Is Gascoigne Going to Have a Crack? 90s Spurs book (15th April 2024)

[DeanoAustin]

I was born 93 so missed it entirely.

My uncle though was 13 years old and broke his finger hitting a wall celebrating but said he was still buzzing from the goal even as he was in agony.

Obviously I know all about Gaza, Linekar, Mabbutt and Thorstdvet but what was the rest of the team like?

I’ve checked the line up and though I know their names I don’t know anything about them as players.

Were the other good or did we find our form on the back on a select few players?

Van den Hauwe I liked as a kid but he was limited and dirty/tough.
Edinburgh looked very good early on in his spell with us but never really hit the heights.
Sedgley was a bloody good player but eventually binned us off for Ipswich IIRC. He had some sort of argument with Sugar over money I think.
Howells was a decent player. Gerry Francis made a decent holding player of him.
Nayim was a lovely footballer but not really suited to English football of that time from memory and never really established himself as a starter.
Paul Stewart came as a striker for a big fee and underwhelmed. Was moved to midfield and was brilliant. Then Liverpool came calling and his career stalled.
Paul Allen was a bloody good player. Always liked him and thought he was a little unfortunate not to be capped.
Samways was a decent player I thought at the time but I see a lot of people calling him Vinny Sideways so maybe he was the Harry Winks of his day?
Paul Walsh was okay for us but never scored regularly and never established himself.

So we had some great players, some players capable of greatness but too sporadically and some lads who were decent but not good enough for us to challenge for titles with them in the side. All of which led to the inconsistency @Baleforce mentions.

I was only 10-11 at the time so the above are the impressions of a 10-11 year old.

 

[Bullet]

Obviously I know all about Gaza, Linekar, Mabbutt and Thorstdvet but what was the rest of the team like?

I've never heard of Gaza and Linekar? /s

22 minutes here:

Tottenham 3-1 Arsenal, FA Cup S/F 1991

With Tottenham and Arsenal drawn together and no other venue in London deemed suitable, Wembley Stadium was chosen to host its first FA Cup semi-final. Arsen...

youtu.be

 

[90sSpursBook]

Van den Hauwe I liked as a kid but he was limited and dirty/tough.
Edinburgh looked very good early on in his spell with us but never really hit the heights.
Sedgley was a bloody good player but eventually binned us off for Ipswich IIRC. He had some sort of argument with Sugar over money I think.
Howells was a decent player. Gerry Francis made a decent holding player of him.
Nayim was a lovely footballer but not really suited to English football of that time from memory and never really established himself as a starter.
Paul Stewart came as a striker for a big fee and underwhelmed. Was moved to midfield and was brilliant. Then Liverpool came calling and his career stalled.
Paul Allen was a bloody good player. Always liked him and thought he was a little unfortunate not to be capped.
Samways was a decent player I thought at the time but I see a lot of people calling him Vinny Sideways so maybe he was the Harry Winks of his day?
Paul Walsh was okay for us but never scored regularly and never established himself.

So we had some great players, some players capable of greatness but too sporadically and some lads who were decent but not good enough for us to challenge for titles with them in the side. All of which led to the inconsistency @Baleforce mentions.

I was only 10-11 at the time so the above are the impressions of a 10-11 year old.

Pretty good summation. Important to remember that this was a far more innocent age and there weren't forums, social media, podcasts and Athletic long-reads to pore over the minutiae of every player's every performance so hard to know how all the above would stack up today particularly once a narrative had been established - the Vinny 'sideways' one was probably the only thing close to that and as @DeanoAustin suggests was a really tidy player who helped everything tick over.

 

[90sSpursBook]

Happy Monday folks....just 6 weeks now until publication so previewing Chapter 6 'Walking in a Klinsmann Wonderland' all about the incredibly chaotic, enjoyable yet heart-breaking 94/95 season. In this chapter I include memories from Julie Welch, 'Tottenham on My Mind' Blogger Alan Fisher, Daniel Wynne, David Howells, Bardi (The Extra Inch), Theo Delaney, Chris Slegg (author of the 'The Team That Dared To Do' - specifically about this season), Gerry Francis and our very own @thfcsteff who shared his personal memories of the emotional win at Anfield in the FA Cup.

This season had the full kaleidoscope of emotions - remember we started the summer booted out the FA Cup and with a 12-point deduction which Alan Sugar would go on to successfully fight.

