White Hart Lane, at the time of writing, has been open 116 years. During that time there’s been moments of extreme jubilation, untold misery and every other feeling in-between. And each one of these moments seeps into the fabric of the building. Nothing more than bricks and mortar to look at, the importance and the spirit of our stadium comes from the human beings that fill it and the things they experience and do there. So it’s with this in mind that we can look forward to the new stadium when it is eventually built – a whole host of brilliant and wonderful things to behold, and no doubt a few horrors as well. New memories to be made – new traditions to be created.

It’s also with sadness, a degree of melancholia, that our White Hart Lane, as it stands, will be razed to the ground. The need to progress and expand is understandable, and romanticism and traditionalism has never been less valued in our sport. But while the business palms away glory in the face of cash, we don’t have to. Football down the Lane remains a beautiful thing, and our stadium, while small, is iconic the world over.

This issue of The Fighting Cock remembers the stadium as it is, for every song you’ve sung there, for every memory you made.

They never perish.

Order your copy of The Fighting Cock White Hart Lane special with silver foil cover and stickers.