TOTTENHAM HOTSPUR
CHRONOLOGICAL HISTORY
1882 - What was to become Tottenham Hotspur Football Club was formed by boys from Hotspur cricket club and from St. John's Presbyterian local grammar school, who used to meet under a street lamp on Tottenham High street close to the site of the current ground. The first name used was 'Hotspur FC' , named after the Duke of Northumberland's son Percy, who went by the nickname "Harry Hotspur" and who's fearless heroics would come to symbolise the character of the club.
The first match was against the Radicals and saw the team lose by two goals on 30th August 1882, the only other match that season saw Spurs score their first goal, but lost 8-1 to Latymer. The scorer was not recorded.
1883 - The club was run by John Ripsher. The team played on the Tottenham Marshes and wore Navy Blue. Spurs recorded their first win on the 6th October 1883 with a 9-0 thrashing of Brownlow Rovers, and later that month Buckle was the first reported Spurs scorer in a 3-1 defeat by Grange Park.
1884 - The club was renamed "Tottenham Hotspur Football and Athletic club".
1885 - Spurs played their first ever competitive match - against St Albans in the London Association Cup on 17th October 1885, and ran out 5-2 winners (scorers unrecorded) . A good start to what was to become a famous cup tradition. The kit had changed to light blue and white halves.
1887 - November 19th 1887 to be precise was the first meeting with Arsenal. The scum going under their original name of Royal Arsenal we being hammered 2-1 when they whinged to the officials and the game was abandonded 15 minutes from time, thus establishing their place in history as cheats, and second best to Tottenham.
1888 - Spurs moved to play home matches at Northumberland Park and charged an attendance fee for the first time, 3d!
1890 - A moment of madness, or the first gooner infiltrator!, as the kit changes colour once again -this time to Red shirts and Navy shorts!
1895 - Spurs became a professional club
1896 - Spurs were elected to the Southern League, thankfully changing our colours from Red, this time to Chocolate and Gold stripes.
1897 - The first of many cup finals - although unlike many of the subsequent ones, Spurs lost 2-0 to Wellingborough in a Local charity Cup
1898 - The club changed its colours for the last time to the lilywhite shirts used by the team of the day Preston North End, but retained the Navy blue shorts. The club also became a limited company and a record attendance of 15,000 saw the match against Woolwich Arsenal. Typically enough, boring Arsenal spoilt the day by grinding out a 0-0 on 8th April 1898.
1899 - The Club moved to present site which had a capacity of 35,000. The ground was almost named 'Gilpin Park' but, having never been officially names, gradually became known as 'White Hart Lane'. The first match was a friendly vs Notts County, and after taking gross receipts £115 , Spurs ran out 4-1 winners with an opener from Pratt, followed by a hatrick for Copeland.
1900 - Spurs become Champions of the Southern League.
1901 - After victories against Preston 4-2 after a replay 1-1, Bury 2-1, Reading 3-0 after a replay 1-1 and West Brom 4-0 in the Semi's, Spurs won the FA Challenge Cup by beating Sheffield United 3-1 after a replay at Burnden Park, Bolton to become the only non-League club, ever to achieve this honour. Spurs were unlucky not to have won the first match at Crystal Palace which ended 2-2 as the referee wrongly awarded Sheffield United an equaliser. Star of the cup run was Sandy Brown, who scored in 7 of the 8 matches, including a hatrick in the away win at Preston, all four in the 4-0 Semi final win against West Brom and in both finals to register 15 goals overall - a record which will surely never be broken.
1902 - Runners up in both the Southern and Western Leagues
1901 - Winners of the Western League and runners up again inthe Southern League
1908 - Despite only finishing 7th in the Southern League, Spurs were elected to the Second Division of the Football League.
1908 - The club had gone on a tour of Argentina. on the ship on the way home one of the amusements was a fancy dress contest, which was eventually won by two of the Tottenham squad dressed as Robinson Crusoe and Man Friday. Suffering from some understandable confusion with the story of Long Kevan Silver, they borrowed the ship's pet parrot. In recognition of their success the bird was presented to the club by the captain. It survived happily at the club for ten years, dying on the day that Arsenal were given Spurs' place in the first division in 1919.
