Occasionally curiosity will get the better of my girlfriend. She’ll either wander into a room, look up from her laptop or — after seeing an advert on TV — lean over and ask me a question about football.

“So this game is for the Euro League Cup?”

<Sigh>

This will then start a longer dialogue than I would like about the various football competitions.

“So the Europa League isn’t the league? It’s a cup and not the Premier League or Champions League?”

“Exactly. Also the Europa League is different from the European Championship.”

Immediately, I realise my mistake. Too much info, I’ve muddied the already opaque water.

“I am not stupid, the European Championship is a cup like the FA Cup.”

She said this with such pride at having named a cup competition correctly that I decide not to correct her, but it did make me question when I became aware of the FA Cup. When did this cup, once so synonymous with our team, become important to me?

These were the days before narratives became living breathing organisms — when they were still trapped to the confines of newspapers that I had no interest in reading

I have watched football since circa 1988/89 when Gazza and Waddle, with a little bit of Paul Allen, caught my attention; but my perception of the game was that ‘it was just a game’. Winning (good), losing (bad), or drawing (meh) meant very little. These were the days before narratives became living breathing organisms — when they were still trapped to the confines of newspapers that I had no interest in reading.

I knew very little outside of 90 minutes and Tottenham, and even those moments were fleeting. The amount of games I saw happen live were limited; instead I was drip-fed news clips, Shoot magazine and end of season reviews. I don’t remember any FA Cup games. Even the early rounds of the 1991 cup run do not register; of course, I know them now, but that is through the medium of YouTube, it wasn’t until the 6th round that I knew the competition existed.

Spurs had been given the easy draw of Notts County, the conquerors of pre-oil Manchester City in the fifth round, for their quarter final tie. We had missed Nottingham Forest, double chasing Woolwich and a couple of other First Division (for those of a certain age this is what it was called before the money came) teams. Of course the fact that this event, or even this stroke of luck had happened, was too big a concept for me. Instead it was conveyed to me in a simple sentence:

“Anthony, Tottenham are on TV.”

“Yes!”

However the game was a watershed. As a child, my perception of losing, or the ability to understand losing was slightly twisted by not being able to see every game. I had a natural defence mechanism: ‘if you didn’t see it, it didn’t happen’ (as an adult this occasionally reverts to: ‘if you can’t remember it, it didn’t happen’). Therefore I never feared losing to Notts County. Losing wasn’t an option until Notts County took the lead.

Fear dissipates, confidence returns, Spurs are 2-1 up. Suddenly the FA Cup exists, but the goal that gave it to me is nothing without Cherry

Winning and progressing was something that had come naturally to my football watching. My 1988/89 Spurs video only showed the Spurs goals, so even in the games we lost 2-1, I only saw our goal. The World Cup that summer had seen an England team populated by Spurs march to fourth place against the odds; the bits and pieces I had seen of Spurs in 90/91 was all positive. Yet there we were, losing. The icy hand of fear and disappointment tickled my scalp.

This game was right at the start of my goalkeeper fascination, and in nets for Notts County was, according to my memory, the chubby little Steve Cherry. For some reason he was the player who stood out, he was the one between us and victory. In brutal truth I remember very little about the actual game, the formations or highlights. Football was a game littered with players I loved, but in that game there was one moment that has stuck, and the moment that made me realise there was a cup competition.

It was chaos. You can see nearly all 20 outfield players in one shot, the ball bobbles loose and it ends up at Gazza’s feet. He strikes it like he struck everything bar Gary Charles’ legs that season: beautifully. The arc of the ball seems to take it beyond the goal post, but there is spin on it and gradually the ball nestles into the corner of the old style White Hart Lane net. Fear dissipates, confidence returns, Spurs are 2-1 up. Suddenly the FA Cup exists, but the goal that gave it to me is nothing without Cherry.

The Notts County keeper makes that goal. His arching, impotent dive is what adds that extra splash of colour. If he stood still I doubt I would care, but it’s his sheer helplessness that transforms that goal from run of the mill to magic. Putting the ball in the net is a relatively boring and uneventful action, but have someone try and stop it, and suddenly you have an achievement of human brilliance.

For too long Spurs have under-performed in a completion that once belonged to us

Gazza’s curling finish beyond Cherry opened up football for me. I saw it clearly, I saw the structure, the cups, the league, the internationals and the fear of losing, but it also fooled me into thinking Spurs would always prevail. We marched to cup glory that year and even at 1-0 down in the final, with Lineker missing a penalty and Gazza in hospital, not once did I think we would lose that game. Notts County may have introduced fear, but Cherry’s and David Seaman’s inability to stop Gazza made me think Spurs were unbeatable.

It wasn’t until the semi-final loss to them lot in 1993 did I actually realise that Spurs wouldn’t always win these cup games. Since then that trend of losing semi-finals and — basically — FA Cup games in general has continued. For too long Spurs have under-performed in a completion that once belonged to us. The achievements of them, United and Chelsea in recent years has hurt more than any “always in our shadow” nonsense.

Spurs have evolved this year, moved away from more recent perceptions, it is now time to get back to the old school ideals and values. The FA Cup is ours, it is time it inspired a new generation of Spurs fans.