Was inspired to make him my avatar after the last game at the old WHL. When he was introduced, he bounded onto the pitch like a teenager. He'll outlive us all.
So à propos as the PL broadcast flashed a list of the top scorers in club history when Kane scored his 208th, moving into a tie for second all-time. Of course, Jones figures prominently on that list and it is always nice to be reminded of his greatness.
95 years ago today ... Danny Blanchflower was born in Belfast. No point in going on about Blanchflower ... if you didn't know who he was and what he did for Bill Nicholson's great sides of the early 60s ... well ... you wouldn't be reading this, would you? There are three (four if you include Hoddle) names that tend to get tossed around as the greatest Spurs player ever, and while there's no consensus between Blanchflower, Mackay, and Greaves, my guess is that the former gets the nod more often than the other two. My favorite Blanchflower story is how, just before the kickoff of the Cup Winners Cup final v Atletico in Rotterdam, Bill Nick was going over the tactics with the team. Dave Mackay had failed at fitness test and wouldn't play. John White and Blanchflower would start, but both had been injured and were of questionable fitness. Nicholson was a bit downcast, and kept banging on about how good Atletico's various players were in order to prevent Spurs' complacency. Blanchflower could see that it was having the wrong effect and piped up ... "if their center half is big and ugly, ours is bigger and uglier! [so and so] may be quick, but he's nothing on Cliff Jones, who's fast enough to catch pigeons ... etc." Jimmy Greaves and others suggested that it was Blanchflower who set the tone as Spurs went out and thrashed Atletico 5-1 to become Britain's first European trophy winners. 10 February, 1926
I had no idea Blanchflower and Jones had birthdays so close. We should rename President's day as Lillywhites day.
30 years ago today ... Spurs travelled to Fratton Park to face Pompey in the 5th round of the FA Cup. Paul Gascoigne was the star again, scoring his second brace (but not his last) in that season's competition to send us through to the quarterfinals. Portsmouth 1-2 Spurs 15 February, 1991
Glorious, utterly glorious, when an away tie against a lower division side was not the quasi-formality it is nowadays.
1 year ago today... Not quite so glorious. Matt Doherty scored for Wolves in the last game at New WHL that fans could attend, before pandemic restrictions [emoji26] Spurs 2 Wolves 3, March 1 2020
34 years ago today ... Even more inglorious ... Spurs had beaten Arsenal away in the first leg of the League Cup semifinal 0-1 on a Clive Allen goal. When Allen (naturally) scored again in the first half of the second leg, things looked under control. So much so that at halftime the details of how tickets would be distributed for the final was announced over the tannoy!! If you thought Jumhed calling the Pompey semi a formality on a message board was asking for it ... ! Needless to say, Arse equalized on the day and then, in the dying minutes, equalized on aggregate. Extra time couldn't separate them, so the tie would then go to a replay. I don't need to tell you what happened. And while it wouldn't happen for another three days, I think most Spurs fans already knew by the end of 1 March what was coming. In the end, Clive Allen and the brilliant '86-87 Spurs would go on to win exactly f*ck all. Spurs 1-2 Arsenal 1 March, 1987
A great story from that tie was that David Pleat ended up driving George Graham home after the game. The two shared a libation in Pleat"s office after the match as was the custom and when they left his office and went to the car-park there was nobody at the ground so Pleat offered to drop Graham off at his place. In a strange cosmic pay-it-forward moment, Graham would lead Spurs to a League Cup triumph over Leicester in 1999.
60 years ago today ... Just short of 65k packed the Lane for the replay of Spurs' 6th round FA Cup tie against Sunderland. Having withstood a Sunderland onslaught to hold on for a 1-1 draw at Roker Park, Spurs gave the Black Cats a hiding back at WHL. A brace from Terry Dyson and singles from Dave Mackay, Bobby Smith, and Les Allen saw us safely though to the semis where we would face League Champion holders Burnley. Having never gone to the Lane, myself, until it had become all-seated in the 90s, the thought of 65k in there is mind-blowing. It must have been incredible back then. Spurs 5-0 Sunderland 8 March, 1961
My uncle who still lives in Tottenham regales me of stories going to WHL in that era and also going to away fixtures, when there was no segregation of supporters - imagine that. My favourite story of his from that era is an FA Cup tie against Chelsea in the 60s at the Bridge - his uncle took him and they were sat in the midst of Chelsea folk. From what he tells me Spurs were rubbish on the day but Mourinho'd them with a late worldy goal from distance to nick it 1-0. And then the next thing he remembers is being told to run when the full-time whistle went - then something about fleeing down the Fulham High Road to escape the angry Chelsea mob.