1909 - Spurs win their first ever league match 3-0 against Wolves and take the division by storm finishing runners up and gaining promotion to First Division at the first attempt.
1909 - The cockerel and ball first appeared in 1909 when a former player W J Scott cast a copper centrepiece to perch on the new west stand. Our world-famous ball-and-cockerel emblem is believed to have its origins in ****-fighting, because combative ***** were fitted with tiny spurs.
The origin of the cockerel symbol has never been satisfactorily been explained. Harry Hotspur after whom the club was named wore spurs while leading his troops into battle. The spurs which were attached to the legs of fighting ***** were similar and the club's badge in the nineteenth century was a simple spur. Somewhere along the line a link was made between the fighting **** and the cockspur and the cockerel took over as the symbol. It became firmly established as the symbol in 1910 when the cockerel and ball were erected on the roof of the main stand. The two lions rampant are taken from the crest of the northumberland family who feature heavily in hte history of the local area.
Our motto "Audere est Facere" is Latin inscription, the litreral translation meaning "to dare is to do". In other words unless you try you will never achieve.
1915 - After finishing 15th, 15th, 12th, 17th 17th, Spurs finally are relegation to Second Division after finishing 20th, BUT ONLY BECAUSE ARSENAL BRIBED THE FA. After the First World War, the Football League decided to expand the two divisions from 20 to 22 clubs. Derby County and Preston North End, the top two Second Division clubs, were automatically promoted. Chelsea, who had finished above Spurs in 1914-15, were told that they could remain in Division 1, as a match between Manchester United and Liverpool had been fixed in 1915. No case was made out for Spurs, and Arsenal (who had finished sixth in Division 2 in 1914-15, behind Barnsley, Wolves and Birmingham) were promoted at spurs’ expense. BASTARDS.
1920 - Shenanighans with Arsenal's first division status cannot over shadow Spurs storming to their first league championship, the second division title, with a record 70 points.
1921 - The year ends in one again and so it brought our second FA Cup triumph, Spurs beating Wolverhampton Wanderers 1-0 at Stamford Bridge with a Jimmy Dimmock winner on a rain sodden pitch. Spurs had accounted for Bristol Rovers 6-2, Bradford City4-0, Southend United 4-1, Aston Villa 1-0 and Preston 2-1 in the semi all at the first attempt.
1928 - Relegation to Second Division with 38 points.
1933 - Promotion again, this time as Division Two runners-up.
1934 - Building of the East Stand completed.
1935 - Relegation to Second Division.
1938 - The existing crowd record of 75,038 spectators established for the visit of Sunderland in the sixth round of the FA Cup. Spurs spoil the show by losing 1-0.
1950 - Led by Arthur Rowe, Spurs finally gain Promotion to the First Division by winning the second division championship for the second time.
1951 - One of the greatest seasons in Spurs history, as the push and run side claim the Football League Championship for the first time.
1957 - Our club shield is believed to date from 1957 when the club celebrated its 75 anniversary. It was made to decipt the enviroment of Tottenham Hotspur Football Club.
Bruce Castle which is shown on the top left-hand side is a 16th century building which currently houses the local history and achieve collection of the London Brough of Haringey. On the right are the seven trees planted at Page Green by the seven sisters of Tottenham thus the district known as Seven Sisters.
1961 - The DOUBLE: Football League Champions and winners of the FA Cup, with a 2-0 win over Leicester City.
1962 - Spurs retain the FA with a 3-1 win against Burnley
1963 - Winners of the European Cup-Winners' Cup. The first British club to win a major European competition. Jimmy Greaves becomes Spurs' highest League scorer in one season with 37 goals.
1967 - FA Cup winners for the fifth time, with a 2-1 win over Chelsea.
1971 - Winners of the Football League Cup for the first time, with two goal from Martin Chivers enough to defeat Aston Villa.
