Hotspur Towers - Tottenham 125

The home game nearest to our 125th anniversary fell on Monday 1st October 2007. The evening saw the club present a number of the clubs greatest players to the fans along with various celebrations to mark the event.

It was however not a good time for the club and certainly not an enjoyable period for the fans. Aston Villa were the visitors that night and did their best to spoil the party in a season that Tottenham had not started well.

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Dimitar Berbatov opened the scoring on the night with a header (top). Villa pulled level just a couple of minutes later following an error from Paul Robinson and them went ahead with the Villa fans taunting the home supporters as Villa increased their lead to 4-1 on the hour. Pascal Chimbonda pulled one back after 69 minutes and Jermain Defoe (from the bench) struck the woodwork.

Robbie Keane made it 3-4 with eight minutes to play. With Spurs now throwing everything at the Villa side and their last gasp fourth goal arrived in stoppage time came from Younes Kaboul who tore his shirt off and celebrated on the Tottenham bench as the game ended 4-4. The club was wearing a blue and white halved shirt as a nod to their early days and was only worn for this occasion.

Spurs had looked dangerous but the defence looked frail which left Tottenham in the bottom three in the table. Martin Jol’s side never gave up and at least offered the fans a glimmer of hope for the season.  

After the game Robbie Keane, standing in as captain for the injured Ledley King, gave Martin a boost saying ‘He has the support from everyone, he’s shown what a good manager he is over the past few years.’

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Tottenham had opened the season with two defeats before overcoming Derby 4-0 who would finish bottom. Two points from the next four games had left Tottenham in the drop zone. Despite a 6-1 win over Famagusta in the UEFA Cup things did not look well for Tottenham and their Directors had been photographed meeting Juande Ramos the manager of Seville at a Spanish hotel.

One more point from the next two games saw Martin Jol leave the club to be replaced by Ramos. Who despite winning the League Cup and lifting Tottenham to finish 11th never looked the part and his limited English ensured he was never embraced by the supporters.

He would leave the club a couple of days short of a year later and in turn be replaced by Harry Redknapp.

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The club attempted to celebrate its Quasquicentennial anniversary but it wasn't the way the fans dream't of. The Spurs team that evening -  Robinson, Chimbonda, Dawson, Kaboul, Bale, Lennon (Malbranque 86), Zokora, Huddlestone, Tainio (Defoe 54), Berbatov (Bent 73), Keane.

Subs Not Used: Cerny, Rocha.

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Keith Harrison.
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