102 years ago today ... With League football having been suspended from the 1914-15 season due to the First World War, it was now time for the League to sort itself out for its resumption. It was decided that the League would increase its size by two additional clubs. Established precedent had the two bottom clubs from the First Division retaining their top tier status while the top two clubs from the second tier were promoted. But that was not to be on this occasion. What was interesting was that Chelsea, who had finished 19th during the League's last season was exempted from relegation, as a match that had been proven to be fixed between Manchester United and Liverpool would likely have seen Chelsea finish in 18th without the fix. With the fixed match having voided those positions determining relegation, Spurs (who finished one point behind Chelsea and two behind United) might have expected an exemption, as well. But League President John McKenna had other ideas. He had decided that Arsenal, who had finished fifth in the Second Division in its last League season, should be granted a place in the First Division. The supposed rationale included the fact that Arsenal had been in the League longer than Spurs. And while this was technically true, it was a criteria that had never been used for League status before, and furthermore, by that logic, it should have been Grimsby Town, and not Arsenal, promoted to the First Division, as they had both finished above Arsenal that last season as well as having been in the League longer than the recent immigrants to North London. Without going into greater detail - of which there is plenty - the upshot is that Spurs place in the First Division was granted to Arsenal upon highly dubious logic and obvious corrupt bargaining. If the latter club's relocation from Woolwich to North London had strained relations between the two clubs, this development left them downright toxic, making Spurs/Arsenal to this day among the most venomous rivalries in all English football. 10 March, 1919
13 years ago today* ... We thought we were in a good place, having just won the League Cup, and with Juande Ramos' Spurs looking looking to kick on to bigger and better things. We'd buried the jinx against Chelsea the season before and suddenly they didn't seem quite as invulnerable to us as we'd previously grown to suspect. Still, no one would've been shocked when they went up on us early. Woodgate's equalizer was class, as he elevated to get on the end of Jenas' free kick and power the header home. But when they got two in succession, most of us would've been thinking 'more of the same'. But Berba pulled one back, and when Hudd stroked in one of his beauties from a deflected corner, White Hart Lane was electric. West Ham bastard-cum-Chelsea bastard Joe Cole putting them back on top was a kick in the gut, but Robbie Keane's late equalizer saved us from heartache. If it weren't for Cudicini's brilliant save from Berbatov's late effort, this would have been truly one of the best games in my entire tenure as a Yiddo. I remember exactly how I felt when he set for that shot, and the excitement I knew I was about to feel, frankly, might have been too much for me. But I still can't watch the highlights without the disappointment coming back. That - a last minute 5-4 win over them at the Lane - would've been incredible. Spurs 4-4 Chelsea 18 March, 2008 *or maybe tomorrow. It says on topspurs.com that this match took place on the 18th, but the video itself says it was the 19th. I'm more inclined to trust topsurs, but can't really be arsed to verify it. Feel free to watch it again tomorrow if you need to.
What I remember about that game was the nasty challenge by Ashley Cole on Hutton. It was a straight red all ends up, but Mike Riley, the incompetent who is administrating VAR, bottled it and only gave him a yellow.
123 years ago today ... Spurs hammered Sheppey United in the Southern League. Have that, The Ites. Spurs 4-0 Sheppey United 19 March, 1898
24 years ago today ... Spurs traveled to Hillsborough, where they would come out on the short side of a 2-1 Wednesday victory. Hardly a great occasion of note for us, frankly, and if I'm honest, I'm really just posting this for the way it looks. I always loved those yellow away kits with the blue sleeves. And the Wednesday shirt with the white sleeves and wide white stripe ... a one-off, and not my favorite, but it takes me back. And of course black boots all the way around. Disappointingly, the video doesn't even show our goal, which we know (thanks to topspurs.com) came courtesy of Alan Nielsen. We do, however, get to see a couple moments of Benito Carbone's class, if I may show a bit of non-Spurs-related bias. At any rate ... those yellow kits, though ... lovely. Sheffield Wednesday 2-1 Spurs 9 April, 1997
67 years ago today ... Spurs were up two goals away to Huddersfield Town within 54 seconds! Johnny Brooks and Tommy 'the charmer' Harmer had put Spurs up 2-0 inside a minute. I'm not sure how that happened. But it did. In the end, it would be 2-5 to Tottenham, with a goal added by George Hutchinson and a brace from George Robb; but two within a minute was a League record that's yet to be equaled. Huddersfield Town 2-5 Spurs 10 April, 1954
30 years ago today ... Where does the time go? No additional commentary necessary. Spurs 3-1 Arsenal 14 April, 1991
Scoolboys own stuff...Now imagine if You-Know-Who had been manager back then...Gazza would never have gotten a game.
100 years ago today, 23 April 1921. Spurs grabbed their 2nd FA cup, with a 1-0 win over Wolves at Stamford Bridge. Jimmy Dimmock scoring just after half time on a mud bath of a pitch. Apparently you got a free flat cap with the match ticket. And invading the pitch to get a better view of the king presenting the cup was de rigeur.
"Wolves goal in peril!" That is brilliant. Incidentally, a few month ago I tried to order a colo(u)rized print of that final's trophy presentation. Spurs FA Cup Winners 1921 – World Vintage Colours ... but the bloke I contacted about the international shipping fee said he'd get back to me - and never did. Furthermore, I've just weeks ago ordered a rebuilt differential for my '64 Triumph Spitfire from Rimmer Brothers out of the UK. It was supposed to have been delivered last Monday. According to DHL tracking it was in Cincinnati on the 15th, but there's been no more information on it beyond that. I've contacted the sellers yesterday ... and gotten no reply whatsoever. What is it with these English bastards giving me the high hat?!
11 years ago today ... Spurs travelled to the San Siro to to take on Italian behemoths AC Milan in the first leg of our Champions League second round tie. In what turned out to be a very physical game, Heurelio Gomes kept us in it with some quality saves until, in the 80th minute, Aaron Lennon burst into space before squaring to Peter Crouch who gave us the winning goal in a momentous 1-0 affair. Memories of the game's physicality tend to focus on the Mathieu Flamini's horror tackle on Vedran Corluka and Gennaro Gattuso's meltdown, but it has to be said that Spurs gave as good as we got, and we had as much to do with the game's tone as they did. As I'm posting from my phone and am not up to the challenge of linking highlights tonight (and it's not a post that can wait a day), someone else may feel free to add them. But what a glorious night that was. Spurs 1-0 AC Milan 15 February, 2011