The Walk of Clubs is not only a tribute to the present and future of football, it is a powerful reminder of its rich and storied past, and of all those who came before us.
The Manor Ground
Oxford United/Headington United F.C. (1925-2001)
The Manor was the home of Oxford’s most successful club for over three quarters of a century. Ordinarily with a capacity of 16,000, its record attendance was in 1964 when the U’s hosted Preston North End in the FA Cup, with over 22,000 fans witnessing their 4th Division team narrowly lose to eventual finalists. Highlights from the Manor include 1st Division football in the 80s, as well as hosting several England games, and would have seen European Football after Oxford’s 1986 Milk Cup victory, if it wasn’t for the ban on English clubs from European football.
Martin Brodetsky, Oxford United Club Historian and editor of the Matchday Programme describes one of his first experiences at the ground.
‘My first game was as a 10-year-old in October 1969 – a birthday present from my two older brothers. They worked on matchdays at the Manor, walking around the pitch before the game and at half time with trays of sweets, like you sometimes get at theatres. They took me into the ground and seated me on a bench at the front of the Osler Road stand (of course, I didn’t know its name then). Then someone came up to me and told me I couldn’t sit there – that was reserved for the manager, physio and substitute! So my brothers moved me to just below the floodlight on the corner of the Osler Road and London Road, with the reminder to pay attention as there weren’t any Match of the Day style replays. As it turned out, the goalless draw against Millwall didn’t require any further viewing, but I was hooked. The noise of the crowd, the smell of the refreshments, the intensity and pace of the game. The fact that my first three games all ended 0-0 didn’t dampen my enthusiasm!’
The Dell
Southampton F.C. (1898 – 2001)
The Dell was Southampton’s home for over a century, playing host to decades of 1st Division and Premier League football, as well as several European outings and a march to FA Cup glory in the 1970s. With a capacity of around 15,000, a game against Manchester United in the 1960s saw over double that number attend.
Will Dawe, founder of Saints Archive and The 1885, describes what the stadium meant to him.
‘I’ll never forget the buzz of walking up to The Dell on a Saturday afternoon in the mid-90s, the smell of burgers in the air and the sound of chants echoing down the streets. Watching Le Tissier curl one into the top corner from outside the box—moments like that made the old ground feel like the heart of Southampton. It wasn’t just a stadium, it was a second home, where every matchday felt like being part of a big, noisy family.’
White Hart Lane
Tottenham Hotspur F.C. (1899 – 2017)
The Lane straddled three centuries, housing Spurs from the close of the 1800s into the 21st century, witnessing every element of Tottenham’s history for 118 years. White Hart Lane’s capacity eventually grew to nearly 40,000 and when Sunderland travelled to London for the 6th Round of the 1938 FA Cup, over 75,000 fans were in attendance. Fans at the Lane were treated to decades of 1st Division football, a league and FA Cup double in the 1960s, as well as numerous other successful cup runs including two UEFA Cup wins.
Chris Paouros, Chair of the Tottenham Hotspur Fan Advisory Board, Co-Chair and Co-Founder of Proud Lilywhites (Tottenham’s official LGBTQI + Supporters’ Association) as well as Co-founder of Women of the Lane, sums up her connection to Spurs’ former stadium.
‘Football stadia are not just venues; they are homes for memories that stay with you forever. I first went to White Hart Lane in 1980 and every visit was special. One of my favourites was in September 2007, when Spurs played Anorthosis Famagusta in the UEFA Cup. My family is from Cyprus, and Anorthosis was my dad’s team. It was also my mum’s birthday, and I couldn’t think of a better way to mark it than taking the whole family to the Lane. Football is about more than the game: it’s about belonging, heritage, family. That night, it all came together. Walking up to the stadium, you could feel the buzz.. a mix of cultures, a sense of home for so many of us from the Cypriot community. Spurs dominated from the start. Berbatov, Bent, Defoe and others made it a 6–1 win, but what mattered most was being together, proud, feeling both parts of my identity on that pitch. White Hart Lane had a magic that made nights like that possible. Football connected generations and made us all feel part of something bigger.’
With your help, Walk92 is also using football to bring people together, becoming part of something bigger. The Walk Of Clubs will allow people to reminisce about the highs and lows that maintain the legacies of these former stadiums.
To get involved, visit Walk92.com.