In September 2016, I was sat in the away end at the Britannia Stadium as Spurs struggled through the gears against Mark Hughes' Stoke City. The season had yet to catch fire for the North London club, and it felt like more of the same, with Mauricio Pochettino's side lacking the cohesion and verve for which it had become known in his first two seasons in charge.
This was epitomised by none more than 24 year old Son Heung-Min, who like the team had shown signs of what was to be in his first season, but had as yet not shown that he could consistently make an impact in the Premier League.
His first start of the season after a summer in which he'd asked to cut his losses and leave, Son spent the first half unable to find his rhythm, lacking the confidence, killer instinct and dynamism with which he is synonymous. The travelling support were, putting it politely, unkind in how they expressed their frustrations.
Everything changed just before half time, with Son turning in a smart cross from Christian Eriksen to give Spurs the lead. By the hour mark in the second half, Son had double the league with a trademark curling shot from the edge of the area.
Everyone behind that goal leapt to their feet, as they so often would for the next 9 years, while the young star from Chuncheon would not look back, his legend finally beginning to take shape. By the end of the month, he matched his entire 2015/16 tally of four goals courtesy of another brace at Middlesbrough.
The season would finish with Son hitting fourteen league goals and cementing himself as a fan favourite in the club's final season at White Hart Lane. Spurs finished second to Chelsea, managed by Son's future manager Antonio Conte, despite enjoying a points total, goal tally and brand of football that would have made the Lilywhites worthy champions in most seasons.
Writing his story
Son would not fail to hit double figures again for Spurs until last season, despite spending the majority of his career as the sides secondary source of goals. Aside from the impressive goalscoring volume he produced, it is the nature of so many of Son's strikes that knitted him into the tapestry of the Spurs supporters' collective hearts.
Whether he was dribbling half the length of the Wembley pitch before slotting home to seal a rare victory over Chelsea, the entire length of the Tottenham Hotspur stadium to do the same against Burnley (for which he was awarded the 2020 Puskas Award) or giving Spurs the win at home to Manchester City in the first leg of that epic Champions League quarter final in 2019, the style and panache Son brought to a Tottenham left wing that has been blessed by Cliff Jones, David Ginola and Gareth Bale will never be forgotten.
The hero Spurs needed
It is fitting that he scored the first goal seen at the Tottenham Hotspur stadium on opening night, and a necessity for anybody who still believes in football romance that his final competitive act for Spurs was to lift the Europa League trophy as captain, ending a 17 year absence of silverware in N17.
However, it is not Son's ability or his records that cement his place in Spurs hearts forever more, it's that as much as the Tottenham faithful loved him, he loved them too.
Son grew with Spurs as the club became the best version of itself in decades, and was instrumental in a side that played some of the most attractive, attacking football on the planet. Then, when it fell apart, with some of that era's stars declining and others understandably pushing to go where their talent was matched with ambition, Son endured.
Son continued to give the best he could give, which was often levels above his surrounding colleagues, and he refused to give up on finally leading the club to glory. Winning with Spurs meant so much more to Son than the riches he could enjoy elsewhere as one of football's most marketable players, nor did he prefer the guarantee of trophies he would have had at one of the many serial winning sides he'd have comfortably walked into.
And that, ultimately, is why Son will always be one of our own.