What's new

Footballers' Birthdays

CosmicHotspur

Better a wag than a WAG
Aug 14, 2006
51,069
22,383
Gus(tavo) Poyet is 42 today. The former midfielder, who was capped 26 times for Uruguay, first came to London from Real Zaragoza to play for Chelsea in 1997. After 105 games at Stamford Bridge, he came to the Lane in 2001 and put in 82 fine, enthusiastic appearances for us.

He joined Swindon as player-coach in 2006, coached at Leeds in the 2006-7 season and then returned to the Lane in October 2007 as coach under Juande Ramos's brief regime, leaving when Ramos was sacked in October 2008.

He took over as Brighton & Hove Albion manager on 10 November, with Mauricio Taricco as his assistant manager.




Right winger Jimmy Neighbour would have been 59 today if not for his untimely death on April 11th this year when he suffered a heart attack at his Woodford Green home while recovering from a hip operation.

Born in Chingford, Jimmy joined Spurs as an apprentice in 1996 and made his first team debut in 1970. He went on to make 156 first team appearances in a decade with Tottenham and was part of our 1971 Football League Cup winning side. He then transferred to Norwich City for two seasons and played for West Ham from 1979 to 1983 and had a brief loan period with Bournemouth in his last year with them.

After retiring he became a coach at Enfield and he managed St Albans City from 1996-98 before returning to West Ham as their Youth Development Officer, followed by a spell as Doncaster Rovers assistant manager after which he returned to the Lane to coach the Under-17s in our Academy.

 

CosmicHotspur

Better a wag than a WAG
Aug 14, 2006
51,069
22,383
Dean Parrett is 18 today. Born in Hampstead and brought up in Kilburn, Dean joined QPR in 2006 and moved to Spurs in 2007.

He signed professional forms in December 2008 and made his first team debut in our UEFA Cup game against Shakhtar Donetsk in February 2009. He had a one month loan period with Aldershot in September and then returned to the Lane. Dean has been capped twice for England at Under 19 level.

The young midfielder is a bright future prospect.




Goalie Mark Bunn is 25 today. Born in Southgate, he joined Spurs as a trainee in 1998 and moved on to Northampton Town in 2000.

After a loan period at Kettering, he joined Blackburn Rovers in 2008 and has since been on loan at Leicester and is now on an extended loan spell with Sheffield Utd.

 

CosmicHotspur

Better a wag than a WAG
Aug 14, 2006
51,069
22,383
Former full back Terry Fenwick is 50 today. He played for Crystal Palace from 1976-80, QPR from 1980-87 and then joined Tottenham in 1987, scoring eight goals - all penalties - in the 1988-89 season. He moved on to Swindon Town in 1993 after a loan spell with Leicester City. Terry was capped 20 times for England. In 1991 he was jailed for four months for drink-driving.

He went into not very successful management when he retired from playing and was Portsmouth manager from 1995-98 and then had a brief spell at Northampton in 2003. He is now working as a successful head coach for San Juan Jabloteh in Trinidad & Tobago.





Midfielder Coskun Ekim is 18 today. He is a Tottenham lad who went to school at Park View Academy and was 800m champion and a London Youth Games winner with Haringey.

A central midfielder, Coskun played Sunday League football with Broadwater Farm before joining our Academy in 2008 and in his first season with us he made 17 appearances, scoring one goal, and made a substitute appearance for our reserves.

 

CosmicHotspur

Better a wag than a WAG
Aug 14, 2006
51,069
22,383
Proving to be a solid central defender for us, Michael Dawson is 26 today. Born in North Yorkshire, Michael joined Notts Forest as a fourteen year old in 2000.

He moved south to Spurs after making 83 appearances for them and has now played in well over 100 games for us. He was capped 13 times for the England Under-21 side and took on the captaincy and also has two full caps.

We'll be seeing a lot more of Daws as he signed a new five year contract with Spurs in July 2008.

Michael is the younger brother of Hull City defender Andy and Kevin who played for Chesterfield.





A traditional and tricky winger, Noel Brotherston was born today in 1956 in Dundonald. He was with Spurs from 1974 to 1977 but only made one first team appearance before transferring to Blackburn Rovers where he remained for ten seasons and was a firm crowd favourite, making 317 appearances. Two seasons with Bury followed, with a loan spell at Scarborough before he retired from the game.

Remembered as much for his unique hairstyle as his footballing skills, Noel was capped 27 times for Northern Ireland.

He worked as a window cleaner in Blackburn when gave up playing but, sadly, he died of a heart attack there aged only 38 on 6 May 1995.





Defender Philip Ifil is 23 today. Born in Willesden, he attended Gladstone Park Primary and Willesden High School. He joined Tottenham in 2004 and played in three first team games for us, with two loan spells at Millwall and one at Southampton before signing for Colchester Utd in January 2008.

Philip was capped once at Under-20 level for England and his brother, Jerel, plays for Aberdeen.





