NORMAN GILLER'S SPURS ODYSSEY BLOG No 482
Submitted by Norman Giller

It's going to be a long, long season, folks! I can look back on more years of Spurs-watching than most of you - okay, all of you! - and I honestly cannot recall our Tottenham team dominating an away game quite as much as at Leicester last night ... and coming away with just a point to show for their supremacy.

If it had been a boxing match, the referee might easily have stopped it at half-time, with Leicester outfought, outthought and outclassed. But somehow Spurs allowed them back into the game, and that old warhorse Jamie Vardy coulda, shoulda won it with a second goal chance that was much easier than the one he scored.

Our Spurs Odyssey guru Paul H. Smith gives his balanced reading of the match facts HERE, and is surely in need of a neck massage from having to look one way - towards the Leicester goal. But it was the old, old story of Tottenham continually creating chances without finding the net. I promised myself that I would not lean on the old cliche of calling it "Spursy" - but, sadly, that is exactly what it was.

Only Spurs could have had so much of the match and come away with two points dropped in a frustrating start to the season.

And yet, and yet ... there were positive signs of this being the start of a special season for Spurs. Some of the football they played was scintillating, with pass master James Maddison in an 'I'll show them mood' after being ignored by Gareth Southgate for the Euro finals.

The Leicester fans welcomed him back to his old hunting ground with choruses of boos, but he silenced them with a full gallery of his gifts before he was substituted as Angie Postecoglou desperately tried to get the win Spurs so richly deserved.

Before roasting Spurs, let's see what fireworks they can produce against Everton on Saturday. It could bring a home debut for young Archie Gray, because it's obvious that the skilful Rodrigo Bentancur will not be fit after his frightening collision at the King Power Stadium last night.

Gray showed promise in his substitute appearance, and I saw familiar family comfort on the ball that I used to witness when Eddie and Frank Gray were purring for Leeds United. Relatively speaking, this young man carrying the famous name looks the business.

As the disappointment of Tottenham turning victory into a draw wears off, we can start considering all the good things that were on show last night. All our players have to do is learn to shoot when they see the whites of the goalposts.

Yes, folks, it's going to be a long, long season.

Ps It would be remiss and rude of me not to thank Harry Winks and Oliver Skipp for their service to Spurs and wish them success as they switch their allegiance to Leicester. Both will always have a lot of Spurs in their DNA and I know we all wish them luck in their new roles.

So here we are on the second week of our eleventh season of the Spurs Odyssey Quiz League. I think I caught quite a few of you napping with the early-bird start last week. Please participate today in the knowledge that you kick off with three points if you are joining us late because I failed to alert you that the Spurs Odyssey Quiz League was starting up again.

Just let me remind you that our new champion is Jonathan Fellows, a 65-year-old semi-retired Staffordshire accountant, who voluntarily keeps in the numbers game with the NHS.

Also, I should tell you that I am allowing three-times champion David Guthrie back in to compete after relegating him to the bench last season. You have been warned.

These are our previous champions:

David Guthrie (Wokingham) 2015, 2018 and 2023)
Glenn Scarcliffe (Hampstead) 2016
Edward Benson (New York) 2017
Graham Eyre (New South Wales, Australia) 2019
Emily Hadjinicolaou (Reigate) 2020
Peter Lawton (Israel) 2021
David Matthews (Cheshunt) 2022
Jonathan Fellows (Staffordshire) 2024

All contestants should know that David Guthrie can read me like a book - talking of which, he has done the safety-net checking on the new book I have coming out next month in harness with Steve 'Skip' Perryman. It's the definitive biography of legendary Spurs manager Bill Nicholson, and it is titled simply, 'Sir Bill'. I promise it's a cracking read, with Steve giving previously unpublished insights into the great man.

So here we go with week two of season eleven of the Spurs Odyssey Quiz League challenge, and the question is:

Who has won 57 international caps, was a Champions' League Cup winner in 2021 and which shirt number did he wear for Spurs last night?

Please email your answer to me at soqleague@gmail.com and make the subject heading Quiz Week 2. Deadline: midnight this Friday. I will do my best to respond to all who take part.

The rules are the same as in the previous ten seasons. I ask a two-pronged question with three points at stake - two for identifying the player and one for the supplementary question. In the closing weeks of the competition I break the logjam of all-knowing Spurs-history experts with a real stinker of a tie-breaking poser that is based on opinion rather than fact.

This year's main prize will be a framed certificate announcing the winner as SOQL champion 2025, plus three signed books to be revealed at a later date.

Last week's question: Who won 80 international caps, was an FA Cup winner with Spurs wearing the No 10 shirt, and in which country did he play his final games in the 1990s?

Answer: Gary Lineker and Japan (with Nagoya Grampus Eight)

See you back here next Monday. COYS!

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