FOREST AWAY: Tottenham, Sunday 7th April – Fan Guide

Tuesday. A magical, marvellous Tuesday.

The scarves twirled and the Trent End bellowed, urging the rest of the crowd to join it in unison. There are many bad days following a struggling Premier League side, but there are sometimes days like this one. Where you catch a waft of something utterly irresistible and your soul leaps ten feet into the darkening Trentside sky.

There is nowhere quite like the City Ground on these occasions; when it puts itself onto a war footing and dares anyone to enter. When banners roll down over heads, supporters cling to each other for dear life, and when the sound of the Red Shirts fill the new Spring air.

In this post-Cooper, post Premier League honeymoon era we have struggled to rise from, a night like this one was very much needed. Players that had begun to look feeble and lost picked themselves up for an almighty first-half and fought for every last kick in a difficult second.

These games don’t come around too often, no matter who you are, but when they do they make you remember that it’s always worth it following a football team.

Onwards.

 

TRAVEL

TRAINS: This fixture has officially been schedule for three different dates already, and although the Sunday 6pm kick-off is unfortunate I’d imagine are probably happier with this than the intended Monday night slot. This also makes trains a bit simpler with direct services home at 20:35, 21:35 and 22:02 (change at Long Eaton) and 22:32.

Do remember to look at splitting the journey up at Kettering which often works out cheaper than buying a standard Nottingham – London return. A SplitSave ticket on the Trainline app is currently coming out at £63.50 compared to £79.40 for a Super Off-Peak return. What a disgrace train fares are in this country.

Taking a look at the East Coast Line may also be beneficial although Peterborough are at Wembley at 4:30pm so these services may be extra busy.

There are multiple stations connecting with the stadium and they are best documented on this map from the Tottenham website. Which one you use will, of course, depend on your circumstances and where you are coming from / headed to.

• Seven Sisters is on the London Underground and can be reached easily from Kings Cross / St Pancras on the Victoria Line.
• Tottenham Hale is one stop along from Seven Sisters and also has a rail line which connects into Liverpool Street. See advice below about using this line from Cheshunt if driving.
• White Hart Lane is the closest stop to the stadium on the London Overground and is best reached from Central London from Liverpool Street.
• Northumberland Park is another rail line which is quite close to the ground and also has some services direct from Liverpool Street / Cheshunt.

All of these stations will be very busy after the game. We used Tottenham Hale last time and had a short wait to enter the station with queue control methods in place.

ROAD: I’ll regurgitate the usual info here for that I usually offer in this guide that parking out from the ground and using tube / overground is probably wise, although there may be less parking restrictions with it being a Sunday.

• Stanmore / Edgware / Cockfosters are all underground stations with decent size car parks offering a pretty simple route into London although best to plan your route to work out the best way to and from the ground. Cockfosters might be the best shot out of these on the Piccadilly Line as you can head down and change at Finsbury Park and across to Seven Sisters / Tottenham Hale. The full duration of this, according to the TFL app, is 33 minutes.
• Cheshunt – Just off the M25 and a nice big car park. We used this last season and it was very straightforward. It’s only a short journey to Northumberland Park / Tottenham Hale from here and you can also go straight through to Liverpool Street if you want better pre-match drinking options.
• Luton Parkway – Cuts down the driving as it’s located just a few minutes drive off Jct 10 of the M1. Parking is a few quid in a big multi-storey and you can usually get a decent priced return into St Pancras (if travelling in a group go for the Group Saver option which will save a third on fares)

 

PUBS

In a change from last season, there are now no pubs around the ground which will officially welcome Forest fans, according to the Dedicated Football Officer at the Met Police.

When we visited last season, the Elmhurst and the Antwerp Arms were both pointed out as destinations around the stadium, so if you find yourself looking for a drink in the proximity of the ground then these are probably worth a try. However, the advice from the Met Police is to drink around Kings Cross.

Another option is to drink around Liverpool Street which was the plan for many of us last season, given that there are direct trains to the stadium from here.

 

 

Q&A with Ricky of the Last Word on Spurs podcast (@LastWordOnSpurs)

With us fast approaching the end of season run-in what is going to represent a successful season for Spurs?

Given how the club started the season, with going top of the Premier League, securing European Football; specifically Champions League nights retuning to Spurs would represent a successful season, however Ange Postecoglou has made it clear, a certain league position will not represent success, it’s based on the growth of the team.

 

How has Brennan Johnson settled in? I’ve seen he has started to weigh in with a few more goals & assists lately, have Tottenham fans taken to him?

Brennan had a tough start to life at Spurs, where ultimately by some sections of the support, he was being judged massively on his price-tag. He definitely was being overplayed in his early start at Spurs due to the number of freak injuries we picked up during the earlier part of the season.

However, his impact from the bench has been superb in recent weeks, providing 12 goal/assists contributions overall for the season so far.

I’ve noticed that Spurs fans, led by the Supporters Trust, have been vocal on the rise in season ticket prices including the removal of senior concessions which led to an in-ground protest last weekend? How disappointing are these latest prices and is there any chance that the Spurs hierarchy will listen?

Naturally any rise in ticket prices is hugely disappointing, given the nature of the general cost to go to games now and what that entails.

However, what has riled supporters the most is the removal of the discount for senior concessions which will come into effect from next season.

 

PSR and financial controls have been a huge talking point this season. From a Spurs perspective what do you think of the view that the current rules actually protect the bigger teams like Tottenham and are the rules actually working?

It’s very hard to share a view on this, when a club like ours haven’t been directly affected. However, Spurs have always been risk-adverse in the transfer market, much to the frustration of supporters, who would love to see the club try to push on and genuinely try and challenge the likes of Man City, Liverpool and Arsenal.

However, most fans accept how difficult this is to do, over the years the frustration has been not spending the money correctly on the right kind of profile of players, as opposed to overall spending at the club.

 

Given it’s a Sunday evening kick-off it’s likely many will drive down. What would you suggest in terms of parking?

The Club have a number of different designated car parks in and around the stadium where you can park your car for a fee.

Is there anywhere close to the ground that Forest fans will be welcome for a drink?

Close to the ground is tricky too advise as most pubs are home-based fans being predominantly welcomed.

 

Finally – let’s have your predictions:

Where will Spurs finish?

4th

Where will Forest finish?

17th

Who will win the league?

Man City or Liverpool (we hope and pray ha)

 

Thanks to Ricky for his insight.

We will see those of you travelling down there.

Up the Reds.

Matt