Comments on: Spurs’ Cult Heroes - Chivers or Peters? Waddle or Sheringham?

By: Alan Papworth

Alan Papworth — Mon, 22 Feb 2010 21:10:54 +0000

Cant believe that the late great John White is not included in the list, John played in what is argueably without doubt Spurs best ever team in the early 60’s and it goes to show what a player he was if only by the fact that of the fifteen games he missed whilst playing for a great Spurs side they only one once and throughout his career at Spurs they never finished outside of the top four either such was his influence in the side.

By: siberiaspur

siberiaspur — Tue, 08 Sep 2009 02:38:18 +0000

The same as Chris. My first visit to WHL in 1971 we beat Man City 2-1 and Chivers scored both. “Chivers for England” was the cry and boy did we love him. Peters was a little before I knew what was going on, but I’d have to say Waddle was a class above Sheringham and a better servant. And we only got Gazza because of him!

By: Chris

Chris — Mon, 07 Sep 2009 21:33:19 +0000

Sheringham over Waddle, Chivers and Paters harder to seperate in terms of contribution. When I started supporting Spurs in early 70’s, Chivers was the MAN, so I maybe biased. Agree with earlier posting regards Conn, a cavalier of a footballer if there was ever one. Said alot of nice things about Spurs fans too bless him. Freud was a strange cult hero, never scored and was a work horse but with little flair. But why not he loved the fans and it was reciprocated. Nutter Naylor should be in there (maybe is?) as well as Ian McNab in my oppinion. Great days those seventies, though being a teen helped! Great idea for a book, if it is to be published.

By: The guv

The guv — Mon, 07 Sep 2009 21:27:04 +0000

I am so pleased the true King of White Hart Lane is not only in your list but getting support too. Alan Gilzean remains, for all that saw him, the greatest.

By: AllActionNoPlot

AllActionNoPlot — Mon, 07 Sep 2009 21:10:48 +0000

Alfie Conn is a tricky one. The look the showmanship, the hat-trick on debut - he ticks the “Cult Hero” boxes alright, but we also thought that a fairly substantial contribution to the team would be necessary, and he only made 38 appearances in total.

A similar argument could be made against Jimmy Neighbour, who a lot of fans have called for. In a more modern context, Steffen Freund also retains a place in fans’ hearts while maybe not having had such a substantial on-pitch impact. It’s not straightforward, as a lot of people argue that Clive Allen only had one truly good season and is still being included (it was some season, mind).

Ultimately, to repeat what I wrote in the posting: “It is not a list of the definitive 20 Spurs heroes - as personal opinions necessarily differ on such a subjective matter - but it is a selection of 20 from a wider pool of candidates.”

By: bobby

bobby — Mon, 07 Sep 2009 18:47:28 +0000

Where’s Alfie Conn? If ever there was a cult hero at WHL….

By: Jill

Jill — Mon, 07 Sep 2009 16:28:58 +0000

Pretty good list. Personally I wouldn’t include Clive Allen as his time at the Spurs was brief.

Cliff Jones, now there was a player, FANTASTIC and he was past his prime when I saw him.

According to my Dad Ditchburn was every bit as good if not better than Jennings. Which I have to say I found unbelievable.

No Ramsey or Burgess???

By: AllActionNoPlot

AllActionNoPlot — Mon, 07 Sep 2009 16:04:58 +0000

Yep, Gilzean is on the list - again not one I’ve seen myself, but definitely one who fits the bill of cult hero (plus my Dad would probably disown me if I excluded him). Seen a picture of that fan kissing his boots in his testimonial…

FYI - the full list of 20 for the book is now looking like this: Sandy Brown, Bill Nick, Blanchflower, Mackay, Jones, Greaves, Gilzean, probably Chivers, Jennings, Knowles, Perryman, Hoddle, Ardiles, Mabbutt, Roberts, Clive Allen, Gascoigne, Ginola, Klinsmann and Waddle/Sheringham.

Problem is there are probably another dozen who would merit inclusion, and we’re particularly bothered about the lack of players from the ‘21 and ‘51 sides - Dimmock, Grimsdell from ‘21, and Ditchburn, Baily, Duquemin from ‘51, as well as others from the 60s onwards - Smith, England, Coates, Villa, Crooks, Archibald, even Freund has a lot of support for inclusion.

The inclusion of Sandy Brown, goalcorer in every round of 1901 winning Cup run, and Bill Nick, who played in the 51 push-and-run title-winning team, help to balance out the list, and capture some of the club’s history, but the list still weighs rather heavily towards the 60s-80s.

By: Peter

Peter — Mon, 07 Sep 2009 15:42:58 +0000

Spurs have had some fantastic players over the last 50 year from Bobby Smith, John White, Gilzean, Chivers, Gazza, Klinsman & Sherringham etc., etc., unfortunately we just seam to miss out on the league. Once we were the FA Cup top winners and we have had some good runs in Europe.
HR has hit it the nail on the head, balance we always don’t seam to get the balance right. The only one that did was Bill Nicholson and he didn’t go out any buy 10 players every season, like Sir Alex he chose the best.

By: Jill

Jill — Mon, 07 Sep 2009 15:28:18 +0000

Gilly was a true Spurs great, one of my Dad’s favourites and he watched the Spurs from the mid 20’s into the 90’s. I too loved him as a kid, his partnership with Greaves was magic. I assumed in my innocence that all good forwards could flick a ball with their head like he did, with seeming perfect control. Over the years I discovered that Gilly was unique, I’ve never seen anyone who can do what he did with heading the ball. A true cult hero.

If anyone’s interested my dad’s all time favourite came not from the double team, (about whom he could wax lyrical for hours) but Jimmy Dimmock a tricky winger from the 1921 cup winning team. My dad started going in the mid 20’s but his father was at the 1901 final!!