Spurs in History - 13th August

13th August, 1969 Spurs 4 Burnley 0 The 1969-70 season started early, on 8th August, to give the England manager, Alf Ramsey, sufficient time to prepare his team for their defence of the World Cup in Mexico, the following summer. Tottenham were in a period of transition as Bill Nicholson attempted to recreate a winning team, similar to the Spurs side of the early 60s. Spurs opened their season with a 3-1 defeat at Champions, Leeeds United with Jimmy Greaves scoring the goal. In the following Wednesday evening's League game at White Hart Lane against Burnley, an improved performance gave encouragement in a 4-0 success. The goals were scored by Peter Collins, Jimmy Pearce, Jimmy Greaves and Martin Chivers. The following Saturday they lost at home to Liverpool but the next Tuesday, in the return fixture at Turf Moor, defeated Burnley 2 – 0 with Collins and Pearce scoring again. At that time Burnley were a hard working mid-table team with a talent for producing young players whom they later sold. Spurs were to sign Ralph Coates in May, 1971 when Burnley’s time in the top division drew to a close with relegation to the 2nd Division. The 1969-70 season was not to prove successful for Tottenham but was noteable for the debut of 17year-old Steve Perryman in September. He was an instant success, immediately establishing himself in the team and going on to captain the side and become the club's record appearance holder. (866 competitive appearances between 1969 and 1986). In March 1969, after 8 years at White Hart Lane, Tottenham's record goalscorer, Jimmy Greaves, departed the club with 266 goals to his credit - the club's greatest ever goalscorer.