1972 - Spurs won the UEFA cup for the first time with a 3-2 aggregate win over Wolves. Spurs won the first leg at Molyniex 2-1 with a couple from Chivers, before a Mullery goal was enough to get us a 1-1 draw back at White Hart Lane.
1973 - A late goal from Sub Ralph Coates is enough to win the Football League Cup for the second time against Norwich City
1974 - Defeat and disgrace as Spurs lose 4-2 on aggregate to old rivals Feyernoord, as supporters go on the rampage in the stadium. Spurs are handed a life ban from Europe, overturned in 1980. Bill Nicholson resigned in the autumn of the next season, and a young 4 year old watches his first match, as Spurs go down 3-2 at home to Burnley, with John Pratt scoring his first Spurs goal.
1977 - Relegation to Second Division.
1978 - Promotion again secured at first attempt, despite a jittery last week which saw us lose at home to Sunderland 3-2, beat Hull 1-0 at home with a late handballed goal from Perryman and a 0-0 draw at already promoted Southampton.
1980 - Old West Stand demolished to make way for new modern structure.
1981 - FA Cup winners for the sixth time. Steve Perryman sets a new Club record of League appearances by passing Pat Jennings' previous record total of 472.
1982 - New West Stand opened. FA Cup winners for the seventh time in the Club's Centenary year.
1983 - By finishing fourth in the League, qualified for the UEFA Cup for the first time since season 1973/74. First football club to float shares on the London Stock Exchange.
1983 - The current badge depicting the two lions plus cockerel and ball, incorporating our initials was introduced in 1983 and updated in 1992, the latter version - excluding the lions - appears on the club kit.
The colours of our shield were further amended to ensure consistency with a darker blue background to match the badge. The castle and ball switched from yellow to brown, the trees were given greater definition with the club initials now black on a white backdrop as opposed to light blue.
1984 - Winners of the UEFA Cup for the second time, after a penalty shoot out with Anderlecht.
1985 - Playing strip changed to white shirts and white shorts.
1986 - Steve Perryman transferred to Oxford United after making a record 655 League appearances for Spurs.
1987 - Spurs reach eighth FA Cup Final. Clive Allen sets a new Club record with 49 goals in a single season. Kit returns to white shirts and navy shorts.
1988 - First million plus signing Paul Stewart from Manchester City for £1.5 million.
1989 - The shelf is removed to make way for executive boxes on the East Stand. Somebody forgot to remove the two massive pillars which blight the stand to this day.
1991 - Batter Arsenal 3-1 on 14th April 1991 in the unofficial North London Cup with Gazza's free kick and a couple from Lineker. FA Cup winners a month later for the eighth time with a 2-1 extra time win over Forest. Gazza, who had been instrumental in getting us to the final was injured early on and Lineker missed a penalty as well as having a goal disallowed before we evenually won. Alan Sugar becomes Chairman and steers club away from impending bankruptcy.
1992 - Founder members of the new FA Premier League. Paul Gascoigne joins Lazio for £5.5 million - a record.
1994 - 'The Shelf' becomes an all-seater enclosure.
1995 - New South Stand completed. Record signing of Chris Armstrong from Crystal Palace for £4.5 million.
1996 - New Rights Issue raises £10.9 million to redevelop North Stand, complete hospitality areas in South Stand and reconstruct pitch.
1997 - Record signing, £6million for Les Ferdinand from Newcastle United.
1998 - New North Stand completed. Increased capacity to 36,257.
1999 - Winners of the League Cup for the third time with a last minute winner from Allan Nielsen against Leicester City.
2000 - New record signing, £11million for Sergei Rebrov from Dynamo Kiev
2001 - Gooner Graham sacked and the dark clouds rise from the Lane. Heavenly choirs accompany his replacement Glenn Hoddle as Spurs embark on a new era .................
