Tottenham Hotspur Pre-Season Matches - 1960s Style

Spurs completed their pre-season preparation with a 2-1 win over Atletico Bilbao at White Hart Lane thanks to two goals early in the second half from Peter Crouch and Jermain Defoe.  This season has seen the club visit South Africa where they won the Vodacom Challenge, playing three games against Orlando Pirates and Kaiser Chiefs.  They also defeated Brighton and Hove Albion in a friendly which marked the opening of the south coast club's new stadium.  These matches were used to provide match practice for the senior squad while a number of Spurs XI games were played to improve the fitness of the younger members of the playing squad.

This has been a much less active series of games compared with recent seasons which have seen the club visit the Far East, USA, Europe and the UK.  In the summer of 2004, new coach saw Spurs play a massive 12 games in the weeks leading up to the season which was not ideal preparation for a new season.  Last year, Harry Redknapp found the amount of travelling involved in the trip to the United States to be a hindrance to his preparations.

However, looking back over the years it can be seen that clubs preferred to prepare over a shorter period and much closer to home in their build up to a new season and the number of games they played prior to the start of the season was greatly restricted compared to modern day trends.

In the 1950s and 60s the only opportunity Spurs supporters had to see the team playing before the first game of the season was in the annual 'Public Trial' game - 'Whites' v 'Blues' played between the 1st team and the Reserves at White Hart Lane on the Saturday prior to the start of the season.  On occasions these games could be quite feisty affairs and frequently raised more questions than answers for the manager as the reserve players endeavoured to make a point about their non-selection.

In fact, on the Saturday before the start of the 1960 - 61 season after three weeks training Bill Nicholson watched as the reserves drew 4-4 with the soon to become famous 'Double' team.  In that game, watched by 11,677 spectators, the full strength team of Danny Blanchflower, Dave Mackay et al took a 4-1 lead mid-way through the second half but such was the determination of experienced players like Tony Marchi, Tommy Harmer and Terry Medwin and a young prospect called Frank Saul that they scored three quick goals to draw the game.  Cliff Jones had given the 'Whites' the lead from a hotly disputed penalty and Mackay doubled the lead before half-time.  Terry Dyson added the third before Medwin pulled one back for the 'Blues'.  Les Allen increased the lead but then Saul and Jimmy Collins (2) levelled the score.  Saul obviously impressed the manager as he made his League debut a few weeks later as replacement for the injured Bobby Smith in the derby match at Highbury when he scored as Spurs won 3-2 to maintain their unbeaten start to the season.

This had been the customary preparation throughout the 1950s and it was only in the mid-1960s that changes occurred in the preparations teams made.  In the two seasons following the 'Double' success Spurs had the privilege of playing in the Charity Shield game, the official curtain raiser for the new season.  In 1961 they defeated and FA XI and the following year they took revenge on Champions Ipswich Town by winning 5-1 at Portman Road.

To this point there had been no pre-season friendly games played at home or abroad.  It was more customary for clubs to undertake extensive overseas tours at the end of the season and in the 1950s Spurs had twice visited North America on lengthy tours while at the end of season 1959 they visited USSR.  The first pre-season friendly that is recorded is in August, 1964 when Spurs went to Holland and lost 2-3 to Feyenoord - their only pre-season game.

August 1965 saw the introduction of a short tour to take part in a two day tournament in Spain.  Spurs won the Costa del Sol trophy after defeating Valencia 2 - 1 and then Standard Liege 1 - 0 in the Final.
The following year they returned to defend their trophy and retained it with victories over Malaga and Benefica, both 2 - 1.

In 1967 Spurs had the Charity Shield game at Old Trafford but a week earlier they went to Hampden Park to take on European Champions, Celtic and drew 3 - 3.  Strangely, the game against Manchester United ended with a similar scoreline but even more strangely, Pat Jennings was one of the Tottenham scorers that day.  Pre-season matches were now becoming more high profile and so it was to continue in the coming years.

For the next four years, a game against Glasgow Rangers became a regular feature of the pre-season fixture list and while rarely does anything memorable occur in such matches, the 1968 game against Rangers at White Hart Lane saw the debut of a young centre-half signed for £5,500 from non-league Chelmsford City.  Peter Collins scored twice in that game and although his career was ended prematurely through injury he will be remembered for the part he played in the successful 1971 League Cup campaign when he replaced the injured Mike England.  In 1968 Spurs also played in Austria while the following year saw Spurs renew acquaintances with Hearts, their Europa League opponents in ten days time.  In the mid-1950s the two clubs had participated in a short-lived Anglo-Scottish floodlight competition which lasted for a number of seasons.

