Talking Tottenham - Best of - Volume five

Talking Tottenham used to appear regularly as a magazine mixture of news, trivia, quotes, twaddle and everything Tottenham. Trying to be a little different from endless other blogs and possibly not always totally serious. My loyal readers, yes both of them, felt that some of the piffle was worth preserving before it finally disappeared into the recycling bin of eternity. So blame them for this collection not me. Before we take a random dip into the archive however lets pop into the bosses’ press conference and it seems we have arrived just at that ‘please not the Real Madrid question again!’ moment.

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One of the stories we brought you was the fact that the two managers that won European trophies at Spurs had both had links to a murder. The house next door to the one where Bill grew up in Scarbourgh was the scene where the body of a woman was found in March 1943. It was discovered in the inspection pit inside the garage by two boys. Although the police had several theories nobody was ever charged. It is thought that the killer might have been a soldier who was later killed in battle. Jump forward 47 years and Keith Burkenshaw sold his house in Hertford to a man who was later killed there. The house was damaged by fire and his body was found to have been badly beaten before he was strangled. There were suggestions he was linked to the criminal underworld. Nobody was ever charged despite the crime being featured on ‘Crimewatch’ in the UK. A TV programme that seeks the public’s help in solving crimes. Even more strangely the reporter on the programme was Jill Dando, who herself was murdered in 1999. 

Our undercover spy at the club tells us that the club had declined to comment regards the report today that the new build is now behind schedule as it was discovered someone had the turned the blueprints upside down.

Always bang up to date, how about this gem for those who think money has ruined the game. "not more than six professional clubs were solvent. If only six of the leading clubs can make it pay on a really lucrative scale, what is to become of the game?"  This was written in an article entitled "Football Finance."

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In case you are wondering why you missed it, it was written over a hundred years ago by J. J. Bentley, who became the President of the Football League. So stop blaming Sky Sports (completely).

Reader participation was a key ingredient in Talking Tottenham and debates ranged over the best No 1. At the time Jennings piped Lloris I think but that might have swung since then. We asked who from the club would you like to be stuck in a lift with and what would you ask as they couldn’t get away. Then there was the one word challenge to describe Tottenham’s season (my favourite was kittenish). Even if you missed it first time around feel free to chip in here if you want to be involved.

Another breaking story and we are receiving reports that some minor changes are to be made into the stadium design after it was revealed the current plan does not have a children’s only area.
 
We also slipped odd bits in that  failed the last edit in the Hotspur Towers series. (which is unbelievably good and worth checking out on the blog page by the way). For instance the story of Cliff Jones and his debut.

.Cliff joined us from Swansea and was due to make his debut in the game at Highbury in 1958. As he was still in the army at the time he made his way to the ground by tube. Upon arrival the commissionaire did not recognise him and would not let him in thinking it was fan pulling a fast one. Finally they called Bill Nicholson from the dressing room who said ‘that’s him, let him in’ Bill then looked at his watch and told Cliff he was late.

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Cliff in action, left.

Cliff has a reputation as being a joker, once during the tour of Russia he banged on Bill Nicholson’s door and asked him to send along an interpreter. Bill asked why he needed someone who could speak Russian and Cliff said no it was for his roommate Dave Mackay, he couldn’t understand what he was saying.

A story confirmed by Dave and he added 'Cliff and I never argue, I guess its because we cant understand each other.' 
 

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Having identified Danny Rose’s runs from left back as a major offensive threat we can exclusively reveal to our readers the steps one club is taking to neutralize the danger.

With the passing of time many of the jests based on current events lose their sparkle. This one on twitter on last election day in the UK manages to survive, ‘I saw Aaron Lennon at the Polling Station. It seems it took him six attempts to get his cross into the box.’
 

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What would TT be without trivia, Trivia its like the measles for some reason it makes you feel better when you pass it on to someone else. Talking of strikers did you know back in 2008, Roman Pavlyuchenko was elected as a deputy for Vladimir Putin's United Russia party in his hometown of Stavropol. Also on the news front Pat Jennings was invited to speak to the Oxford Union, the debating chamber that has previously hosted such speakers as the Dalai Lama, American Presidents, Albert Einstein, and Alan Sugar and Paul Gascoigne.(can you image Gazza!).

Nov 1929 and Cardiff City come to WHL. Amongst the fans are nine Welsh men who had won the Victoria Cross and are to attend a VC reunion dinner with the Prince of Wales that evening, They see the visitors win 2-1. In 1974 Neil McNab became the last player to sign as an amateur and would become the first 16 year old to play in the League side. . See doesn’t that feel better knowing that.

And this just in from our undercover reporter, we are led to believe that the Club are looking at minor changes to the interior plans of the new build as there have been suggestions that the dressings are not in keeping with the rest of the building.

A couple of year ago I wrote an open letter to Jimmy Greaves re the clubs Hall of Fame. So I was delighted when he finally accepted. We all know what happened next but as I compile this collection it looks like we will finally see Jim (below) come home in the next few weeks.
 http://www.indiaspurs.com/blog/dear-jimmy

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I recently wrote about Upton Park. Regular readers will know that my younger years were spent on the edges of London, where a number of the unenlightened locals followed West Ham Wanderers. It fell to us to beat them regularly at football (quite easy, we cheated by passing the ball to each other) even if they had the masters playing for them. We of course taunted them at every opportunity.


