Spurs in History - 14th June

14th June, 1993

Alan Sugar/Terry Venables Court Case.

From the time when their acrimonious fall-out became public knowledge a month earlier with Venables being sacked as Chief Executive, the media gave extensive coverage to the never-ending supply of claim and counter-claim that surfaced on behalf of the two sides.

Venables had been immediately re-instated on a temporary injunction but following a three day hearing in the High Court, he lost his case and was sacked from the club.

14th June, 1994

Punishment for Illegal Payments to Players

Exactly twelve months later, an F.A.Commission into the charge of making loans to players between 1985 and 1989 found the club guilty and severely punished them - a £600,000 fine, 12 points deducted at the end of the following season and expelled from the F.A.Cup.

These were the severest punishments ever handed out and was regarded as relegation by a slow painful process. Fans were devastated but Alan Sugar immediately announced an appeal.

Spurs in History - 25th May

25th May, 1994

The outcome into the Football Association’s enquiry into the financial irregularities over alleged payments to players that had come to light because of the Alan Sugar/ Terry Venables court case was not known but the F.A. were putting in place arrangements should Spurs be found guilty and demoted to the 1st Division as punishment.

They announced on this day that Sheffield United who had finished 20th in the Premier League would take their place for the following season.

Spurs in History - 12th May

12th May, 1994

Spurs were still suffering the consequences of the great fallout between Chairman, Alan Sugar, and Chief Executive, Terry Venables.

The previous year Venables had been sacked and the club’s business had been dragged through the media and the courts.

On this day, the F.A. formally charged Spurs with misconduct for alleged irregular payments to a number of players. These had come to light following the court case between Alan Sugar and Terry Venables and were allegedly paid to players between 1985 and 1989.

In an attempt to assist and co-operate with the F.A. Spurs had handed over documents which appeared to show that the payments had been made. This story would continue to dominate the whole club for some considerable time.