Tottenham 1995 FA Youth Cup Team: What Next After Spurs?

In season 1994-95 the Tottenham Youth team lost to Manchester United in the Final of the FA Youth Cup. What happened to the players in that Spurs  team?

The current Tottenham squad contains 6 graduates from the Spurs Academy – Andros Townsend, Nabil Bentaleb, Ryan Mason, Milos Veljkovic, Harry Kane and Danny Rose. Tottenham have won the FA Youth Cup on 3 occasions and been defeated finalists twice. The last team to reach the Final lost to Manchester United in a penalty shoot-out after drawing 1 – 1 on aggregate over two legs and extra time.

What happened to that 1995 Tottenham youth team? After some research here are the details of the footballing careers of a team which obviously showed promise in 1995.

1995 Tottenham Youth Team

Goalkeeper, Simon Brown left the club in 1999 to join Colchester United. He spent five season there, making 140 appearances before moving to Scotland to play for Hibernian. Under fifty appearances in three seasons, saw him join Brentford for two years. This was followed by a season with Northampton Town and a move to non-league football with Cambridge United and then Welling United.

Stephen Carr made his debut for Spurs in 1993 but it was the 1996-97 season before he established himself in the team. Having worked his way through the youth system at White Hart Lane he became an important member of the team, attacking from the right and scoring vital goals. He was a member of the 1999 Worthington Cup winning team and a full international for the Republic of Ireland. In total he made 226 appearances, scoring 7 goals.

Injury hindered him and he was out for over eighteen months and on his return he had lost some of the impetus he had previously had and as the team struggled he looked for a new challenge in the north east. He departed saying that he was moving to ‘a bigger club’ which infuriated Tottenham supporters who had previously idolised him before tiring of his seeming lack of interest. He was transferred to Newcastle United in 2004 after thirteen seasons at White Hart Lane for a fee of £2 million.

Kevin Maher was a young midfield player with Spurs who left on a free transfer in January, 1998 to join Southend United where he spent ten seasons as a regular in the team making over 380 appearances, including the Cup games against Spurs in 2006-07. He joined Oldham for a season in 2008 and the following year joined Gillingham where he played for two seasons. He had two seasons with Dagenham and Redbridge and then a year at Bray Wanderers in Ireland before dropping into non-league football. Maher made 4 appearances for the Ireland Under-21 team.

Ross Darcy was a defender who went to Barnet in December, 1999 where he spent four years, including time out on loan with Dover. In 2004 he returned to Ireland to play for Dundalk and then Bohemians. In the FA Youth Cup game against United it was his slip late in the first leg that gave United their goal which cost the team dearly in the second leg. United levelled the tie in the last minute at Old Trafford and went on to win on penalties.

Injury problems caused him major difficulties at both Spurs and Barnet. He was an Under-21 international for Ireland. On leaving Barnet where he had been restricted to only a few appearances because of injury Darcy stated,

"I have been plagued by injuries at both Spurs and Barnet. I played in the reserves at White Hart Lane and in a couple of first team friendlies and the injury jinx has continued at Barnet. It’s time to go home after nine years over here. I’m going back to try to find a club back in Ireland."

Simon Wormull played for Spurs in the final of the 1995 FA Youth Cup and in the 1995 Intertoto Cup. He scored the first goal in the Final against Manchester United at White Hart Lane. Although he made a few appearances in the lower divisions of the Football League for Brentford and Rushden & Diamonds, the majority of his career has been spent in non-league football, with clubs including Dover Athletic, Stevenage Borough, Hornchurch, Crawley Town, Lewes, Eastbourne Borough and Farnborough. He was manager of the under 18 side at Lewes and later stepped up to manage the senior team. He is currently manager of Crawley Down Gatwick.

Simon Spencer made two appearances for Brentford after leaving Spurs in 1997. He played for the England U-16 team.

Mark Arber, a defender, left Spurs in 1998 to join Barnet for £75,000. He has had twelve seasons in League football making over 500 appearances for five different clubs, including Peterborough, Oldham and Stevenage Borough. He spent 4 years at Dagenham and Redbridge to 2012 before joining Dartford and then Corby Town. He was a coach at the Arsenal Academy.

Stephen Clemence, son of Ray, progressed to the first team where he made 91 appearances, scoring twice. In 2003 he joined Birmingham City where he spent four years before joining Leicester City in 2007. Injury led to his retirement in 2010 and he joined Sunderland as a member of their coaching staff with the reserve team. He is currently reserve team manager at Hull City

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Peter Gain was a midfield player with Spurs at the end of 1999s who joined Lincoln City for a fee of £15,000 in March, 1999 after working his way through the youth system. He made 200 appearances in almost six years before moving to Peterborough where he played for three seasons and moved on to Dagenham and Redbridge in 2008. He was released in 2012.

Neale Fenn made his Tottenham debut in an FA Cup 3rd Round game at Old Trafford, playing along side Rory Allen. In total he played in 10 games for Spurs, scoring once in a League Cup tie at Carlisle. He spent much of his time out on loan and joined Peterborough United in 2001, making fifty appearances in two years. He then returned to Ireland where he has played for five different clubs – Waterford United, Cork City, Bohemians, Dundalk and Shamrock Rovers. He played for the Ireland U-21 and ‘B’ international team.

Rory Allen made his Spurs debut as a a substitute against Wimbledon in 1996. He scored four goals for the club before his transfer to Portsmouth for £1 million in 1999. He retired, aged 25, in 2002, having undergone numerous operations for injuries. He went off to Australia to watch the Ashes series. He is now a civil servant in the Foreign Office, according to a recent article on The Cockerel Crows.

Garry Brady replaced Clemence for the second leg of the Youth Cu Final in 1995. He also progressed to the Spurs first team and made 11 League and Cup appearances in season 1997-98. Regarded as a good prospect he transferred to Newcastle United in 1998 for £650,000 but he only made a similar number of appearances there where an ankle injury restricted his progress. He joined Portsmouth in 2001 but returned to Scotland the next year where he has made a career for himself with Dundee United, St. Mirren and then Brechin City until being released in 2013.

Spurs have won the FA Youth Cup on three occasions – in 1970, 1974 and 1990. They have been losing finalists twice – in 1981 and 1995. From those teams only a very small number of players have progressed to the first team and even fewer have become established first team players. The most successful has been Steve Perryman from the 1970 team who went on to make a record breaking 655 League appearance for the club to become a true Tottenham ‘Legend’.

The current Academy and schoolboy players have Ledley King, one of their coaches, as an inspiration to remind them what is possible for a product of the youth system.