The 1970 pre-season saw Tottenham also return to Spain to play in the Palma de Mallorca Tournament but there was no repeat of their previous success in Spain as they lost both games by a single goal to Cologne and Atletico Madrid.

In the years that followed the number of matches played remained at three or four.  It was in the mid to late 70s that saw additional games played with an increasing number overseas.  The tendency then became to take the players away to a foreign training camp where a number of games were played against local sides before returning to participate in more high profile games in the final weeks of preparation.

Every club does it differently and every manager has his own ideas on the best way to prepare but nowadays a club like Tottenham will include a tour to a destination where they can try to heighten their profile and create a new generation of supporters who will improve the financial standing of the club through increased sales of club merchandise.

At the end of the day pre-season results are meaningless, it's the result on the opening day of the season that really counts and how the team progresses from that point.  On occasions Spurs have gone through pre-season games with an unbeaten record with players scoring for fun but when the real games started their form has been poor but at other times the reverse has occurred - a poor pre-season run is followed by an exciting start to the new season.

Spurs' Summer Expectations Shattered Once Again.

Ardiles - World Cup Winner

The early summer expectations of a World Cup that would throw up a host of foreign players who would enhance the Premier League were quickly dashed as the realisation dawned very early in the competition that South Africa 2010 was a rather poor and disappointing vintage to offer to the world.  Tottenham Hotspur have benefitted in the past from World Cup signings - they set high standards when Keith Burkinshaw returned to Argentina to sign World Cup winners, Ossie Ardiles and Ricky Villa.  In 1984 Alan Sugar pulled a rabbit out of the hat with the unexpected signing of Germany's Jurgen Klinsmann but on other occasions the stars of the World Cup have disappointed when faced with the rigours of English football.  This year there were few who did themselves much good in the shop window of the World Cup.

Every summer Spurs fans hope for an early resolution to all transfer negotiations as the manager, with the Chairman's assistance, endeavours to strengthen the Tottenham team for the following season.  The reasoning being that on the resumption of training all the new players will be in place and the work of preparing for the new season can commence in earnest.  However, sadly, once again, this has proved to be a forlorn and false hope as, to date, no new signings have appeared at White Hart Lane.  The only signing of note has been the acquisition of the young Brazilian midfield player, Sandro, but he remains in his homeland and is not expected to be available until September. 

The rumour mill has once again been in full swing with Spurs centre field for every conceivable target but no-one has signed on the dotted line and held up the lilywhite shirt at White Hart Lane.

For many years as Spurs have chased possible transfer targets, the lack of first, European football, and then Champions League football has always been held up as a reason why players have been reluctant to commit themselves to Spurs.  But now with Champions League football beckoning, players still show a reluctance to come to Tottenham.  In past years all we could do was watch as our star players went off to pastures new to fulfill their dreams of playing for the top clubs in the top competitions - Sol Campbell deserted Tottenham for our closest rivals, Arsenal, Teddy Sheringham, Michael Carrick and Dimitar Berbatov couldn't wait to get to Old Trafford while Robbie Keane had to sign for his boyhood team, Liverpool.  Spurs couldn't offer those players the opportunity to play at the highest level so there was nothing the club could do but release them with their best wishes and accept the transfer fees to swell the coffers while we, the fans, felt betrayed and disconsolate.  However, now things have changed, Spurs have access to the Champions League while Liverpool are consigned to the Europa League, that should make a difference.  But No - Spurs are still struggling to make those important signings while Liverpool have managed to hold on to their stars - Steven Gerrard and Fernando Torres and have persuaded Joe Cole to move north to Anfield rather than move to Tottenham.  So as Manchester City and Liverpool have proved, players aren't just interested in the playing opportunities, they're very interested in the money on offer and will go to wherever they get the best salary.  Perhaps, Mr Levy will have to reconsider his financial restrictions where transfer fees and salaries are concerned if Tottenham Hotspur are going to become one of the big players in the Premier League as well as in Europe.  No-one wants Spurs to spend foolishly or offer extravagant salaries but to achieve greatness there will have to be a loosening of the purse strings to attract quality players to the club.

With less than three weeks remaining of this very quiet transfer window, it is to be hoped that any signings will improve the quality of the team and not just be a signing for the sake of it - in the past Spurs have suffered through Mr Levy's desire to shop at 'last-minute.com'.  Late, hasty purchases rarely achieve great success.  Spurs need better than that if they are to maintain the progress achieved by Harry Redknapp in the past two years.