TOTTENHAM'S GREATEST?
JOHN LYONS talks to renowned journalist and author Harry Harris about a lifetime following Spurs…
WE DON´T get invited to many events at Late Tackle, so when we received the call to attend a Harry Harris book launch at London´s Planet Hollywood, we were there quicker than you could sing, ‘Ossie’s going to Wembley’.
Down Memory Lane is the work in question and it’s the awardwinning journalist’s 80th book. It covers the Tottenham fan’s view of watching his team over more than half a century.
I suppose you could say it’s all been downhill since the start. He first started watching the Lilywhites in 1960 and a year later they became the first team in the 20th century to achieve the coveted league and cup double.
Since then there have been ‘glory, glory days’ in domestic cup competitions and in Europe, but another league title has proved elusive.
After tucking into a tasty bacon roll, Late Tackle sat down with Harry for a chat about Tottenham – past, present and future. So what has been the best Spurs team he’s seen?
“Tottenham have had some formidable talents over the years,” he reflected, “and there have been some extraordinary teams that have just fallen short, they could easily have won the league.
“For example, there was the season when Clive Allen scored 49 goals (1986-87). There have been some glory types of teams over the years but they’ve never really hit the heights they should have done by winning the league.
“So you have to go back to the double team to say that certainly, as a team, that was the best. They had extraordinarily talented players.”
But does the fact Spurs haven’t won the league for so long really matter? It’s often been said that ‘the Tottenham way’ – skilful, passing, flamboyant football – is what really matters to their punters. Harry doesn’t buy it, though. “Spurs fans always roll out that ‘I´d rather have a great footballing team’ but in the last decade in the Premier League the emphasis has been on attacking football,” he said. “Arsenal are the archrivals renowned for being prag- matic, long ball and all that, the benchmark for saying ‘this is why we would rather have an entertaining team than win trophies’, but under Arsene Wenger they’ve had some great footballing teams so I think that argument has more recently gone out of the window. “As you saw with Jose Mourinho at Chelsea, and I’ve written four books about him, winning teams are the most entertaining teams. Fans want to see a winning team – that gives them the greatest pleasure.” As a devoted Spurs fan since childhood, Harry is hoping to go full circle – and see Tottenham claim the title again. Does he think Argentinian boss Mauricio Pochettino is the right man to lead them to the holy grail? “I never thought so when he first arrived,” said Harry. “I thought he didn’t have enough experience, but he’s done better than I thought he would. “What he has achieved is he’s made the players fitter, more focused and he’s got a slightly bigger squad. He’s got the best out of the players and that’s what’s been lacking over a number of generations. “Spurs certainly came close enough last season and could maybe come close again this time, but maybe not close enough.” So, what’s missing to turn Tottenham from a nearly team into a winning team. “In the modern day Premier League I’ve always thought you need four outstanding goalscorers, two to start with and two in reserve,” he explained. “And I think Spurs only have one (we’re guessing he means Harry Kane). That isn’t anywhere near enough. “They’ve bought enough forwards - young forwards, one or two almost- established forwards. They signed Son (Heung-min) last year and (Vincent) Janssen in the summer. “A lot of Dutch strikers are top goalscorers at home, but come here and just don’t hack it. John Motson said in commentary a little while ago that Janssen’s not quite there – he might
be right. I love his hold-up play, he’s big, strong and I think he has got an eye for goal, though he hasn’t shown it yet. Once two or three go in, he might score quite a few but he doesn’t have that pace – and the Premier League has become a place for fast forwards.”
One of the major talking points from Down Memory Lane is a poll to select the greatest Tottenham team of all-time. It’s been picked by former players, managers, fans in the media and elsewhere.
We won’t give the game away by revealing the XI ultimately chosen, though Harry did tell us who his number one player has been over the years – Jimmy Greaves.
“I had the privilege of seeing a great deal of Jimmy in the 60s,” he said. “The one player that I’d compare him to today is is Sergio Aguero.
“I think Aguero has that kind of short burst of pace and ability to score from any angle which Jimmy had. Jimmy was a phenomenal goalscorer and the best player I’ve ever seen playing for Spurs.
“Glenn Hoddle comes very, very close. He could score 20-odd goals a season at his peak – and unbelievable goals, too.
