‘To dare is to do’ as the Lilywhites say in North London, and I dared to venture five-and-a-half hours to the perilous depths of N17 on a bitter winter’s evening to witness the mighty Middlesbrough battle against Tottenham Hotspur at the new White Hart Lane.
I was filled with excitement and anticipation at the thought of seeing the brand new stadium for the first time with my Dad, who has followed Spurs for many years.
However, once we eventually arrived, the enthusiasm I had felt slowly ebbed away to be replaced by frustration following a ridiculous number of traffic jams, road closures and faulty satellite navigation. It seemed as though the gods were against us as we arrived at an eerie car park in a run-down area, still 30 minutes' walk from the stadium. It was certainly not the intended, secure car park we had booked online. There was a tense moment as we both looked at one-another surveying the daunting surroundings, deciding whether to risk it or leave and search for another car parking option. We chose to look elsewhere.
As luck would have it, we came across a Sainsbury’s car park fairly close to the stadium. As we drove in, a steward scurried over to greet us explaining that we were required to have bought a special ticket in order to park there. Kick off time was rapidly approaching, so my Dad nonchalantly slid a £20 note into the steward's hand which seemed to resolve the situation. The steward suddenly broke into smile and pointed to a car parking space with total disregard for the rules and said that the car would be totally safe.
It had been quite the journey so far, but we had finally made it. As we tried to gain access into the stadium, it felt like going through customs at the airport as we were rigorously frisked and scanned by the metal detector.
Upon entry into the stadium, there was only one immediate destination we had in mind following our stressful journey - the bar. I had longed to experience the only pint of beer I’d ever seen which filled from the bottom and thankfully, it didn’t disappoint. My overly-curious father tried to debunk this mystery as he proceeded to lift the bottom of the cup to examine it, thus spilling the liquid all over himself and the floor, embarrassing Dad moment – tick.
After my Dad blamed the spillage on another group of supporters to a member of staff, we finally made it to our seats. The view was spectacular, well for me anyway, as my Dad squinted down at the pitch attempting to make out who was who, having left his glasses in the car after the car park debacle. We were positioned adjacent to the gargantuan south stand, 10 rows from the top with a bird’s eye view of the action and it was breathtaking.
Before kick off it felt like we were in attendance for a rock concert. A lengthy light show and cinematic montage of legendary FA Cup moments displayed on the four TV screens generated an exciting atmosphere among the thousands in attendance.
The aesthetic of stadium had a Wembley-like feel to it, however the atmosphere during the game didn't match the state-of-the-art facilities.
The game finished 2-1, a relatively tight affair which was made more difficult than it should’ve been by a series of spurned chances from the home side, but the sub-par performance didn't underwhelm me as much as the lack of noise did. The occasional, half-hearted ‘Come on you Spurs’ chant resonated around the ground every once in a while, but apart from that, there was an eerie quietness within the stadium which was unexpected and disappointing to see, given the pre-match atmosphere and build-up.
Although it was only an FA Cup replay against a lower ranked team, shockingly there were moments during the game where the players on the pitch could be heard over the fans. Don't get me wrong, the stadium was magnificent, but it may take a couple of years to generate the same buzz the old White Hart Lane did.
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