One I well remember, first boy ’Please sir my dad says WHU have the best pitch in the country.’ 2nd  boy “Yes sir my dad said that its because the fertilizer they use’ 3rd  voice hidden at back ‘That must be right sir, my dad is always saying West Ham are a load of old s*** .’ How we laughed all the way through the detention.

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Just before a game with Palace we slipped this gem into the pack, - That means I can mention Kenneth Hunt, not a name that springs to mind, but one with a special place in footie history. Hunt played for various teams including Palace. An England center half who made one appearance for us as a guest during WW1. The game with Portsmouth was abandoned after 80 minutes, (we were 1-0 up). So what is so special about Hunt?  He is the only ordained minister ever to play for England.
 
See, this isn’t just rubbish its cunningly planned informative rubbish.

TT also featured quotes, and not just the usual suspects, so here are a few . Let us start this from Pat Jennings "Many children dream of sporting glory. I know I did when I used to go to Windsor Park, Belfast, to watch Northern Ireland play. I remember vividly one afternoon climbing on the lower rung of a floodlight pylon in torrential rain and watching a game against Scotland. I left the ground soaked to the skin, but I was too busy with my thoughts of one day being good enough to represent my country to bother about a minor detail like possible pneumonia." Ron Henry was asked who was the biggest influence on his career. He replied “I expect you think I will say either Bill Nicholson or a school teacher. In fact it was my wife Edna.

"Ossie Ardiles in a post match interview ‘you scored with your left today. when was the last time you used that foot?'  and Ossie Ardiles replied  "In the car on the way to the ground."

I will finish with two Jose Mourinho in , September 2004: "Tottenham might as well have put the team bus in front of their goal. Sometimes when you are a big club, a very small club comes to your stadium." Mauricio Pochettino, on Jose’s last trip to WHL today: "We played the defending champions and it is good that you get the feeling that Chelsea was a small team and Tottenham feel they can win every game."

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Growing up I had been weaned on tales of Tottenham and knew my family had followed the Spurs for years and had been at the 1921 Cup Final. It was only since I started these scribbles when I was reminiscing with family (I hate the term interrogate, besides I still think waterboarding should be in the Olympics) when I discovered that it actually dates back to before the First World War. Anyway I mention this as occasional it allows me to slip in bits like this one for your enjoyment. - Aunt Meg sat forward in her chair and said, ‘I remember the last time, back in twenty one.’ She must have been about my age back then. It was now 1961 and the men folk were talking about the upcoming Spurs trip to Wembley. Meg always enjoyed a good story and told me the tale. Her dad and his brothers had arrived home very late that night. She remembered her mum asking where they had been as the game was over hours ago. He laughed and said Tottenham had won.

They had decided as they were going the same way to follow the team back to Tottenham to make sure they got home safe! The journey had taken hours as thousands of others heading home had the same idea. When they finally reached Tottenham they had come to a standstill as the roads were packed and people hung from every window. The noise was deafening and a band was trying to make itself heard. I remember Meg looking over at the men and then telling me her dad had been soaked through, from the rain they said, but I think they were soaked on the inside with something a bit stronger than rain. Which was a cunning way of plugging the mini -series ‘Tottenham and the Roaring 20’s.’
 
Link -  http://www.indiaspurs.com/blog/ht36-tottenham-and-the-roaring-20s-part-1

We can exclusivity that while goal line technology has been seen as a success in reality the powers that be believe there are still some fine points that need resolving.
 
Talking of what made me laugh this week, the Ars supporters who complained that Chelsea were boring. Clearly they have no idea of their own history and the famous mantra of Herbert Chapman who landed the foundations for them to actually win something was ‘If they don’t score we cant lose.’
 

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Chirpy turned up a lot, he even gave us an interview about his acting career ! Along the way we featured other mascots and some fun tales (should that be tails) such as Swansea’s Cyril the Swan who has a special place in mascot folklore, as not only did he throw things at visiting fans, he twice got into a fight with Zambo (Millwalls lion) and on one unforgettable occasion he ripped Zambos head off and threw it into the crowd. It is believed several children are still undergoing therapy. Then he went on Dutch TV and he told the presenter ‘Don’t f*** with the Swans’. Then there was the rabbit at Peterborough who used to wear a team shirt and to run up and down the touchline during the game, and in one match was flagged offside twice by the linesman on the far side before anyone realised what he was doing. Love that one.

Deepdale Duck (Preston) can actually claim to be the only mascot (as far as I’m aware) that has actually been sent off. In a game with Everton he kept trying to distract the goalkeeper. While north of the boarder Ross County had Staggie, who use to go on the internet to interact with the fans. Sounds like a good idea, you might think. Until the Celtic game, Staggie (who was actually a Glasgow Rangers fan) went on line and called the Celtic manager a sewer rat amongst other things! You cant make this stuff up you know.

Don’t miss the next exciting Talking Tottenham when we will be going behind the camera to discover how Premier League world is made.

One story you did not see because I just couldn't confirm it was true. There is a Tottenham fan who changed his name legally so he has the club' name as his own. (eg Fred Tottenham Hotspur). This might just be an April Fool, I really don't know.

There was actually a Liverpool fan some years back that had his daughter Christened with 11 middle names of their first team. Let me know if you hear anything.
 

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I shall leave this time around with this breaking news just in from our undercover reporter and it seems the club are on the verge of announcing they have signed a new striker, (subject to a medical). - pic.
 
So there you have it another trawl through the stories that wiled away the time before kickoff. If you found some of it entertaining / interesting, then before the great delete button in the sky zaps it you might to check out the other four best off’s
 

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Thanks to all those silly people who send in silly photos

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