They Played for Tottenham and Villa

Danny Blanchfower, David Ginola and Alan Hutton have all played for Tottenham and Villa.  For the third successive match, Spurs play a team with former Tottenham players in their squad which always adds an extra something to the contest for both players and spectators.

Danny Blanchflower

One of the most important signings that Tottenham Hotspur have ever made came when the transfer of Danny Blanchflower from Aston Villa was completed in December, 1954.  When he retired through injury ten years later at the age of thirty eight, Spurs had experienced the most successful period in their history with a League and Cup 'Double', a second FA Cup success and become the first British team to achieve a European triumph.

Blanchflower grew up in Belfast and played for his local club, Glentoran.  He was transferred to Barnsley in 1949 and joined Villa two years later.  He was a great 'thinker' about football and wanted to play with style which often put him at odds with managers and coaches.  He complained that in training, players spent too much time on running and were denied the oportunity to practise with a football.

Tottenham manager, Arthur Rowe, signed Blanchflower, a Northern Ireland international, for £30,000 to replace Bill Nicholson who was nearing retirement.  He made his debut at Manchester City in a scoreless draw, taking Nicholson's place, and was ever present for the remainder of the season.  For the next number of seasons Tottenham's performances fluctuated and at times Blanchflower's graceful style of play didn't fit in with the endeavour that was required for a struggle near the foot of the table.

Blanchflower was appointed Captain and liked to take on-field decisions when he thought it necessary but that brought him into conflict with the manager on occasions.  Season 1955-56 was disappointing for Spurs in the League but they progressed to the FA Cup semi-finals.  In the 6th Round against West Ham at White Hart Lane on a very heavy pitch Spurs came from 2-3 down to earn a draw after as captain, Blanchflower, moved centre-half, Maurice Norman, forward to assist the attack.  The change worked as Spurs earned a draw and went on to win the replay 2-1.

They lost the semi-final to Manchester City but a goal down in the final minutes as Spurs battled for an equaliser, Blanchflower again moved Norman, forward into the attack as he had done successfully in the previous round.  It didn't work this time although Spurs nearly managed to equalise but the repercussions of the defeat went further than expected.  Manager, Jimmy Anderson was unimpressed with Blanchflower’s decision to make changes to the team during the game and in the ensuing row Blanchflower resigned as captain and did not take on the role for another two seasons.

Blanchflower won the Player of the Year award in 1957-58 season and captained Northern Ireland to a successful World Cup campaign in Sweden.

When Bill Nicholson was appointed manager, Blanchflower developed a better understanding with him which worked for the benefit of them and the team.  In the pre-season of 1960, Blanchflower boldly predicted that Spurs would win the 'Double'.  They did with a brand of exciting, flowing football that packed stadiums around the country.  The next year they reached the European Cup semi-finals, unlucky to lose to Benefica.  A second FA Cup triumph was achieved and they finished third in the League.  If they had won one of their two games against Champions, Ipswich Town, Spurs would have achieved a second 'double'.  The next year as injury started to take its toll on Blanchflower, he missed nearly half of the season but returned to inspire the team to the European Cup Winners' Cup success.  The following season he retired.

Blanchflower went into journalism and later briefly returned to football management.  On his resignation as Tottenham manger, Bill Nicholson recommended that Blanchflower, working with Johnny Giles, be appointed as his replacement.  The Board of Directors decided against such an appointment.

Blanchflower was one of Tottenham's most influential players and is a 'Legend' so important to the success that Spurs achieved at home and in Europe in the early 1960s.  He made 382 League and Cup appearances in his ten years with Tottenham.

Twenty five years after the Blanchflower transfer, the next transaction between the two clubs saw Gordon Smith arrive at White Hart Lane in February,1979.  A full back, he spent four years with Spurs as they tried to re-establish themselves in the 1st Division.  Injury problems delayed his debut and restricted his appearances so that he only made 45 League and Cup appearances before moving on to Wolverhampton Wanderers.  Not all transfers are a success.

David Ginola who was such a favourite at Tottenham during his three years at the club was transferred to Villa in 2000.  While at White Hart Lane he was a member of the Worthington Cup winning team of 1999 and brought excitement and skill to the team at what was a rather dull period in Tottenham's history.  He was signed by Gerry Francis from Newcastle United, played for Christian Gross and sold by George Graham.  On Graham's arrival it had been widely predicted that Ginola would be one of the first players to leave but he showed great application during this time and worked well for the team scoring a number of outstanding goals.  On returning to White Hart Lane the following season, to play in a rather dull scoreless draw for Villa, home spectators provided their own entertainment by cheering every time Ginola touched the ball.

