Harry Harris - Down Memory Lane: A Spurs Fans View of the Last 55 Years

AUTHOR: Harry Harris

EDITOR: Mike Collett

DESIGNER: Paul Briggs

PUBLISHERS: Edward Adams and Jules Gammond

First published in the UK in 2009

G2 Rights 2016

www.g2ent.co.uk

All rights reserved. No part of this work may be reproduced or utilized in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording or by any information storage and retrieval system, without prior written permission of the publisher.

ISBN: 978-1-78281-635-5

G2 Rights Limited hereby exclude all liability to the extent permitted by law of any errors or omissions in this book and for any loss, damage or expense (whether direct or indirect) suffered by a third party relying on any information contained in this book.

Dedicated to my (not) so mad mum Sara.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

Steve Perryman, whose fierce tackle in his prime is only matched by some of the acidic words he had to say about me, together with any back handed praise. Stevie P hasnt changed.

Thanks also to another Spurs legend, Glenn Hoddle for also penning a foreword for this book.

My thanks too, to Jules Gammond at G2 and very special thanks to editor Mike Collett, who knows a thing or two about Spurs after watching more than 1,000 Spurs matches in the last 53 years as both fan and journalist.

Thanks to former Press Officer and now the clubs historian John Fennelly. We go way back to the Tottenham Herald days, the local newspaper whose offices were a few hundred yards from the Lane. Thanks also to Victoria Howarth heading up the clubs retail department.

To Brian Reade, former Daily Mirror colleague, who suggested I wrote a book about Spurs when I congratulated him on his brilliant account of a lifetime supporting Liverpool.

My hugely supportive wife and best friend, Linda for all her invaluable support (although lots of her support goes to Chelsea!)

The one thing I have had in common with Harry, is that we are both Spurs fans, who coincidently first went to watch the team at the same age of eight.

My first game was a reserve match at the Lane against Leicester, when I went with a friend and his dad, and then my dad took me to my first big game, Spurs v Forest. I was hooked.

I dont know why I was hooked, it was just the whole experience, the smell of the grass, the whole event of such a big stadium packed with fans, the noise, the atmosphere, and watching such talents as Jimmy Greaves.

I lived in Harlow and that was a huge catchment area for Spurs supporters, even more so then than it is now. I remember turning up at Harlow Town station to catch the train with my dad to White Hart Lane station, and Harlow was just as packed as White Hart Lane, the trains were full and it was a journey I was soon to take every Tuesday and Thursday evening once I signed schoolboy forms for the club at the age of 11.

In those days the schoolboys and apprentices were given tickets for the game, and we sat on these little benches in the front of the stand, where we had the most incredible pitch side view watching some immense talents such as Martin Chivers, Alan Mullery, Martin Peters, Phil Beal and Mike England.

We sat so close to the action, no more than a couple of yards from the white line, that you could almost touch the players, and you could even smell the liniment on their muscles. You could hear the players verbal exchanges with each other, and feel the crunching tackles, aspects of the game you never appreciated in the stands.

I was a skillful player who wanted to do the right things, but I was also quite small as a 10 and 11-year old, very thin, and one game watching Mike England and Peter Osgood kicking lumps out of each other gave me quite a different perspective of a profession I was determined to follow. The centre-forward and centre-half were giants who were elbowing and kicking to such an extent I could hear and virtually feel the thumps against each players shin pads. It made me appreciate that this game was not just all about scoring goals and making goals, but also about the physical pain that you would need to experience. For a creative player, this made an enormous impact on me at such an early age. It was a rude awakening.

My favourite player? Funnily enough, even though I was and I am still a huge Spurs fan my favourite player was George Best. He was the greatest individual I saw as a kid. It was such a great pleasure when Manchester United came to town and I could see Best. I loved to watch Best, Law and Charlton. I remember sitting behind the goal at the Lane when all three played against Spurs, it was a wonderful experience.

Bill Nicholson signed me as a youth player, and he even picked me once to sit on the bench for a European cup tie in Belgrade against Red Star and I can remember Harry when he was on the local paper, the Weekly Herald writing about me when I scored a hat-trick in the youth team.

Terry Neill was the manager when I first got selected for the first team, and Harry wrote an article about my emergence into the senior side coming through the ranks. When I made my debut coming on against Norwich, the headline in the Herald was one I shall never forget... And You Aint Seen Nothing Yet...

There was a smash hit record in the charts at the time, from Bachman Turner Overdrive and that was the catch line in it. It was typical of Harrys kind of journalism to try to jazz things up. I loved it, but my mum loved it even more and cut it out and stuck it in a scrap book.

I felt I had a lot in common with Harry at the time as his writing emphasised the Spurs tradition of playing stylish football and that is why he pushed for me to be in the team. Ive no idea how much he influenced Terry Neills decision to pick me, but he keeps telling me it was his idea!

Whatever I might think of Harry, and I have some very strong opinions, there is no doubt that he changed the face of local and national journalism.

When he arrived on the local North London Weekly Herald, my first impression was this was a guy who livened up the match reports. As a player, you are always protective of your own professional performance, and as captain of the side I felt a responsibility towards the entire team. So, I did not like the way he sometimes reported our games, there was a sharp edge we had not been used to from the local paper before.

But Harry did make the local paper more professional, and you would have to say, why not? However, we didnt sometimes like the way he stirred the waters, and of course, it didnt do him any harm as he made his reputation and moved onto the bigger stage with national newspapers.

On the national press, with papers such as the Daily Mail, the Daily Mirror for many years, and the Daily Express, I have read his columns with interest, as he does produce some thought provoking articles.

However, I cannot be honest with him unless I also state my opinion that I felt he wielded far too much influence with certain Spurs chairmen, namely Irving Scholar and Sir Alan Sugar.