I was at my mum's house last night and found some old Spurs programmes from the period 1967 to 1973. I compared the start of season squad picture from the 1971 and 1973 League Cup final programmes. Both had 17 players (1 goalkeeper!) and there was only one change. Tony Want had gone and Ralph Coates had joined. Going further back to the 1968 game with Liverpool, eight of the eleven listed in the programme were still there in 1973, the exceptions being Jimmy Greaves, Terry Venables and Jimmy Robertson. An amazing contrast with today. Is the current merry-go-round of signings an improvement or would it be better to have a settled squad and let them develop together?
We struggle to put out 11 with 25+ man squad! Back in those days they used to have to play on a pitch with potholes and a concrete ball.
It was forty years ago today (what happened to my dancing man that I put here!!) Settled teams were the name of the game back then, but less games and a lot less hype. Training was perhaps not so intensive but on the other hand tackles were allowed then that players would be sent off for today. AND very little diving.</P> Todays game is more skillful and faster BUT Diving or Cheating as it should be called (Remember we were never allowed to use the word on BBC606) is the worst aspect of the modern game for me. Why would you leave out Greaves if he were in your team!
Power- I think back then it was a privledge to play for Tottenham and some players didn't ask for outrageous salaries. Just to pull on the white shirt was honour enough and Bill Nick made sure they knew it. I have a lot of programmes going back to the 70's and sometimes when I have a bit of down time I unpack them and remember which matches I went to.
Settled teams still seem to be the way forward, just ask Barcelona! It really is amazing though, although I weren't around in them days (sorry if I make you feel old!) but the prices paid for players were what most guys now days earn in a week...
Not sure there were fewer games: 42 in the league, 12 to get to the UEFA cup final, a possible 6 in each of the League and FA Cups plus replays - so a successful season would get above sixty games - we'd be doing well to play that many this season
Another interesting contrast - we lived in Farnborough then - I was 11 and my friend was 12. We went to the match by ourselves: took the train to Waterloo, two tubes across London and then the train to WHL from Liverpool Street. In the next couple of seasons we also went to away games at Arsenal, Chelsea, West Ham, Crystal Palace and Southampton. I doubt many 11 year olds would be allowed to do that today. And there was some proper fan-to-fan violence at occasional games back then, not missing that though.
Hi PS, agreed. I certainly don't remember us playing less games, we were often out on our feet in the 70s and 80s with all the Cup games we got involved in. Probably one reason some our finest sides in that era never won the lge, or even managed 2nd place. In those days Spurs were more likely to save players for Cup games than vice-versa like now, but in general they just got on with it, Lge or Cup, and trips to Europe were a lot tougher then, with far more basic facilities and travel arrangements. I've posted elsewhere about Perryman going into our Hall of Fame, one of the reasons he is club appearance holder is not only his longevity but the amount of games the side used to play in his day(s).
As a kid, I remembered tuning in to The Big Match to watch the Cup Final with Brian Moore doing the commentary, and it was always a big deal. In those days, winning the FA Cup was easily as big as winning the league for us fans. Today, most of the magic seems to have disappeared, with teams preferring to finish 4th in the league so they can book a place in the CL only to get knocked out in the quarter finals. It's all money driven, of course, but I doubt that the game is any the better for it.
I used to live in Cobham at about that time,where the Chelsea training ground is now.My granddad used to drive my two brothers and myself to Tottenham as often as possible.He was a die-hard Spurs fan and even went to the 1921 FA cup final.He had some great stories and i was only ever going to surpport one team after watching Spurs. I wonder how much Greaves would be on now?
I think that the main difference today is the pace of the game. Players must cover about 3 times the distance that they used to in each match.
