Pook's THFC man-love Thread of Fame

Discussion in 'Tottenham Hotspur' started by pookspur, Feb 9, 2015.

  1. pookspur

    pookspur Moderator
    Staff Member

    Nov 3, 2001
    Indiana
    Club:
    Tottenham Hotspur FC
    Welcome, guest.

    You have entered what is sure to become one of the most sacred and honored (or maybe not) threads on BigSoccer's Tottehham Hotspur forum. In it, I, Pookspur, will be presenting the figures at our beloved club who have meant the most to me, personally, during my ever-lengthening tenure as a fan of that great organization. You see, it is not, to my mind, enough that these men have performed to the rapturous applause of countless thousands at White Hart Lane and throughout England and Europe. This thread is meant to augment that acclaim by special recognition ... induction into an elite group ... one in which membership brings far greater reward for excellence than fame, riches, or silverware ... I refer, of course, to my personal affection. So take your time to consider these champions, what they've meant to Tottenham Hotspur, to the world, and of course, what they've meant to me.

    Feel free to comment upon this monument to these paragons of N17, and upon the members, themselves. You may even contribute your own 'special Spurs' to the dialogue - though official induction can only be merited by my own nomination. You should not be surprised, incidentally, if some of the inductees to this elite brotherhood do not correspond to what general consensus might consider 'the best'. You may even discover a whiff of what convention might call 'mediocrity'. But pay no mind. In the all-important determinant for inclusion - my own THFC man-love - all of the figures to follow are abundantly qualified.

    I'm sure you'll find your time here both enjoyable and rewarding.

    - Pook

    **charter inductees to be forthcoming shortly**
     
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  2. electrickeeper

    electrickeeper The Ginger Pele
    Staff Member

    Tottenham Hotspur
    United States
    Oct 14, 2002
    The Cheese Room
    Club:
    Tottenham Hotspur FC
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    I literally cannot wait for this.

    [​IMG]
     
  3. pookspur

    pookspur Moderator
    Staff Member

    Nov 3, 2001
    Indiana
    Club:
    Tottenham Hotspur FC
    Charter Inductees - 9 February, 2015


    [​IMG]

    GARY MABBUTT

    Spurs 1982-98
    Defender
    611 Games
    38 Goals
    16 England caps
    Solid centerhalf
    Brilliant bloke
    Pook man-love rating: 10/10

    ______________

    [​IMG]

    MICHAEL DAWSON

    Spurs 2005-14
    Defender
    324 Games
    10 Goals
    4 England caps
    Solid centerhalf
    Smashing fella
    Pook man-love rating: 10/10
     
  4. pookspur

    pookspur Moderator
    Staff Member

    Nov 3, 2001
    Indiana
    Club:
    Tottenham Hotspur FC
    Well, I believe we're off to a great start, here, if I do say so, myself. Mabbs and Daws. Loads and loads of love for those two.

    Gary Mabbutt is, simply put, my favorite football player of all time. A type-1 diabetic, Mabbs' 16 years at Spurs make him (to my knowledge) the 2nd longest serving player in the club's history (behind the legendary Steve Perryman). He famously turned down Manchester United to stay at Spurs, and I can tell you, he always looks happier to me than either Michael Carrick or Dimitar Berbatov ever have. Coincidence? I think not.

    And of course, you all know how I feel about Michael Dawson. I won't go on about it here and now ... I'm starting to well up.

    ... more to come in days to come.
     
  5. pookspur

    pookspur Moderator
    Staff Member

    Nov 3, 2001
    Indiana
    Club:
    Tottenham Hotspur FC
    #5 pookspur, Feb 9, 2015
    Last edited: Feb 9, 2015
    ok ... I meant to leave this for the night ... but there's one that just couldn't wait ...