2002 - Spurs reach the League Cup final with a fantastic 5-1 semi final win over Chelsea but a below par performance and a host of missed chances saw Spurs beaten 2-1 by Blackburn Rovers with Christian Ziege scoring Spurs goal. Later that season, Ziege was to become the first serving Spurs player to appear in a World Cup final when coming on as sub for Germany in their defeat to Brazil.
2003 - Hoddle sacked and Spurs left to drift under crass mismanagement of Levy and Pleat
2004/5 - After 9 months of waiting, Santini appointed as manager but then "walked out" a few months later. New director of Football Frank Arnesen sees his man Martin Jol replace him as manager, and Frank Arnesen himself leaves for Chelsea in the summer
2006 - Spurs suffer final day heartache (or should that be gutache) as a poisoned squad loses 2-1 to West Ham and with in the 4th position held since Nov that season but a 5th place guarantees the highest premier league finish and a return to the UEFA cup next season
2007 – Campaigning on four fronts for most of the season, Spurs suffered springtime knock outs of the league cup (semi against Arsenal), FA Cup against Chelsea and in the UEFA against Sevilla both in the QF stage and both against the eventual winners, but a late rally in the league lifts Spurs to another 5th place and UEFA qualification.
2007 – Martin Jol sacked and replaced by Juande Ramos
2008 – Spurs beat Arsenal 5-1 in the semi final of the League Cup, the first win over the Gunners since 1999 to set up another all London clash in the final against Chelsea
2008 - Winners of the Football League Cup for the fourth time, coming from a goal down to beat Chelsea 2-1 after extra time with goals from Berbatov (pen) and Woodgate, his first for the club
2008 – Juande Ramos sacked and replaced by Harry Redknapp
2009 – Spurs reach the League Cup final but fail to retain the cup by losing out 4-1 on penalties to Manchester United after a goalless 120 minutes
2010 - What a year! We remained in the running for a place in the top four throughout the 2009-10 season. Having lost the FA Cup semi-final at Wembley, we then faced key back-to-back derbies against title-contenders Arsenal and Chelsea in the space of a week at the Lane. We won both. We went to Manchester City in the final week of the season knowing victory would secure fourth place and Champions League football. We produced the performance of the season to win 1-0 and take fourth.
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[FONT="]White Hart Lane was originally a disused nursery owned by the brewery Charringtons and located behind a public house. The landlord realised the increased revenues he could enjoy if Tottenham played their matches behind his pub and the club moved in. They brought with them the stand they used at Northumberland Park which gave shelter to 2,500 fans. Notts County were the first visitors to 'the Lane' in a friendly watched by 5,000 people and bringing in £115 in receipts, Spurs won 4-1. QPR became the first competitive visitors to the ground and 11,000 people saw them lose 1-0 to Tottenham.
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[FONT="]In 1905 Tottenham raised enough money to buy the freehold to the land and became the permanent owners of the ground. As the club grew new stands were added. A new main stand was added in 1909, the East stand was also covered this year and extended further two years later. The profits from the 1921 FA Cup win were used to build a covered terrace at the Paxton Road end and the Park Lane end was built at a cost of over £3,000 some two years later. This increased the ground's capacity to around 58,000 with room for 40,000 under cover. The East Stand development was finishing in 1934 which increased the capacity to around 80,000 spectators and cost £60,000. The pitch was renovated in 1952 which uncovered a number of items from the old nursery on the site and one year later the first floodlights were introduced. These lights were upgraded in 1957 which required the cockerel to be moved from the West Stand to the East and then in 1961 floodlight pylons were installed.
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[FONT="]The West Stand was replaced by an expensive (and far behind schedule) new structure and the stadium started its long modernisation process. Various developments and upgrades were implemented over the years and in 1992 the lower terraces of the south and east stand were converted to seating and the whole of the North stand followed to become all-seater the following season. The South Stand re-development was completed in March 1995 and included the first giant Sony Jumbotron TV screen for live game coverage and away match screenings. The capacity of the stadium increased to just over 33,000. In 1997/98 season the Paxton Road stand had a new upper tier added which included the second Jumbotron screen and increased capacity to 36,240 and was funded by a rights issue in 1996
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[FONT="]In recent years, White Hart Lane has been undertaking constant changes to improve the stadiums facities. Such avenues like seating capacity and the like have been dramitically improved.
