Regular readers will be aware that during my formative years I had the ‘pleasure’ of knowing a number of West Ham followers. Every day at school it was a verbal joust to prove which team was best. Mind a look at the league tables normally  helped our cause. Over the years a couple of them have managed to share some gentle Mickey-taking between ourselves without them once dragging their knuckles along behind them. Indeed one even helped with the research for this article. As Tottenham are about to make their last trip to Upton Park forgive my indulgence as I dig out a few golden moments to help pass the short journey.
All these stories are absolutely true.

To complete our look at Tottenham’s success in this competition, this time we go right back to 1971 and the first of our four triumphs. When Tottenham met Aston Villa in the League Cup final that year Villa were a Third Division side. Spurs knew however that previously both QPR and Swindon from that division had overcome top flight sides (West Bromwich and Arsenal) in the Final. Like many finals it failed to thrill and eventually turned on one moment of absolute class to settle the game right near the end. Tottenham winning the trophy for the first time in their fourth season in the competition.

It’s a case of where Spurs lead England will follow as we look back at Tottenham’s first overseas tours. In this short series we examine how the tours have changed over the years. Whereas nowadays they are major promotional events in partnership with various sponsors they started often at the bequest of the FA in an attempt to develop the international game. In this article we go back to our tours from our pre-league days.

Thus it was in the summer of 1905 when Tottenham set sail (literately) for mainland Europe. The FA had paid the club £600 (1) to undertake a series of exhibition games in the then Austro-Hungary Empire, along with Everton, it was also their first European tour.

Left - David Copeland

Les Allen was the last piece of Nicholson’s jigsaw as he put together his double side. Chelsea had approached Tottenham and wanted to sign our Johnny Brooks. Nicholson negotiated that Allen came to us as part of the deal. Allen at that time was playing in their reserve side.

Letting Brooks an England international go and replacing him with a reserve player surprised a number of fans. Prior to his arrival at White Hart Lane Les had played in the semi final of the amateur cup as a 16 year old, before joining Chelsea, where he scored 11 times in 44 games.

He made his Spurs debut in December 1959 at home to Newcastle, a 4-0 win. He then scored twice in his second game as we won 4-2 at Leeds. Then in the February he managed five in the FA Cup replay with Crewe in our record 13-2 win.

With February 29th only occurring every four years events on this day are limited but let’s take a look back at what I could find that has happened on this day previously. Taking them in a chronological order we have played just five games, winning four of them. We have not played two games in the same competition but three in different leagues, one cup match and a friendly. Those five games have all been played on different grounds and under five different managers.
There was also the small matter of somebody writing a letter that day which would help shape the clubs destiny in the years that followed.

Poland are another of the teams that will be at the European Championships this summer. Here we look back at some of the connections between that country and Tottenham. We have met  Polish opposition twice in competitive action.

The first of course was in our first European Cup campaign in 1961/2 when we met Gornik. More recently we have been drawn against Wisla Krakow in 2008/09 in the UEFA Cup first round. We also meet the one Polish international has featured for Spurs as well as the other connections. Tottenham having won the League Cup the previous season had got off to a dreadful start to the new domestic season. The first leg  of the UEFA tie was at home and saw us take a lead after half an hour when Lennon set up David Bentley. Before the fans were back in their seats the scores were level. They broke clear of the backs and Gomes in goal was chipped. Darren Bent who was our record signing got our winner after 73 minutes. A slender lead to take to Poland.

It's a good time for Tottenham Hotspur supporters at the moment, yes it is. Why not? Second in the table, playing beautiful football, have no players who can disturb the team moral, have a great visionary as a manager. With this successful run, What could really go wrong ? What would be that x factor which can shake this teams confidence ? One reason might be the supporters themselves. There are few points we might consider to draw to this conclusion - We might face frustrating times ahead, we might face teams parking their bus and it might be hard for us to break them, we might see frustrating decisions from the ref and linesman, we might hear people putting us fans under massive pressure. This might lead to supporters coming under lot of pressure and lowering their voice which leads to the change of atmosphere in the stadium. which in turn leads to teams confidence going low. Just when the team needs the support from the fans during those hard times, the support might be lost in the echo of disappointment.

The only solution for all these problems is belief. Is this a wake up call for all the supporters to believe, yes it is. We need to believe we are the 12th man on the pitch and we need to work hard, just the way the team does during training and in every game.
The team performing so well has woken up many other pundits and other reputed players and ex managers, they say that spurs are a real deal this season.

These comments have made us real favourites and have put us under a lot of hype. These things have given us fans, a lot of responsibility and made us believe that we are a strong contender for the title. We need to consider every game as a cup final, we need to be backing the team with win and loss, hard, bad, frustrating and good times.

We are Tottenham and we have been in worse situations before. Let's forget all the ‘Spursy’ moments and just be with the team and their positivity once .This echo of positivity from the fans will reach the players which will give us positive results. The change of mentality is not only necessary for the team but for us fans as well. Let's all believe. Let's all hear the echo of glory. Come on you spurs.

AUTHOR - Anoop Manjunath 

​

Whilst Tottenham have played in white shirts with navy blue shorts (or knickers as they were called till the late 1950’s) since 1898, the kit has evolved significantly over time with changes in fashion, practicality, technology and ultimately commercialism all having an impact on the design of the lilywhite shirt, evolving from the flannel/cotton button up shirts of Victorian times to today’s high tech, quick drying, moisture resistant, lightweight materials. Previously I have covered the periods from 1918 to 1977, with this article I will go back to the very start in 1882 and then into the start of the lilywhite era from 1898.

Whilst Tottenham have played in white shirts with navy blue shorts (or knickers as they were called till the late 1950’s) since 1898, the kit has evolved significantly over time with changes in fashion, practicality, technology and ultimately commercialism all having an impact on the design of the lilywhite shirt, evolving from the flannel/cotton button up shirts of Victorian times to today’s high tech, quick drying, moisture resistant, lightweight materials. Previously I had covered the period from 1945 to 1977, with this second article I will cover the inter-war period between 1918 and 1939

Whilst Tottenham have played in white shirts with navy blue shorts (or knickers as they were called till the late 1950’s) since 1898, the kit has evolved significantly over time with changes in fashion, practicality, technology and ultimately commercialism all having an impact on the design of the lilywhite shirt, evolving from the flannel/cotton button up shirts of Victorian times to today’s high tech, quick drying, moisture resistant, lightweight materials.

With the resumption of football immediately after the war in August 1945, Spurs continued to use their pre-war plain white shirts, made by Umbroto a design they called Tangeru. These had been introduced in 1937, and sported the cockerel crest. Spurs had correctly read the impending signs of war during the summer of 1939 and had bought a job lot of new kits that they continued to use throughout the conflict and immediately after.

The Almanac reaches February with its usual selection of stories, first lasts and the like that may just escape the attention otherwise. As Footie is about goals so let’s start there, on the 2nd (1987)  and Clive Allen scores a hat-trick in just nine minutes as we beat West Ham in the League Cup 5-0.
Then on the 3rd (1960) his dad Les was on target five times as we destroyed Crewe 13-2 in the FA Cup. You can find that story at (link -http://www.indiaspurs.com/blog/platform-13  or see what happened the rest of that season in (1).