A Love for the Lane

White Hart Lane is one of football’s most-loved venues, but soon the ground as we know it will be gone. Tottenham are building a splendid new arena next door. Whatever the future holds, match day will seem quite different.

The same patch of green in N17 has been Spurs’ home since 1899. In ‘A Love for The Lane’, we revisit some of the greatest matches ever to have taken place there, through the eyes of the legendary players who graced the turf.

Terry Dyson – a hero of the 1961 Double team – explains how it feels to be the only man to score a hat-trick for Spurs against Arsenal, while Darren Anderton reminisces about Jürgen Klinsmann’s incredible home debut in 1994.

Harry Redknapp relives the glory of Gareth Bale’s destruction of reigning European Champions Inter Milan in 2010 while Alan Mullery and Micky Hazard re-call lifting the UEFA Cup in front of their home fans in 1972 and 1984.

Esteemed captain Steve Perryman recounts his two sensational goals against AC Milan, and we also travel back to The Lane’s very first match, Spurs' biggest home victories, and their magnificent title triumphs of 1951 and 1961.

About the Author

Chris Slegg is a BBC sports journalist who has travelled the world watching football. He believes ‘The Beautiful Game’ is less about which team wins or loses than the passion it evokes in those who follow it.

Of the hundreds of stadiums he’s been privileged to visit, none has stirred greater emotion in him than White Hart Lane where history and tradition emanates through the noise from The Shelf side, the Park Lane and the Paxton.

Atop the West Stand, the golden cockerel has stood proudly above a pitch adorned by many of the game’s greatest talents. The author is hugely grateful to the many of them who have agreed to share their memories in this book.

Picture 2 - Harry Kane with the book

Picture 3 - Hugo Lloris with the book

Picture 4 - 1961 Double winner Terry Dyson who contributed to one of the chapters  with Love For the Lane

Picture 5 - 1972 UEFA Cup winning captain Alan Mullery who contributed to one of the chapters with Love For the Lane