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Spurs record in Europe:-
U.E.F.A Champions League
P W D L F - A
12 5 3 4 25 -19
European Cup
P W D L F - A
8 4 1 3 21 - 13
(Semi-Finalists 1962)
European Cup Winners Cup
P W D L F - A
33 20 5 8 65 - 34
(Winners 1963)
UEFA Cup/Europa League
P W D L F - A
88 52 22 15 187-71
(Winners 1972, 1984
Finalists 1974)
Total
P W D L F - A
141 81 31 29 296-134
Looks like a stronger team to play at home
Spurs welcome Shamrock Rovers Football Club to White Hart Lane along with their fans based both on the Emerald Isle and here in England. There has even been a neutral zone created with the idea of Spurs fans being able to mix with their London-based Irish friends. I suspect The Irish Centre in Pretoria Road is going to be busier than normal, which is why I'll be spending my pre-match elsewhere!
The Spurs team news today was intriguing. To be honest I thought that the team that was good enough to get a 0-0 draw in the cauldron of the PAOK stadium would be good enough to beat our visitors in tomorrow's game. That team would include Cudicini, Corluka and Bassong anyway, but today's news indicated that Aaron Lennon is fit and ready to start this game. Danny Rose and Steven Pienaar are also both in the frame, so the team is looking considerably stronger than we might have expected. Mind you, we do of course need to make sure of winning our home games at the very least to make sure we go through to the knock-out stage of the Europa League in the New Year.
Shamrock Rovers (nicknamed "The Hoops")were established in 1901, and have won the League of Ireland a record 16 times. Until last year though, their previous title victory was in 1993-94, so they had endured a lengthy gap without such honours. Rovers also endured many years( between 1987 and 2009) without a permanent home, suffering various problems until the Tallaght stadium was eventually built and occupied as their home stadium. To the disappointment of masses of Spurs fans who hoped to make the trip to Dublin for the return match in December, Rovers are playing their Europa League games at this stadium, which will struggle to hold more than 8,500 fans, and perhaps only 500 Spurs fans.
The Irish Premier Division is now played between March and October, and on the back of their goal difference victory (over Bohemians) last year, Shamrock qualified for their very first Champions League game this season. They had to enter at the second qualifying round stage, and beat an Estonian team - Flora - 1-0 on aggregate in July. Rovers were then beaten by Copenhagen, who in the next round also got "relegated" to the Europa League and are playing in Group 4.
Shamrock were overjoyed to reach this stage of the Europa League, and they beat Partizan Belgrade 3-2 on aggregate, with a 2-1 away win to qualify. In their first Group game, at home against Rubin Kazan, Rovers lost 3-0. The group stage is going to be a big challenge to them, but I wouldn't mind betting they take more fans to Thessalonika for their game at PAOK in October, than we did.
Rovers have a manager and several players who have played their football on this side of The Irish Sea. 42 year old manager Michael O'Neill once played for Northampton, Newcastle, Dundee United, Hibernian, Coventry and Wigan, along with other British teams, before starting his managerial career in Scotland in 2005. The "Hoops" top league scorer this season, and in the previous two seasons is Gary Twigg, who started his career at Derby in the 2001-02 season. Twigg got more football in Scotland before moving to Shamrock, no doubt enticed by O'Neill who had managed him at Brechin.
The best known Shamrock Rovers player to Spurs fans is of course Rohan Ricketts, now 28 years old, who started his professional career "down the road" and then came to Spurs in 2002. I well remember Ricketts being part of an Arsenal Reserve team that put us to the sword, and beat us 4-1 at Stevenage in March 2002. Rohan even scored against us! Then he moved down the road, and after a season settling in, and a good 2003 pre-season, Glenn Hoddle put his faith in Ricketts and gave him a Premier League debut at Birmingham in August 2003. I was one of those excited by Rohan early in that season. He scored his first senior goal in a 3-0 league cup game at Coventry. Glenn loved him, but somewhere down the line Rohan fell out with caretaker manager David Pleat. After leaving Spurs, Rohan had a couple of seasons with Wolves, but year by year things seemed to take a downward turn. His exploits have been well documented in the national press. I know he had a couple of pre-season trial games with Chesterfield, before being signed by Shamrock Rovers for whom he has now played in 5 games, with two as substitute. Ricketts will be hopeful of starting tomorrow and determined to score!
Not knowing too much about the quality of our visitors or the strength of the Spurs team to face them,it's a little difficult to make a prediction. However, I'd hazard a guess that if Rubin Kazan could beat Rovers 3-0 away, then we can at least match that scoreline tomorrow, and maybe go a goal or two better. That will however require someone to have their scoring boots on, and we haven't really done that with our weakened teams, even with Pavlyuchenko playing. Let's hope for better!
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