They Played for Spurs and Chelsea

Bobby Smith, Les Allen and Jimmy Greaves are just three of the players who have played for both Tottenham and Chelsea during their careers.  Looking back to the club's earliest days in the Football League and Vivian Woodward is a player who performed with distinction for both teams.

Jimmy Greaves

James Greaves started his career at Chelsea and made his scoring debut against Spurs at White Hart Lane in August, 1957.  In 1961 he had a short period in Italy with AC Milan before joining Spurs for £99,999, as Bill Nicholson didn't want him burdened with the label of being the 'first £100,000' player.  He marked his Tottenham debut with a hat-trick against Blackpool at White Hart Lane.  Spurs retained the FA Cup that season with Greaves scoring the first goal against Burnley and the next season he scored twice in the ECWC Final against Atletico Madrid as Spurs became the first British club to win a European trophy.  Greaves was in the 1967 FA Cup winning team and by the time he was transferred to West Ham United in 1970 he was Tottenham's record goalscorer - League: 220 goals, FA Cup: 32, League Cup: 5, Europe: 14.

Pre-Order: Code LH1

The leading goal scorers in the 1960 - 61 'Double' winning team both joined Spurs from Chelsea.

Bobby Smith who joined in 1955 was leading scorer with 33 League and Cup goals during the 1960 - 61 season, including two goals in the FA Cup semi-final win over Burnley and the first goal against Leicester City in the Final.  He also scored a goal in the1962 FA Cup Final against Burnley.  He was a typical 'old-fashioned' English type of centre forward who used to terrorise defenders and goalkeepers in the European competitions.  He joined Brighton in 1964 as the successful team of the early 1960s was rebuilt by Bill Nicholson.

Les Allen, the father of Clive Allen, was his strike partner.  He joined Spurs in 1959 and scored 27 goals in that successful season.  The arrival of Greaves led to him losing his place in the team but he remained with Spurs until 1965 being a very useful reserve to call upon at times of injury or loss of form.  He joined QPR and later became their manager.

Terry Venables joined Spurs in 1966 from Chelsea and was a member of the 1967 FA Cup winning team.  He left in 1969 to join QPR but returned to Tottenham as manager and led them to the 1991 FA Cup success.

Glenn Hoddle developed through the Spurs youth system to become a 'Legend' at the club.  His skill, vision and goals were a delight to behold and he was  a member of the successful team of the 1980s, winning FA Cup medals in 1981 and 1982, scoring the goals in the Final and replay win over QPR.  He left Spurs in 1987 and moved to France.  He played for Chelsea on his return to English football and managed them before returning to White Hart Lane as manager.

Mike Hazard grew up through the Tottenham youth scheme.  He was another member of the team in the early 1980s but suffered through competition with Hoddle, Ardiles and Villa.  A very skilful player with an outstanding passing ability who could score vital goals.  He played in the 1982 FA Cup team and the UEFA Cup winning team of 1984.  In 1985 he joined Chelsea but returned to Spurs towards the end of his career when Ossie Ardiles was manager.

Gus Poyet spent four years with Chelsea and joined Spurs in 2001, spending three years with the club, helping them reach the 2002 Worthington Cup Final.  After retirement he returned to Tottenham as Assistant to Juande Ramos who guided Spurs to Carling Cup success over Chelsea in 2008.

Vivian Woodward played for Spurs in their first season in the Football League helping them to promotion.  He was a true amateur with associations to the club since 1901 and was regarded widely as a 'gentleman' of football.  He became a director of the club in 1908 and played amateur internationals for England and captained the United Kingdom team which won the Olympics in 1908 and 1912.  He also played cricket and was often unavailable until the end of the cricket season.  In Tottenham's first season in the Football League he made 27 appearances, scoring 18 goals.  As Spurs prepared for their first year in the top flight the football world was shocked to hear of his retirement from football but the club was in even greater shock when a few months later he re-appeared with Chelsea for whom he played until the outbreak of the 1st World War.

From a similar era was Percy Humphreys who played for almost two years with Chelsea before joining Spurs in December, 1909, having lost his place to Woodward.  At the close of that season Spurs and Chelsea were battling against relegation and met in the final game of the season at White Hart Lane.  Tottenham won 2 - 1 and survived while Chelsea were relegated.  Tottenham's winning goal being scored by Humphreys who spent two years with the club.

Of more recent players, Graham Roberts spent two years with Chelsea, Clive Allen had a year at Stamford Bridge later in his career as did Neil Sullivan and Mark Falco.

Gordon Durie had five years with Chelsea before joining Spurs in 1991 and spent three years with the club.  Defender Jason Cundy signed from Chelsea in 1992.

Others who played for both clubs were Tommy Harmer, Johnny Brooks, Keith Weller, Colin Lee, Sid Tickeridge and Clive Wilson.

Of the current players, Wiliam Gallas joined Chelsea in 2001 from Marseille.  After five years he moved to Arsenal and joined Tottenham at the start of last season on a free transfer.  Carlo Cudicini moved to White Hart Lane from Chelsea in January, 2009 as goalkeeping cover, having spent nine years at Stamford Bridge.