A few weeks ago I was lucky enough to do a Q&A with Marina Sirtis about her support for Tottenham. I know what you are thinking lads, what a rotten job. I have to be honest when I approached her hoping for a few minutes I wondered if we would be successful. I was surprised not just with the speed of her replies but the passion she has for the club, it leaps out at you and hits you like a Sandro tackle.

Afterwards I thought it might be a nice New Years present for our members. So remembering this was before recent events occurred. I started by asking when she first got into football and the Spurs.

Flight 3 -  Or how not to organise a campaign. To say England were unprepared and disorganized is one of the kinder descriptions I’ve read about England’s 1950 World Cup. The experience however wasn’t lost on Bill Nicholson and Edie Baily key figures at Tottenham in later years and Alf Ramsey our full back when he later managed England.

With a glimpse back to the wonders of following Tottenham in Arctic conditions and how the lads have fared on the twenty fifth of December in past years. Stick in there 1911 is worth waiting for. What ever your faith or otherwise, Christmas is a time of peace and goodwill. A time to spend with your loved ones. Which might explain why so many of us put on as much clothing as possible and leave home to face the elements of the British winter to follow our team.

Hoddle, Gazza, Klinsmann, King, Berbatov and Bale – there can be few, if any, Spurs fans unfamiliar with those names and what they achieved for the club. But what about the club’s heroes from further back in history. In this latest series, Martin Cloake selects some of the key figures who made the club what it is.

In an age when football clubs are owned by multi-billionaires who often seem at least as interested in their own glorification as that of the clubs they lead, remembering the man who was the first president of Tottenham Hotspur Football Club is a reminder of the game’s more humble beginnings.

Flight 2 - 1950 -  Spurs take part in the world cup and why India didn’t

In this occasional series leading up to this summers World Cup I thought I’d recall some of the incidents involving Spurs and our connections to the competition. As well as some of the strange incidents that have enriched the history of the World Cup. Where better to start than 1950 which had a major effect on Tottenham Hotspur and English football.

In Part 2 of our look at some of the connections between Tottenham Hotspur and Brazil we will discover the first Spurs players to play in that country and some more visitors to White Hart Lane, as well as another international who graced our ground.

One part of the current Tottenham management set up that you might not be so familiar with is Chris Ramsey.  Chris is currently working with Tim Sherwood guiding the first team and has been at the club since 2004 where he is Head of Player Development. A very well respected coach with excellent experience. I thought I’d have a look at what else he has done.

Our connections with Brazil date back from the recent past to 1908. In this series we will recall those various Brazilians who have played for Tottenham. The club sides we have met  and some of the international links. There is also two occasions when we nearly played there.
So where better to start than White Hart Lane.

Last day of the premier league 2011-2012. Spurs have finished fourth. Champions league qualification almost within reach. The only way we miss out on the CL would be if Chelsea,who finished sixth in the league,manage to do the impossible : beat Bayern Munich in the champions league finals at the Allianz Arena, the home of the German giants on the 19th of May. Chelsea sit back, defend all match, concede one and score a last minute goal through a corner out of nowhere. Luck favours them in the penalties and stabs us in the back yet again.

With the Tottenham fan base growing in India everyday many of the fans may not be familiar with the name Tim Sherwood. Tim who is one of the team who have taken charge of the first team for the time being played for Spurs from 1999 to 2003. He rejoined the club on the coaching staff in 2008 and was lately appointed Technical Co-ordinator.  

Tottenham fans love a player who plays with flair and will work hard for the team. Ruel Fox joined us from Newcastle in October 1995 for £4.25million which made him our second most expensive signing at that time.

The fast and tricky winger would cause many a defender problems. He has been described thus  “Fox was an old-school winger who weaved in and out of defenders like a New York taxi driver’(2).

When the calendar throws up a quirky date like today’s I thought it would be interesting to see what has happened on this date in previous years. Quite a lot actually including  One European game, a record win, the Players of the South, two wars and the worse referee in history.

One date that leaps out was 1962. In that year we played our only European tie on this date. Tottenham traveled to Scotland for the second leg of the European Cup Winners Cup tie.

Teddy had two spells at the club from 1992 -97 and 2001 -03 reaching a total of 124 goals in 277 appearances. He sits at number eight in our all time goal scorers chart and in 2008 at was inducted into the Tottenham Hall of Fame.

Teddy a lifelong Spurs supporter started at Millwall before going to Nottingham Forest. Where he worked under one of the great managers, Brian Clough. Brian normally called everyone ‘Young man’ but always referred to him as Edward and never Teddy. He joined Tottenham for a fee of just over two million pounds and very quickly became a fan favourite.

Flight 1 - ‘The Greatest show on Earth’ or the biggest circus in town. A chance to watch the greatest players on the planet at their best or just window shopping the clubs next superstar. Possibly you think its just a minefield of injuries for the current players to find a way through. Whatever you think the World Cup is coming. Not a day will go by in the next seven months without it being dragged into every conversation and commentary. Which of our lads will make the trip and how will they do?

3 -  Origins
In the last part of this series we look at how it all started. Today people in all corners of the world follow every aspect and kick of the FA Cup but that wasn’t always the case. In fact it actually struggled for life in its first season. Let me briefly take you back to London in 1863. At that time there were a number of versions of the game with different teams using different rules.

On behalf of India Spurs I nominated Bill Brown to the Scottish Hall of Fame in December 2013. Bill was indeed inducted into the Hall the following October. This profile is based upon the nomination paper. 

Bill Brown was one of the greatest Scottish goalkeepers of the post-war period and is a legendary figure at both Dundee and Tottenham Hotspur Football Clubs. At Dundee he was a member of the League Cup winning team in 1951-52. He went on to be a member of the Tottenham Hotspur team that was the first team in the modern age to win the English League and Cup Double in 1960-61. This was followed by another FA Cup win in 1962. They  then became the first British team to win an European Trophy. The European Cup Winners Cup in 1963.

2  -  The Dream.

Things have changed since spurs were the giant killers in 1901 over coming League teams to be the only non-league side to win the trophy. We of course have since grown into one of the top teams in the country. On a number of occasions non-league clubs have fought their way through the early rounds of the Cup before attempting to claim the honour of defeating the giant known as Tottenham Hotspur. Spurs have had some close shaves and a game that should never of happened!

".....It's Six in the City!". Everything left disjointed,disordered and chaotic after that embarrassing defeat at the Etihad. So much rambling that Andre Villas Boas is now suddenly leading the 'sack race'.SO MUCH for one big defeat? Or is the frustration growing in the fans for the lack of goals? Whatever it is, if AVB can prove his critics wrong ,THIS IS THE TIME!