Then there was the exciting arrival of Dumitrescu off the back of the World Cup which was then eclipsed with the jaw dropping moment when we learned that we'd signed Jurgen Klinsmann! 'Klinsmania' took over amidst Ossie's ultimately doomed 'Famous Five' experiment which culminated in humiliation at second-tier Notts County.

Gerry Francis then arrived to organise the defence and get everyone fit (introduction of 'Terror Tuesday') and as he went to pains to tell me still ensured that we scored lots of goals at the other end.

The season boiled down to the FA Cup run which we all (except Gerry!) felt we were destined to win. An amazing night at Southampton in which Ronny Rosenthal cemented himself as a Cult Hero was followed up by the most incredible last-minute win at Anfield in the QF. Having avoided Manchester Utd in the semi-final and drawn Everton what could possibly go wrong?? Maybe the game being staged an ill-equipped Elland Road in which Everton had fans around 3 sides of the ground; a mounting injury crisis and a genuine off day. No-one could quite believe that we saved our worst performance of the year for the most crucial game.

What could have been the start of a great era was ended far too prematurely when Klinsmann announced, from London's 'Comedy Club' that he'd be activating a clause in his contract to leave in the summer and the season petered out with us agonisingly close to qualifying for the UEFA Cup via the league.

Those are the headlines but I'm sure you all have your own memories and be great to share them about this season that many of us, despite cup wins and European tours still remember fondly as the most exciting.

To pre-order the book (out 15 April) please either visit my personal selling site (for UK only orders) - https://90sspursbook.square.site/
or alternatively and for international sales it's available via Amazon - https://www.amazon.co.uk/Gascoigne-...d=1706634017&sprefix=is+gascoi,aps,305&sr=8-1

 

[DeanoAustin]

Pretty good summation. Important to remember that this was a far more innocent age and there weren't forums, social media, podcasts and Athletic long-reads to pore over the minutiae of every player's every performance so hard to know how all the above would stack up today particularly once a narrative had been established - the Vinny 'sideways' one was probably the only thing close to that and as @DeanoAustin suggests was a really tidy player who helped everything tick over.

Was amazed to see in the last few days that Paul Walsh never rated Venables. Said he was nothing special as a coach and that he was way too lax on discipline. I never subscribed to the "Fergie would have kept Gazza on the straight and narrow" school of thought because Gazza seems to have lots of deep-rooted demons but if what Walsh says was true, maybe El Tel did enable some of Gazza's eccentricity which was ultimately detrimental to his career.

 

[DeanoAustin]

Happy Monday folks....just 6 weeks now until publication so previewing Chapter 6 'Walking in a Klinsmann Wonderland' all about the incredibly chaotic, enjoyable yet heart-breakingView attachment 16851 94/95 season. In this chapter I include memories from Julie Welch, 'Tottenham on My Mind' Blogger Alan Fisher, Daniel Wynne, David Howells, Bardi (The Extra Inch), Theo Delaney, Chris Slegg (author of the 'The Team That Dared To Do' - specifically about this season), Gerry Francis and our very own @thfcsteff who shared his personal memories of the emotional win at Anfield in the FA Cup.

This season had the full kaleidoscope of emotions - remember we started the summer booted out the FA Cup and with a 12-point deduction which Alan Sugar would go on to successfully fight.

Then there was the exciting arrival of Dumitrescu off the back of the World Cup which was then eclipsed with the jaw dropping moment when we learned that we'd signed Jurgen Klinsmann! 'Klinsmania' took over amidst Ossie's ultimately doomed 'Famous Five' experiment which culminated in humiliation at second-tier Notts County.

Gerry Francis then arrived to organise the defence and get everyone fit (introduction of 'Terror Tuesday') and as he went to pains to tell me still ensured that we scored lots of goals at the other end.

The season boiled down to the FA Cup run which we all (except Gerry!) felt we were destined to win. An amazing night at Southampton in which Ronny Rosenthal cemented himself as a Cult Hero was followed up by the most incredible last-minute win at Anfield in the QF. Having avoided Manchester Utd in the semi-final and drawn Everton what could possibly go wrong?? Maybe the game being staged an ill-equipped Elland Road in which Everton had fans around 3 sides of the ground; a mounting injury crisis and a genuine off day. No-one could quite believe that we saved our worst performance of the year for the most crucial game.

What could have been the start of a great era was ended far too prematurely when Klinsmann announced, from London's 'Comedy Club' that he'd be activating a clause in his contract to leave in the summer and the season petered out with us agonisingly close to qualifying for the UEFA Cup via the league.

