| It was so good to be walking
down the road to Wembley again. It had been far too long since last we
were there for a Cup Final. And the changes were clear to see. Getting
out of the tube station was no easier, but there was a nice mosaic on
the wall of the tunnel as you came out onto Olympic Way. This seemed to
depict a man drinking from a bottle (of beer - it was the Worthington
Cup after all), a man with a large knife, two men in white fighting on
the floor and some dogs which had been let loose and were racing after
their prey. All in all a true life depiction of the 1993 FA Cup
semi-final at the stadium or Millwall’s appearance there in the
forthcoming Auto Windshield Trophy perhaps. Well, in actuality, the
scenes depicted were supposed to represent the glorious sporting
heritage of the National Stadium, from the Olympics to greyhound racing.
I do think they should have thought harder about exactly which images
they were going to use to portray these pictures.
Leicester’s local newspaper were
handing out free balloons to their fans. This is perhaps one of the most
ridiculous acts to be perpetrated on the day. The match would be totally
spoiled by these bright blue balloons floating around the stadium and
onto the pitch, causing the stewards to form a line like police looking
for evidence in a murder case at half time, as they tried to rid the
pitch of the burst remains. Is it some sort of West Midlands rubber
fetish they have ??
Walking up the stairs to our seat, it
seemed like there had been more added since 91. Or maybe I am just
getting old. The feeling as you get to the top and look out over the
pitch hadn’t changed though and a thrill of excitement runs through
you. For all the improvements to the outside, the inside still remains
the crowded old mess it ever was. The other addition that was
unpalatable (and I don’t mean the new items on the fast food menu) was
the announcer who got on everybody’s nerves as the countdown to
kick-off got closer. His "You’ve got your ticket. You’re here.
It’s the Worthington Cup Final 1999" was perhaps his most
cringe-worthy contribution to the day’s events.
The Coca Cola Cup used to greet the two
teams by having fireworks and confetti and I had hoped that as
Worthington proclaim it to be a "fan thing" that they would
realise the fans want something more traditional - like the teams
walking out of the tunnel to line up in front of the Royal Box without
having to walk through a thick plume of eye-stinging smoke and loud bomb
blasts. Sol had to rub his eyes after getting to the pitch. Not in
disbelief of what he had just experienced, but because the acrid smoke
had tried to blind him. Another thing that had not changed was the fact
that the National Anthem could not keep up with the fans’ rendition.
The game will be covered in depth
elsewhere and frankly, it’s better for all concerned to skip to the
end. The celebrations were long and hard. The funniest sights after the
game were Sol having to get his shirt back from a Leicester player to go
and collect the trophy, Ramon and Freund going mental with delight, the
official who tried to get the players to go on the rostrum to have their
photo taken but couldn’t stop Sol and the boys taking the cup to the
fans (after all, it’s a fan thing) and the eight years of drudgery
being swept away on a tide of joy and emotion. The only drawback (to a
certain extent) was the playing over the PA of Tottenham songs. This
meant that we had to sing along with them, rather than sing songs of
praise for our current heroes. They even managed to drown out the
choruses of "One George Graham." The manager waved to the
Spurs fans after this had been brought to his attention. The team, subs,
coaches, backroom staff, everyone on the pitch were all having such fun
it seemed ages before they finally disappeared down the tunnel and out
of sight.
Filing out into the light it was like we
had never been away. It was enjoyable just to soak it up. You never know
when it might happen again - could be May, it could be another eight
years, but whenever it is, you can bet that Tottenham will always find a
hard way to do it.
"When Sol went up,
To lift the Worthington Cup,
We were there, We were there."
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