Connections - Scotland 2

The furthest place from home Spurs have met a Scottish club is Japan. When we played Dundee United in the Japan Cup 1979. The competition was held over the end of May and early June.  The two clubs met in the final with Tottenham winning 2-0. Our goals coming from Gordon Smith and Ossie Ardiles. On that tour the team completed a circumnavigation of the world (2). The clubs would meet again in the August when we traveled to Scotland and United gained their revenge winning 2-3. Mark Falco and Ricki Villa being on target for Spurs. The very next day we traveled to Aberdeen and lost 0-2.
We returned to United the following year, Scotland being a popular trip for pre -season and this time lost 1-4. Garth Crooks scoring for us. Spurs having lost to Rangers 24 hours earlier.

It was 1983 before we ventured there again for a 1-1 draw (Tony Galvin). Having drawn with Celtic the day before and it was the same result on our next trip in five seasons later for our last meeting. This time Paul Walsh was our marksman.

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Having to wait till April 1959 for Dave Mackay the first Tottenham Spur to play for his country (1)  we only had to wait till the October for him to be joined in the side V Northern Ireland by Bill Brown. Blanchflower was playing for Ireland. Then the following month John White joined our other two players in the Scottish team when they met Wales who also featured three Spurs players (Jones, Hopkins and Medwin).

With Colin Calderwood leading the way (1) with 33, the other Spurs players to have played for Scotland are  Steve Archibald 22 caps, White and Mackay 18, Alan Hutton our most recent international 14, Durie and Gilzean 13, Sullivan 12, Gough 8, Brazil and Conn 2 each, Jimmy Robertson one cap.                     

For those who may not be aware, the grounds of Dundee and their rivals United are just across the road from each other. Our connections with Dundee include the transfer of two of the biggest names in our history. Bill Brown and Alan Gilzean. When Bill whom India Spurs nominated and led the campaign to have him installed into the Scottish Hall of Fame (4) was purchased Dundee used the money to install floodlights at their ground.

Our only game V the club came in October 1966 as part of the deal that had brought Gilzean south the year before. Spurs won the game 3-2. Gilzean missed that game and Greaves twice and Dave Mackay were our scorers. Alan’s son Ian was with Tottenham as a youngest but never played for the first team. He would later join his dad’s old team.

Alan is the Scotsman who has played the most league games for Spurs with 343 in second place is Mackay 268.

One of the many early Scots to play for Spurs was Alex Glen (left).. He started his adult life as a medical student but traveled to South Africa where he was a ‘medical dresser’ during the Boer War. Upon his return to Britain he gave up medicine and became a footballer joining us from Notts County. From 1904-06 he played 66 games (3) and scored 24 times. The inside right  holds a special place in the Tottenham annuals as during our first ever game on main land Europe on May 4th 1905 he scored a hat trick in our 6-0 win over Vienna. Alex was described as “ a dexterous, neat and elegant dribbler for a tall man (he was 6’1”) he could also swerve and weave past defenders to good effect.”

Spurs played once in the Texaco Cup  competition, its first season, 1970/71. In the first round we played Dunfermline Athletic we won the first leg at home 4-0, A Martin Chivers hat-trick and Mike England for Spurs in front of just over sixteen thousand. The second leg of the tie and a 3-0 win. Chivers and two from Martin Peters with just 9,000 at the game. The second round saw us win 3-2 at home to Motherwell.

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Peters adding two more and Chivers getting our goals. The crowd this time was nearly twenty thousand. In the return leg we lost 0-2 and departed from the competition. These are the only games we have ever played with these two teams. The Texaco Cup also involved teams from the two Ireland’s. It started in 1972 and was open to teams who had not qualified for European competition. After 1976 when the sponsorship ended it was known as the Anglo-Scottich Cup.

Gordon Smith, mentioned above a popular player with the fans joined us from Aston villa in 1979. He played 45 games for us.
The easy going and likable full-back joined us from Aston Villa in February 1979, where he won the League Cup and went on to make 45 senior appearances with  one goal. This came against West Brom. The team he and his family supported. His last game was at Dundalk in his only European game for us in the Cup Winners Cup in 1981. He started life as a forward and won ten Youth caps before changing to full back where he won four Under 23 caps. After leaving us he played in South Africa and the USA as well as in England. Sadly Gordon died only 56 in 2014.

Having beaten Glasgow Rangers in 1963, in part three we look at our second tussle with a Scottish club in European competition.
Thanks - THFC, Bob Goodwin, Southampton FC and Andy Porter.

COYS
Keith Harrison.
t- Keith 16024542
f- peter shearman (old non de plume)

Notes - 1 - See, Part 1.
2 - The story of that tour will be featured in the coming months.
3 - Includes one abandoned game and 8 in the FA Cup for non- league Spurs.
4 - see - Bill Brown