A Month in
the Illustrious History of Spurs JUNE (Compiled by |
|
1st 1959 |
Dynamo |
2nd 1951 |
‘Celebration’
As Champions of
the First Division for the first time in the Club’s history, a celebration
banquet was held at the Savoy Hotel in |
3rd 1950 |
‘Other
Celebrations’ The
Club celebrated the winning of the Second Division Championship at the Savoy
Hotel. Three hundred and fifty guests
along with the directors and players who had brought about this success. It had been almost thirty years since the
Club had tasted major success, winning the Cup in 1921, so also in attendance
were members of those previously successful teams – Jack Kirwan, the only
surviving member of the 1901 Cup winning team, and Jimmy Seed and Arthur
Grimsdell from the 1921 team. The
Chairman paid tribute to the manager and to the ‘team spirit’ that was so
much in evidence. On this day in 1961,
at the same venue, the Club held a celebration banquet to mark the winning of
‘The Double’. |
4th 1966 |
Spurs 1
|
5th 1909 |
Spurs 2
Everton 2 (Friendly in |
6th 1979 |
Spurs 3
Bermuda Select XI 1 (Friendly) This was the final game of a tour
that included matches in |
7th 1947 |
Spurs 1 |
8th 1957 |
Spurs 3 |
9th 1971 |
Spurs 3
|
10th 1981 |
Trabzonspor 0 Spurs 4 (Friendly) After winning the F.A.Cup Spurs played three games in
Bahrain and Kuwait at the end of May, winning all of them. In mid-June they went to Turkey for two
games which they also won convincingly.
For this game Archibald was the only member of the Cup winning team
not to play. Mark Falco replaced him
and scored one of the goals, the others being scored by Villa, Ardiles and
Crooks. |
11th 1983 |
Manchester
United 0 Spurs
2 (Royal Swazi Sun
Challenge) Spurs
played two games against United in Swaziland, losing the first match by 1-2 a
week earlier. This game was won with goals from Steve Perryman and
Gary Mabbutt. A full strength team
took part in the tournament which Spurs won in a penalty shoot-out after this
game. Spurs won 3-2 on penalties with
Alan Brazil, Paul Price and Perryman scoring. |
12th 1966 |
Mexico
National XI 0
Spurs 1 (Friendly)
On their close season
tour, Spurs played two games in Mexico City. Originally, this game had been
billed as against ‘local opposition’ but was changed to a game against the
Mexican International team who were leaving for the World Cup finals in
England. The match was played in front
of a crowd of 100,000 people in the newly built stadium with Alan Gilzean
scoring the only goal of the game, ten minutes from time. The only first team member missing from the
touring party was Jimmy Greaves who was with the England team in their
preparations for the World Cup. |
13th 1947 |
Olympique de
Marseilles 2
Spurs 1 This was
Spurs first overseas tour after the Second World War where they played four
games in France inside nine days.
Their last overseas tour had been to Malta in 1929, although they had
played games in the Channel Islands in the intervening years, the last
occasion being in 1935. The tour party
was based in the South of France but travel was made difficult because of a
French rail strike. However, most of the players had recently left the Armed
Forces and were able to cope with such minor discomforts. Spurs goal was scored by Harry Gilberg. |
14th 1993 |
Alan
Sugar/Terry Venables Court Case. From the time when their
acrimonious fall-out became public knowledge a month earlier with Venables
being sacked as Chief Executive, the media gave extensive coverage to the
never-ending supply of claim and counter-claim that surfaced on behalf of the
two sides. Venables had been
immediately re-instated on a temporary injunction but following a three day
hearing in the High Court, he lost his case and was sacked from the club. Exactly twelve months
later, an F.A.Commission into the
charge of making loans to players between 1985 and 1989 found the club guilty
and severely punished them - a £600,000 fine, 12 points deducted at the end
of the following season and expelled from the F.A.Cup. These were the severest punishments ever
handed out and was regarded as relegation by a slow painful process. Fans were devastated but Alan Sugar
immediately announced an appeal. |
15th 1952 |
Manchester
United 1 Spurs 7 (Friendly in New York) Nearing the end of their North American tour Spurs played
United twice in twenty four hours. The
previous day, in Toronto, Spurs had won 5-0 and as League Champions United
were looking for revenge in this game.
They took an early lead but Spurs equalised within a minute through
Bennett and scored another three in the next eighteen minutes for a 4-1 lead
at half-time. A further three goals in
ten minutes midway through the second half made Spurs very comfortable
winners. The goals were scored by Len Duquemin (4), Les Bennett (2) and Sid
McClellan. |
16th 1983 |
It was
announced that Spurs would be floating on the Stock Market, the
purpose being to raise £3.8million. Increasing debts caused by the
development of the stadium and the spiralling cost of players’ salaries meant
that alternative ways of producing income had to be found. The eventual floatation was a success,
being over-subscribed three and a half times.
Many ordinary supporters bought their shares for the Club and still
have them today, enabling them to attend the annual Share-holders Meeting. In theory they can ask questions of the
Board but in practice the meeting is usually orchestrated to avoid any
awkward questions and certainly few clear answers are ever given. |
17th 1908 |
Spurs were
playing in the Southern League and although they had turned professional in
1895 and won the F.A.Cup as a non-League club in 1901, the club had not
applied for a position in the Football League. However, this close season they resigned
from the Southern League and applied for a place in the Football League but
were out-voted, Bradford City replacing the bottom club, Lincoln City who had
four votes more than Spurs. On this day, Stoke City resigned their place in
the Second Division for financial reasons, creating an opening which Spurs
were able to fill, being elected to the Football League at the end of
the month. |
18th 1952 |
Spurs 8
Quebec F.A. 0 (Friendly in Montreal) Spurs long close season tour to
North America finally came to an end with this victory. They remained undefeated throughout the
tour, winning all ten matches played, eight against local opposition and two
exhibition games against Manchester United.