“Jimmy Greaves or Sergio Aguero couldn’t score goals like that. I’m not even sure Lionel Messi could. Glenn’s goals were extraordinary. I’ve always thought that if Glenn had had searing pace, he’d have been up there with the world’s top three or four players.”
After our chat with Harry, it was time for the official proceedings to FOREWORDS for books are usually worthy but dull – the one Tottenham legend Steve Perryman has penned for Down Memory
Lane is explosive by comparison. When author Harry Harris looked at it, he may well have had second thoughts about using it – and decided to just stick with the other one in the book, from Glenn Hoddle. The tone is set right from the start. “Whatever I might think of Harry, and I have some very strong opinions, there is no doubt that he changed the face of local and national journalism,” said Perryman. Spurs stalwart Perryman wasn’t a big fan of Harris’ match reports, which sometimes had a ‘sharp edge’, but it was more his relationship with the powers-that-be at White Hart Lane which really seemed to touch a nerve. “I cannot be honest with him unless I also state my opinion that I felt he wielded far too much influence with certain Spurs chairmen, namely Irving Scholar and Sir Alan Sugar. “I always felt he was in Scholar’s camp when I was a player at the club, and I know they had a very close relationship so Harry had the inside track. “….As for Sugar, I felt from working on the inside as Ossie’s assistant that Harry was a tool for Sugar, and for that reason I took a dislike to the way Harry operated as an ally of Sugar’s which no doubt suited his career.” It’s no wonder the author says in his acknowledgements: “Steve Perryman, whose fierce tackle in his prime is only matched by some of his acidic words he had to say about me, together with any back-handed praise. Stevie P hasn’t changed.” Funnily enough, Perryman wasn’t at the book launch… begin – with compere John Motson talking us through the best Tottenham team of all-time. ‘Motty’ did seem a bit perplexed that speedy writer Harry stayed hidden in the background while he did the talking. “The fact that he’s disappeared now probably means he’s writing another book as we speak,” quipped Motson. As for his own Tottenham connections, the BBC stalwart had a story to tell. “It really goes back to a match in the 1970s when Spurs were on Match of the Day,” he recalled. “It was at Roker Park, Sunderland, and Spurs had their change kit on. At the beginning of the second half I said, ‘for those of you watching in black and white, Spurs are in the yellow shirts’.” Among the former Spurs players in attendance were the late-arriving Hoddle, Ossie Ardiles, Pat Jennings, John Pratt and Paul Miller. Motty was clearly revelling in his role on the mic, cracking the funnies. After revealing which players had been chosen for the centre-back berths, he said: “There were quite a few central defenders competing for places there. Paul Miller just got edged out, by the way.” The former centre-half took the joke in good part. Ardiles was also in good mood, calling out the name ‘John Pratt’ for a place in the dream team’s midfield. “No, not this year,” replied Motson. Pratt jokingly gave Ardiles a death stare – at
least we think he was joking.
Talking about Argeninian ace Ardiles’ selection, Motty had another story.
“When I got home from covering the World Cup in ‘78, (Tottenham manager) Keith Burkinshaw rang me up. Have you got any notes on this fella, Ossie Ardiles, and I said, ‘yes, I have’. And he was interested in another player, and it wasn’t Ricky Villa, actually - it was Leopoldo Luque. Ossie will back me up here.”
“I never heard that,” piped up a bemused Ardiles. Oh, well.
Towards the end of the proceedings, the best Tottenham Hotspur player of all-time was named – and I don’t think we’ll be giving anything top secret away by revealing that midfield maestro Hoddle was the player picked.
“I’m very proud, privileged and humbled to receive this award,” he said. “To be quite honest, there’s not one greatest player when you go through names like Dave Mackay, Jimmy Greaves, Pat Jennings and Ossie Ardiles, who’s won a World Cup. “I was lucky to play for a club that I love. I was eight years of age when I first walked into White Hart Lane and we went hand in glove. The way I played football, it was a match made in heaven really. “It was a privilege for me to be a homegrown player. I was cleaning the boots, cleaning the dressing rooms and doing all them things that we did. “It was like a second home to us. It’s a wonderful, wonderful club and it was a pleasure to play for them.”