Watching the European Cinderella cup I spotted something that was probably not picked up by many people and I must admit that I waited a few weeks to see if I still felt the same or was it just because it was connected to Tottenham, well I do still feel the same.

It concerns Tottenham’s first away trip in Europe for many years and the banners that were draped over stadium walls in Prague stating “Y*** European Tour”. No matter how self mocking they claim it to be this has no place in today’s football, the television camera man quickly moved away from it, probably like me surprised that English fans could be so pathetic but I suppose certain people still don’t get it!

This is where we came in, my first exposure to racism was in the fifties and although I am not Jewish nor is any member of my family it is something I remember as it was the first I knew of people being disliked because of their religion, custom and difference. This was strong in the area of London that I grew up in; then you could put it down to ignorance, a lack of travel and the strength of a personal prejudice (normally from the head of the household) but the “Y” word was always the preferred expression to separate these people.

These early primitive behaviours were the fore runner to the Black and Asian prejudices that our club, players and The Gooner have fought very hard over the years to remove, so the banners from our neighbours, which no doubt to the average fan are rather tame, still set off a reaction in me that I find hard to express and difficult to explain.