White Hart Lane
My football club means a lot to me. I buy a membership every year so I can see games. I buy a shirt every year to support them. I used to have Scott Parker's 8 on my back, this season Jan Vertonghen's number 5. I have a scarf with Jermain Defoe's likeness on and "Legend of the Lane" and there were tears in my eyes when I watched, in person, him come off the bench to score against Crystal Palace, knowing it was going to be my last chance to see him play for Tottenham. I don't get to go to many games due to my relative location, in order to get to the ground in time to grab a decent parking spot we have to set out a good five hours before kick off, and getting away is bloody murder. Technically it's a shabby old place that needs pulling down, but in reality it's a wonderful stadium full of history. OK, it's a bit embarrassing that the scoreboard just ticks over to "90:00" and stops leaving you no idea how much injury time is left. And yes, it doesn't look good that when Sian Massey is one of the linespeople, the display can only be configured to say "Mr S Massey."
But still, it has the charm of tradition around it, and for all the niceties of a modern ground (such as the one we are building) like the Etihad (which I've been to) and the Emirates (which I'd only go to if you dragged my corpse inside with you) I still prefer the historic heartbeat of English football that you get at places like Villa Park, Anfield, Goodison and the Lane. Over the last few years I've been lucky in that in three seasons of making occasional trips down I've only witnessed one defeat, a wet Easter Monday 2-1 to Norwich, while I've seen several 2-0s and 3-0s, even a 5-0, and most pleasingly, a North London derby win. "North London is ouuuuuuuuurs..... fuck off back to Woolwich, North London is ours!" This season I've struggled to get to games, but so far in the three Spurs games I've seen, we've scored 9 goals and conceded 0, so my luck has held.
While there are probably three different regions in Britain I could rock up and feel equally at home in terms of surroundings and laying my head down at night, there's part of my heart that always yearns to be in the Park Lane lower whenever I can, and so it will remain long after the old girl is pulled down. "We're the Park Lane, we're the Park Lane, we're the Park Lane Tottenham..."