Spurs stories | Paul Hawksbee - one flu over Highbury to the Lane...

Go back to 1968, and popular radio presenter Paul Hawksbee was destined to go to N5, rather than N17, for his first football match. Illness intervened - and that ‘sliding doors moment’ proved the start of 56 years and counting as a Spurs fan...

As part of our In That Number feature in our Official Matchday Programme, Paul, co-presenter of the long-running talkSPORT show Hawksbee and Jacobs, spoke all things Spurs to Andy Greeves...

First of all Paul, can we ask - how did you become a Spurs supporter?

Paul: “I was born in Stoke Newington, and I lived closer to Arsenal than Spurs. My first-ever football match was supposed to be an Arsenal game… someone was going to take me to Highbury when I was about six. In the lead up to the match, I got flu, and I didn’t end up going. Another branch of the family took pity on me not getting to go, but they were Spurs fans, and they took me to White Hart Lane for my first match instead. It was quite a sliding doors moment. Arsenal friends and family always remind me I could have been one of them when they were winning titles etc, but once you’ve gone to your first match, that’s who you support. I was a Tottenham fan and that was that. My first game was in September, 1968. I obviously don’t remember the match, but I’ve looked up the details and we won 2-1 on the day. Jimmy Greaves and Cliff Jones scored our goals. That was likely to have been one of Cliff’s last games for us before he moved to Fulham. As I say, I don’t remember the match itself but what we all remember about our first match is the enormity of the ground, the noise, the colours - the pristine white shirts, the wide expanse of green in front of you. That feeling of walking into a stadium for the first time isn’t something you can recreate. It’s truly magical.”

What other early memories do you have of the club?

Paul: “After I’d been to my first game, it wasn’t until a number of years later that I started going regularly. It was probably 1970/71 when I started going regularly with friends, their older brothers etc. I was living in Edmonton at the time, so it was only a very short journey down to White Hart Lane. It was a fantastic era to be a Spurs fan because we won the League Cup in 1971 and 1973, and the UEFA Cup in between. As a kid, you thought winning trophies was just something that happened every year!”

What have been your favourite moments supporting Spurs?

Paul: “Winning the UEFA Cup in 1984 was a very special memory… Tony Parks’ saves etc. The victory over Inter Milan (2 November, 2010) was another incredible night with Gareth Bale running the game, ‘Taxi for Maicon’ etc. And the two most recent finals we’ve won were brilliant. I was behind the goal for Allan Nielsen’s header that won us the League Cup in 1999 against Leicester and it was great to beat Chelsea in the 2008 final of course. And I’ve got to mention Ricky Villa’s winner in the FA Cup Final replay in 1981. I was behind the goal for that one too shouting, ‘pass it, pass it!’ Good thing he didn’t eh! The Champions League semi-final, second leg in Amsterdam is a moment everyone will mention. I went to the final in Madrid, but I didn’t go the semi-final as I was in America at the time, where my son was studying. We were going to his graduation. As soon as we got through, my thought straight away was, ‘can I get a flight from Boston to Madrid for the final?’ and I was working out the logistics.”

Who have been your favourite Spurs players over the years? 

Paul: “Glenn Hoddle was incredible. He’d do things with a football that you couldn’t quite believe with your own eyes. He’d play a pass over 40 yards, to feet, with back spin on it. Just amazing! We’ve been blessed with seeing so many incredible, exciting, gifted players. When Gazza (Paul Gascoigne) was at it, most famously in that 1991 FA Cup run, or when Bale was in full flow, there were few better players around at that time. Steve Perryman is a player I’ve always loved. When I was going to matches as a kid and he was still young himself, Steve felt like an older brother figure out on the pitch. What a servant he was to the club. And, more recently, we all got to watch Harry Kane’s career flourish. He gave us so many great goals and great moments.”

Who are your current favourite Spurs players and why?

