I’ve never had a season ticket for Tottenham. Never. When I was young (horrible phrase) I couldn’t afford one and when I was older I always preferred to go to selective games rather than the total commitment of going to every single match. You could say that ‘I lack commitment’ and in this most cases you’d be right. I love going but choose when to go.

The only time this changed, when I did choose to go to every single home game, was in the late 70s. Because when Glenn Hoddle was playing you simply couldn’t afford to miss a game. So me and me mate Stan (alas no longer with us) would pitch up at White Hart Lane and stand in ‘The Shelf’. Before Hillsboro’ you could do that. Just pitch up to virtually any ground and, because so much of the ground was for ‘standing’ with, rather bizarrely, only the so-called ‘stands’ designated for seating, (whereas actual standing was done on the Terraces), you could always get into a match. They weren’t big on limits on crowds back then and, if worse came to worse, you give the turnstile guy a fiver and he’d let you jump over.

Spurs were a good team back then, not a great team, that came a bit later when Ozzie Ardiles and Ricky Villa came from Argentina to join Glenn in the midfield. But we were good. And had always tended to go for the skilful rather than the pragmatic type players. We loved a showboater, we adored brilliance and if we didn’t win as many matches it was the price paid for the team being wonderful to watch.

But when Glen started he was given freedoms that other rookies aren’t. Because he was ‘special’ right from the start. He was, quite frankly, a footballing genius. It wasn’t just the skill, the art, the sublime finishing that made him thus. Many players have amazing technical skills. What set Glen apart was his vision. He saw things that others simply didn’t. He would thread a pass 60 yards to a player who no-one knew was there. Sometimes even the player himself barely knew. He would do the unthinkable, see the impossible, confuse the opposition, and sometimes his own teammates, and best of all, he had the amazing talent to put his visions into reality.

And now he’s ill. Had a (presumably) quite massive heart attack at the tv studio yesterday.

If you didn’t know Glen Hoddle, the player, the magician, the wonder, or weren’t around when he spun his magic, just google: ‘Glen Hoddle my sweet lord’ and watch the best 3 minute video of total amazement.

I wanted to talk about Philip Green today (invoking my non-parliamentary privilege), I wanted to talk about the massacre in the Pittsburgh synagogue, but today my heart is with Glen.

Get well soon.

A xxxx