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Blackburn's last six games:-
Blackburn 0 1 Middlesbrough
Blackburn 1 2 Leeds Utd
Newcastle 2 1 Blackburn
Charlton 0 2 Blackburn
Blackburn 0 3 Sunderland
Blackburn 0 1 Derby
Pos P W D L F A GD PTS
7 Spurs 20 8 4 8 31 27 4 28
14 Blackb'n 20 5 7 8 25 25 0 22
It's easy to see why Graham Souness was desperate to sign Andy Cole, who will make his debut at White Hart lane on New Year's Day. Apart from a surprise result at Charlton, Blackburn's last win was on 3rd November at Southampton, and they haven't managed a home win since their 7-1 drubbing of West Ham in October. Once again we know we can take little notice of form in a match when both teams want the points so much. Last time he was here, Cole scored the early second-half goal for Man Utd that led to the five goal avalanche we will never forget. Let's hope he has to wait for his next game before scoring his first goal for his new side!
Here is Brian Judson's preview of the game
Full Record of Spurs -v- Blackburn Rovers
Prem Pl W D L For-Ag Pts
Home 7 3 1 3 10- 10 10
Away 8 3 1 4 10- 8 10
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Total(Prem) 15 6 2 7 20- 18 20
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Football Lge
Home(Div 1) 24 16 4 4 63- 30 36
Away(Div 1) 24 5 5 14 23- 50 15
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Total(Div 1)48 21 9 18 86- 80 51
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Football Lge
Home(Div 2) 6 5 0 1 22- 8 10
Away(Div 2) 6 2 2 2 9- 7 6
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Total(Div 2)12 7 2 3 31- 15 16
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Total(Prem) 15 6 2 7 20- 18 20
Total(Div 1)48 21 9 18 86- 80 51
Total(Div 2)12 7 2 3 31- 15 16
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Grand Total 75 34 13 28 137-113 87
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Happy New Year to all of my readers! May 2002 see the first of a series of
Spurs triumphs!
For our first home game of the new year, we welcome Blackburn Rovers to
White Hart Lane. Like Aston Villa, our last opponents of the old year,
Blackburn's greatest days are embedded deep in the Victorian and Edwardian
era. In modern times, Blackburn have experienced playing in the old Third
Division, a mighty comedown for a team that has won the FA Cup in three
consecutive years and a club that helped to form the Football League in
1888. Indeed, they share with Aston Villa the honour (or dishonour) of
being the last of the original clubs to experience relegation from the top
flight at the end of season 1935-36. In recent years, they have spent
heavily. courtesy of the late Jack Walker, who supplied the largesse that
enabled them to buy the team that won the Premiership in 1994-95. Indeed,
Blackburn share with Arsenal the distinction of being the only clubs to
have prised the Championship away from Old Trafford since it was formed in
1992.
The first time I saw Blackburn was at Easter 1962 when Spurs played them
twice over the Easter period. I remember seeing us play them on a sunny
Good Friday when we beat them 4-1, thanks to goals by Terry Medwin, Bobby
Smith, Jimmy Greaves and Cliff Jones. I think Mike England was playing for
Blackburn that day.
Spurs then played Blackburn again in the following September, early in the
1962-63 season, when we beat them 4-1. Terry Medwin, John White and Les
Allen scored for Spurs and Ken Taylor, a one-club defender, scored an own
goal for us to complete the rout.
We did not play them again at Tottenham until January 1964. Danny
Blanchflower had retired and Dave Mackay had just broken his left leg for
the first time. Earlier in the season, the signs of the impending break-up
of the team were there for all to see when we crashed 7-2 at Ewood Park.
But we won the return game, 4-1, thanks to a Jimmy Greaves hat-trick and a
Terry Dyson goal.
It was not until Easter 1965 that we played Blackburn again. We thrashed
them 5-2 at Tottenham on Good Friday when Alan Gilzean scored a hat-trick
and Jimmy Greaves scored twice.
Relegation was already looking likely for Blackburn to be on the cards
when we played them in January 1966. We should have travelled to Ewood
Park for the opening game of the season but an outbreak of polio in the
town caused their opening fixtures to be postponed so they were always
playing 'catch-up' with the rest of the First Division. That January day
saw the return of Jimmy Greaves to the side in an unfamiliar number 11
shirt after some three months absence with hepatitis B. Gilzean scored
twice, Jim scored a penalty and Saul completed the 4-0 rout. The return
game was not played until the end of the season by which time Blackburn's
fate had long since been sealed and Terry Venables was able to make his
debut for Tottenham.
These days, of course, Blackburn do not roll over for us as they used to.
They may not be as dangerous as they once were when, under Kenny Dalglish
and Ray Harford, Blackburn won the Championship with Alan Shearer as their
leading marksman. But they were not able to sustain their challenge and
swiftly departed from the scene as quickly as they came. But they do
manage to win games at Tottenham much more frequently than they used to do
so and our record over Christmas is, to put it bluntly, abysmal. No points
from two matches is nowhere near good enough if we want to qualify for
Europe. We must not make the mistake of putting all our eggs into one
basket!
Blackburn, of course, are managed by former Spur Graeme Souness. He came
to Tottenham with a pedigree as long as Dave Mackay's but suffered from
homesickness and an impatience to break into the first team. He left for
Middlesbrough where he left his mark on the Teessiders fortunes and then
moved on to Liverpool and Rangers. But he has not quite been as successful
as a manager and had had some spectacular failures as a manager.
Whither Spurs? It would be nice to see Spurs get off to a winning start to
the new year but given our recent run of fortune it is difficult to be
optimistic. We will do well to extract a draw from this encounter, I
fancy.
COME ON YOU SPURS!
Cheers, Brian
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