Darren realises dream with Worcestershire Spurs

Darren Attwood had a Spurs dream...

“I live in Worcester now, but I’m originally from Evesham (about 15 miles outside Worcester) and when I was in Evesham, I always used to see a Villa coach, a Wolves coach and a Manchester United coach going to matches. I used to get the train with a couple of mates down to Tottenham and I remember thinking, ‘I’d love to do that, one day’.”

A few years down the line, Worcestershire Spurs’ membership has doubled, and the club proudly runs an official coach to every home match.

“We set up the supporters' club when we were playing at Wembley,” explained Darren. “We were getting 20, 25 on the coach in our first season and had 60, 70 members - now we’re up to 140 members. We do a coach for every home game, picking up in Worcester and Evesham, travelling down the M40, stopping at Beaconsfield Services for an hour and then off to the game. It’s been really good, and it’s affordable as well.”

Turn the clock back to the early 1980s. Villa won the title (1981) and the European Cup (1982), Birmingham is about 30 miles away, Wolves and West Brom a little further. How did a young lad from Evesham start supporting Spurs?

“I’ve been going to Spurs since the mid-1980s,” said Darren. “I started through my Uncle Richard when we won the FA Cup again, 1982. Everyone was Villa around here - they’d just won the league and the European Cup. My dad was a Birmingham City fan, so that was never on the cards!

“We all used to play football around my uncle’s house, and he got us all supporting Spurs. He’d never actually been to a game, but he’d always liked Jimmy Greaves, Alan Gilzean when he was younger.

“The first team I’d filled in my Panini sticker book back then was Tottenham! As the saying goes, ‘there is only one Hotspur’, it was a bit different and I just thought ‘I love this’. I was nine and my dad let me stay up when we won the UEFA Cup in 1984 and I never looked back from there.

“I remember my first game – we lost 3-0 at home to Wimbledon! We were in the West Upper that day. I looked over to the Shelf (East Stand terracing at White Hart Lane) and there was no looking back. I get goosebumps thinking about it now...”

So, it was all down to Uncle Richard - who Darren subsequently took to the Lane for the first time in 1991 - Worcestershire Spurs have a lot to thank him for!

To Care Is To Do - Worcestershire Spurs

Worcestershire Spurs were keen to give something back to the local community and recently donated £1,000 to What Makes You Different Makes You Beautiful (WMYDMYB), a charity based in Malvern. WMYDMYB is a special needs support network providing support to both children with special needs and their families.

Darren explained: "What Makes You Different Makes You Beautiful is a day care initiative in Malvern where parents can go, kids can play, and parents have a couple of hours respite. We wanted a local charity to support so we designed a bespoke scarf with our crest, sold 100 of them for £10 each and raised £1,000. It was fantastic to be able to help a local cause."

That's not all, Worcestershire Spurs have also donated to the Worcestershire Royal, thanking staff across every department during the current crisis.

Worcestershire Spurs Official Supporters Club have donated to our local Hospital The Worcestershire Royal to thank staff across every department during the current crisis for their hard & dedicated work #NHS @SpursOfficial pic.twitter.com/XDB0HOvM9B

— Worcestershire Spurs Supporters Club Official (@Worcsspurs) April 6, 2020