Spurs Connections in Villa's Current Squad
Aston Villa's current squad contains three players with Tottenham connections in their past record.  Jermaine Jenas who is unavailable for this match as he is on a year long loan agreement with Villa joined Spurs from Newcastle in 2005.  He played in the Carling Cup win of 2008 and in the following season's losing Final team but has been a peripheral player at the club for the past two seasons.  A player of skill and endeavour, he too often failed to influence a game as much as his ability suggested he should and recurring injury problems restricted his appearances for Spurs as it has done at Villa.

Alan Hutton also joined Villa in August.  His transfer was completed as Kyle Walker who had finished last season on loan at Villa returned to White Hart Lane to claim the first team place and as former Tottenham player, Luke Young left Villa Park to sign for Queen's Park Rangers.  Hutton joined Spurs from Rangers in 2008 and a few weeks later was part of the Carling Cup success.  He fell out of favour following Harry Redknapp's appointment and went on loan to Sunderland.  It had been anticipated that he would leave sooner but he returned to the team in the first half of last season but out out again to Vedran Corluka.  A deal for £3 million was agreed with Villa in the summer and he expressed his disaffection for Spurs and the manager in articles in the press following his departure. 

Darren Bent was not happy at Tottenham following Harry Redknapp's quote after the striker missed an obvious goal scoring opportunity against Portsmouth.  He had joined Spurs from Charlton  Athletic in 2007 when Martin Jol was manager.  He never found his true goal scoring form with the club as he competed with Dimitar Berbatov, Robbie Keane and Jermaine Defoe for a place in the team.  He was an unused substitute for the 2008 Carling Cup Final but played in the following year's losing team.  He finished leading goalscorer for Spurs in 2009 with 17 goals in all competitions.  He joined Sunderland in the summer of 2009 for £10 million after he had attracted attention with his infamous quotes on Twitter about which clubs he did and didn't want to sign for.

Since moving away from Tottenham Bent has shown much greater endeavour when playing against Spurs than he ever appeared to do when wearing the white shirt of Tottenham.  In his first game for Sunderland at White Hart Lane he lost his personal battle with Heurelho Gomes who saved his penalty awarded for what to many appeared to be a dive. as Spurs won 2 - 0.  However, in the return match he was fired up and scored two goals in the opening half hour, including a penalty.  In his continuing penalty shoot-out contest with Gomes, he lost out as Gomes saved two of the three penalties awarded as Spurs lost 1 - 3.  He joined Villa in January, 2011 for £18 million and has continued to add to his England appearances.

And there were Others
Other players who have worn both the claret and blue of Villa and the white of Spurs include:
Steve Hodge, Andy Gray, Colin Calderwood and Oyvind Leonhardsen. 

Older Players
Older players included Jimmy Cantrell who spent the early part of his career with Villa.  He joined Spurs in 1912 and was still an influential centre forward as Spurs won the 2nd Division in 1920 and the FA Cup the following season.  He was a few weeks short of his 39th birthday when he played in the 1921 FA Cup Final win over Wolverhampton Wanderers.  He retired in 1925 and played his last game for Spurs in April, 1923 - the oldest player to play for the club.

Cyril Spiers joined Tottenham from Villa in 1927 after a serious injury had led the Midlands club to believe that he would never be fit enough to play again.  However, he underwent surgery and after a successful trial joined Spurs.  He was their regular goalkeeper for over four seasons and was released in 1933 having made 169 League and Cup appearances.

Billy Cook and Ronnie Dix also served both clubs.

United Score - Game Over for Spurs

Manchester United 3 Tottenham Hotspur 0

Aaron Lennon

Well, the answer to my last question in my previous blog is a resounding 'NO'.  The date of 22nd August was not to be added to these few occasions when Spurs won at Old Trafford.

For an hour it was looking quite positive.  In the first half Spurs had withstood United's early dominance and had then started to make an impression on the game.  Satisfied at half-time but after that United started to build up a period of sustained pressure which reduced Spurs' forward forays to almost nothing.  However, Aaron Lennon had one great opportunity to create an opening for Spurs when he got past the full back to the line but as he moved towards goal, with both Gareth Bale and Rafael Van der Vaart waiting for a pass, he froze and did nothing.  He lost the ball, at that moment he was like a rabbit transfixed in the headlights of a car, and Spurs best chance was gone to the very evident displeasure of Van der Vaart on the pitch and his manager off it.

In spite of their possession and pressure United were not causing any real problems to the Spurs defence where Brad Friedel was making his Tottenham debut at the age of forty, Tottenham's oldest player since the war.

Unfortunately, it was following a poor United pass that they scored their goal.  Rooney saw his pass cut out by Benoit Assou-Ekotto but his poor clearance gifted the ball to Cleverly and from his cross Wellbeck headed the opening goal.  Game over.