    Inductee #3

    [​IMG]

    MARTIN JOL

    Spurs 2004-07
    Manager
    Quote: "Guysh! Guysh! Come over here and look at all this pusshy!"
    Pook man-love rating: 10/10


    For any of you fellas that don't remember the dross of the preceding 15, or so, years, it was Martin Jol who made us respectable again. Before him, to say that we were a pushover is a huge understatement. Despite having some genuine Tottehham legends (Ardiles, Hoddle, etc.) at the helm, Spurs produced nothing but flashes of football during an otherwise dismal decade-plus ... until Mr. Jol arrived. That's when we started getting back into Europe and stopped being crap, in general.

    In addition to the half-dozen or so Spurs games in which I saw him at The Lane, I saw his HSV team play in Frankfurt, his Ajax team in Amserdam*, and his Fulham team at Craven Cottage. That's a lot of mileage to watch a fella stand on the sidelines. "What the hell is your problem?", I hear you asking. Well, I can answer that in eight simple words: I love Martin Jol ... Martin Jol loves me.


    *this is technically a lie. but I had reserved my flight and bought a match ticket to do so before my pal in Amsterdam informed me that his work was unexpectedly taking him out of town that week. So I went to London and Spurs, instead. But I was gonna ...
     
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  6. Phillyspur

    Phillyspur Member+

    Tottenham Hotspur
    England
    Mar 18, 2007
    Club:
    Tottenham Hotspur FC
    Nat'l Team:
    England
    I was always disappointed for Mabbs that Des Walker stopped him from scoring the winner in the 1991 final. That would have erased the 1987 final nicely. Still, he got to lift the cup.
     
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  7. Hauler

    Hauler Member

    Tottenham Hotspur
    United States
    Jan 20, 2007
    Culver City, LA
    Club:
    Tottenham Hotspur FC
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Can we switch Daws for King :p
     
  8. pookspur

    pookspur Moderator
    Staff Member

    Nov 3, 2001
    Indiana
    Club:
    Tottenham Hotspur FC
    though it is not mandatory (nay, it is impossible) to match my levels of reverence, due respect for all inductees is compulsory whilst in this shrine. Failure to provide adequate deference could result in edited posts.

    You are on record, Mr. Hauler.
     
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  9. The Double

    The Double Moderator
    Staff Member

    Nov 11, 2002
    Denver
    Can't argue with the first 3. Though if Jum was still active you'd have to answer for a conspicuous lack of Taricco.
     
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  10. pookspur

    pookspur Moderator
    Staff Member

    Nov 3, 2001
    Indiana
    Club:
    Tottenham Hotspur FC
    I've given Tano some thought, actually. There may be room for him here, at some point. But this early? It'd look too much like pandering to Jum.
     
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  11. pookspur

    pookspur Moderator
    Staff Member

    Nov 3, 2001
    Indiana
    Club:
    Tottenham Hotspur FC
    Inductee #4

    [​IMG]

    RALPH COATES

    Spurs 1971-78
    Midfielder
    248 Games
    24 Goals
    4 England caps
    Brilliant coiffure
    Red-hot smokin' wife*
    Pook man-love rating: 8/10


    Ralph Coates was my first ever favorite player at Spurs. If I'm honest, these were days when I spent far more time obsessed with the Baltimore Orioles than with English football, and the truth is - being in Indiana in the 70s - that I never saw him play more than a handful of times. That said, one need only see Ralph flying down the wings once, hair(s) flowing in the wind, to know that he was something special. Bobby Charlton was known to have coveted his combover**, which is a bit like Michelangelo saying, "now that fella can paint!". He scored the winner in the '73 League Cup final, and featured prominently in the '73-'74 season preview issue of some English footy mag that I had when I was a kid. Of whom else can such things be said? Answer: no one. Result: legend.

