"It was Twenty Years ago today!"
article published December, 2017, but first written in 1997 by the late Brian Judson

Full Record of Spurs -v- Aston Villa

Premier       Pl   W   D   L   For-Ag  Pts
Home           6   2   2   2    8 - 8   8
Away           5   0   2   3    2 - 5   2
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Total (Prem)  11   2   4   5   10 -13  10
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Football Lge
Home (Div 1)  47  25   6  16   99 -77  62
Away (Div 1)  47  17  11  19   72 -75  48
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Total (Div 1) 94  42  17  35   171-152 110
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Football Lge
Home (Div 2)   2   1   1   0    4 -3    3
Away (Div 2)   2   0   1   1    1 -3    1
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Total (Div 2)  4   1   2   1    5 -6    4
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Total (Prem)  11   2   4   5   10 -13  10
Total (Div 1) 94  42  17  35   171-152 110
Total (Div 2)  4   1   2   1    5 -6    4
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Grand Total  109  45  23  41   186-171 124
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The news that Jurgen Klinsmann has returned to White Hart Lane after an absence of two seasons will certainly re-invigorate interest in the fortunes of our club. Whilst it is unlikely that the paperwork will be completed in time for Klinsmann to play in the Boxing Day game at Villa Park, his return will highlight the last time he played against Aston Villa. I doubt very much whether any Spurs fan has forgiven Bosnich for the crude foul he committed on Klinsmann any more than people have accepted that his impersonation of Hitler in a recent visit to White Hart Lane was a joke. He may have thought it was a Kenny Everett-style joke 'in the best possible taste' : I certainly did not see it that way.

As I have recorded before in these notes, I find it hard to recall the days when Aston Villa were a pushover for Tottenham in our clashes. Our record from 1950-51 (when we returned to the old First Division) and 1966-67 (when Villa dropped out of the old First Division at the start of their long exile from the top, apart from the single season of 1959-60 when Villa were in the old Division 2) is :

          H     A
1950-51  3-2   3-2
1951-52  2-0   3-0
1952-53  1-1   3-0
1953-54  1-0   2-1
1954-55  1-1   4-2
1955-56  4-3   2-0
1956-57  3-0   4-2
1957-58  6-2   1-1
1958-59  3-2   1-1
1960-61  6-2   2-1
1961-62  1-0   0-0
1962-63  4-2   1-2
1963-64  3-1   4-2
1964-65  4-0   0-1
1965-66  5-5   2-3
1966-67  0-1   3-3

A game against Aston Villa came to be regarded as a banker win for Tottenham on the pools. Looking at those results one can see why this was the case.

The 4-2 win at Villa Park in 1963-64 should have sounded warning bells to those who travelled to that Monday night fixture. A youngster called Phil Beal played in the match because Danny Blanchflower could not be risked twice in three days. It was the fanfare that the end of a glorious period of our history was approaching. We were not to know that we were soon to lose both Dave Mackay (for two seasons) and John White but the signs were multiplying that the end of an era was approaching. Neither Smith nor Allen were as efficient as they had been in front of goal, particularly Smith, who had put on a lot of weight. An awful lot was riding on the shoulders of Jimmy Greaves to score goals regularly.

The home draw of 5-5 deserves some mention here. It was a classic case of a game of two halves. At 4.00pm we were leading Aston Villa 5-1 and looking likely to add even more goals. But Laurie Brown, who was centre-half that day (and one of Bill Nicholson's few mistakes in the transfer market), suddenly developed a crisis of confidence and allowed Tony Hateley to score a hat-trick and drag the score back to 5-5. In the final seconds of the game, Chico Hamilton, once of Chelsea, completely missed an open goal that would have won the game for Villa, with the entire Spurs defence spreadeagled.

I also feel that the 0-1 home defeat in the season Villa were relegated in 1966-67 also merits some explanation. A few weeks earlier, we had gone to Manchester City and won 2-1, up there, to go top of the table. The following week, we had 99 per cent of the play against Blackpool yet crashed 3-1, against a team that had not previously scored away from home. We had then lost 3-0 at Chelsea, in what was Tony Hateley's debut for Chelsea, Peter Osgood having broken a leg. We then faced Villa at home.

It was an awful match! It was definitely one of the poorest games I have ever seen at Tottenham. Both sides lacked confidence, which was evident in the number of misplaced passes. Villa's goal was so lucky. It was scored by Lew Chatterley, who didn't connect with the ball properly, which bobbled about hilariously, eluding outstretched legs, until it hit the far upright and rebounded into the goal.

(Spurs then drew with Blackpool, lost to West Ham [with Greaves missing a penalty for the first time for Tottenham] and then lost at Sheffield Wednesday before getting back on the winning trail against Southampton. This mad six weeks cost us the championship and a second double.)

In recent years, of course, Villa have been a bogey team. But this Christmas, Yorke will be missing from the team as he is injured and Villa will have to rely on the erratic Milosevic and the lazier Collymore. Collymore is a talented player but he does not have the consistency or the application to become as great a player as others have been. Given the problems Liverpool had with him, I am surprised that Villa thought they could do better. I think that whoever advises Collymore is giving him some pretty poor advice all round.

The game is being shown on Sky so I will be reporting on the game. Much depends on the composition of the team. Hopefully, Calderwood nor Wilson will not feature in the team. I'd much prefer to have Justin Edinburgh's combative approach to the game than the increasingly slow paced Wilson.

Cheers, Brian

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