What’s The Best Tottenham Team You’ve Seen?
By Logan Holmes
Over the summer weeks HotspurHQ’s Team Selection has put together the team of the best Tottenham players you’ve seen playing since the 1950s. Today we look for the best Spurs teams in that period, many of whom brought silverware to White Hart Lane. Again, depending on your age, you many only have watched Tottenham over the past ten to fifteen years or even less so have not had the good fortune to see the ‘Double’ team or Keith Burkinshaw’s team of the early 1980s, so you will want to identify a team from more recent times as the best you’ve seen playing in the white shirts of Tottenham.
1950-51 League Champions
This team wasn’t a team of internationals, only Alf Ramsey for England and Wales’ Ron Burgess could be considered regulars for their countries. Others may have won international caps but not over a lengthy period. Most of the players had been with Spurs for many years but the team blended perfectly for Arthur Rowe’s ‘Push and Run’ style, winning the 2nd and 1st Division titles in successive seasons.
1960-63 ‘Double’, FA Cup and ECWC Team
Bill Nicholson’s team had a host of internationals and star quality players who brought great success to White Hart Lane over a three year period. Danny Blanchfower, Dave Mackay, John White, Cliff Jones and Bobby Smith were some of the star names who won the ‘Double’ and when Jimmy Greaves was added they retained the FA Cup and became the first British team to win a European trophy.
1970-74 League Cup and UEFA Cup Team
At the start of the 1970s Nicholson produced another quality team which won the League Cup and UEFA Cup. Driven on by captain Alan Mullery and Steve Perryman, the goals were provided by Martin Chivers, Alan Gilzean and Martin Peters who combined perfectly to create and score. On Mullery’s departure, the team won another League Cup and reached the UEFA Cup Final but quickly disintegrated on Nicholson’s resignation.
1980-84 FA Cup and UEFA Cup Team
Keith Burkinshaw with a blend of the Argentine, English skill and graft plus a Scottish goalscorer found the perfect recipe for success in the early 1980s and left in triumph after a penalty shoot-out success in the 1984 UEFA Cup.
1986-87 ‘Nearly’ Team
David Pleat in his first season produced an exceptional team with five in midfield supporting and creating or lone striker, Clive Allen. The team challenged in all three competitions but fell short on each occasion. FA Cup runners-up, losing semi-finalists in the League Cup and 3rd in the title race – so near but yet so far.
1990-91 FA Cup Team
1991 FA Cup winners. [Photo: Logan Holmes]Terry Venables’ team had finished 3rd in the 1st Division in 1990 and then inspired by Paul Gascoigne won the FA Cupas they battled against serious financial difficulties which were threatening the club’s very existence. To date, this team which included Garey Mabbutt and Gary Lineker and Paul Stewart are the last Tottenham team to experience FA Cup success.
2007-08 Carling Cup Team
After many years absence from Wembley Finals, Spurs returned to defeat Chelsea in the 2008 Carling Cup Final. With Dimitar Berbatov and Robbie Keane, it looked as if Spurs were building a team set for success after two fifth place finishes in the Premier League. Their departure that summer and a change of manager produced more upheaval at the club as they battled against relegation twelve months later.
2010-12 Champions League Team
No silverware but qualification for the Champions League and reaching the quarter-finals of the competition with some outstanding results and performances, constitutes success in modern-day football. The team then had a six month period where they put themselves into a challenging position in the Premier League but fell away dramatically in the second half of the season, finishing 4th only to miss out on Champions League qualification.
2012-13 AVB’s 72 points Team
With Gareth Bale in superb form, Andre Villas-Boas’ team in his first season at White Hart Lane achieved a club record 72 points to finish fifth in the Premier League. In every previous season that points total would have guaranteed a place in the Champions League.
FACT - Tottenham's points total of 72 last year would have been enough to finish second 2 seasons ago. #COYS #mental
— Talking THFC (@TalkingTHFC) August 8, 2013
Read more about many of the teams by clicking on the link provided.