Season Review from Tottenham Hotspur matchday commentator Daniel Wynne

Season 2000-2001 has been a season of mixed fortunes and enormous change which we will hopefully reap the rewards from in the years ahead. There have been some amazing highs and some woeful lows.

A lot of water has passed under the bridge since Aug 19^th. We kicked off the campaign against Ipswich, who were making a return to the top flight. The usual first day feeling of optimism lasted only 8 mins until we found ourselves a goal down. We bounced back well and Sergei Rebrov’s impressive debut helped us to our first of many excellent home victories of the season. In fact this was the first of 13 games we scored at least 3 goals in, 8 of which were at White Hart Lane.

Away games at Middlesborough and Newcastle saw our "unfortunate" away form begin.

We had to wait until September 5^th for our next victory, where we once again came from behind to beat Everton 3-2.

A week later and the Sky cameras came to the Lane to see us defeat “big club” West Ham thanks to a Sol Campbell header that came of Hislop's back. The Sky presentation saw the debut of a certain person on their new Fanzone service, but enough about that!

Away defeats at Charlton, Leeds and Coventry and a goalless home draw with Manchester City meant we had to wait until Oct 21st for our next victory when Derby came to White Hart Lane. Steve Carr and 2 Leo goals saw us cruise to a 3-1 victory.

The next 2 games were a disaster. Ramon Vega's rush of blood to his hand, set us on the way to yet another defeat at Chelsea and then the Birmingham game ended our Worthington Cup campaign.

The reaction from (some of) the fans during the Birmingham game was the final nail in Sugar's coffin. After the game Sir Al had privately made up his mind to move on. The message boards and chat rooms were full of debate as to the merits of booing the team during a game. I for one am firmly against it but that night will be remembered as one of the worst performances by a Spurs team at home for a very long time.

We bounced back from that defeat to pick up 3 straight impressive wins at WHL against Sunderland, Liverpool (again on Sky and yours truly on Fanzone) and Les Ferdinand’s first  hat trick for us helped us to a  3-0 win over Leciester. Les eventually got the match ball back two days later after it was kicked into the East Upper and a fan called Capital Gold to arrange the hand over.

This run was split by a 2-0 away defeat at Villa Park.

December turned into a nightmare. We started the month by losing 0-2 at Old Trafford although the performance by the “kids” was commendable, and then throw away the points at Bradford. Ledley King entered the record books at Valley Parade by scoring the Premiership's fastest ever goal, timed at 10 seconds.

Sky chose the north London derby for their Monday night programme on December 18^th

Sergei Rebrov answered his critics by reacting quickly to head home a Darren Anderton shot only for a blatant push in the last minute by Vieira from a corner gave the goons a draw  (I was on Fanzone again!!). Neil Sullivan put in a superb performance that night which effectively ended any remote claim Ian Walker had to being first choice keeper.

December drew to an end with the xmas spell. A 0-0 draw v Middlesborough which saw the hyped up return of EL Spiv, followed by back to back away defeats on TV at Southampton and Ipswich.

The new year started with a great 4-2 victory over Newcastle although ref Steve Bennet did his best to spoil the game by sending of Solano, Dyer, Sully and awarding penalties at the drop of a hat. Once again we came from behind to take the points in a night of high drama as we ran out 4-2 winners.  The commentary of that game for the official site was done by yours truly and is still available on the site! Ricky Villa made an appearance at half time and the WHL faithful made him feel very welcome.

Our next game saw us travel to nearby Leyton Orient to kick off our FA Cup campaign. At last we had an away win to celebrate, albeit via a last minute Gary Doherty winner.

A dismal run of four straight 0-0 draws then followed against Everton, Southampton, Charlton and “big club” West Ham was enough to get the anti Graham boys spitting blood. “This was not the Spurs we all loved”, they cried with some justification. The pressure was really on the manager.

We then faced Charlton again, at the Valley in round 4 of the FA Cup. It was an amazing night coming from 2-0 down and palying really badly, to win 4-2. The night for me was spoilt by the sight of 2 of our fans fighting over GG. For me, a GG follower, the time had come to unite the fans and the love of the club meant I had to swallow my pride and concede for the good of the club, that GG had to move on.

Our first away league win of the season came on February 10^th when Rebrov's 90th minute winner meant we had at last picked up 3 points on our travels.

The week after we faced Stockport at home in round 5 of the cup. Simon Davies grabbed the headlines as he bagged a brace in a 4-0 win. We were on our way to round 6 and “big club” away, were next.

Leeds then stole our unbeaten league record at WHL in the league.

March 11, 2001, will be a day to remember for a long time to come. The rain did not stop as we travelled to Upton Park for the 6^th Round. Just after kick off news filtered through that should we win we would face Arsenal in the semi.

2 goals from Rebrov and another Doherty header gave us a superb victory but at the time we were unaware of the drama to follow before our next game.

At about 2pm on Friday March 16^th, I had a phone call telling me the news that GG had been sacked. Within 2 minutes the phones and e-mails were red hot and the chat rooms were on fire with the news. It was true, Graham was gone. At the time, many could not believe the timing, 3 weeks prior to the semi final. ENIC were in place and what an immediate impact they had made! I had lost Sugar and Graham in the space of a few months and many expected to see me jumping off London Bridge in a fit of despair, but even I realised that for the first time in ages, the fans were united.

David Pleat took control 24 hours later as we beat Coventry 3-0. The atmosphere was strange at White Hart Lane that day but the players responded well and even Freund came an inch way from scoring!

The week later saw the first the first of 2 games against the goons. Hoddle had been appointed on the eve of the game. His appointment was the boost the club needed but it was not enough to see us through the 2 games. The Sky cameras again had the benefit of yours truly on Fanzone for the semi, but the least said about that day, the better.

The end of the season could not come quick enough due to the injury situation but we still had some games to play. 

Glenn’s first home game came 2 days after the semi against Bradford which we won 2-1 in front of 28,000 fans. The media loved that didn’t they.

Next up was Sunderland away and we found ourselves 2-0 down early on. A great second half display, dare I say it, by half time sub Willem Korsten and Gary Doherty saw us come back and win 3-2. We really did have our Tottenham back.

Defeats at home to Chelsea (official site web commentary by me!) and away at Liverpool set us up for the return of Ginola. The 0-0 draw was dull (official site web commentary by me again!!) but the reception he got was tremendous and Daveeeeeeeeeeeed was genuinely moved by it..

A 4-2 away defeat at Leciseter saw us go into the final day game at home to Man Ure. The atmosphere was a couldron of noise especially in the second half.

We won 3-1 again and it meant the fans went home full of optimism for the summer and next season.

The season saw Sully become a hero, Rebrov show us what he is capable of and more importantly a few of the younger players emerge as great potential players. Ledley King, Simon Davies and Gary Doherty all played big parts this season and one player that really excites me is Anthony Gardner.

We need to bring in a few quality players to help develop the youngsters but the potential is there for them to build on their impressive starts.

The Sol situation needs to be resolved quickly and other talent needs to come in especially in midfield but Glenn knows that, and it is in his capable hands.

Another important development during the season was the launch of the Tottenham Hotspur Supporters Trust. The Trust has the backing of the club and dialogue has already begun. David Buchler has agreed to a Trust members only Q&A session on June 13^th. A new relationship is in place between the club and the fans. To find out more visit www.tottenhamtrust.org

It really was a season full of highs and lows and now we look towards 2001-2002 and hope it will be a great year.