    *circa 1975
    **possibly false
     
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  12. pookspur

    pookspur Moderator
    Staff Member

    Nov 3, 2001
    Indiana
    Club:
    Tottenham Hotspur FC
    Inductee #5

    [​IMG]

    CHRIS WADDLE

    Spurs 1985-89
    Midfielder
    173 Games
    42 Goals
    62 England caps
    Killer mullet
    Quote: "You were hard as stone. Solid stone. For me."*
    Pook man-love rating: 9/10

    For all his brilliance, I've always felt Chrissy Waddle slightly under-appreciated in the memories of Spurs fans. At Olympique Marseille and Sheffield Wednesday he is considered royalty. I've never spoken with a single fan of either (and there have been quite a few, actually) who didn't consider him to have been one of the best two or three players they'd ever seen at those clubs. Now, I'm not saying he's one of Spurs' best two or three; but he does seem to have become somewhat of a forgotten man to our own. Amongst our '86-'87 team, so loaded with talent ... Hoddle ... Ardiles ... Clive Allen banging them in for fun ... none were more joyous to watch than Waddle. One-on-one he was utterly unplayable, and every fullback's nightmare. He was the quintessential archetypical Spurs player - bags of flair and born (and coiffed) to entertain.


    *These, by the way, are lyrics from the Diamond Lights single that he released with Glenn Hoddle. My utilization of them in a man-love thread is meant to carry no further implications. Do not sully this thread.
     
  13. Phillyspur

    Phillyspur Member+

    Tottenham Hotspur
    England
    Mar 18, 2007
    Club:
    Tottenham Hotspur FC
    Nat'l Team:
    England
    Ralph Coates? how old are you, exactly? :p
     
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  14. pookspur

    pookspur Moderator
    Staff Member

    Nov 3, 2001
    Indiana
    Club:
    Tottenham Hotspur FC
  15. soccernutter

    soccernutter Moderator
    Staff Member

    Tottenham Hotspur
    Aug 22, 2001
    Near the mountains.
    Club:
    Tottenham Hotspur FC
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    This is the Man-Crush thread, not the Diety thread.
     
  16. soccernutter

    soccernutter Moderator
    Staff Member

    Tottenham Hotspur
    Aug 22, 2001
    Near the mountains.
    Club:
    Tottenham Hotspur FC
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    I nominate Cryil Knowles, for the song alone. :D (But heard it from a Spurs supporter 20+ years my senior.)
     
  17. Phillyspur

    Phillyspur Member+

    Tottenham Hotspur
    England
    Mar 18, 2007
    Club:
    Tottenham Hotspur FC
    Nat'l Team:
    England
    Well as a fellow old fart, can I recommend to the youngsters 'The Glory Game' by Hunter Davies. Book starts with the purchase of Coates from Burnley, so quaint compared to today's transfer dealings.
     
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  18. pookspur

    pookspur Moderator
    Staff Member

    Nov 3, 2001
    Indiana
    Club:
    Tottenham Hotspur FC
    Inductee #6

    [​IMG]

    SCOTT PARKER

    Spurs 2011-13
    Midfielder
    63 Games
    18 England caps
    Black shoes
    AKA: Jimmy
    Pook man-love rating: 8/10

    I really rated Scott Parker back when he was the engine for Alan Curbishley's Charlton overachieving PL sides. Poncin' off to Chelsea, followed by stints as Newcastle and West Ham, should've been sufficient to diminish my affections, but when the rumors started circling that we were in for him in the fall of 2011, I was stoked. The honest truth is that he never passed the ball quite as well for us as I'd expected. But that still didn't prevent him winning Spurs' Player of the Year in '11-'12 ... and that in a squad with the likes of Modric, Van Der Vaart, Bale, and King.

    My enthusiasm and appreciation for Scotty Parker was so manifestly clear that in the fall of 2012, my new girlfriend, in a moment of amorous playfulness, told me, "you can call me Scott if you want". I never actually said it, of course ... but that doesn't mean I never thought it.
     
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  19. electrickeeper

    electrickeeper The Ginger Pele
    Staff Member

    Tottenham Hotspur
    United States
    Oct 14, 2002
    The Cheese Room
    Club:
    Tottenham Hotspur FC
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Before Steed...