A mention for former goalie Michael Schmeichel MBE, voted the World's Best Goalkeeper in 1992 and 1993, who is 49 today.

 

CosmicHotspur

Better a wag than a WAG
Aug 14, 2006
51,069
22,383
Charlie Jones was born today in 1911 in Penmaen, Wales. The scanty details I've been able to find show that he first played for Ebbw Vale, then joined our nursery side Northfleet before playing for Spurs, making 18 first team appearances at centre half in his first season with us in 1934 and playing as a regular reserve after that.

He transferred to Southend in 1937 and retired from the game at the outbreak of World War I in 1939.

I can find no information on him after that date.

He is fifth from the right in the back row in this 1936 team photo.

 

CosmicHotspur

Better a wag than a WAG
Aug 14, 2006
51,069
22,383
Another Spurs and England (35 caps) legend today - midfielder Alan Mullery MBE is 68. With Fulham from 1958 to 1964, he played in 199 games for them before joining Spurs.

He put in 312 appearances for us, taking over the captaincy from Dave Mackay when he left. He won winner's medals in 1967 (FA Cup), 1971 (League Cup) and 1972 (UEFA Cup).

Alan returned to Fulham in 1972 for four seasons and ended his playing career in South Africa with Durban and then launched into a managerial career, firstly with Brighton & Hove Albion, where had another spell later, Charlton, Crystal Palace, QPR and Barnet, where he became Director of Football for the 1996-97 season when he gave up the manager's post.

He is now a football pundit with Sky and is a match day host at the Lane.

He has the unhappy distinction of being the first player to be send off in a full England international, for protesting against constant fouls from the opposition.





Thomas Mason was born today in Southampton in 1886. The inside right played seven games for us in the 1911-12 season, scoring one goal before moving on to Southend and later to Sittingbourne.

Tom died in 1954.
 

CosmicHotspur

Better a wag than a WAG
Aug 14, 2006
51,069
22,383
Former midfielder Garry Brooke is 49 today. He was born in Bethnal Green and grew up in Walthamstow where he played schools football before signing as a youth player at the Lane in 1978, making his first team debut in 1980. He won medals in the 1981 and 1982 Cup Finals.

He was involved in a serious car crash in February 1983 and although he recovered, he was never able to re-establish himself as a regular in the first team. In all, he made 73 appearances, scoring fifteen goals in his five seasons with us.

He moved on to Norwich in 1985 for two seasons and also played for FC Groningen, Wimbledon, Stoke City, brentford, Colchester and Reading before heading for non-League football with several clubs.






Jimmy Smy was born today in 1907 in Edmonton. He played at inside right and his first club was non-League Hampstead Town. He signed for Spurs in 1928 and made 17 appearances, scoring six goals in two seasons with us.

He ended his playing career with Sittingbourne.
 

CosmicHotspur

Better a wag than a WAG
Aug 14, 2006
51,069
22,383
Former goalie Ken Hancock is 71 today. An amateur with Stoke, he signed for Port Vale before transferring to Ipswich and came to the Lane in 1969 for two seasons, playing in six first team games.

He then moved to Bury before playing non-League football and returned to Port Vale as a part-time coach when he hung up his gloves. He also had management spells with Leek Town and Ipstones.




Willie Young is 58 today and was born in Edinburgh. A well-built, intimidating defender, he was with Aberdeen from 1970 to 1975 before journeying south to the Lane. He put in 54 appearances for us before making a controversial move to Highbury in March 1977 where he became a firm favourite there and something of a cult hero.

He moved to Notts Forest in 1981, followed by a transfer to Norwich in 1983 and also had short spells with Brighton & HA and Darlington.

He retired from the game in 1984 and ran a pub in Nottingham as well as owning kennels in Bottesford, Leicestershire. He has occasionally appeared as a football pundit on STV's Scotsport.

 

CosmicHotspur

Better a wag than a WAG
Aug 14, 2006
51,069
22,383
Outside right Tom Smith was born today in Maryport in 1876 and first played for Preston NE from 1895 to 1897 before joining Spurs. He played in both our 1901 Cup Final games against Sheffield utd, scoring the second goal in the successful replay.

Tom returned to Preston North End in 1903 and also later played for Carlisle. He died in Maryport in 1937.

 

CosmicHotspur

Better a wag than a WAG
Aug 14, 2006
51,069
22,383
Midfielder Teemu Tainio is 30 today. Born in Tornio, Finland his first club was FC Haka and after one season he moved on to Auxerre where he played until 2005. He was then with Spurs for three seasons, making 61 appearances. He came on as a sub in our Carling Cup Final replay in 2008. Teemu has been capped 48 times for Finland.

He had his ups and down with us but I think he was a much improved player by the time he transferred to Sunderland in July 2008. He has been on loan with Birmingham since September 2009.





I remember Jimmy Pearce joining Spurs well as we are around the same age and he went dancing at the Tottenham Royal in our teens just as I did with my friends.

