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What has all this meant to you???

I see this forum as a group therapy session

Indeed. I've been calling this place and you all my virtual pub over the past few years, as I rarely go to the pub these days. Was gonna go for the final, but then the guys I was going with got cold feet, so we watched it here instead.

It's hard to put into words what it means, because the long term effect of it will last a long time. Just getting that fudging trophy monkey off our back for one, then it's a bloody European cup, which we haven't won since you know when. It means instead of watching old footage of us winning the cup in 1991 and 1984, I can tune back into this for some football feelgood.

I've always said that I value week to week good football more than a trophy, but this one was just so important for us. We needed this, and we deserved it. It's painful being a Spurs fan, we need some relief every now and then. The Footballing Gods showed mercy this time around. Thank you!
 
What has it meant to me, personally?

A £600 hole in my Betfair account (worth every penny).

A text message from one son effectively saying he has now forgiven me for taking him to Spurs matches as a youngster and turning him into a THFC fan, and a report from the wife that my youngest son forgot his mental health issues for an evening and was happy.

I should explain that I was on holiday with some friends when the final took place, so I was not able to be with my sons to watch it. When I booked the week away, I never imagined we'd get through to the final but then watching the European Championship defeat to Liverpool with the family was such a depressing experience I probably would've skipped it anyway.

When I was very young, my Dad booked a holiday in Spain while the World Cup was on in England. I never understood that decision, but maybe he was unaware when he booked, or maybe he was a pessimist who just assumed England would rooster it up. So, I got to watch the final in a Spanish cafe with some Spaniards, a handful of English people and a slightly larger handful of German tourists. It was ... er ... interesting.

(Do watch the 1966 final some time if you can, and take note of Alan Ball's mind-blowing performance; he was 21 at the time)

So, I missed all the celebrations back home in Blighty in 1966, although I gather that they were briefer and more perfunctory than what we are used to these days. I vaguely remember reading one report that on the evening of the World Cup win, Alf Ramsey watched the England under-21s play; Ramsey was a Dagenham lad, but a less "Essex boy" person it is hard to imagine - and yes, Dagenham is in Essex, whatever the county boundaries say.

I'm getting a bit off-topic here, so let's try to steer it back.

The match itself was 98 minutes of pain and suffering, but then watching live football usually is for me these days for some reason. The difference this time was when I watched the match, I already knew the result!

This time it was the pain of not sharing it with my loved ones, except via WhatsApp.

They say, "once a Catholic, always a Catholic" and (usually) it is the same way with supporting a football club; you just can't get it out of your system. For me, supporting Spurs has been a bit too much like being a Catholic, with guilt, suffering, guilt, angst, guilt and sacrifice, all for a better existence somewhere over the horizon in a different place that might not even exist.

What I'd prefer is a bit more of "once a Buddhist, always a Buddhist" in my Spurs-supporting life.

By now, you are probably thinking old Roland is still Brahms eight days after the final but I am not. I can't top the ill health stories of some on this thread, which were genuinely moving, but I am off the booze these days thanks to fatty liver disease. Fortunately, zero-alcohol beers have come on a bundle in the last few years.

So, I'll raise a glass of Guinness Zero to the heroes of Bilbao, my sons, my long-departed Dad (an Arsenal fan, as it happens) and his obsession with going on foreign holidays when all I wanted to do was go to Butlin's, my fellow Glory-Glory lurkers and my wife (who has bugger-all interest in football but who knows enough to recognise when I do and don't want to talk about it).

So, enjoy yourself, it's later than you think, and in a couple of months, the suffering recommences.


Probably my favourite post of the year so far! Keep enjoying it. It’s a fecking brilliant feeling, isn’t it?
 
Coming through as winners was a step forward and I enjoyed the game.

I’m not getting carried away though we cannot forget the abject domestic season.
 
I play the keys in a few bands mostly local to Berkshire. I have one band, Jagged Little Alanis, that play across the south east but mostly I don't venture too far from home in the others. Here's a recent gig in Essex that JLA did.

Well done. Great cover. Is that the Mutt mashing the keys back there?
 
Well done. Great cover. Is that the Mutt mashing the keys back there?

It certainly is.

It's also why I'm ecstatic that we have CL football next season. I play in a house band for a Thursday evening open mic. You can't believe how many EL games I have missed this season including the quarters and semis. So when that final whistle went last Weds, it opened up a season worth of games I can watch live on a Tues or Weds evening. Happy days.
 
I play the keys in a few bands mostly local to Berkshire. I have one band, Jagged Little Alanis, that play across the south east but mostly I don't venture too far from home in the others. Here's a recent gig in Essex that JLA did.

She sounds a lot like the main lady. Loved me a bit of alanis back in the day. Had a lovely of Kevin Smith films which she is associated with.

Good use of the vox pedal also. I use a VE20, that looks similar in terms of live harmonies.
 
Great thread! I think winning a trophy naturally evokes bittersweet emotions, makes me wish my dad was here even more than usual. Happy for the likes of Son who slogged most of his career with us and now finally has something tangible to show for it. Happy for the fans who have had to endure all the sexy comments over the years. For me the final was such an un-Spurs game, we looked solid and hard to beat. Didn’t do much going forward but we didn’t really need to. And yes I know it’s petty but it’s also brilliant watching your rivals win nothing and having to endure us winning things. Arsenal fans will no doubt be hurting after that final. Rivalry is a huge part of what football is all about.
 
Granted the league form has been crap but honestly I’m happier than I’ve been at any point since supporting Spurs, the only thing that comes close was getting to the CL final. Yes the league form needs to be miles better next season and it depends why you follow football or what your priorities are, but football is about winning things. Nights like last Wednesday have been few and far between for us, let’s hope this is the start of many more.
 
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