    Interesting.
     
  20. pookspur

    pookspur Moderator
    Staff Member

    Nov 3, 2001
    Indiana
    Club:
    Tottenham Hotspur FC
    that is an excellent contribution, there, philly. It is, indeed, a brilliant football book, by any standards; but will resonate particularly well with Spurs fans, for obvious reasons.

    there may (ok, will) be at least one or two additional Glory Game player to feature in this thread. it's tempting to include a handful, as I came to consider THFC 'my favorites' only a few years after that UEFA Cup-winning season, and I know that a number of these players were still there. and, of course, they're names I would come to lionize. but if I'm honest, I cannot actually remember seeing (although I probably did see) the like of Martin Chivers, Mike England, and Martin Peters playing for Spurs, and recognizing them as such. memory is a construct, as they say, and I sometimes wonder if my appreciation for some of those players didn't come to be manufactured after the fact. in fact, for the likes of some of them (Gilzean, Mullery, etc.), I'm pretty much sure of it.
     
  21. pookspur

    pookspur Moderator
    Staff Member

    Nov 3, 2001
    Indiana
    Club:
    Tottenham Hotspur FC
    it is worth mentioning that the correlation to the order of induction and the level of appreciation is approximate, at best. in this instance, the recollection of Parker's Player of the Year Award - on that 4th place team - gave him a momentary resonance that just kinda compelled me. in truth, there will be figures to come that rate decidedly above him in my football heart.

    ... but his inclusion here is no less merited on that account.
     
  22. pookspur

    pookspur Moderator
    Staff Member

    Nov 3, 2001
    Indiana
    Club:
    Tottenham Hotspur FC
    Inductee #7

    [​IMG]

    RAFAEL VAN DER VAART

    Spurs 2010-12
    Midfielder/Striker
    75 Games
    29 Goals
    109 Netherlands caps
    Arsenal shusher
    Quote: "Mehwy Chwistmas"
    Pook man-love rating: 10/10

    that AVB shunted Rafa back to Germany is a stain against his name that cannot be removed. and don't even start with the 'he wanted out' stuff ... because when has Levy ever sold a star at a cut price weeks before the transfer deadline just because the player wanted it? of all the already-established-world-class players who've come to White Hart Lane over the years (not that there have been that many), none (save, perhaps, Ginola) seemed to 'fit' at the club so well as Van Der Vaart. he played with unparalleled style, he gave Arsenal fits, and he appeared to embrace the club and it's fans almost as enthusiastically as we received him. seeing clips of him for us in the first couple years after he'd left caused me greater remorse than those of Berbatov and Bale combined. and all because he wouldn't fit into villas-boas's structured, yet flaccid and ultimately impotent midfield. damn straight, he wouldn't.
     
  23. pookspur

    pookspur Moderator
    Staff Member

    Nov 3, 2001
    Indiana
    Club:
    Tottenham Hotspur FC
    yeah, Knowles would be another of those like Chivers and Peters. I probably saw him play, and I certainly remember the song and him being in my magazines. But if I'm honest, I just can't see him in action. Ralph Coates and Pat Jennings (and I remember Perryman, of course, but from later) are probably the only ones that I can still see in my mind's eye from those mid-70s teams.
     
  24. adrenaline11

    adrenaline11 Member+

    Jul 29, 2010
    Toronto
    Club:
    Tottenham Hotspur FC
    Nat'l Team:
    Canada
    If there isn't a certain Argentine (or two) by the time this list is done, I'm switching my allegiance to Scunthorpe.
     
  25. electrickeeper

    electrickeeper The Ginger Pele
    Staff Member

    Tottenham Hotspur
    United States
    Oct 14, 2002
    The Cheese Room
    Club:
    Tottenham Hotspur FC
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    I don't know how much Lamela moves the meter for ol' pook.

    :D
     

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