Those are the headlines but I'm sure you all have your own memories and be great to share them about this season that many of us, despite cup wins and European tours still remember fondly as the most exciting.

To pre-order the book (out 15 April) please either visit my personal selling site (for UK only orders) - https://90sspursbook.square.site/
or alternatively and for international sales it's available via Amazon - https://www.amazon.co.uk/Gascoigne-Going-Have-Crack-Mediocrity/dp/1801507023/ref=sr_1_1?crid=4246SOCAKXT0&keywords=is+gascoigne+going+to+have+a+crack&qid=1706634017&sprefix=is+gascoi,aps,305&sr=8-1

This one is a little bit grim and I've told it on here before...

The morning after the Notts County game, where Austin got a rare start and Dumitrescu was sent off, I was late into school for some reason. When I got in, mates of mine were saying "Give us a look at your neck". Apparently, someone had started a rumour that I tried to hang myself with my jacket after the game. I was mightily f**ked off with the result but it was absolute nonsense. Some people believed it though.

Obviously, there was a lot to remember once Francis came in but I do recall when it all started to fall apart for Ossie. It was a Monday night home game v Southampton we were expected to win easily and we went 1 up and were close to the top of the league. They equalised and then a horror mistake from Stuart Nethercott gave them the winner. It seemed to be all downhill after that.

 

[Eeyore Spurs]

This one is a little bit grim and I've told it on here before...

The morning after the Notts County game, where Austin got a rare start and Dumitrescu was sent off, I was late into school for some reason. When I got in, mates of mine were saying "Give us a look at your neck". Apparently, someone had started a rumour that I tried to hang myself with my jacket after the game. I was mightily f**ked off with the result but it was absolute nonsense. Some people believed it though.

Obviously, there was a lot to remember once Francis came in but I do recall when it all started to fall apart for Ossie. It was a Monday night home game v Southampton we were expected to win easily and we went 1 up and were close to the top of the league. They equalised and then a horror mistake from Stuart Nethercott gave them the winner. It seemed to be all downhill after t

you clearly had a reputation after the incident you told us about last week!

 

[90sSpursBook]

Was amazed to see in the last few days that Paul Walsh never rated Venables. Said he was nothing special as a coach and that he was way too lax on discipline. I never subscribed to the "Fergie would have kept Gazza on the straight and narrow" school of thought because Gazza seems to have lots of deep-rooted demons but if what Walsh says was true, maybe El Tel did enable some of Gazza's eccentricity which was ultimately detrimental to his career.

That's right - he really doesn't have many good memories of his time with us (that was all under Venables) at all. I didn't have enough space to go into much detail about him but he's quite affectionately remembered by the fans.

He joined us from Liverpool in 87/88 to be a regular starter but only scored 1 in 11 for us. He then got a decent amount of gametime in 88/89 but again goals were few and far between - in an era where you had 2 strikers they were expected to score goals but he only got 6 in 37 which included just 1 in 20 during the middle of the season. He did end the season better but then of course we signed Lineker (and already had Stewart who was expensive) so game time was even more limited. It was planned that he'd go to Marseille as part of the Waddle deal but it fell through.

He was particularly frustrated when he came in to score a hat trick against Sheffield Utd (Oct 1990) in a rare game where Lineker was injured but was then bombed out the following week. He was regularly a used sub though and it was his effort that was saved that we scored the winning goal in the 91 Cup Final from.

 

[DeanoAustin]

That's right - he really doesn't have many good memories of his time with us (that was all under Venables) at all. I didn't have enough space to go into much detail about him but he's quite affectionately remembered by the fans.

He joined us from Liverpool in 87/88 to be a regular starter but only scored 1 in 11 for us. He then got a decent amount of gametime in 88/89 but again goals were few and far between - in an era where you had 2 strikers they were expected to score goals but he only got 6 in 37 which included just 1 in 20 during the middle of the season. He did end the season better but then of course we signed Lineker (and already had Stewart who was expensive) so game time was even more limited. It was planned that he'd go to Marseille as part of the Waddle deal but it fell through.

He was particularly frustrated when he came in to score a hat trick against Sheffield Utd (Oct 1990) in a rare game where Lineker was injured but was then bombed out the following week. He was regularly a used sub though and it was his effort that was saved that we scored the winning goal in the 91 Cup Final from.

