NORMAN GILLER'S SPURS ODYSSEY BLOG No 504
Submitted by Norman Giller
Spurs dug down into their boots for a long-awaited Premier League victory at Brentford yesterday, and the way they fought showed that - despite manufactured stories of dressing-room dissent - they care about Ange Postecoglou and are ready to go to war for him.
All those who want Ange out were silenced by a performance that we have rarely seen this season. This was a Spurs team with their sleeves rolled up and prepared to battle for every ball.
It was not pretty but it was effective, and the "Ange-out" movement was, at least briefly, stopped in its ugly tracks.
This was a team triumph, but there was an individual star in Djed Spence, who not only ran his socks off for the cause but did it with style and finesse. Yes, Spence made his mark with his wholesale output and customised service. He is a defender's defender, always playing with poise and purpose and looking to do the unconventional when it suits team needs.
Our Spurs Odyssey guru Paul H. Smith - not Ange's No 1 fan - gives his analysis of the hard-fought victory HERE. He reveals that Spurs have the cavalry on the way with the signing of solid centre-back Kevin Danso, a 6ft 3in, 24-cap experienced Austrian Alp of an international who can take some of the pressure off Ange's overworked squad.
Tottenham take a 1-0 lead into their second leg League Cup semi-final at Liverpool on Thursday, tackling the current best team in the land. If they compete like they did at Brentford, we just might be looking forward to a Wembley final. But we all know it's going to be one titanic battle.
COYS!
Our resident pundit on the Tottenham pitch with the legendary Cliff Jones
Continuing cataract problems prevented me from attending the 90th birthday bash of my dear old pal Cliff Jones at the Tottenham Stadium on Saturday (might explain my one-eyed view of Spurs).
His actual birthday is not until Friday, February 7. He was signed by Jimmy Anderson and coach Bill Nicholson while he was still in the Army doing his national service with the Royal Horseguards ... and he cried his eyes out the day he joined Tottenham.
On February 5 he scored for Wales in their 2-0 victory over Israel in a 1958 World Cup qualifier in Cardiff. The next day he signed for Spurs, just before news broke of the Munich air crash that cost the lives of eight Man United players and nine journalists.
I was one of those football writers who took a step forward in my career because of the crash. What a way to get promotion.
Cliff's Army team-mate Duncan Edwards was among the casualties, and Cliff admits he wept when he heard. 'He and John Charles were the two greatest footballers I ever played with,' he told me. 'It broke my heart when Dunc died. Then, in 1964, I lost my best mate at Tottenham, John White, to a bolt of lightning. No wonder I turned to drink.'
Like his Spurs team-mate Jimmy Greaves, Cliff had the character to beat the bottle. 'I couldn't have done it without the encouragement of Jimmy who pointed me to Alcoholics Anonymous. He saved my life with his advice.'
It was defenders who felt drunk when they faced Cliff at his best. He was like a Welsh rugby wing three-quarter, speeding past tackles and making goals with precise crosses, or cutting in and shooting from either flank. Yet only a slightly built man, he was famous for his far post headers, showing immense courage by diving in where others feared to tread. I have told him to his face that he was mad. Brave but mad.
He scored 159 goals in 378 matches for Spurs, was a key member of the Double side in 1960-61, won another FA Cup medal in 1962, played a scorching part in the 1963 European Cup Winners' Cup triumph and was a non-playing substitute in the 1967 FA Cup final against Chelsea. He won a then record 59 Welsh caps and scored 16 international goals before winding down his League career with Fulham.
Happy birthday, maestro. They don't make them like you anymore.
Week 24 of our eleventh season of the Spurs Odyssey Quiz League, and the question is:
Who has been capped six times, worn the shirts of Spurs, Brentford, Atletico and Real Madrid and which other Premier League club?
Please email your answer to me at soqleague@gmail.com and make the subject heading Quiz Week 24. 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 has won 57 international caps, played for another London club before joining Spurs and which number Tottenham shirt does he wear?
Answer: Timo Werner/16.
See you back here on Monday. COYS!
