The Colossus of Tottenham

Maurice Norman was born in Norfolk in 1934 and so will celebrate his 80th birthday in a few weeks. Signed by Jimmy Anderson he joined us from Norwich City in 1955. Costing us £18,000 plus winger Johnny Galvin going the other way. He became a key member of the team during that golden era of the early 1960’s and if not for injury would have been in the England World Cup team of 1966.

Some of his performances were so masterful the press compared him to the ‘Colossus at Rhodes’.

---

Maurice had only played 35 games for Norwich before we signed him where he was a center half but we moved him to right back to replace Alf Ramsey. A long term injury to Maurice, known as Monty or the Swede, saw Peter Baker come into the team and he didn’t regain a regular place until returning to center half in the 1957-58 season where he did so well he earned a place in England’s World Cup squad that summer. Although he did not play in the competition and had to wait until 1962 for the first of his 23 caps. He also won 3 Under 23 caps.

As a player he was described as having a strong tackle, good distribution, excellent positional sense and for a man of his size a good turn of speed. Maurice became one of the keystones in the Double team missing one game that season. He also won another FA Cup and European Cup Winners Cup medals.

It might seem strange to us now but he was one of the first defenders to go up regularly for corners, which certainly unsettled other teams.

2

1

At the start of the 1965-66 season he returned to right back and in a friendly game that November with the Hungarian Select XI at the Lane he suffered a career ending double fracture of his leg. The following day a family member brought me a programme and they said it looked a really bad injury from where they were standing and even then posed the question of 'if rather than when' he would return. Maurice worked hard for two years before having too retire.

Maurice played a total of 411 games for Tottenham, chipping in 19 goals during that wonderful era. He is in the Hall of Fame at both Tottenham and Norwich. He now lives back in Norfolk.

Speaking in 2010 he described his time at Tottenham  “It was a magical time I can’t believe it was 50 years ago. They were some fantastic players and it was a real joy to line up alongside them and be part of that team.” Maurice continued “ “Our manager Bill Nicholson knew the team he wanted and he built it slowly, as players and money became available, over a number of years and we could see it happening as players and knew that peak was coming. The year we won the league and FA Cup was fantastic, and the following year we thought we could do the double again but Ipswich won the league and we had to settle for the cup. We got to the semi-finals of the European Cup, too, but were beaten by Benfica.”

3. As its Valentines Day here is a wedding picture from 1960, with some well groomed guests.

Looking forward to the Double reunion he added “I keep in touch with lots of them still, including players like Tom Finney, but we have lost a lot in recent years. Bobby Robson was a great friend and a real gentleman and lovely to play alongside in an England shirt.” Asked about his thoughts on the modern game “The players today are probably fitter than we were and eat properly but seem more prone to injuries. We used to kick lumps out of each other on terrible muddy pitches and come off laughing and chatting. It’s too serious today,  I don’t begrudge them the money because their careers can end in the next game, as mine did, but it’s not the same today.”

Images - Top & 2- THFC, 1- Mehstg, 4- Getty images,
Thank s- THFC, THOS, Ipswich star

About the author:
Keith Harrison, Nilgiris, TN
View Full Bio