Best Football since Bill Nic ?

[Main Man]

I merely arrived on this planet in the 80s so I can't really comment.

But for me it is almost impossible to compare football thirty years apart.

As simple as football is - or certainly should be - the game 'evolves' or more specifically changes so much.

Redknapp had his faults, but he and his team produced some brilliant football at times, and fairly consistently too imo.

I can't think of a more entertaining team than us at the time personally.

 

[Shea]

I never saw any team managed by Burkinshaw

Pleat's 1987 team that performed so well were just before my time although the year I got in to football my granddad did show me the whole of that season on his video collection (he'd taped all the live games and MOTD highlights from the whole year on to two tapes) so to an extent I feel like I watched that season

After that, in hindsight of everything I've seen with my own eyes.....

Redknapp's team has arguably been the best and we played the best football overall I'd say during that time

before that it was always about a couple of brilliant individuals carrying a relatively weak team over all

First we had Waddle and Gazza, then Gazza and Lineker. We won the FA cup and one year finished third in the league (behind palace which says something of the standard/difficulty). This era was certainly far better than the decade plus that would follow

The Sheringham and Anderton era was decent but only because I loved Spurs so much I think, we were never competitive and I remember a cold night in Oldham needing to be won to avoid relegation

The 95 klinsmann season was exciting but largely because we had a few exotic imports. A failed FA cup run was all we really had to show, I think everyone would agree the Redknapp era surpassed this

After that we had a one man team pretty much in Ginola and it really wasn't until Arneson and then Jol came in that things started moving again. I think at that point it was a progression year in year out until we won the Carling Cup before a set back and rebuild under Redknapp where we peaked in the CL run season and eventually sold our best players and took another set back which is where we find ourselves now again trying to rebuild (but this time with a large focus on our own youth)

I wouldn't argue with anyone who suggests the Pleat and Burkinshaw era were better, I never saw them with my own eyes but I'd say since then overall the Redknapp era has been the best in terms of strength of the team itself and the football we played. I will say though that while I am thankful for all that Redknapp did I believe his era is most memorable for missed opportunities and underachieving because I think with the team he had at his disposal we could and really should have achieved so much more

 

[TaoistMonkey]

Although the result wasn't spectacular, our 2:1 win over Arsenal last season was probably one of the best performances I've seen THFC play. We were relentless and hungry for the full 90 mins. That was pure teamwork. No flashes of brilliance just a team playing for each other.

 

[Shea]

Although the result wasn't spectacular, our 2:1 win over Arsenal last season was probably one of the best performances I've seen THFC play. We were relentless and hungry for the full 90 mins. That was pure teamwork. No flashes of brilliance just a team playing for each other.

The Arsenal and Chelsea home wins were easily the best most exciting/enjoyable wins post Redknapp in my eyes

Indeed for me they're up there with the best wins of the Redknapp era

 

[king26]

hoddle ardiles villa crooks Archibald was best football ive seen since billy nic teams

 

[shelfmonkey]

Some of the football under Ossie was unbelievable, I still consider the 3-0 smashing away at Ipswich as one of the best Spurs performances I've ever had the privilege to witness.

 

[nidge]

Harrys Spurs was a joy to watch. I miss the days when we were skillful, quick and scored goals galore

Arsenal fans were genuinely scared of us then

Premier League only we scored 188 goals in Harry 3 full seasons and in the three since he left we have scored 179

Whereas at the other end of the pitch we conceded 128 under Harry and in the following 3 years we conceded 150.

For me it's defensively we have slipped since Harry's time.

 

[cliff jones]

i saw two posts from guate yesterday, one was condescending and the one leading to this thread i really enjoyed reading.

i do agree with bus though that the football we played pretty consistently throughout the 80s and the positioning of the club was a street ahead of the enic era. bums were off seats, we landed pots enjoyed parades and nearly won the league when we just ran out of steam and evertons pipped us at the post.

visiting teams parked the bus alright and pitches and tackling were dodgy but we still passed and tricked our way through, most of the time. hods understanding with stevie p, tony g and crooksy was simply sublime.

always difficult to compare across eras though. my dad tells me the 60s was the time to be spurs!

coys.

 

[JUSTINSIGNAL]

Personally I only enjoyed our football during the last season under harry when we had Ade on loan to compliment VDV, Bale and Modric.

Previous to that we played too many diagonal long balls to Crouchies bonce. I understand it's about using your strengths but its not the kind of fluid football I enjoy watching.

 

[StartingPrice]

We had some great nights under Mr Redknapp, some great/exciting performances and some amazing results. But it is true, in certain quarters a whole mythology has developed living a fiction that there was blanket excitement, wall-to-wall great football. It's BS. There were plenty of dull, plodding performances, even with Modric, VdV and Bale in the team, plenty of parky-bus opponents that we laboured against only to watch them launch a lightning attack, smash a goal and grab the points. There was some brilliant player management, but also some absolute cock-knobbery - like the whole Pienaar fiasco, or the constant telling of Krankjar that he was still in plans while allowing him to put on, like, 517 stone while getting pissed orf. And who can forget taking off a striker and bringing on a defensive midfielder away to the worst Villa team I have ever seen, in a match we really needed to win?

