Source: footballingworld.com

A disappointing draw in tough conditions away to Cardiff in the FA Cup means Spurs face at least one more match in the crowded campaign ahead. But after our ‘shortest ever season’ last year, could this be our longest?

Spurs famously went out of both cups at the first hurdle, without so much as a face saving replay last season. As such the entire term, with no European football, was just forty games long.

This season Tottenham Hotspur have already played 32 matches. That includes six UEFA Cup, three League Cup, one FA Cup, and 22 league games.

With two legs to be played in both the UEFA and League Cups, along with the replay against Cardiff, the club will now play at least five more cup games and 16 league matches.

53 games may not sound a great many, but it is already our busiest season this century, and our only 50 match season since the 1900s. Indeed 53 was last exceeded way back in 1991-92, when we played 59 games, including 42 league games and a Charity Shield match.

That season saw us go out of Europe after eight games, the League Cup in the Semi-Final, and the FA Cup in the third round after a replay. Worryingly that is exactly the same result we face this season if we are knocked out at the next opportunity in all competitions.

But while 53 games might be the fewest number we can play, it is possible Spurs will still play many more.

A win against Cardiff at home, and a two legged victory over Feyenoord, are not only plausible but probable. Those victories, should they come, would secure another three matches for the season - pushing the campaign up to 56 games. A win over two legs against Arsenal or Liverpool is less probable, but would add just one more game whatever happened in it.

So, while far from certain, Spurs could be set for their first 60 match campaign since Keith Burkinshaw left.

Our last 60 game season was the glorious 1983-84 season in which twelve UEFA Cup games saw us lift the famous trophy at the end of a 61 game marathon season. But while lifting the UEFA Cup this season, still nine matches away, would give us a rare 60 match season, in those days it was not so rare at all.

Just two seasons earlier, In 1981-82, we played 66 games. These were 42 league games, seven FA Cup games, eight League Cup games, eight Cup Winners’ Cup games, and the Charity shield. In fact, the first season of the 1980s in which Tottenham Hotspur played fewer than 55 games was 1987-88.

So was 1981-82 our longest campaign ever? Well not quite.

Our longest season must be declared to be 1971-72. That season involved 68 matches, though two of those were the Anglo Italian Cup. The others were 12 UEFA Cup, seven League Cup, and five FA Cup games. Without the Anglo-Italian games, 1971-72 would only equal the 66 games of 1981-82. But Burkinshaw’s longest season included a Charity Shield match. Sir Bill Nicholson’s didn’t.

As for 2006-07, at present the season is still just 53 games long, and even wining the League Cup would add just one more game. However, there is the prospect of seven additional UEFA Cup games if we keep up our good European work until May. And an FA Cup run on top could just run to 66, or maybe further.