More often than not, he’d find Dukes already there, reflecting on the past two decades of nearlys and not-quites. Having started at the club as a steward in 1987, he had seen too much heartache to simply accept the bold assurances from the coaching staff that better days were ahead. “I kept saying to him, ‘Look, we’re going to win, mate. Relax,’” Montgomery said. “You’d see the angst and anxiety on him because he’s just not used to it. The club had failed so many times in big games. And I just remember after the final whistle him swinging his jacket around, jumping up and down. I was celebrating with Ange and a couple of the other coaches, and then I just looked around and ... it was just wild scenes. “The players were just buzzing because even if they’d just joined the club, they’d been hearing that Spurs never win anything, Spursy ... all these things, and it’s like you’ve just ended many years of hurt, of the fans getting smashed and the club getting smashed for never winning anything.”