Tottenham Hotspur – the Aston Villa Connection

David Ginola

Tottenham and Aston Villa are two clubs with long and distinguished pasts and there are many links throughout their long histories – both in players and memorable matches.

Ten Connections with Aston Villa.

Danny Blanchflower

Blanchflower joined Tottenham in December, 1954 from Aston Villa for a then record fee of £30,000. He spent ten years at White Hart Lane and became on of the club’s most influential players as he captained the ‘Double’ winning team and took them on to further success in the early 1960s including their first European trophy by winning the European Cup Winners’ Cup in 1963.

The ‘Double”

Aston Villa were the second club to achieve the historic League and Cup ‘Double’ in 1896-97. Sixty four years later, in 1960-61 Tottenham became the third club to win the ‘Double’ and the first of the 20th Century.

1971 League Cup Final

Martin Chivers

Tottenham defeated 3rd Division Aston Villa in the Final at Wembley. Peter Collins played in place of the injured Mike England and Villa made it very difficult for Spurs who eventually came through thanks to two excellent goals late in the second half. With twelve minutes remaining, Martin Chivers scored against the run of play and then three minutes later added a second. Chivers’ late strikes maintained Spurs 100% record in Cup Finals and Bill Nicholson had produced another winning team that was about to uphold the Spurs tradition of Cup success in the coming years at home and in Europe.

Current Players

Darren Bent and Alan Hutton who are currently with Aston Villa previously played for Spurs. Bent left Spurs for Sunderland and joined Villa in January, 2011 while Hutton joined Villa a year ago. Brad Friedel spent three years with Villa before joining Spurs in the summer of 2011. Kyle Walker spent six months on loan with Villa from January 2011 to gain Premier League experience.

5 – 5

There have been numerous high scoring games between the two clubs over the years. In season 1965-66 at White Hart Lane Spurs had a 5 – 1 lead early in the second half but allowed Villa to recover to take a point and could have lost but for a late goal line clearance.

In March, 1966 the match ended 5 – 5.  Spurs scored three in the first fifteen minutes, were 4-1 ahead at half-time and 5-1 up after five minutes of the second half. The scorers were Alan Gilzean, Jimmy Greaves, Frank Saul, Laurie Brown and Jimmy Robertson. Then came the Villa fight back. They scored three goals in four minutes, equalised with 11 minutes to go and should have won when with three minutes remaining Tony Hateley was clean through, took the ball around Pat Jennings but hesitated and allowed Alan Mullery time to recover and clear.

4 – 4

Tottenham’s 125th Anniversary match was on a Monday evening in October, 2007 against Villa who did their best to spoil the celebrations.

Dimitar Berbatov gave Spurs the lead after twenty minutes. Villa quickly equalised and after an hour were 4 – 1 ahead with Paul Robinson culpable for a number of the goals. Things were not going to plan on Spurs’ ‘big night’ but a late rally saw Pascal Chimbonda pull one back with twenty minutes remaining, Robbie Keane scored from the penalty spot on 82 minutes and Younes Kaboul led rapturous celebrations after his goal in added time.

3 – 3

Even in the earliest days both clubs could produce a goal-fest. It was October, 1912 and the two clubs met in the 1st Division at White Hart Lane . The game ended 3 – 3 with Spurs’ goals scored by centre forward Jimmy Cantrell (2) scoring against his former club, and winger, Bert Middlemiss.

Jimmy Cantrell

Jimmy Cantrell spent the early part of his career with Villa. He joined Spurs in 1912 and was still an influential centre forward as Spurs won the 2nd Division in 1920 and the FA Cup the following season. He was a few weeks short of his 39th birthday when he played in the 1921 FA Cup Final win over Wolverhampton Wanderers. He retired in 1925 and played his last game for Spurs in April, 1923 – the oldest player to play for the club until a certain goalkeeper took over that mantle last season – Brad Friedel.

David Ginola

David Ginola who was such a favourite at Tottenham during his three years at the club was transferred to Villa in 2000. While at White Hart Lane he was a member of the Worthington Cup winning team of 1999 and brought excitement and skill to the team at what was a rather dull period in Tottenham’s history. He was signed by Gerry Francis fromNewcastle United, played for Christian Gross and sold by George Graham. On Graham’s arrival it had been widely predicted that Ginola would be one of the first players to leave but he showed great application during this time and worked well for the team scoring a number of outstanding goals. On returning to White Hart Lane the following season, to play in a rather dull scoreless draw for Villa, home spectators provided their own entertainment by cheering every time Ginola touched the ball.

Villa Park

Villa’s home ground was regularly used for FA Cup semi-final matches but it became a ground that Tottenham thought was jinked for them when it came to that particular game. Villa Park became a bogey ground for Spurs where FA Cup semi-final games were concerned as they lost there in the semi-final on four successive occasions – 1922, 1948, 1953 and 1956. It took the ‘Double’ team to break that sequence in 1961 with a 3 – 0 success over Burnley.