Apologies if this has been done before, but as a bit of fun I thought we could all have a go at picking our best ever Spurs XI. Here's my feeble attempt:- -----------------------Jennings--------------------- Alan Mullery----Graham Roberts----Ledley King----Steve Perryman ----------------------Dave Mackay-------------------- ------------Danny Blanchflower-----------Gareth Bale------------ -----------------------Glenn Hoddle----------------------- ---------Martin Chivers----------Jimmy Greaves--------- Bench: Ray Clemence, Gary Mabbutt, David Ginola, Paul Gasgoine, Teddy Sherringham
I'd probably have Ginola in over Bale for the moment, though no doubt give it a few years and Bale will surely be there.
Restricting myself to players I can actually remember (basically from 1966 onwards) Jennings; Carr, Campbell, King, Knowles; Mackay, Hoddle, Ardiles; Gascoigne, Greaves, Bale Subs; Thorsvedt, Kinnear, Mabbutt, Venables, Ginola, Sheringham, Chivers
There are so many bloody good players from our illustrious history, that hard choices had to me made.
On reflection, I would probably put Clive Allen on the bench in place of Teddy. Oh! The agonies of choice!
Did Perryman ever play left back? Only remember Centre Half or Defensive Mid. Knowles then Hughton at left back for me.
Yeah, he played there a few times, when we were short at the back. Historically, we were always short of naturally left-sided players and usually had to make do with our best utility players. Perryman was extremely versatile for us, like that.
I did think long and hard about the left wing position, as we seem to have been blessed by having some of the best left wingers in the game (which is amazing given the fact that we have gone for long spells without any naturally left-sided players, and it being our jinx position for many successive seasons in the past). The trouble is, one could so easily simply pick the great double-winning side of 61/62 and not give any of our other legends a chance. I actually believe that Bale is a better player than those other greats from the past, bearing in mind the pace of the modern game, and I truly believe that he will go down in history of one of football's greatest ever wingers, not just a Spurs legend.
He gave many years of great service to Spurs, and while his subsequent move was not to my taste (to put it mildly) he remains the second best centre half I've seen play for Spurs (after Ledley) If I was five years older I'm sure Blanchflower and Jones would have to be in there, but I don't really remember them
I was wondering about Steve Archibald who was very under-rated, but couldn't see who to drop. Alan Gilzean would be in there if my heart ruled my mind - he wasn't a really top player, but he was the most committed forward we've ever had I think and always capable of the unexpected
I thought long and hard about putting Gasgoine on the bench ahead of Chris Waddle, the latter having been the more consistent performer. However, there was absolutely no doubting that Gazzer, anonymous for 80 minutes, would suddenly turn in 10 minutes of utter genius and win the game for us. It would have been very difficult to leave him out of the all-time greatest team, altogether.
I saw the Double Team play, many many times. I would definitely select Dave Mackay & Blanchflower. But, above all, from that team, John White - "The Ghost". It's obviously hard to make comparisons because the game moves on. However, that team was far more than the individual parts - it was a beautifully balanced team, which is why they were so successful. Something that gets forgotten by too many managers, today.