Now, the 80's - better football, over a more prolonged period, and with success. The Redknapp era may have been the best, most exciting for younglings from the post Scholar-feck-up, but it certainly wan't better than under Burinshaw/Pleat. There was a thread on here a while ago regarding best midfielders or something: younglings who didn't get to watch GHodd just do not get how sublime he was, and he had a better supporting cast that Peter fecking Crouch - no insult to the big fella

 

[Lighty64]

Something I say to new Spurs supporters is "Welcome to a life of nearlyness punctuated by the occasional actuality". Thinking back to our best footballing sides, invariably there were 'working' players in the background also able to give us a semblance of resiliance. Thus, while our history and tradition evidently produces the Hoddle's, Gazza's, Waddle's, Ginola's etc.....it is when the occasional Stevie Perryman, Tony Galvin, Graham Roberts, Steve Hodge's or Gary Mabbutt's provide the muscle or workrate ....that we can excel on that Wednesday night at Stoke or Bolton. My favourite side was the 82' one where for a large part of the year we were seemingly up for everything then had to settle for the FA Cup win over QPR as we ran out of steam with fixture pile ups.

an as good as open goal miss by Archibald (still have nightmares about that miss), or a hoof out of play in the 87th minute, would of been a League Cup win

a 1 off calamity from Ray Clemance if i'm thinking of the right season against a dirty Barca team, and a game that should of never been played in thick fog in Spain, cost us a place in the Euro Cup winners cup final.

if I had a wish granted to be able to be able to go back in time, it would be the 80's especially 80-84

 

[Bulletspur]

Taxi for Maicon.

Yeah? You obviously hadn't seen Tony Galvin turn on the after burners!

 

[chinaman]

The Hoddle days. 3 touches and it'd be a goal; a raking 60 yard pass out the flank with Waddle chasing at top speed and he crossed jut before the bye-line for Allen to tuck it home. This happened again and again, and no one could stop that.

 

[Shea]

The Hoddle days. 3 touches and it'd be a goal; a raking 60 yard pass out the flank with Waddle chasing at top speed and he crossed jut before the bye-line for Allen to tuck it home. This happened again and again, and no one could stop that.

except coventry

 

[Ionman34]

an as good as open goal miss by Archibald (still have nightmares about that miss), or a hoof out of play in the 87th minute, would of been a League Cup win

a 1 off calamity from Ray Clemance if i'm thinking of the right season against a dirty Barca team, and a game that should of never been played in thick fog in Spain, cost us a place in the Euro Cup winners cup final.

if I had a wish granted to be able to be able to go back in time, it would be the 80's especially 80-84

I was at that Barca game, pissing down with rain and they tried to kick us off the park, the ref was obviously pro Barca as he gave them everything. I remember Roberts picking a loose ball up and storming forwards, only to be brought up short by a sliding tackle that saw the player plant his studs in Robbo's midriff from the ground.

Clemence had that huge howler where he went to take a routine shot above his head, only for the ball to slip through into the goal.

Despite that, we were the best team on the park, when we equalised I completely lost it, along with about 5 quid in change (which was a lot of money to a kid in the 80's)

Great years to watch in those years. The 81 replay is the pinnacle of that era for me though. The style, flair and resilience we showed in that game was awesome against a very good Citeh team.

Regardless of how the game has evolved, that team would do very well in this time. There was an understanding between the players that made them better than the sum of their parts, and the parts were quality anyway. Crooks and Archibald were telepathic, Hoddle was a genius who knew where you were going to be before you did. Ardiles scared the shit out of defenders and midfielders alike because he'd drive at them all day long and he could pick a pass too. Then you had Roberts with his drive and Perryman who was, and still is, the best Captain we've had since Blanchflower.

If I had a wish granted, it would be to bring that team forward in time, get them up to pace, then unleash them on the league. Title challengers every season IMO.

 

[CheeseGromit]

Harrys Spurs was a joy to watch. I miss the days when we were skillful, quick and scored goals galore

Arsenal fans were genuinely scared of us then

You maybe right about the fans but the players were not

I declare I'm not a massive fan of Redknapp , don't dislike but think he is like many things in today's football majorly over hyped

Redknapp had two things going for him, one of the best set of players we have had for a very long time and he came on the back of period of not doing that well

I didn't like Pleaty particularly but the season he played Clive Allen up front on his own was not only before its time but a lot of good footballer Burkinshaw sides were good so I think it is the latter day supporters who have missed out

Era's are different so difficult to compare but watching Hoddle Ardilles and many others in that time was much more of a joy. I do think there were some really good games under Redknapp but the Stoke Hull type games of which there were quite a few are too easily erased from memory

 

[Shea]

You maybe right about the fans but the players were not

I declare I'm not a massive fan of Redknapp , don't dislike but think he is like many things in today's football majorly over hyped

Redknapp had two things going for him, one of the best set of players we have had for a very long time and he came on the back of period of not doing that well

