, Klinsmann, Gazza, Linekar, Keane, VDV, Bale and, if it were at all possible, Greavsey and the survivors from the double winning year. The sort of send off to make the Library scummers and pickies embarrassed.

What are you favourite memories of the Lane (I know we still have one season left)?

EVERY SINGLE VISIT.

Seriously. I have never ever ceased to be excited by going into the stadium and seeing the lights and the lit pitch. That enough excites me. The memories that have come in addition to that? Golden.

 

[Tomo]

Funny debating this thinking how if the hammers had never piped up we could have been the ones going to the Olympic stadium, so glad that never happened, it really would have felt like vandalism.

 

[Eskimo]

Funny debating this thinking how if the hammers had never piped up we could have been the ones going to the Olympic stadium, so glad that never happened, it really would have felt like vandalism.

Vandalism? Murder more like.

 

[palmers_green_yid]

If God is up there and wants to prove a point......then the only possible better scenario is that the game is against the Scum and we've already won it in the previous away game.....guard of honour from Wenger, Wilshere et al

For better or worse, this won't happen. I was reading an article about the guy who does the fixtures, and sadly/wrongly (IMO) they avoid any potentially violent fixtures at special times of the year so as to not piss off the Old Bill. So that's why we never play Woolwich on the first or last day of the season, on Boxing Day (anymore) and especially not in the last game at a stadium. It will no doubt be someone like Bournemouth who we have no rivalry with. West Ham only got to play Man Utd, who they hate, in their last game at Upton Park because it was a rearranged fixture...so I guess this is our only chance of playing anyone interesting.