How a wrong text led Emma to love - and Spurs!
Mon 25 May 2020, 10:53|
Tottenham Hotspur
One wrong digit on a text message 18 years ago led to the start of not one, but two love affairs for Emma Nottage - her future husband, Patrick, and Tottenham Hotspur!
Their story is right out of the ‘you couldn’t make it up’ category.
In a nutshell, Patrick attempted to text a message to his friend. He got one number wrong. The text went to Emma instead. They continued the conversation, and it snowballed from there, spectacularly - Patrick moved from London to Manchester, marriage, three children and a love of Spurs that led to the formation of North West Spurs!
That’s it in a nutshell.
Emma takes up the story: “Yes, it’s true, 18 years ago, I received a random text. I didn’t know who it was from, but we ended up talking.
“Patrick had accidentally text me. He got one digit wrong texting a mate and it came to me instead. We spoke on text for about a fortnight, then we spoke over the phone. At first, he thought it was his mate pulling a fast one!
“Anyway, we continued talking and then Patrick, who is from Tottenham. came up to meet me and we fell in love. He never really went back! That’s how we met.
“He said to me at the time, ‘if we’re going to be together, you’ll have to follow a proper team’. No word of a lie! That’s what he told me!
“I liked Liverpool at the time, nothing too serious, just liked them. I guess it was inevitable that I was going to end up following Spurs. Now I’m a serious fan. I read up on the history - I’m as clued up as anyone now!
“My first match was against Bolton, up here, and I got to see Rafa van der Vaart play. We went to a hotel in Manchester to try to meet the players and I got to meet Rafa. I couldn’t get my words out!”
Eighteen years after that wayward text, Emma (secretary) and Patrick (chairman) are the driving force behind North West Spurs - a club with over 200 paid members, a Facebook group of 600 and growing and an even bigger following on Twitter.
“At the time, we thought we were on our own with Spurs up here, but it turns out there are Spurs fans everywhere!” added Emma. “It went from that idea that night into where we are now. It’s the best feeling in the world and I couldn’t be without these people in my life now, we’re just like a happy family.”
