Spurs stories

"It was a huge achievement to get in there, we'd worked so hard all season, and to be the one who nicked the goal to get us in there... I can't explain the feeling of the moment that goal hit the back of the net. A lot of Spurs fans still tell me today where they were, what they were doing and, if they were at the game, how amazing that feeling was. Of all the goals I scored throughout my career, I don't think I've seen an away end go as crazy as that. When I see it now, it's like an out of body experience . I remember someone jumped on my back and I ended up spinning round. Even when it goes in, when I look back at it now, I always remember Luka Modric jumping two feet in the air, like on his own. It was just... everyone kind of had a moment."

"It was actually quite emotional for me and Ledley. I gave him a massive hug, and we were like... just the memories of us, all those little stories, I mean, listen, I could bore you with 100 more stories of me and Ledley together, and what we used to get up to, and what we used to do, and then when we were both sitting there going, 'right, we're in the Champions League now', all those memories kind of flood back. It was great to be there when we did it together, you know?”

"What a night! City at the Etihad, a team that had just started spending big money and bringing in top class players. I felt confident. I felt we had a togetherness that maybe they didn’t have at that point, and that’s what got us over the line. We played well on the night, didn’t we? There was a lot of pressure. We should have been up in the game much earlier, Gareth went close, Crouchy hit the post with a header, I had a goal disallowed, they said I was climbing on Gareth Barry's back. I just felt, especially in the second half, you know, some games where you just feel like, ‘we've got it together here’, like we're not going to concede. I felt confident that would be the case, and it was just whether or not we could get the goal that would win it for us. Younes Kaboul  was playing right-back, and he kind of rampaged down the right, crossed it… obviously, I've seen the goal many times! And yeah, Crouchy popped up with an important goal for us, a massive goal, and the celebrations were wild! Going into the corner with the Spurs fans, it was an amazing, amazing feeling. It was a relief because we were playing so well and, as I said, I didn't feel like we were going to concede in the second half. So, it's just whether we could score that goal, and once that goal went in, I felt like we were going to do it. It was an unbelievable night, and then we move on - we're going to Champions League football.”

“We were playing with no fear. We believed we could go there and win. It’s strange looking back. There were times when I got nervous playing games, there’s no hiding that, but this one, it just didn’t feel any different. We were a good team, we were full of confidence, and I think that's what just showed on the night. We knew we had a group of good players, but we were also a team, and you won't win anything individually. That's fact. That's proven. There’s no 'i' in team, is there? So, we were collectively strong all over the pitch, and we had matchwinners. I mean, Aaron Lennon, for me, he was mind-blowing, The way he went past full-backs, he got into positions and you just think, 'wow', he twisted people up like you wouldn't believe. Crouchy was always an outlet, but his feet and his finishing, I mean, that was a tap in for Crouchy. It was great. It was an amazing night and then just to think that we were going to be in the Champions League the next season. We had a great celebration - Harry Redknap got a bit wet, didn’t he? If you look at that I stood well back. I thought, ‘I’m not getting involved, I want to play next season!'”

“To be fair, Harry Redknapp, again, he had an eye - I mean, he had a different eye. He was playing me sometimes as a right-back at Portsmouth. To start with, I was like, ‘I'm not right back’, but he said, ‘you can do that job for me’… okay... and he was right! It was the same for that game against City. It was a great game, an incredible game. On the night, I knew we would go through. I knew we would win. Craig Bellamy was playing on that (right) side. I also had Aaron Lennon in front of me, right wing. I was quite quick, he was super quick, and sometimes we couldn't understand each other, because he was going, I was going… but for the good, because that pushed their winger to defend us. I always think that the best approach of the game is to attack, you know, try and attack, because that will make your winger defend you. So, this is what I kept doing throughout the game, just attacking. The goal, unbelievable. Because, like I said, we knew the importance of that game, but the fans too. That’s why they travelled in numbers and were so loud. And, yeah, when Crouchy scored that header, that was… I knew straight away, 'that's it, we're in'... Champions League. A great moment for everyone at the Club - we’d put Tottenham with the best in Europe.”