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

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Full Record of Spurs -v- Everton



Prem           Pl   W   D   L   For-Ag  Pts
Home            5   3   2   0     7-4    11
Away            5   2   2   1     4-3     8
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Total (Prem)   10   5   4   1    11-7    19

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Football Lge
Home (Div 1)   54  25  16  13   107-67   72
Away (Div 1)   54  10  17  27    60-88   38
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Total (Div 1) 108  35  33  40   167-155 110
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Football Lge
Home (Div 2)    1   1   0   0     1-0     2
Away (Div 2)    1   0   0   1     2-4     0
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Total (Div 2)   2   1   0   1     3-4     2
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Total (Prem)   10   5   4   1    11-7    19
Total (Div 1) 108  35  33  40   167-155 110
Total (Div 2)   2   1   0   1     3-4     2
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Grand Total   120  41  37  42   181-166 131
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This is a match that Spurs *MUST* win if we are not to become the laughing stock of the Premier League. Everton have become a joke over the last few seasons and are in free fall towards relegation. If Spurs are to salvage anything from a truly dreadful start to the season, we *MUST* win at Goodison Park and comprehensively.

My first sighting of Everton was in November 1957. We were chasing Wolves and Preston at the top of the old First Division whilst the Toffees were roughly midway in the table. I don't remember much about the game, although Harmer the Charmer scored from the penalty spot and Bobby Smith and Johnny Brooks scored the other goals in a 3-1 win.

At this point, I would like to remind the List that David Ginola is certainly not the first and almost certainly not the last player to infuriate supporters with his inconsistency. Johnny Brooks was another player. On form, he was brilliant. He played for England several times. The big trouble was that one could never be sure he could play consistently for two consecutive seconds, let alone a game of two halves. Behind the facade, Brooks was a very insecure young man, always needing to be reassured he was a good footballer. I'm sure that Bill Nicholson, when looking round to find a player to act as a foil for Bobby Smith, had trouble in keeping a straight face when Ted Drake decided to take Johnny Brooks in exchange for Les Allen in November 1959.

The most famous result involving Everton is, of course, the 10-4 victory on October 11th 1958. That was the day Bill Nicholson was appointed as successor to Jimmy Anderson. Unfortunately, I was ill that day and it remains one of the disappointments I have had that I missed that match. Sure, Spurs scored 10 but that didn't mean Spurs were 10 goals better than Everton. It has to be borne in mind Everton were playing that autumn of 1958 as if their greatest ambition was to secure relegation to Division 2 in the fastest possible time. They were awful. But they managed to score 4 goals against one of the poorest defences Tottenham have had. When the return game was played, on the last Saturday of February 1959, Spurs lost 2-1 at Goodison. I'd have liked to have sat next to Bill Nicholson that night on the train back from Liverpool ........

The home game the following season saw Spurs win 3-0. But the unusual point about that match was that two of the Spurs goals were conceded by Everton defenders, Harris and King. Cliff Jones scored the third from the spot. The return game at Goodison saw us lose 2-1 again, a factor in the loss of the championship that season.

No one should need reminding of the statistics for the Double season. Everton were the first visitors to Tottenham and managed to keep Tottenham at bay for most of the match until Bobby Smith and Les Allen struck the goals that won the match. The return game, in December 1960, saw Spurs easily win at Goodison Park, 3-1, thanks to goals by Mackay, White and Allen.

I'll skip forward a few seasons to 1966-67, a season I am convinced we could have won the Double again, had we not made a hash of our games in October and November 1966. By the time we played our two games with Everton in the spring of 1967, we were going great guns, in the middle of a run of 24 games without a defeat from the middle of January to the end of the season. We won 11 and drew 5 League matches and won 6 and drew 2 Cup ties. SEVEN of those wins were consecutive Everton (a) 1-0; Leicester (a) 1-0; Everton (h) 2-0; Liverpool (h) 2-1; Sheffield Wed (h) 2-1; Southampton (a) 1-0; Sunderland (h) 1-0.

I remember the Everton match as Mullery had a tremendous game that afternoon in the spring sunshine of Easter Monday. He scored one of the goals, Gilzean got the other. We were still two weeks away from our Sixth Round FA Cup tie against Birmingham at St Andrews ........

1969-70 saw us play or try to play Everton three times at Tottenham. The original November date was snowed off when a blizzard swept in from the North Sea out of the blue just as thousands started to beseige the gates at Tottenham. The re-arranged December date saw the game actually get under way but the floodlights went out after half an hour. We later discovered there had been a small fire in an electricity sub-station half a mile from the ground. The third attempt to stage the game took place on the Wednesday before we were due to play Everton at Goodison Park. We lost both matches, 0-1 and 2-3 respectively.

On now to November 1971 and Spurs beating Everton 3-0. This is my favourite game when I think about Spurs and Everton. And not for the usual reasons. Spurs won 3-0 largely thanks to two goals by big Chivers. But it's Pratt's goal I always remember. He'd had a stinker of a game, as he was first to admit afterwards. The crowd was on his back, barracking him. Suddenly, he caught the ball, let fly at it and Gordon West (I think!) never saw the ball coming until the net billowed behind him. And turning John looked up at his barrackers and stuck both hands in the air in the traditionally rude 'V' sign at them. I didn't blame him at all. One could understand the fans, though, because Pratt was deputising for Mullery, who was out with pelvic problems.

My final recollections of Spurs -v- Everton goes back to April 1985. Spurs and Everton clashed at Tottenham in a game that everyone agreed would ultimately decide which of them were going to win the League. And there is no doubt in my mind that Everton thoroughly deserved to win the match. They were the hungrier of the two sides as they were on the way up and the Spurs team was starting to break up after four years at the top. Although Tottenham lost, that wasn't the fault of Graham Roberts, who charged around like Dave Mackay personified and scored our goal. But I can still see Andy Gray dancing around after heading a goal as Everton proved to be deadlier in front of the goal than we were.

So to this week's 6-pointer. Things won't change too much for this game. How could it be otherwise with Christian Gross only being in charge since Tuesday? But *WIN* this game we must or see ourselves in the undignified position of being bottom of the League table. We need to raise our morale before next week's match against a team we have not beaten for TEN YEARS at Tottenham! (Ed:- Brian refers here to Chelsea)

To those of you going to Goodison *SUPPORT* the team and leave the bickering until after the game.

Cheers, Brian

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