Our seats are in the Shelf side lower, virtually on the halfway line. Most season ticket holders have been there for years but we only moved there from the Paxton upper a few years ago. We're a loud bunch but no one else around us ever sings, other than on those rare moments when the whole stadium gets going.
You'd have thought that that Inter Milan game at home a couple of seasons back might have been one such occasion. But no....
Oh when the Spuuuuuuuuuuuuuurs started up at the Park Lane end. Our little group joined in. A season ticket holder who sits in front of me turned around and said, with a snarl on his face, 'Can't you just shut the fudge up?". I was stunned. "This is Spurs against Inter Milan in the Champions League", I said, "If it's not okay for us to sing tonight, when will it ever be okay?"
He pointed to the Park Lane and shouted, "If you want to fudging sing, fudge off to that stand". So I replied, "If you want to watch football in piece and quiet, stay at fudging home and watch it from your fudging armchair. Then at least a proper supporter might get the chance to come here in your place".
Thankfully, that stumped him and he turned around and ignored me for the rest of the game. But, I confess, it did rather take the shine off that fantastic evening for me. Last thing I want is to get into a blazing row with a fellow Spurs fan.
For the next few games, this bloke said nothing more but just shot me venomous looks whenever he saw me. And then, towards the end of some PL game, Bale was substituted and the crowd (me included) was giving him a standing ovation. This bloke suddenly turned on me again and screamed, "If you keep clapping in my ear like that, I'm gonna knock you spark out!"
"So now I'm not allowed to clap either?", I asked, and burst out laughing. Which probably didn't help. At this point, he tried to make a move at me but his mates held him back.
Didn't see him for a month or two after that. I've seen him since and he seems to have mellowed. But I guess that he could crack again at any moment.