We all have to start somewhere, and Tottenham’s manager joined the club as an apprentice in 1936, and in the following 68 years he served the club in every capacity possible from boot room to president. He guided the team to major trophy success for three years in a row between 1960 and 1963. The journey began when Nicholson was appointed manager in 1958. Blanchflower was dropped from the team but then reinstated and made captain following a 1-0 F.A. Cup loss to Norwich. Scotsman Dave Mackay was brought in from Hearts, strengthening the Spurs defence. Then, during the summer break, Nicholson signed goal keeper Bill Brown from Dundee and brought Tony Marchi back from Italy. Their defensive metamorphosis was complete, and although they enjoyed a much better start to the 1959/60 season, it was apparent that something was still lacking. John White was signed from Dunkirk in October and Spurs swapped England international John Brooks for little known Chelsea reservist Les Allen.

 

That season, Spurs finished third in the first division. John Smith was brought in to replace  the aging Blanchflower, but only ended up making 21 appearances in 4 years since Blanchflower soldiered on and on. In the 1960/61 season, Spurs won their first 11 games in a row, before a draw followed by another 4 wins, eventually loosing their first game of the season 2-1 to Sheffield Wednesday. By January 1961, Spurs were 11 points clear at the top of the table, and they turned their attention to the F.A, Cup, kicking it off with a narrow 3-2 victory over Charlton. Next, they easily dispatched Crewe Alexandra 5-1 and knocked out Aston Villa 2-0 in Birmingham. They earnt a 1-1 draw against Sunderland in the quarter final, thrashing them 5-0 in the home leg. The semi-final was played against Burnley, who finished just below Spurs in the league the year before. In front of nearly 70,000 people Spurs won the game 3-0 and went through to their first F.A. Cup final since 1921. They would play Leicester City, but still had to get through the rest of the league season first.

On April 17 1961, Spurs and fellow title contenders Sheffield Wednesday went head to head at White Hart Lane. In a must win game for Wednesday, they took the lead early on, but their celebrations were short lived as Bobby Smith scored the equaliser and Les Allen followed up with the winner. In the end, Spurs were crowned champions with an 8 point margin, a remarkable feat considering that Spurs only used 17 players all season. The Cup final took place in May, 1961. Spurs were frustrated in the early exchanges, but when Leicesters Len Chalmers broke his leg after 20 minutes, the Londoners looked to capitalise. The deadlock was broken in the 66th minute, when England striker Bobby Smith smashed the ball past Gordon Banks. Nine minutes later the victory was sealed with a Dyson header, and Tottenham Hotspur became the first team since Aston Villa in 1897 to achieve the league and cup double.

 

Spurs successfully retained the F.A. Cup the following year in the infamous “Chessboard Final” defeating Burnley and becoming only the forth team to ever defend the trophy. In addition, Spurs made it all the way to the European Cup semi-finals, eventually crashing out to Benfica, one of the best teams in the world at the time. In 1963, Tottenham Hotspur added the European Cup Winners Cup to their list of achievements. In the final, they played the defending champions Atletico Madrid. Jimmy Greaves and John White struck two goals each, and John White added another. Tottenham achieved a crushing 5-1 victory and became the first English team ever to lift a European cup. By 1964, the side had begun to deterioriate, mainly due to age, but also because of injuries and transfers. While a new breed of Hotspurs won the F.A. Cup in 1967, it was the side of the early 1960’s that would be destined to become the most celebrated Tottenham Hotspurs team of all time.

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Acheivements:
First Division – Champions x1
FA Cup – winners x2
London Challenge Cup – Winners x1

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Star player: Jimmy Greaves, dob 20 Feb 1940, pob London, England

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Most recently, Jimmy Greaves worked as a television pundit, coining the phrase “it’s a funny old game”. Greaves was a brilliant goalscorer. He is Englands third highest international scorer, he was the last player to score 40 goals in one season in Englands top flight, he is the highest scorer in Tottenham Hotspur history and he’s the highest scorer in English top division football. His first team was Chelsea, with whom he scored thirteen hat-tricks. When he was 20 he passed the 100 goal mark, making him the youngest player to achieve this, a records he still holds today. He played briefly for AC Milan, from whom he joined Spurs in 1961. He was signed for £99,999, apparently to save him from the pressure of being the first £100,000 player. Greaves spent almost a decade at Spurs, scoring 266 goals in 379 matches, a club record. With Spurs, Greaves won the FA Cup in 1962 and 1967, scoring after only three minutes in the 1962 Final. He also won the European Cup Winners’ Cup in 1963. In 1970, he joined West Ham, scoring on his debut. Greaves played 54 games for the England national team. In a 1962 World Cup finals match against Brazil, a stray dog ran onto the pitch and evaded all of the players’ efforts to catch it until Greaves got down on all fours and caught the animal, but it proceeded to urinate all over his England shirt. The Brazilian player Garrincha thought the incident was so amusing that he took the dog home as a pet. Greaves was also a prolific scorer for England,  holding third place in the scoring tally for Queen and Country behind Bobby Charlton and Gary Lineker. He had a hard pill to swallow however, when the excellent form of  his replacement, Geoff Hurst, meant that Greaves was left out of the 1966 World Cup final squad. With no substitutes in those days, Greaves would play no part in their famous win. Greaves has written 18 books and currently works as an after-dinner speaker.