Tomorrow sees the 36th anniversary of Keith Burkinshaw's appointment as our manager. He was appointed on July 14 1976 to replace Terry Neill. Despite suffering relegation in his first season, Burkinshaw became the second most successful Spurs manager behind the great Bill Nicholson. He signed Ossie and Ricky and won back to back FA Cups in 1981 and 1982. We all know about his final game as Spurs boss in 1984 on that famous night at the Lane featuring our current goalkeeper coach, Tony Parks. He then walked away saying the immortal words "there used to be a football club over there". I believe Burkinshaw still takes his seat in the West stand upper to watch his beloved Spurs at a ripe old age of in his late seventies. At a time when we are all looking forward to a new season with great optimism, there is nothng wrong in raising a glass to a true Tottenham legend of yesteryear.
Happy to endorse that. Cheers to a man who played the game in the right way and what a coup bringing Ossie & Ricky to WHL. it's a bit like signing Iniesta & Messi would be today. NO I am not comparing the players, just the situation to put some perspective for those who are a bit blasé in today's world of international signings. Mr.Burkinshaw
Oh Keithy Keithy !!! Is there also folklore that St Nicholson regretted not anointing Burkinshaw instead of Terry Neill at that time ?? Anyway, dour Yorkshiremen + Spurs = superior. Disturbed me far more when Keithy walked, than Redknapp getting the boot ever will.
Good thread Spurcat. Thats brought some nice memories, i was late teens, early 20's through that cup haul, it was a (rare! ) good time to be a Spurs fan amongst your mates. I remember (cringe thinking about it now!) after the UEFA cup win going straight out in the cars round the town, horns blaring (remember the time of night!) yelling the usual football nonsense. Me and my mate had Datsun 260Z's, I had a white one, he had a navy blue one! And of course a few years after that was the Gazza era! ...happy days!
Glad to hear it reminded you of good times Notso. From what you're saying, you must be about 50 now. Must admit I had you down as much older than that.... <run>
why? Absolute legend with us and never Gills manager surely? Edit - see from wiki he was down here, do not remember that. Guess he was just a great manager, not a miracle worker.
If he was a manager today he'd never have lasted... relegated in the first season...scraped promotion on the last day of the following season...got battered 4-1 in our first match at home the following season...went on to lose 7 nil at anfield and 5 nil to arsenal at the lane that season...took 3 games to get past non league Altringham in the FA cup in 1979 or 80... Then it all fell into place... I've been a spur since I was about 7 and was 9 when he was made manager and was 17 when he left and have great memories of going to spurs as a kid to watch his teams...He foresaw all the problems with money in the game way back then...think he left cos we became a PLC...said something like "there used to be a football club there"...dour but smart and a great manager
I grew up with Christian Gross and Nicola Berti, what's this "happy days" you speak of? Edit: As a matter of fact, what the Hell is a Datsun? A vacuum cleaner?
I did say rare! I'm sorry you had to endure one of our periods of dirge at that time...here, have a hanky! Datsun rebranded to Nissan, it was the Skyline of the day.
I too was a late teen when Keith started- got a huge amount of stick from my Liverpool supporting mates (shudders at the memory of Anfield ) But despite the failings of the team the enthusiasm from him & I think Peter Shreeves, kept the faith.
To be fair he took control of a team that was severely in decline and was only manager for only 32 matches (of which he lost 20), but we had great expectations when he joined that he could be a miracle worker, but I dont want to take the gloss of this thread which is celebrating him, so I will also state that the 81 cup final replay is still one of my favourite matches of all time, and Burkinshaw was so cool when Ricky Villa scored.
I had forgotten Burkinshaw had a spell at Gillingham, and certainly didn't realise his time there was so poor. A very good mate of mine was signed by Gillingham at around that time, from Spurs as it happens, but I don't recall it was Burkinshaw who signed him. I know John Gorman was a player there at about that time as well, and he of course managed Gillingham for a while. Whatever, he remains a Spurs legend and quite rightly so.
Top man. He's the reason I started to support Spurs when I was a snotling. The signing of Villa and Ossie is what swung it for me after the '78 world cup.
That was also my first full season following Spurs. Didn't put me off lol. First time at the Lane was the next season, my Dad took me to see us play Hull City (won 1-0 against the team that finished bottom, was probably a terrible game but I didn't care). The excitement and media coverage when we signed Ossie and Ricky was amazing, like Spurf says, the only comparison these days would be signing Messi. The FA cups and Ricky's goal. On the shelf in 1984 for that famous penalty shootout featuring Tony Parks. I seem to remember that we got a 55,000+ attendance figure when our official capacity was around 52,000, it was dangerously packed but pre-Hillsborough nobody worried about that. Great night. So yeah, to Keith Burkinshaw for some great memories, and still the best manager I've seen at Spurs.
Pleased to hear you retain great memories of Burkinshaw, SpursOldboy. Do you remember when Burkinshaw signed Colin Lee, played him the following Saturday and he scored 4 when we battered Bristol Rovers 9-0 ?? I was there that afternoon and I remember it vividly.
