It’s a strange feeling to say goodbye to a building. As it empties, you can feel the ghosts of the past compress onto each other in a kind of cheesy, gauzy montage. That’s when you know that the feeling is real—simply because it’s corny.
Well, Spurs fans witnessed those final fleeting moments of living nostalgia today, as they played their final match at their 118-year-old stadium White Hart Lane. Against Manchester United, nonetheless. The stadium has seen (or welcomed home) eight FA Cup victories—including their first in 1901, which made them the first non-league team to do so. Millions of people practically grew up in that stadium.
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Needless to say, Spurs fans were lit before the game:
And it was a helluva way to go out. Spurs went up in the sixth minute—you could practically feel the fans willing Victor Wanyama’s header into the net. The goal arrived after a gorgeous cross from Ben Davies that found a well-elevated Wanyama on the back post. Manchester keeper David DeGea was helpless to save it.
Then, as if to play to the narrative heartstrings of Spurs loyals, wonderboy Harry Kane found an inch of the ball by bending his leg around a defender for a neat little flick off of a cross in the 48th minute. Jubilation abounded:
But since this is hand-wringing, self-depreciating English football after all, Spurs couldn’t walk away with a clean win. So Manchester United netted one just to keep things interesting. In another representation of living history, the decrepit Wayne Rooney found the net with a quick jab of the foot off a cross from Anthony Martial for a goal in the 71st minute.
At the end of the day, the Spurs stayed up 2-1—despite a series of rousing, last-second efforts from Dele Alli to find yet another goal. Fans stormed the pitch and had to be cleared off. But, understandably, they didn’t really seem like they wanted to leave.
UPDATE
This happened and was pretty hilariously sung:
