History of Tottenham Hotspur F.C.

A Spurs programme from 1910

Tottenham Hotspur F.C. is an English football club based in Tottenham, London. The club was formed in 1882, as Hotspur F.C., and played in the Southern League until 1908, when they were elected into the Football League Second Division. Before this promotion, Tottenham had won the FA Cup in 1901, making them the only non-League club to do so since the formation of The Football League.

Since then, Tottenham have won the FA Cup a further seven times, the Football League twice, the Football League Cup four times, the UEFA Cup twice and also the UEFA Cup Winners' Cup. The Cup Winners' Cup victory in 1963 made Tottenham the first English team to win a UEFA competition. In 1960–61, they were the first team to complete The Double in the 20th century.

Formation

On Tuesday 5 September 1882,^[1] the Hotspur Football Club was formed by grammar-school boys from the Bible class at All Hallows Church. They were also members of Hotspur Cricket Club. It is possible that the name Hotspur was associated with Sir Henry Percy, who was "Harry Hotspur" of Shakespeare's Henry IV, part 1, and who lived locally during the 14th century and whose descendants owned land in the neighbourhood. In 1884, the club was renamed Tottenham Hotspur Football Club to avoid any confusion with an already established team called Hotspur FC.^[2]

Originally, Spurs played in navy-blue shirts and white shorts from 1882 to 1885 ^[3] The club colours were changed to light blue and white halved jerseys and white shorts from 1885 to 1889 (inspired by watching Blackburn Rovers win the FA Cup at the Kennington Oval in 1884), before returning to the original dark blue shirts for the 1889–90 season. From 1890 to 1895, the club had red shirts and blue shorts, this was changed for 1895 to 1898 to chocolate brown and gold narrow striped shirts and dark blue shorts. Finally, in the 1899–1900 season, the strip was changed to the familiar white shirts and navy blue shorts as a tribute to Preston North End,^[4] the most successful team of the time.

Chart of Tottenham's table positions since joining the Football League.

In 1888, Tottenham moved their home fixtures from the Tottenham Marshes to Northumberland Park, where the club was able to charge for spectator admission. An attempt to join an aborted Southern League, instigated by Royal Arsenal (later Arsenal), failed in 1892, when they were the only club of the 23 applicants to receive no votes. They turned professional just before Christmas 1895 and were then admitted to the Southern League and attracted crowds nearing 15,000. Charles Roberts became chairman in 1898, remaining in the post until 1943.

In 1899, Spurs made their final ground move to a former market garden in nearby High Road, Tottenham. In time, the ground became known as White Hart Lane, a local thoroughfare. Tottenham were the considerable beneficiaries of the escalating unionisation of the northern professional game in the 1890s. Both John Cameron and Jack Bell, formerly Everton players, came to play for Tottenham as a result of the conflict caused by their organisation of the Association Footballers' Union, a forerunner of the Professional Footballers' Association.

FA Cup glory and election to the Football League

As a direct result of this, in 1900, Tottenham won the Southern League title, followed the next year by winning the FA Cup – becoming the only non-League club to do so since the formation of The Football League in 1888.

Tottenham Hotspur captain Arthur Grimsdell displays the cup to fans on the Tottenham High Road after Spurs' victory in the 1921 final, the first win by a London-based team for 20 years.

Tottenham won election to the Second Division of the Football League for the 1908–09 season to replace a (at the time) financially troubled Stoke, immediately winning promotion as runners-up to the First Division. Their record between 1910–1911 and the Great War was poor and when football was suspended at the end of the 1914–15 season, Tottenham were bottom of the league.

When football resumed in 1919, the First Division was expanded from 20 to 22 teams. The Football League extended one of the additional places to 19th-place Chelsea (who would have been relegated with Spurs for the 1915–16 season) and the other to Arsenal. This promotion—Arsenal had finished only sixth in Division 2 the previous season—was controversial, and cemented a bitter rivalry (begun six years earlier, with Arsenal's relocation to Tottenham's hinterland) that continues to this day. Tottenham were Division Two Champions in 1919–20 and in the following year, on 23 April 1921, Spurs went all the way to their second FA Cup Final victory, beating Wolverhampton Wanderers 1–0 at Stamford Bridge.

After finishing second to Liverpool in the League in 1922—their first serious challenge for the league title—Spurs experienced a steady decline, culminating in 1928's relegation. Spurs were unable to advance beyond the quarter finals of the FA Cup, getting that far three years running from 1935 to 1938. On 3 September 1939, as Neville Chamberlain declared war, Spurs were seventh in the Second Division. League Football was abandoned for the "duration".

Postwar title glory

Following the war, football was an extremely popular interest attracting thousands of supporters each weekend. By 1949, Arthur Rowe was Spurs manager and developed the "push and run" tactical style of play. This involved quickly laying the ball off to a teammate and running past the marking tackler to collect the return pass. It proved an effective way to move the ball at pace with players' positions and responsibility being totally fluid. Rising to the top of the Second Division, by 1949–50 they were champions. The next year, Tottenham secured their first ever league title, winning the First Division Championship in 1951. The playing heroes in the side included Alf Ramsey, Ronnie Burgess, Ted Ditchburn, Len Duquemin, Sonny Walters and Bill Nicholson.

The years following this period of success saw a relative decline, as age, injuries and other teams adapting to Spurs' revolutionary style of play meant a struggle for the once-dominant champions. They finished second in 1951–52, grabbing second on goal average as a young Manchester United team beat them to the title. A bad winter, and the terrible state of the White Hart Lane pitch, even by the standards of the day, contributed to this. In 1952–53, Spurs finished tenth, as age began to wear down the "Push and Run" team. The year 1954 was notable for the signing of one of Spurs' most celebrated players, Danny Blanchflower, for a record £30,000. Also in that year, Spurs were knocked out of the FA Cup by Blackpool.

By this stage, Arthur Rowe had begun to suffer from ill health. He resigned in 1955, with mid-table finishes and boardroom dissent, along with Rowe's health, contributing to his departure. Long-time club servant Jimmy Anderson took over. Spurs were nearly relegated at the end of the 1955–56 season. They finished two points above the drop zone. However, the next season saw the club experience a revival, finishing second, though eight points behind the winners, the "Busby Babes" of Manchester United. Tottenham fared well in the following season, finishing third, but ill health now meant Anderson had to quit, being replaced by Bill Nicholson. Nicholson finished 18th in the league in his first season in charge, an indifferent start to Tottenham Hotspur's most successful manager's tenure.

Bill Nicholson and the Glory Years

Spurs starting line-up before the match against Atlético Madrid in 1963.

Spurs shirt badge from 1967–1983

Bill Nicholson had joined Tottenham as an apprentice in 1936. The following 68 years saw him serve the club in every capacity from boot room to president. In his first game as manager on 11 October 1958, Spurs beat Everton 10–4, their then record win. He subsequently guided Tottenham to major trophy success three seasons in a row in the early 1960s: the double in 1961, the FA Cup and European Cup semi-final in 1962 and the Cup Winners' Cup in 1963. Key players included Danny Blanchflower (twice FWA Player of the Year), John White, Dave Mackay, Cliff Jones, Jimmy Greaves and Terry Medwin. Tottenham became the first British team to win a European trophy with their success in the Cup Winners' Cup in 1963 with a 5–1 victory over Atlético Madrid.

By 1964, the "Double" side began to disintegrate due to age, injuries and transfers. Captain Danny Blanchflower hung up his boots that spring at the age of 38, troubled by a knee injury, but the most tragic blow of them all was the death of forward John White, who was killed by lightning on a golf course that summer. Nicholson rebuilt a second team with imports like Alan Gilzean, Mike England, Alan Mullery, Terry Venables, Joe Kinnear and Cyril Knowles culminating in beating Chelsea to win the 1967 FA Cup Final and finished third in the league. Nicholson added the League Cup (1971 and 1973) and the 1971–72 UEFA Cup to Tottenham's long history before he resigned at the start of the 1974–75 season due to both a poor start, and his disgust at seeing rioting fans in Rotterdam in a UEFA Cup final, which Spurs lost. He had won eight major trophies in 16 years and his spell in charge was the most successful period in the club's history.

Decline and relegation

With the squad ageing, Spurs lost their place amongst the elite in English football. Nicholson wished to select his replacement and lined up a "dream team" of Johnny Giles and Danny Blanchflower to take over, but the Spurs board ignored his advice and appointed ex-Arsenal player Terry Neill, who narrowly avoided relegation at the end of 1974–5. Never accepted by the fans, Neill left the club in 1976 and was replaced by his assistant Keith Burkinshaw that summer.

Tottenham slipped out of the First Division at the end of the 1976–77 season, after 27 years in the top flight. This was soon followed by the sale of their Northern Ireland international goalkeeper Pat Jennings to arch rivals Arsenal, a move that shocked the club's fans and proved to be a serious error. Jennings played on for another eight years for Spurs' rivals.

Despite relegation, the board kept faith with Burkinshaw and the team immediately won promotion to the top flight, although it took until the final league game to be promoted. A sudden loss of form at the end of the season meant the club needed a point in the last game at Southampton. To Tottenham's great relief, the game ended 0–0 and Spurs returned to the first division. A memorable game early in the season came at home to Bristol Rovers, when Spurs won 9–0, with four of their goals coming from debutant striker Colin Lee.

In the summer of 1978, Burkinshaw caused a notable stir by signing two Argentinian World Cup winning stars Osvaldo Ardiles and Ricardo Villa, which was the kind of transfer coup very uncommon in British football at the time.

Cup wins and European success under Burkinshaw

Spurs opened the 1980s on a high with an FA Cup replay win over Manchester City, 3–2, thanks to Ricardo Villa's goal. They lifted the FA Cup again against Queens Park Rangers the next season, and were in contention for four trophies, including the First Division title in which they threatened Liverpool at Easter but ended up fourth. Liverpool also denied Spurs the League Cup in extra time and Barcelona won at home in the Cup Winners' Cup semis after a 1–1 draw at White Hart Lane.

Key players such as Steve Archibald, Garth Crooks, Glenn Hoddle, Osvaldo Ardiles and long-serving Steve Perryman inspired Tottenham to UEFA Cup glory in 1984, but several weeks before this victory, Burkinshaw announced he would be leaving at the end of that season, ending his tenure having won three trophies in four seasons

Shreeves, Pleat and Venables

New manager Peter Shreeves and owner Irving Scholar took over. Scholar attempted to restore the club's financial fortunes. In 1983, Tottenham became the first English club to float on the stock exchange. Tottenham enjoyed a strong start to the 1984–85 season, topping the table at Christmas,^[5] but they were later leapfrogged by champions Everton and runners-up Liverpool. Their final position of third place in the league would have booked them a UEFA Cup place, but on 29 May 1985, the Heysel disaster, which saw 39 spectators crushed to death by a wall when Liverpool fans rioted at the 1985 European Cup Final, saw all English clubs banned from European competitions indefinitely. Tottenham, along with the other European-qualified teams, excluding Liverpool, (Everton, Manchester United, Southampton and Norwich City) appealed to have the ban changed to cover Liverpool only, but to no avail. This ruled Tottenham out of the UEFA Cup for the 1985–86. They did manage to make an important signing that summer, however, when they signed winger Chris Waddle from Newcastle United.

At the end of the following season, Luton Town manager David Pleat was appointed the new manager following the sacking of Peter Shreeves (after Aberdeen's Alex Ferguson, who would take over at Manchester United later in the year, rejected the offer to take over ), and for much of 1986–87, Spurs played with a five-man midfield—Glenn Hoddle, Osvaldo Ardiles, Steve Hodge, Paul Allen and Chris Waddle—backing lone striker Clive Allen. Tottenham remained in contention for all three major domestic honours throughout the season, though towards the business end of the championship challenges, the endeavours ended in defeat. In the League Cup, Tottenham lost to eventual competition winners Arsenal in the semi-final.^[6] Spurs then missed out on the first division title (which was won by Everton), and, finally, as favourites for the FA Cup over Coventry City, stumbled to a 3–2 loss. The close season of 1987 saw the sale of Glenn Hoddle to Monaco after a decade as the driving force in Tottenham's midfield, and a year later veteran goalkeeper Ray Clemence retired.

Pleat quit in October 1987 following allegations about his private life. He was succeeded by former player Terry Venables, who had built up an impressive managerial record: two promotions with Crystal Palace that had taken them from the Third Division to the First; an FA Cup Final appearance (where they lost to Tottenham in 1982); a fifth-place league finish and a UEFA Cup appearance with QPR; and most recently the Spanish league title and a European Cup final appearance with Barcelona. However, the Spurs side that he inherited with a quarter of the 1987–88 season was struggling in the league and could only manage a 13th-place finish, placing them below unfashionable sides including Wimbledon, Coventry and Luton Town. Striker Clive Allen was also less prolific in attack during the season; he was later sold to French club Bordeaux at the end of the campaign.

To invigorate the Tottenham side, Venables paid a national record £2 million for Newcastle midfielder Paul Gascoigne in June 1988, and also signed striker Paul Stewart from Manchester City for £1.7 million. In February that year, Venables had also boosted his attack with a £500,000 move for Liverpool striker Paul Walsh. Spurs made a shaky start to the 1988–89 season, being second from bottom at the end of October but improving to ninth place by the turn of 1989 and finishing sixth in the final table.^[7]

July 1989 saw the arrival at White Hart Lane of England striker Gary Lineker from Barcelona for a fee of £1.1 million, part of the £4.5 million windfall from the sale of Chris Waddle to Marseille just days prior.^[8]

Mixed fortunes in the 1990s

In 1990, a slump in the property market left chairman Irving Scholar on the verge of bankruptcy,^[9] although they had finished third in a title race in which Liverpool finished champions. Spurs had also finished one place above neighbours Arsenal. The ban on English clubs in European competitions was lifted for the 1990–91 season, but only one place in the UEFA Cup would be granted to the English league, meaning that Aston Villa took that place as league runners-up and Tottenham missed out.^[10]

Venables joined forces with businessman Alan Sugar to take over Tottenham Hotspur PLC and pay off its £20 million debt, making turn around specialist Claude Littner chief executive officer. During the 1990–91 season, Paul Gascoigne became a transfer target for Italian club Lazio and when the takeover deal was nearing completion, it became clear that the multimillion-pound sale of Gascoigne would be integral to the financial structure of Spurs.

The 1990–91 season enjoyed its share of incidents, quite apart from the financial crisis and Gascoigne transfer speculation. Spurs began the league season unbeaten from ten games and third in the league behind Liverpool and Arsenal, who also retained unbeaten records, with Arsenal's lasting into the new year. However, the winter saw a downturn in league form and by the end of February, Spurs had sunk to eighth and had lost seven of their previous 15 games. Tottenham failed to re-discover their earlier league form and eventually finished tenth in the final table. However, performances in the 1990–91 FA Cup remained a highlight and Tottenham eventually reached the final against Nottingham Forest. Gascoigne suffered serious cruciate knee ligament damage when making a reckless tackle on opponent Gary Charles in the 16th minute, and from the subsequent free-kick, they went a goal down when Stuart Pearce drove the ball home. Paul Stewart equalised for Spurs in the 55th minute, and an own goal in extra time by Forest defender Des Walker made Spurs the first team to win eight FA Cups, a record which was matched by Manchester United in 1994 and surpassed by them in 1996. It is still Spurs' most recent FA Cup triumph to date.

When the extent of Gascoigne's knee injury was confirmed, it became clear that he would be out for most if not all of the following season. His transfer to Lazio was put on hold, and Gascoigne injured his knee again in a nightclub incident five months after the FA Cup Final, putting paid to any chances that he would play a game in the 1991–92 season. It also ended his hopes of playing at UEFA Euro 1992 for England, but by the summer of 1992, his knee had recovered and he completed his move to Lazio for £5.5million.^[11]

In 1991–92, Venables became chief executive, with Shreeves again taking charge of first-team duties. Spurs were competing in Europe that season, in the UEFA Cup Winners' Cup, where they reached the quarter-final only to be defeated by Dutch side Feyenoord. Gary Lineker, who in November confirmed that he would be leaving Spurs at the end of the season to play in Japan, scored 28 goals and was voted Football Writers' Footballer of the Year, but these goals were not enough to prevent Tottenham from under-performing throughout the campaign, losing 20 games as they finished 15th.

During the summer of 1992, Peter Shreeves sacked as head coach and replaced by joint head coaches Doug Livermore and Ray Clemence. Spurs became founders of the new Premier League, created by The Football Association as replacement for the Football League First Division as the highest division of English football. To coincide with the massive changes in English football, Tottenham made a number of major signings. They paid a club record £2.1 million for Nottingham Forest striker Teddy Sheringham, £750,000 for Southampton defender Neil Ruddock and £1.75 million for Portsmouth's highly rated 19-year-old winger Darren Anderton. In the first ever Premier League season, Spurs finished eighth, with Teddy Sheringham being the division's top scorer with 22 goals, 21 scored for Tottenham and one for Nottingham.^[12] Spurs also reached the 1992–93 FA Cup semi-final, losing 1–0 to rivals Arsenal.^[13]

June 1993 saw Terry Venables controversially dismissed from the Tottenham board by Chairman Alan Sugar, whose decision was overturned in the High Court but then reverted on appeal. The departure of Venables saw Tottenham return to a conventional management setup after two seasons of a two-tier structure. Taking charge of the first team was former player Osvaldo Ardiles, who since starting out in management four years earlier had enjoyed mixed success with a tactical approach centred on attacking football—it had seen promotion with Swindon Town and West Bromwich Albion, though the promotion at Swindon was cancelled due to financial irregularities which occurred before Ardiles was appointed, but had almost resulted in Newcastle falling into the third tier of the football league. At Tottenham, instead of progressing on the eighth-place finish and FA Cup semi-final appearance the previous season, Spurs performed poorly and relegation was soon becoming a real possibility. In the end, they achieved survival with a 15th-place finish, but were soon under investigation for financial irregularities which had allegedly taken place in the 1980s when Irving Scholar was still chairman; the possibility of relegation to Division One was a possibility if they were found guilty.

In June, they were found guilty of making illegal payments to players. They kept hold of their Premier League status, and received the heaviest punishment ever dished out to an English club: a £600,000 fine, 12 league points deducted for the 1994–95 season and a ban from the 1994–95 FA Cup. However, the points deduction and FA Cup ban were later quashed on appeal, although the fine was increased to £1,500,000. Ardiles, however, was determined that Spurs would have a successful season in 1994–95 and began the year signing two players who had appeared at that summer's World Cup, German striker Jürgen Klinsmann and Romanian winger Ilie Dumitrescu, to bolster a forward line which already included Teddy Sheringham, Darren Anderton and Nick Barmby.^[14] Nonetheless, however, Spurs still struggled as the 1994–95 season got under way, and Ardiles was dismissed on 1 November 1994 with the club standing just two places above the relegation zone. They would have been 11th at this stage, but the points deduction stood at six points, reduced on appeal from the original 12, before being quashed completely.

Ardiles was replaced by Gerry Francis, who alleviated the relegation fears and oversaw the club's climb to seventh place in the league, just missing out on a 1995–96 UEFA Cup place. When the FA Cup ban was lifted, Spurs reached the FA Cup semi-final where they were defeated 4–1 by eventual winners Everton.^[15] Klinsmann was top scorer at the club with 29 in all competitions, but frustrated by the failure to qualify for European competition, he returned to his homeland to sign with Bayern Munich. Over the next two years, Francis added the likes of Ruel Fox, Chris Armstrong, Les Ferdinand and David Ginola to the ranks at White Hart Lane, while players including Teddy Sheringham, Ilie Dumitrescu and Gheorghe Popescu departed. His transfer dealings, however, failed to deliver European qualification or higher, as Spurs finished eighth in 1996 and tenth in 1997. Francis was ultimately sacked in November 1997 after Spurs were crushed 4–0 by Liverpool, a result which left them 16th in the Premier League.

Christian Gross, coach of Swiss champions Grasshoppers, was appointed. He failed to turn around the club's fortunes, however, and the team battled against the drop for the remainder of the campaign. Legendary striker Jürgen Klinsmann was re-signed in December on loan and four goals in a 6–2 win away to Wimbledon in the penultimate game of the season was enough to secure survival. Gross, despite having finished the last season on a high by only losing one of their last nine games, was sacked just three games into the following season, and George Graham was soon hired to take over.

Despite heavy criticism from fans due to Graham's previous association with Arsenal, in his first season as Spurs manager, 1998–99, the club secured a mid-table finish and won the League Cup. In the final against Leicester City at Wembley Stadium, full-back Justin Edinburgh was sent off after an altercation with Robbie Savage on the hour mark, but Spurs secured a dramatic victory through Allan Nielsen's diving header in the 93rd minute of the game. Spurs also reached the semi-finals of the FA Cup, where they were beaten 2–0 by Newcastle after extra-time. To cap a good season, star player David Ginola won both the PFA Players' Player of the Year and Football Writers' Association Footballer of the Year awards.

Following the 1999–2000 and 2000–01 campaigns, Sugar's patience broke. He sold his controlling interest to ENIC Sports PLC, run by Daniel Levy.

A slow start to the new millennium

Team management passed to Tottenham legend Glenn Hoddle, who took over in the final weeks of the 2000–01 season. His first game saw defeat to Arsenal in an FA Cup semi-final. Club captain Sol Campbell, after a season in which he made repeated statements in the media outlining his desire to remain at Tottenham, joined Arsenal on a Bosman free transfer that summer. By signing Campbell on a "free transfer", Arsenal were spared a hefty transfer fee for one of the best defenders in the country at the time. Consequently, they were able to offer Campbell a contract believed to be worth in the region of £100,000 per week. The loss of a transfer fee by Spurs, the move to their bitterest rivals, and the perceived underhanded fashion in which he negotiated his move, led to Campbell being vilified by Spurs fans thereafter, and regularly barracked whenever he played against Spurs. The relationship was further soured several years later (after Campbell had moved to Portsmouth) by accusations that he had been subjected to racist and homophobic chants during a match against Spurs. While the national media argued Campbell's part, the police sought prosecutions against 16 fans, some of them children and teenagers, filmed as taking part in the chants. The chanting, which was quoted by the Magistrate as "Well-Rehearsed" and well-planned, included themes of lynching and HIV.^[16] Campbell meanwhile has never expressed regret or remorse over his defection to Spurs' fiercest rivals.

The summer before Hoddle's arrival as manager, Tottenham had plunged into the transfer market to pay a club record £11 million to Dynamo Kyiv for Ukrainian striker Sergei Rebrov. Rebrov, however, was not a success at White Hart Lane, managing just ten goals over the next four seasons (the last of which was spent on loan in Turkey) before joining neighbours West Ham United.^[17]

Hoddle turned to more experienced players in the shape of Teddy Sheringham, Gus Poyet and Christian Ziege for inspiration, and Spurs played some encouraging football in the opening months of his management. Season 2001–02 saw Spurs finish in ninth place, as well as reaching the League Cup final, where they lost to Blackburn, having been the favourites after their 5–1 annihilation of Chelsea in the previous round.

The only significant outlay prior to the following campaign was £7 million for Robbie Keane, who joined from Leeds United. The 2002–03 season started well, with Tottenham top of the league after three successive wins, and Hoddle voted manager of the month in the division for August, although few expected them to stay there. They were still in the top six as late as early February, but the season ended with a tenth-place finish being the result of a barren final ten games of the league campaign that delivered a mere seven points. Several players publicly criticised Hoddle's management and communication skills. Six games into the 2003–04 season, with Spurs struggling at the foot of the table, Hoddle was sacked and David Pleat took over on a caretaker basis until a permanent successor could be found.

Robbie Keane prepares to take a penalty at White Hart Lane

In May 2004, Tottenham appointed French team manager Jacques Santini as head coach, with Martin Jol as his assistant and Frank Arnesen as sporting director. Santini quit the club in bizarre circumstances in early November, although Spurs were now in the familiary territory of mid-table after an encouraging first few weeks of the season. He was replaced by Jol, who turned things around and secured a ninth-place finish. In June 2005, when Arnesen moved to Chelsea, Spurs appointed Damien Comolli as sporting director.

Resurgence since 2005

Tottenham Hotspurs F.C Cumulative Goal Difference 1992 to October 2009

During the 2005–06 season, Spurs spent six months in the top four. Going into the final game of the season, they led rivals Arsenal by a point, but were defeated in their final match, away to West Ham, having been only able to field a weakened team due to a number of players succumbing to an intestinal illness the night before. Spurs were pipped to a UEFA Champions League place, but it was success nevertheless in gaining a place in the UEFA Cup and achieving their highest finish for 16 years. In 2006–07, they finished fifth for the second-straight year.

Manager Martin Jol was sacked early into the 2007–08 season, with Juande Ramos, formerly of Sevilla, replacing the Dutchman. Spurs went on to win the League Cup, beating Chelsea 2–1 in the final in February 2008.^[18] However, Tottenham endured another dismal start to the season in 2008–09 that placed them bottom of the Premier League with equally poor displays in the 2008–09 UEFA Cup, though they still managed to qualify from the group stage. Nonetheless, however, the club had made its worst start to a season in its history. Ramos was sacked on 25 October 2008,^[19] and the following day, Portsmouth manager Harry Redknapp was appointed as his replacement at Tottenham.^[19]

Director of Football Damien Comolli was also sacked after criticism of the sales of Dimitar Berbatov and Robbie Keane and failure to replace them adequately. With this change, Tottenham reverted to a "traditional" setup with Redknapp in charge of both coaching and player transfers.^[19][20][21] In his first two weeks in charge, Redknapp took the club out of the relegation zone, winning ten out of the 12 points available with wins against Bolton Wanderers, Liverpool and Manchester City and a 4–4 draw against North London rivals Arsenal. The team finished the 2008–09 campaign eighth in the league table. The January transfer window saw the return of Robbie Keane and Jermain Defoe to the club after spells at Liverpool and Portsmouth respectively.

Spurs won the first four matches of the 2009–10 season, with Redknapp subsequently awarded the Manager of the Month award and Jermain Defoe the Player of the Month award for August.^[22] On 22 November 2009, Spurs beat Wigan Athletic 9–1 at White Hart Lane, a record win in the top flight for the club.^[23] On 14 April 2010, Tottenham achieved their first Premier League victory against rivals Arsenal at White Hart Lane in 11 years, with goals from Gareth Bale and a spectacular volley from Premier League debutant Danny Rose giving them a 2–1 win.

On 5 May 2010, Spurs reached the qualifying rounds of the Champions League for the first time in their history. This was the first time in five years that the hold of the top four places by Manchester United, Chelsea, Arsenal and Liverpool had been broken and, as in 2005, the team displaced was Liverpool. The 2009–10 season was the first time Tottenham finished above Liverpool in the league since 1971.

Early into the 2010–11 season, Spurs faced Swiss side Young Boys in a two-leg play off to qualify for the group stages of the Champions League.^[24] In the first leg in Bern, Spurs scored two valuable away goals in a 3–2 loss after an initial three-goal deficit.^[25] In the second leg in London, played on 25 August, Spurs recorded a comfortable 4–0 win with a goal from Defoe and a hat-trick from Peter Crouch, securing group stage qualification.^[26]

In the group stage, Tottenham subsequently came top of a group that also included Internazionale, Werder Bremen and Twente and qualified for the knock-out stages of the competition, where they were drawn to play Milan. Tottenham won the first leg away at the San Siro 1–0 before a 0–0 draw at White Hart Lane ensured they won the tie on aggregate, progressing to the quarter-finals.^[27] Here, Spurs suffered a heavy defeat against Real Madrid in the first leg at the Santiago Bernabéu Stadium. Emmanuel Adebayor (who would later be loaned to Spurs) headed Madrid into the lead after four minutes, with Peter Crouch being dismissed after just 15 minutes for accumulating two yellow cards. Keeping at 1–0 by half-time, Spurs enventually collapsed in the second-half, conceding three more goals and going down 4–0 to José Mourinho's side. On 13 April 2011, Tottenham were eliminated from the competition after a 1–0 home defeat at White Hart Lane left them 5–0 down on aggregate.

Qualification for the 2011–12 Champions League became unlikely, with Tottenham failing to defeat four of the clubs battling to avoid relegation from the Premier League (Blackpool, West Ham, Wigan and Wolverhampton Wanderers) in a poor last third of the league season. This was confirmed on 10 May, when Spurs were defeated 1–0 by Manchester City at Eastlands. After defeating Liverpool for the sole available 2011–12 UEFA Europa League spot on 14 May, however, Spurs secured qualification for the 2011–12 Europa League by beating Birmingham City in the last game of the season, incidentally causing Birmingham to be relegated.

Tottenham's season started with mixed success. Despite gaining an aggregate 5–0 victory over Hearts to secure a place in the Europa League group stage,^[28] they did not win their first two games after the scheduled fixture opening their season at home to Everton was cancelled due to rioting in Tottenham in the days leading up to the game. Spurs then lost 3–0 away to Manchester United^[29] and 5–1 at home to Manchester City.^[30] However, Tottenham captured ten wins and one draw in their next 11 Premier League matches, propelling them to third place in the league after 13 games.^[31] Spurs finished the 2011-12 season in 4th place in the Premier League, however their Champions League place was pipped by Chelsea who defeated Bayern Munich in the Champions League final. At the end of the season, on 13 June 2012, following short contract renewal talks, Harry Redknapp was sacked by the Tottenham board.^[32]

Following his departure, the club appointed former Chelsea and Porto coach André Villas-Boas as manager. Shortly after his appointment, the club pipped Liverpool for the signature of former Swansea City loanee and 1899 Hoffenheim midfielder Gylfi Sigurðsson. Several days later, the club also resolved the protracted transfer saga surrounding Ajax defender Jan Vertonghen. In Villas-Boas' first game, a friendly against Stevenage, Sigurðsson scored his first goal for the club whilst a second from Iago Falque sealed a 2–0 victory for Spurs. Throughout the 2012–13 season, they came very close to qualifying for the 2013–14 Champions League. They ultimately finished fifth, however, despite winning a dramatic match against Sunderland with a goal from Gareth Bale in the final match of the season. Rivals Arsenal won their final match, against Newcastle, 1–0, meaning Tottenham finished just one point behind the Gunners, dropping them to the Europa League for the second successive season. In their concurrent 2012–13 Europa League campaign, they were eliminated in the quarter-finals by Swiss side Basel. In the wake of a 6–0 defeat against Manchester City and a 5–0 defeat against Liverpool, André Villas-Boas was dismissed from his role on 16 December 2013.^[33] Former Spurs player Tim Sherwood was appointed manager.^[34] Sherwood eventually led Spurs to a sixth-place finish in the Premier League.^[35] However, Sherwood was sacked as well on 13 May 2014.^[36]

On 27 May 2014, Mauricio Pochettino was appointed as Tottenham manager on a five-year contract.^[37] In Pochettino's first season with Spurs they finished 5th in the 2014-15 Premier League with 64 points, and also came runners-up in the 2014-15 League Cup Final. Pochettino's second season with Spurs yieled a much improved Premier League campaign and a title challenge for most of the season with Leicester City. Commentators have noted that Spurs had the youngest team in the Premier league,^[38][39] with Pochettino choosing to promote young players.^[40] However, Spurs' title challenge ended with a 2-2 draw at Stamford Bridge on 2 May 2016.^[41] A bad end to the season ultimately cost Spurs' runners-up spot to rivals Arsenal. However, Tottenham ended the season with their highest league finish since 1990.

References

Bibliography

• Davies, Hunter (1972). The Glory Game. Mainstream. ISBN 1-84018-242-3. 

Notes