If he knew, he would. I'm confident of that. Meanwhile, I'll make due with the love of Martin Jol. He loves me. For sure.
68 years ago today ... Ricardo Villa was born in Roque Perez, Argentina. Rather than commemorate the fact with that FA Cup goal - which we've all seen so many times - I've opted instead for his contribution from the semi-final v Wolves*. Enjoy. 18 August, 1952 *with bonus goals from Garth Crooks!
The best thing about this game was that it took place at Highbury after the first game had ended 2-2 at Hillsborough. Unfortunately, my uncle and some of the Spurs fans who were seated in the same end where 96 Liverpool supporters would be killed a few years later, complained about the fact that the supporters were being dangerously pushed against the security fence during the game, foreshadowing what was, tragically, to come.
August 19, 2009: Hull 1, Spurs 5 (commentary in Italian). Harry Redknapp's Spurs rout Hull in the second game of the season behind a Jermain Defoe hat-trick. 2009-10 was Defoe's best season with 18 goals in the PL, helping us to our first CL qualification.
I've heard (read, actually) more than a few accounts of that game at Hillsborough. It was really bad, according to some. One fella (this was on COYS, quite a few years back) said how people had pissed and shat themselves in the crush. I know there's a clip on youtube about that match, that shows loads and loads of Spurs fans pouring onto the pitch.* In clips of the game, there are fans on the ground, watching from just off the endline, where they'd stayed after escaping the pens on the Leppings Lane end. And they just played on. Some of the folks who were there were absolutely incredulous about the tragedy in '89 ... that lessons hadn't been learned. *this isn't the clip I remember, as i couldn't find it. a bit melodramatic, this one; but making the point.
10 years ago today - one of my favorite Spurs goals. https://www.instagram.com/p/CEJQHVUjR-J/?igshid=h3hhet81mq30
9 years ago today ... Spurs drew 0-0 away to Hearts in the 2nd leg of their Europa League qualifying tie, having won the first leg comprehensively at the Lane 5-0. The match's real significance, however, is that it marked the debut of young striker, Harry Kane. Kane actually won a penalty - and took it - but his effort was nicely saved. Still, things would get better. Hearts 0-0 Spurs 25 August, 2011
I looked at that lineup and thought, "who the hell is Button?". Turns out that he's the same David Button who played for Brentford in the Championship a few years back. Never got a first team appearance for us.* We loaned him out 13(!) times over four years before selling him to Charlton in 2012. I have absolutely no recollection whatsoever of him ever being on our books. *edit: according to wiki, he got eight first team minutes for us at some point. re-edit: and this was the game! I had a look at topspurs and they said it was a single sub appearance in the League Cup. and if one looks closely, at 7:54 in that video you can see the keeper is #35 when he turns his back. you'd think i'd find a better use of my time.
138 years ago today ... We played our first match! Hotspur FC lost to local rivals Radicals 0-2. We know very little about this match - even whether it was home or away - save the opposition and score. Actually, no one knew (unless they remembered) about this match at all for yonks, until years later, when the club's accounts for the time period were unearthed. This is hardly shocking, as there would've been no reason for a bunch of London school boys to think there would be any interest in their kickabout some 100+ years on. But one other tidbit of info, courtesy of said accounts, is that the club purchased its first ball that morning for all of 6s6d - which indicates at least the probability that Spurs were the hosts. Pure conjecture on my part - though I think reasonable - to assume that we dominated play, squandered numerous chances, conceded their first around the 85th before they put it to bed in injury time, and heard the first uttering of 'Spursy, that'. Spurs 0-2 Radicals 30 September, 1882
135 years ago today ... Spurs played their first (unofficial - it was a friendly) match as Tottenham Hotspur. During the previous season, club secretary Sam Casey had been receiving mail intended for some club called 'London Hotspur', and so it was decided that Hotspur FC (us) would change their name to Tottenham Hotspur to distringuish themselves from that other club. That other club disbanded soon thereafter, but the name Tottenham Hotspur remained. We won, by the way. Silesia College 3-4 Spurs 3 October, 1885
98 years ago today ... "An FA commission of inquiry was called following events at the recent Spurs v Arsenal North London derby at White Hart Lane. After listening to evidence and testimony from the players and officials of both clubs, Bert Smith of Spurs was found guilty of using 'filthy language' and was suspended for a month. Alex Graham of Arsenal was censured for retaliating instead of reporting matters to the referee and Stephen Dunn, Arsenal's goalkeeper, was also censured for his conduct after Spurs' goal had been allowed to stand." A pottymouth, ol' Bertie. point of interest: I popped over to Topspurs to check out the result of said match (a 1-2 loss on 23 Sept) and made (what was to me, at least) an interesting discovery. Exactly one week later, we played Arsenal again, but away (a 2-0 victory). That struck me as odd, until a glance at the entire fixture list showed that we played both the home and away fixtures against each team in the League over consecutive matchdays. So I popped over to another season or two, only to discover that this was pretty much the norm back then - for a couple of years, anyway. There might be one or two exceptions each year, but generally speaking, if you played, say, Villa at home in the season opener, you would then play them away the next week - and that'd be the last you'd see of Villa unless you drew them in the Cup! Bizarre. Perhaps that's common knowledge, but it was sure news to me! 5 October, 1922
I believe it used to be commonplace to play local doubleheaders over the Christmas period - so Spurs would play West Ham or another London team home and away in the same week so as to not disrupt the supporters holiday plans. Imagine that, a schedule that took into account supporters interests...
My Dad had stories of exactly this, in the 40's/50's when he was a young man. The games could be consecutive days, too: one on Christmas Day, one on Boxing Day! I'd assumed the fixture pairing was only for the Christmas period, never heard of it applying to the whole season.
The 1922-23 fixtures/results: http://www.topspurs.com/2223.htm Odd, eh? It gets a little funky there when we played PNE and Sunderland on consecutive days in March, and the Everton fixtures are split, but other than that ... By the mid-20s it had pretty much changed. ... have that, Worksop Town!
62 years ago today ... Shortly before our home match v Everton, the Spurs board announced the official replacement for departing manager Jimmy Anderson. Former club halfback Bill Nicholson would go on to manage the club for 16 years, during which his teams would collect eight major honors (11 if you count Charity Shields), including two European trophies and the vaunted League and Cup Double in 1961. Despite numerous players of world-class quality having lined up for THFC, Bill Nicholson remains without question the single most illustrious name within the pantheon of Tottenham greats. And his tenure got off to a good start, as Spurs thrashed Everton to the tune of 10-4, Bobby Smith netting four times, Alfie Stokes twice, and once each for John Ryden, Terry Medwin, Tommy Harmer, and George Robb. Spurs 10-4 Everton 11 October, 1958
57 years ago today ... Former journeyman goalkeeper Bobby Mimms was born in the city of York. Mimms played for around 15 or so different clubs during his career, including a stint as Spurs' starter just after Ray Clemence's retirement and before Erik Thorstvedt made the position his own. Of arguably greater significance, if not to Spurs but to the BigSoccer Spurs forum, so was I. 12 October, 1963