Paul: “Micky van de Ven is incredible. With the type of football we play, with the high line, we are incredibly reliant on his powers of recovery and his ability to sprint back. But that’s why Ange (Postecoglou) would have wanted to sign him, because he suits the system perfectly with his speed, his power and his ability to read the game so well. He’s still a young player and I can only see him getting better and better. I have high hopes for Dom Solanke. I’ve been really impressed with his work rate, his ability to hold the ball up and his goals of course. He’s going to be great for us.”

Whereabouts is your Season TIcket at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium?

Paul: “I’m in the upper tier of the West Stand, close to the corner with the North Stand. I stood or sat everywhere in the old White Hart Lane. I was on the Shelf for a while, the East Lower. I had Season tickets in the West Stand when my kids came along and then we moved to the Paxton, in the upper tier, when that was the family stand. Then we got moved to the Park Lane in the last season at the Lane when they removed a section of seating in the Paxton. I sat quite high up when we moved to Wembley and I was always up for sitting a bit lower when we returned to Tottenham, but the guys I go with were keen to stay up high in the stadium, so we did that. There’s no bad view in the stadium is there? It’s a fantastic place to watch a game from… apart from the five flights of stairs pre-match! We’re all getting on but we’re not quite at the point of giving in and taking the lift up yet!”

What do you make of Ange Postecoglou's tenure as our Head Coach so far?

Paul: “The first thing to say is that I love the football. I spoke to Ange’s biographer on the radio recently. He was saying, ‘I’ve heard it all before’ in terms of the questions people throw at Ange about what he can do, whether he can ultimately be successful with his style of play etc. We saw in the game against West Ham recently just how good it is when everything clicks. It’s still a work in progress, but it’s never dull. You always look forward to coming to the games. I once saw Ange play. I was visiting Melbourne at the end of 1990 and a friend of mine took me to a South Melbourne Hellas match. At that match, I was fortunate to speak to South Melbourne’s manager at the time - the legendary Ferenc Puskás - for 90 Minutes, a football magazine I was editing at the time. I looked back on the team line-ups from the game recently to discover Ange started for South Melbourne that day!”

What are your hopes for this season?

Paul: “It’s a balancing act between the league and the cup competitions. There are seven, eight, nine teams with the capability to finish in the top four, so you can’t put all your eggs in that basket. We have to take the cups sensibly and it would be wonderful to win the Europa League as it would deliver on the two things we most want - a trophy and a place in the Champions League.”

Your show, Hawksbee & Jacobs, celebrates its 25th year in 2025. What has been the key to the show’s longevity?

Paul: “At the centre of it is mine and Andy’s (Jacobs) relationship. Ultimately, the show is a football chat amongst mates that people are eavesdropping on. We have the Spurs-Chelsea rivalry, and we have a bit of fun with that. Hopefully listeners think the show is relatable and that’s why they keep tuning in.”

You’ve had many Spurs-related guests on the show over the years - something you must always enjoy?

Paul: “Definitely. We had Aaron Lennon on recently, who was really good value - a good speaker and very interesting to listen to. I do try not to make our show ‘too Spurs’ though. I go on some Spurs podcasts now and again and that’s when I can have my full fix of Spurs chat!”

Prior to talkSPORT, we understand you had previous football-related jobs?

Paul: “Yes. I started 90 Minutes (magazine) with a friend of mine, Dan Goldstein, back in 1990 and that was really enjoyable. I had a year working with Chelsea as Head of Media, which was the season they beat us 6-1, so I never heard the end of that! After that, I got offered the chance to co-produce Fantasy World Cup - the (David) Baddiel and (Frank) Skinner show. That was when I worked with Andy (Jacobs) for the first time. It was a full-on role as we had a show every evening, straight after the World Cup matches at the 1998 tournament. It was great fun though and that’s how myself and Andy built a working relationship. I have done a lot of stuff with Harry Hill over the years, including each TV Burp show and I was involved in the original Spitting Image back in the day.”