The goals were scored by Sid McClellan (3) who had relaced Len
Duquemin who had been injured in an early tackle, Les Bennett (3), Ralph
Wetton and Les Medley. Two days later,
the party set off on the seven day return voyage on the ‘Empress of Canada.’ |
19th 1993 |
Ardiles
appointed Manager. With the departure of Terry
Venables, Alan Sugar required a manager who would appease the fans who were
still very angry and in shock following the revelations and press attention
of the previous six weeks. Having
missed out on his original choice, Glenn Hoddle, he turned to another Spurs
favourite, Ossie Ardiles who was managing West Bromwich Albion. Sugar realised that he needed to appoint
someone who would be popular with the fans which he hoped would buy him time
to restore calm and order to the club.
Keith Burkinshaw had been Ardiles Assistant at WBA but he did not
follow him to WHL. |
20th 1909 |
Spurs 9
Rosario 0 (Friendly in Argentina) The penultimate game in the summer
tour to South America. While there are
records of teams and scorers for the other six games of the tour, there
appears to be no such record for this game, other than the score which shows
Spurs as emphatic winners over the local opposition. |
21st 1947 |
Saint-Etienne
0 Spurs 2 (Friendly) The final game of Spurs four match
tour in France. Having lost the first
two game Spurs restored some pride by winning the other two games. Their goals against Saint-Etienne were scored
by Charlie Rundle and Les Bennett. |
22nd 1991 |
Saved!! Spurs had won the F.A.Cup in May but Paul Gascoigne
had been injured and the uncertainty about the Club’s future lingered on week
after week with conflicting reports about what was going to happen and
whether Tottenham Hotspur would even be in existence come the start of the
new season. The mounting debts
at the Club were the major problem but finally the £7.25 million
takeover of the Club by Alan Sugar and Terry Venables was completed. Sugar became non-executive Chairman and
Venables became non-executive Managing Director. The Club had been saved from extinction. |
23rd 1909 |
The only
recorded event for this date is a story from the South American tour. As Spurs were without a game, they went to
watch two local teams. A large crowd
attended and when there was a small pitch invasion the response was
unexpected. The Argentine cavalry came
onto the pitch and started to drive the invaders off using the flats of their
swords. Order was restored very
quickly and the match continued without further incident. |
24th 1965 |
Macabbi Tel
Aviv 2 Spurs 3 Spurs played two games during a
tour to |
25th 1984 |
Following
the departure of Keith Burkinshaw after the club won the EUFA Cup, Spurs
required a new manager. The
appointment was confirmed on this day that Peter Shreeves,
Burkinshaw’s Assistant would take control.
Shreeves had joined Spurs in 1974 as youth team manager and then
reserve team manager before being appointed assistant manager in 1980. He had
the backing of the players who made the Board aware of their support for
Shreeves. He appointed John Pratt as his Assistant. |
26th 1998 |
The World
Cup Finals in |
27th 1952 |
My
birthday and there is only one event to record for this date and it happens
to be for the very day that I was born.
Spurs returned from their longest ever tour. They set off on 12th May to
North America and played ten games in Canada and the United States. They were undefeated throughout the tour
and scored 85 goals while conceding only six.
The club made a huge impression in North America during the tour,
overshadowing Manchester United who had gone there as Champions. |
28th 1948 |
This day
marks the birth of John Pratt. He was a loyal servant to the
club for whom he signed as an amateur, before signing as a professional in
1965. His debut was against Arsenal at
Highbury in March,1969. Although the
team lost 0-1, Pratt kept his place and started eight of the last ten games
of the season. For the next three
seasons he made infrequent appearances although his first goal was in a 3-2
victory at Arsenal in September, 1969.
At the start of season 1972-73following the departure of Mullery, he
got his opportunity in midfield. He
was part of the successful League Cup winning team that season but his
appearance in the Final lasted only 20 minutes before he went off
injured. He was part of the UEFA Cup
team which reached the Final in 1974 and continued to be an important member
of the team until 1980. In all he made
over 300 League appearances and scored 39 goals. A fully committed Spurs player, he went to
America but later returned as a coach and was Assistant manager under Peter
Shreeves. (And don't
forget the TOPSPURS "Pratt Tribute" - click here |
29th 1908 |
On this
day Spurs were elected members of the Football League. However, it was a close run thing. Spurs had lost out in the original election
but when Stoke resigned in early June, Spurs had a further opportunity to stake
their claim for a place in the Second Division. However, by the time of the meeting Stoke
had changed their minds and were also looking to return to the League. Lincoln, Rotherham Town and Southport were
also up for election. In the first
vote Spurs and Lincoln tied with 17 votes each. When the others withdrew it became a
straight vote which was tied with both clubs receiving 20 votes. This left it to the League Management
Committee to decide and Spurs received five votes taking them into the Football
League. |
30th 1995 |
Chris
Armstrong was
signed from Crystal Palace for a fee of £4.5 million to become Spurs most
expensive player. He had been bought
to replace Jurgen Klinsmann who had returned to Germany. The initial reaction was not very positive
with newspaper reports of Teddy Sheringham being less than complimentary
about his new striking partner.
However, he did form a very effective partnership with Sheringham but
he had an impossible task to try to replace Klinsmann in the eyes of the
supporters. His career at Spurs ended when he was released in 2002 following
a long period of injury. |
Acknowledge the work of Graham Betts in his book
‘Spurs Day – to – Day Life at