There are a lot of stories about Walsh being unprofessional himself. Didn't he lamp Ray Clemence in a friendly after being taken off and there was another game v Wimbledon where he had to be hooked at half time because he'd been on the lash the night before with George Best?

A lot of what I read by Walsh may have had validity but he seemed to be blaming everyone else for his shortcomings. It was also at odds with what every other player I've seen interviewed has said about Venables as a coach (whatever about his other activities and his relationship with the press).

 

[inkpenspur]

Pretty good summation. Important to remember that this was a far more innocent age and there weren't forums, social media, podcasts and Athletic long-reads to pore over the minutiae of every player's every performance so hard to know how all the above would stack up today particularly once a narrative had been established - the Vinny 'sideways' one was probably the only thing close to that and as @DeanoAustin suggests was a really tidy player who helped everything tick over.

L

 

[90sSpursBook]

Happy Monday everyone!
Just for immediate relevance...Villa Park was an absolute graveyard for us in the 90s....we didn't win any of the 11 games we played there - only Old Trafford was more fruitless. How times change!

This week (5 weeks until the book is released) I'm previewing 95/96 season and the chapter is called 'Is it going a bit Pony?'

This season was objectively good - we gained as many points per game as the really exciting 94/95 - but it felt like a real comedown after the previous season. Armstrong replaced Klinsmann, Sinton replaced Barmby and Pony and Hewlett Packard replaced Umbro and Holsten as our respective sponsors.

I spoke in great length with Gerry Francis who explained that, contrary to popular belief, Bergkamp was never going to be a viable option for us (too expensive - wages and transfer fee) and that he felt Chris Armstrong's attributes far better complemented Teddy (which when you think about it does have some validity).

With the aftermath of Klinsmann's exit and Sugar's completely unnecessary very public mud-slinging of both Klinsmann and at Arsenal for signing Bergkamp (he described it was just 'cosmetic marketing') it was a very unhappy start to the season with no wins in the first four and supporter groups' ire growing in prominence for their condemnation of Sugar. However, from September we clicked into gear -Teddy and Armstrong formed a formidable partnership (with both scoring in the NLD win in November) and we found ourselves in 3rd place by Christmas. The New Year's Day victory over Man Utd was the high point even with a patched up midfield but it proved to be a false dawn.

We couldn't maintain our league form in 1996 but it was the FA Cup that provided the biggest heartache. After a snow abandoned tie at Nottingham Forest we eventually went out on penalties in a replay at White Hart Lane in the 5th round.

Going into the final weekend of the season it was between us, Arsenal, Everton and Blackburn to gain the final two UEFA Cup spots.....alas despite a credible draw at Saudi Sportswashing Machine we were pipped by all three teams' results and ended up 8th.

 

[90sSpursBook]

Just 5 weeks until the book is released (though pre-sales are very open) so reviewing Chapter 7 about the 96/97 season titled 'Frustration'

I spoke to Gerry Francis, David Howells and Paul Hawksbee but most enjoyably our very own @thfcsteff who shared a lovely story about about his experiences celebrating a last minute equaliser in an entirely irrelevant end-of-season match against Leicester!

This season peaked after 90 minutes - we won 2-0 at Blackburn going 5th in the embryonic league table but a double leg break for Gary Mabbutt was a sign of things to come. Anderton also went off injured and would only play another 17 times all season and Chris Armstrong - who'd had such a promising first season picked up an ankle injury that arguably he never recovered from.

The season is probably best defined by a catastrophic 8-day period when we lost a very intense and emotional north London derby in the final minute - then got stuffed 6-1 at (second division) Bolton in the League Cup before a 2-0 defeat to Liverpool live on Sky in which the White Hart Lane turf conspired against us deflecting a soft McManaman shot past hapless Ian Walker.

Under pressure from a fan mutiny Alan Sugar authorised relative big spending with moves for Iversen, John Scales and Ramon Vega but 1997 - which began with FA Cup defeat at Man Utd with Rory Allen and Neale Fenn in attack (following injuries to Sheringham, Armstrong, Iversen and Rosenthal) nosedived into mediocrity.

We ended up 9th following home defeat to Coventry on the final day to keep them up. Teddy then had a blazing row with Alan Sugar and handed in a transfer request.

96/97 was the definition of mediocrity with little highlights and several bleak experiences but we still kept supporting the team regardless as beautifully described by @thfcsteff:

Would love to hear any of your memories of this season......