Mike Godfrey

When I was growing up in Kent in the early sixties, I didn’t really have any interest in football.

I remember two “gangs” of boys marching through the playground of our primary school, one chanting “Leicester” the other “Manchester United” but in 1963, neither team, nor the cup final, meant anything to me, and I wondered what it was all about.

Three years later however, televised World Cup matches had kindled an interest, I was at my first match – Arsenal v Spurs – on January 7, 1967, and a lifetime of supporting the ups and downs, the roller coaster of highs and lows, of Tottenham Hotspur had begun.

My friend Steve and I were 13 at the time, and having bought Red Bus Rovers for, I seem to remember, two shillings (10p in today’s money) we travelled by bus from Sidcup in Kent, and arrived at Highbury Stadium at five to three. With no queues in sight, we paid at the first turnstile we found, and were able to go straight into the packed ground where, partly due to our height, and partly due to the imminent start of the match, we were ushered down a terrace stairway by fans, and told to sit on the bottom step where we had a fantastic view of Jimmy Robertson and Alan Gilzean scoring the first two goals I ever saw live.

How times have changed!