Tottenham On This Day: David Howells – Spurs v Fiorentina
By Logan Holmes
On this day, 2nd August, 1997 Tottenham played Fiorentina of Italy at White Hart Lane in a Testimonial match for their long-serving player, David Howells.
Tottenham on this Day
2nd August, 1997
Tottenham Hotspur 0 Fiorentina 2 (David Howells Testimonial)
David Howells was a loyal player to Tottenham, progressing through the youth system to spend 18 years at White Hart Lane. He joined the club as a schoolboy in 1980 and made his debut as a striker, scoring in a 2-1 win at Sheffield Wednesday in February, 1986.
He took time to establish himself in the first team. The match at Hillsborough was his only game that season and he made only one appearance the following year. In 1987-88, his appearances were mainly as a substitute but in the next season he started to play more regularly and it is as a defensive midfielder/defender who could score important goals that he will be remembered.
A regular in the team under Terry Venables he was a member of the 1991 Cup winning team. When Ossie Ardiles was in charge, Howells was overlooked but on the appointment of Gerry Francis he was immediately restored to the team.
David Howells Stats
David Howells made 277 League appearances for Tottenham, scoring 22 goals while 58 Cup and European games brought 5 goals.
David Howells Testimonial
Team: Walker (Baardsen); Carr, Edinburgh (Calderwood), Howells (Mabbutt), Vega, Campbell, Ginola, Nielsen, Mahorn (Clemence), Ferdinand, Sinton (Fox (Iversen])
The Testimonial match against Fiorentina was the first opportunity for the Spurs fans to see the new summer signings playing at White Hart Lane – David Ginola and Les Ferdinand who had joined from Newcastle United.
David Howells – in the record books
Tottenham’s last League win at Stamford Bridge was in February, 1990. Spurs won 2 – 1 and David Howells scored the first goal that afternoon with Gary Lineker scoring the late winner with a header.
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David Howells left Spurs in May, 1998 and signed for Southampton. He said farewell to White Hart Lane at the final match of that season which was against Southampton. That game also saw the second farewell of Jurgen Kinsmann who scored that day and Gary Mabbutt.
David Howells also played for Bristol City before retiring in 2000 due to a persistent knee problem. In retirement he ran a string of successful soccer schools across Europe and is now a PE teacher. He plays regularly for the Spurs Legends team.
Your memories of David Howells at Tottenham?
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