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HONOURS
[FONT="]- Football League Champions 1950-51, 1960-61
- F.A.Cup Winners 1900-01, 1920-21, 1960-61, 1961-62, 1966-67, 1980-81, 1981-82, 1990-91
- Football League Cup Winners 1970-71, 1972-73, 1998-99, 2007-08
- European Cup-Winners Cup Winners 1962-63
- UEFA Cup Winners 1971-72, 1983-84
- Football League Division Two Champions 1919-20, 1949-50
- Southern League Champions 1899-1900.
- Western League Champions 1903-04.
- London League Premier Division Champions 1902-03.
- Football League South 'C' Division Champions 1939-40.
- Football League South Champions 1943-44, 1944-45.
- Southern District Charity Cup Winners 1901-02, 1904-05 (joint), 1906-07.
- London Challenge Cup Winners 1910-11, 1928-29.
- F.A.Charity Shield Winners 1920-21, 1951-52, 1961-62, 1962-63, 1967-68 (joint), 1981-82 (joint), 1991-92 (joint).
- Dewar Shield Winners 1901-02, 1933-34, 1934-35.
- Anglo-Italian League Cup-Winners Cup Winners 1971-72.
- Norwich Charity Cup Winners 1919-20
- Norwich Hospital Charity Cup Winners 1946-47, 1949-50 (joint).
- Ipswich Hospital Charity Cup Winners 1951-52 (joint).
- Costa Del Sol Tournament Winners 1965,1966.
- Nolia Cup (Sweden) Winners 1977.
- Japan Cup Winners 1979.
- Sun International Challenge Trophy (Swaziland) Winners 1983.
- Peace Cup (Korea) Winners 2005.
- Vodacom Challenge (South Africa) Winners 2007.
- Feyenoord Jubileum Tournament (Holland) Winners 2008.
- Barclays Asia Trophy (China) Winners 2009.
[/FONT]UEFA Champions League Qualifying Stages 2010.
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[FONT="]- Record Attendance: 75,038 v Sunderland, FA Cup, 5 March 1938 [/FONT]
[FONT="]- Record Cup Victory: 13–2 v Crewe, FA Cup, 3 February 1960 [/FONT]
[FONT="]- Record Cup Defeat: 0–8 v Köln, UEFA Intertoto Cup, 22 July 1995 [/FONT]
[FONT="]- Record League Victory: 9–0 v Bristol Rovers, Division 2, 22 October 1977 [/FONT]
[FONT="]- Record League Defeat: 0–7 v Liverpool, Division 1, 2 September 1978 [/FONT]
[FONT="]- Most League Points (2 for a win): 70, Division 2, 1919–20 [/FONT]
[FONT="]- Most League Points (3 for a win): 77, Division 1, 1984–85 [/FONT]
[FONT="]- Most League Goals: 115, Division 1, 1960-61 [/FONT]
[FONT="]- Most League Goals in Total: 220 Jimmy Greaves, 1961–70 [/FONT]
[FONT="]- Most Goals in a season: 49 Clive Allen, 1986–87 [/FONT]
[FONT="]- Most League Appearances: 655 Steve Perryman, 1969–1986 [/FONT]
[FONT="]- Most Appearances: 854 Steve Perryman, 1969–1986 [/FONT]
[FONT="]- Youngest first team player: John Bostock, 16 years, 295 days against Dinamo Zagreb, 6 November 2008 [/FONT]
[FONT="]- Oldest first team player: Jimmy Cantrell, 39 years, 350 days against Birmingham City, 21 April 1923 [/FONT]
[FONT="]- Transfer Record (Received): £30.75 million from Manchester United for Dimitar Berbatov, September 2008.[/FONT]
[FONT="]- Transfer Record (Paid): £16.5 million to Dinamo Zagreb for Luka Modrić, June 2008
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