NORMAN GILLER'S SPURS ODYSSEY BLOG No 493
Submitted by Norman Giller

I am taking advantage of the international break to put on my publicist's hat and bang the drum for my latest (121st) book. It has been written in harness with Spurs legend Steve 'Skip' Perryman and is the definitive biography of the greatest of all Tottenham servants, Bill Nicholson.

We have called it 'Sir Bill', because anybody with an ounce of common sense will know that he should have been awarded a knighthood for his services to football in general and Tottenham Hotspur in particular. But when did the obvious disturb the sleep of the mandarins of Whitehall?

Here, gratis and in the wake of England's emphatic 5-0 victory over the Republic of Ireland yesterday, is the introductory chapter that hopefully whets your appetite and moves you to buy the book. Just remember, I have a wedding to pay for! My wife, Joyce, 90 this week, sends her love and says it's the best football book she has ever read (ok, ok, the ONLY football book she has ever read). Here goes ...

'SIR BILL'

KICK OFF by Steve Perryman MBE

I am sure that no two people can match the joint knowledge Norman Giller and I have of the life and times of Bill Nicholson, the subject of this special book dedicated to the memory of Mr Spurs; or, as many with Tottenham blood think of him, 'Sir Bill.'

Norman, a doyen of the Press Box with a huge knowledge of the history of the Beautiful Game, used to watch Bill - then known as Billy - play at right-half in the famous Push and Run Spurs side that won the Second and First Division titles in back to back years from 1949 to 1951. By the time Norm arrived in Fleet Street as a member of the Daily Express sports reporting team, Bill had established himself as the leading manager in the land and they started a long-running conversation that lasted more than 40 years.

So Norman knows everything there is to know about 'Sir Bill' the man. My role as we paint the Bill Nicholson portrait together is to talk about Bill Nicholson the manager. I was just seventeen when he threw me in at the deep end of the old First Division, a 1969 match against Sunderland at White Hart Lane that was the first of what would become a club record 854 appearances. We lost 1-0.

It was Bill who gave me my start. How could I ever forget that, and this book is my thank you to the great man. A long campaign to get him a knighthood failed, but that has not stopped his many supporters still referring to him as 'Sir Bill.'

I looked on him as a second father, and there is nobody in my time who has got close to challenging his unofficial title as the Father of Spurs. Club historians assure me that legendary figures like club pioneer Bobby Buckle, 1901 FA Cup winning Scottish player-manager John Cameron, master tactician Peter - another Scot - McWilliam and Push and Run genius Arthur Rowe are claimants for the crown, but none of them could touch Bill's trophy collection.

The back-to-back FA Cups that I collected as proud Spurs skipper came after Bill had given up the manager's baton, but he remained prominent in the background as honorary club President and we were still following his doctrine of skilled football at all times. Bill Nick, as he was known throughout the game, had Lilywhite corpuscles and Norman and I are determined to give him the tribute book his memory deserves.

There have been millions of words written about Bill, several books and TV and video tributes, but nobody has shovelled as deep and personal as we are going in this microscopic look at his life, both in and out of football.

Now, here's Norman Giller to explain the running order and style of this unique book in which I am delighted to be adding my appreciation of the greatest servant Tottenham Hotspur have ever had.

Steve and I have known each other professionally and as good friends since the week he made his Tottenham debut in 1969, when I was chief football reporter for the Daily Express. Bill Nicholson called over this confident but never cocky, baby-faced kid to meet me during a session at Tottenham's then training ground at Cheshunt in Hertfordshire, just off the A10. 'I want you to meet Stephen Perryman,' he said in his precise North Yorkshire accent. 'He's a diamond of a prospect and we expect big things of him.'

As you will learn in the following pages, it was a rarity for Bill to make such glowing reference to any of his players, and it was years later when he confided: 'I knew I was asking a lot of young Steve at a difficult time for the team and I wanted to boost his confidence and self belief.'

Now here we are 55 years later singing Bill's praises and also exposing the few warts of a man who went beyond the call of duty in his service to his beloved Spurs.

Steve and I will be telling his story in tandem, with Skip's input clearly signposted. I am the conductor, and Steve the chief soloist. He saw him at work, but few of us saw Bill at play, because he was so rigid and disciplined with his life that he allowed little time for the trivia of pastimes and hobbies. Tottenham and football, in that order, always came first. Throughout the book we drop in quotes from Bill made to either Steve or me that give an insight to his personality and his life-long search for perfection.

When interesting and informative enough, I occasionally repeat things that Steve and I have covered in previous books. We feel it important to include anything that helps make this a fin-ished picture of the man I called in the Daily Express back in the 1970s, The Master of White Hart Lane. As the legendary Welsh wing wizard Cliff Jones has often said, 'He was in charge from the boot room to the boardroom.' As well as copious quotes from Bill, we will be calling on old friends and colleagues - most, sadly, no longer with us - to help give an accurate portrayal of the man and the manager.

Bill's elegant wife, Grace - nicknamed Darkie to identify her from her blonde twin sister - was a wonderful lady, who always gave her husband 'Willie' 100 per cent support. She once told me: 'Willie could be charged with bigamy. He is married to me and to Tottenham Hotspur.'

I along with many influential people in the game campaigned for many years from the 1970s for Bill to be recognised with a knighthood for his services to football, but we were always ignored by the myopic mandarins of Whitehall, who just about stretched to an OBE as reward for giving his life to Tottenham Hotspur in particular and the Beautiful Game in general.

It is a call that is continued by many well-meaning Spurs supporters to this day, not realising that the Establishment never ever awards posthumous knighthoods.

Steve and I are doing our bit by calling this book 'Sir Bill'. Here comes his story...

COYS!

That's it, my friends. Hopefully you are sufficiently moved to want to buy a signed copy of the book direct from Steve at https://steveperryman.com/product/sir-bill-the-book/.

Normal service will be resumed next week when I will be joining Spurs Odyssey guru Paul H. Smith in commenting on Tottenham's little dust-up with champions Manchester City at the Etihad.

Life is never easy, as 'Sir Bill' would have confirmed.

P.s.: If you want to hear me talking about the book with Steve, please tap into his immensely popular podcast at www.youtube.com/watch?v=kP44UZwbDv8.

Week 13 of our eleventh season of the Spurs Odyssey Quiz League, and the question is:

Who was Bill Nicholson's first (and arguably greatest) signing for Spurs in 1958-59 and from which Scottish club did he join Tottenham?

Please email your answer to me at soqleague@gmail.com and make the subject heading Quiz Week 13. 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: Which current Football League manager won 18 England caps, joined Spurs as a player from West Ham and with which London club did he start his career?

Answer:Scott Parker, Charlton Athletic.

See you back here on Monday. COYS!

Follow @spursodyssey