The goal gave United confidence and they poured forward in search of a second.  Tottenham faded and the inevitable happened.  It was only after conceding the second goal that Spurs managed to mount a dangerous strike on the United goal.  From a cross, challenged by substitute Roman Pavlyuchenko in the air, United's young goalkeeper flapped at it and the ball fell to Jermain Defoe who volley crashed against the woodwork.  That was the end as far as Spurs were concerned and Rooney scored a third towards the end.

Team: Friedel; Walker (Corluka), Dawson, Kaboul, Assou-Ekotto; Lennon, Livermore (Huddlestone), Kranjcar (Pavlyuchenko), Bale, Van der Vaart; Defoe.

Horrendous Record at Old Trafford 
Tottenham went into the game hoping to overturn years of history surrounding their games against United but in the end had to accept they were second best and would have to wait for another year to end their losing sequence of games at Old Trafford.

P 22 W 0 D 4 L 18 Goals For 9 Ag 46

Tottenham have now conceded 13 goals in their last four League visits to Old Trafford and 7 in three Cup games there since 2008.

Pointless Tactics

Tottenham had a stated intention of targeting United's young goalkeeper who has made mistakes in his first two games for the club.  A valid idea which was an obvious tactic to anyone prior to the game but this was taken to such an extent that Van der Vaart was shooting on sight from ridiculous distances which wasn't going to trouble any keeper and also saw him, along with Bale and defoe shooting or trying to shoot when other were in a better goalscoring position.  This selfishness cost the team dearly when a pass could have been more productive and played into United's hands and actually took the pressure off the keeper who was dealing comfortably with the shots.  It was only after they went two goals down did they get any joy against the keeper when challenged for the cross which led to Defoe's shot against the woodwork.  From free-kicks and corners Spurs should have tried to put pressure on the keeper to unsettle him with Michael Dawson and Younes Kaboul to aim at but instead we had a series of ineffective shots which caused no alarm to United's defence.  

For an hour Tottenham were able to compete against United but throughout the second half both Bale and Lennon were mostly anonymous.   For Spurs to have any chance of progressing in such games they need both these players playing their part in a 'big' performance.  Similarly with Van der Vaart he needs to play more as a team player and not constantly looking to score an 'out of this world' goal - you don't get any more points for such a strike, a tap-in will still bring three points.

Friedel looked comfortable in goal as you would expect from a player of his experience.  He did everything efficiently and effectively and there were no heart stopping moments of which Gomes is prone.

Walker was comfortable at full back but was taken ill at half-time.  Corluka played as he does, coping admirably with Young's pace.

Dawson and Koboul were comfortable in central defence for an hour but then as the team became stretched so they lost some of their composure and found it more difficult to pick up their men as United came forward in numbers against a tiring central midfield.

Jake Livermore had a comfortable debut in difficult circumstances and combined well with Kranjcar who did well until United increased the pressure and gained some movement and momentum.  They got pulled out of position as time went on and this enables United to prosper.  Spurs missed more defensive central midfield player like Sandro or Palacios.

Lennon and Bale worked hard especially in the first half but faded after United became more dominant and didn't do enough to keep the United full backs in defence allowing them time to push forward in support of their midfield.  Both should be contributing more in big games like this and were wasteful when in possession either running into trouble or wasting crosses or shots.  Disappointing that they didn't make a more meaningful contribution in the second half.

Van der Vaart worked tirelessly in trying to create something from just behind the striker.  He came deep to collect the ball and plyed across the pitch.  He looks much fitter and lasted the whole game.  In trying to score a spectacular goal he can forget that there are others in the team who might be in abetter position.  how to harness his talent and skill to the team is Harry Redknap's difficulty.

Defoe worked hard but never got behind the defence with a clear chance on goal.  The best came from the cross but when he was running at goal, like Van der Vaart, he had only one thought - a shot on goal but he didn't trouble the goalkeeper.

Tottenham lost but the Manchester United team are not as good as commentators are trying to make out and a more robust team (not the 'Tottenham way') would have caused them problems.

Following this defeat, hopefully, the Chairman will see the need for some new signings in appropriate positions (ie. striker, central midfield and defence) to help Spurs close the gap on the top teams.  Otherwise it could be similar to last year with an unfruitful attempt to get into a Champions League position and other top players will decide they need to find pastures new.  If Luka Modric does go to Clhelsea this August, it will be even more difficult to keep Bale, Van der Vaart, Lennon, Sandro and others in January and next summer.  The star players may go but the Huttons and Bentleys of the squad might still be there.

The next few days are important days for Tottenham Hotspur - it could determine the season that lies ahead.