I didn't like Pleaty particularly but the season he played Clive Allen up front on his own was not only before its time but a lot of good footballer Burkinshaw sides were good so I think it is the latter day supporters who have missed out

Era's are different so difficult to compare but watching Hoddle Ardilles and many others in that time was much more of a joy. I do think there were some really good games under Redknapp but the Stoke Hull type games of which there were quite a few are too easily erased from memory

I'm sure there were many poor games under Burkinshaw too

We never won the league so we lacked some consistency

I'm sure there were times where we lost games we shouldn't have against teams we should beat and I'm sure there were games where we didn't turn up and play as well as we could

Them games are probably swept under the carpet in the nostalgic memory of fans just like those games under harry are now days

For example - wasn't Burkinshaw the manager who got us relegated initially and then failed to win the second division title when we gained promotion back to the top flight?

We were a very successful cup team under him and by all accounts the most exciting glamour side of the era but the fact we never won the league suggests to me there were periods of inconsistency too just like under harry

 

[dagraham]

I vaguely remember the mid 80's and the 1987 team, but I was 11 during Hoddle's last season so it's difficult to analyse it really.

By the time I was going to games and able to appreciate what was going on it was the Gazza and Lineker era with Venables and there was some great football, but more often than not it was our two stars who saved the day. Rest of the 90's was a mixture of the sublime to the ridiculous under Ossie, to Ginola being the only thing worth the admission fee.

For all Hoddle's deficiencies as manager, some of the football we played at times with Sheringham and Poyet etc was superb, but it was all too infrequent.

With brings us to the Redknapp era where I agree that some of the football when we first bought Crouch wasn't really that great. However, the Redknapp era for me epitomises the time when I felt that we started to be taken seriously again (even if there was a feeling that we would ultimately bottle it).

For the first time in years teams feared us at WHL and we had teams penned back in their own half more often than not. I remember one 0-0 against City at home where we fucking battered them, although we just couldn't get the win (something that typified why we were still short of the top teams). They weren't the City they are now, but they were still a good team on the up. The feeling among the crowd was that we now expected to dominate teams right out of the blocks and be able to sit back and actually be confident. Not something normally associated with being a Spurs fan. I'm sure this feeling would have been felt in the mid 80's too, but as I said I was too young to appreciate it.

And even the most vociferous of Redknapp's critics can't deny that the football we played in that period when we won something like 10 out of 12 games was unlike anything seen at Spurs for a long time. We completely dominated teams, with results to match and did it playing quick, exciting, attacking football, yet always seeming in control. Of course a big part of that was down to the quality of players, but Redknapp has to take credit for moulding them into a team and allowing them to express themselves. They all loved playing for him and that was probably both his biggest strength and biggest weakness at the same time.

It was far from perfect and we huffed and puffed ineffectively in plenty of games as well, but I will always look back and wonder what we could have achieved with a truly top class striker to turn those average performances from defeats and draws to wins.

 

[Shea]

I remember one 0-0 against City at home where we fucking battered them, although we just couldn't get the win (something that typified why we were still short of the top teams). They weren't the City they are now, but they were still a good team on the up. The feeling among the crowd was that we now expected to dominate teams right out of the blocks and be able to sit back and actually be confident. Not something normally associated with being a Spurs fan. I'm sure this feeling would have been felt in the mid 80's too, but as I said I was too young to appreciate it.

That was the opening game of the season and joe hart played a blinder (and Defoe maybe should have been a better finisher)

You're right though, even if City weren't quite the force they are today they were an up and coming unit and we dismantled them. Dominated from start to finish

I think all we really lacked under Harry was the right striker - he made some errors in the transfer market. Some with the right logic i.e. Parker and Gallas coming in to offer some support and teach the youngsters but he did that Gerry Francis thing of trying to reproducing what had been successful previously for him (read Crouch and Defoe from Pompey instead of Sinton and Ferdinand from QPR)

Had we signed Suarez from Ajax and added him to what we had at that time......who knows where we could have gone? I do think we were really well placed and had potential to even challenge had that happened

 

[Barry Mead]

Yeah I think we played some great stuff under Redknapp, there were some poor games and some so so games but Harry was a pragmatist, he shaped the play to the players he had and gradually added rather than trying to fit square pegs into round holes by playing a system that didn't suit a lot of players. By comparison to the football under AVB, Tim and Poch Harry's football was enjoyable and exciting. These days watching Poch's football at times it's hard to stay awake it's so dull
On the other hand comparing to Pleaty another pragmatist we played some great football and under Burky we played some great stuff

I'm not too sure you can make the comparisons about football now and lets say pre CL pre PL. We were a great Cup side at a time when winning the FA Cup was pretty much as big as winning the league. We were never a team for the big slog of the league, even our great team of the early 60's managed it only once when really we should have managed another couple of titles despite a few injuries

Nowadays it's all about the league and making CL football so priorities change and with that you have to change the make up of the team, lets not forget that we now have 7 subs so what you get from players now is a lot less than before. Iirc the league was 42 games, no subs, never mind three from seven