62 today, he was born in Tottenham and came to the Lane as an apprentive in the summer of 1965. A speedy and tricky winger, he played in 193 games, scoring 35 goals and figured in our 1971 and 1973 League Cup Finals.

Jimmy's football career ended prematurely at the age of only 25 when he was diagnosed with a rare bone disease. He was last heard of managing a clothes shop in Essex.

The newspaper clipping of his first day with Spurs is from my scrapbook. If you can read the print, it says he is on a starting wage of £7 a week, which will soon rise to £10! How times have changed...





Centre half Tommy Cable was born today in 1900 in Barking, where he first played for the local side. He also played for Leyton, WPR, Middlesex Wanderers and returned to Leyton for a second spell before joining Tottenham in 1928.

He made 44 appearances for us before leaving for Southampton in 1932. Having made no first team appearances with the Saints, he ended his playing career the same season with Kettering. Tommy died in 1986.
 

CosmicHotspur

Better a wag than a WAG
Aug 14, 2006
51,069
22,383
Galkeeper Jimmy Smith was born today in 1901 in Leith, Scotland. He came to Tottenham from East Fife in 1925 for one season, making 31 appearances for us before returning to Scotland to St Johnstone.

He had another brief period in England in 1930 with Norwich and returned to Scotland again to end his playing career with Ayr Utd. Jimmy died in 1964.

***​

Tom Evans was born today in 1907 in Ton Pentre in Wales, which was his first team, followed by a spell with Leytonstone before he joined Tottenham in 1927. He played for our nursery side, Northfleet, in 1929 before returning to the Lane until 1936, playing in 101 games for us.

He transferred to West Brom in 1939, where he ended his playing career. Tom died in 1993.

He is the second player from the left in the middle row in this 1936 team photo.




Former goalie Martin Thomas was born today in 1959. He was capped twice at Under-21 level for Wales and gained one full cap.

He came to Spurs on loan in 1982 but failed to break into the first team. His longest spells were with Newcastle from 1983 to 1988 and Birmingham from 1988 to 1993.

He retired from playing in 1995 and began a coaching career, earning the UEFA 'A' Coaching license and taking a position with the FA in the early 1990s as a Regional Development Officer in the Midlands. In 1996, Thomas helped to coach England's under-16 goalkeepers, before joining the FA full-time in 1997 and has since remained part of the England youth coaching. In 1998 Thomas became part of the new Ray Clemence-headed goalkeeping department within the FA.

I can find loads of well-written articles he has written on goalkeeping, but no photos.
 

CosmicHotspur

Better a wag than a WAG
Aug 14, 2006
51,069
22,383
Be prepared for a marathon post for today's birthdays!

First, Terry Dyson. 75 today, the diminutive (5'3") son of a Yorkshire jockey but powerfully built and unmatched for energy and enthusiasm, Terry was an ever-present member of our Double side in 1961, playing on the left wing. I remember him well and he always seemed to be in good spirits.

He came to us from Scarborough in 1955 and put in 209 appearances, scoring 55 goals in his decade at the Lane and picking up several well-deserved medals along the way. He moved on to Fulham between 1965 and 1968 and then to Colchester United before playing part-time football with Southern League Guildford in 1970.

After a spell as player-coach at Wealdstone, who won the Southern League, Terry became assistant manager at Dagenham where he helped them to become the first Southern-based winners of The FA Trophy in 1980.

Managerial jobs at Borehamwood, Kingsbury Town and Ruislip followed and Terry also forged a coaching career at a Hampstead school. Terry lives in Kenton, Harrow, and remains actively involved in football working for the FA as an assessor of schoolboy football. He also works in Bushey for the Hertfordshire Education Authority with children suffering from emotional and behavioural difficulties.

My fondest memory of Terry is of a summer's day in training at Cheshunt back in the 1960s when four of the players had a doubles tennis match after lunch. It was a very good game with Jimmy Greaves playing like a tennis pro. At the end of the game, when Terry attempted to jump over the net to shake hands with the opponents, he caught his foot in the net and got himself well and truly entangled, struggling and dangling upside down trying to extricate himself. He got no help because everyone, from the youngest youth team player to Danny Blanchflower, was helpless, if not crying, with laughter. We were still laughing about it on and off all through the afternoon and Terry had to put up with a lot of affectionate teasing about the incident for some time afterwards.

Terry has been inducted into the Tottenham Hall of Fame and thoroughly deserves his place there. The photo is from my scrapbook.




Kasey Keller is 40 today and probably the most famous American goalkeeper in the world. He was born on an egg farm in Olympia in Washington State and was capped 102 times for the USA.

His football career took him to Rayo Vallecano and Borussia Monchengladback where he learned to speak Spanish and German fluently and he and his family lived in a castle in Germany during their time there.

Before he came to Spurs in 2001, he had also played for Millwall and Leicester City in the UK. He made 85 appearances for us before moving to Germany in 2005 and returned to the UK to keep goal for Fulham for the 2007-08 season. He then went back to the States earlier this year to play for the Seattle Sounders and lives locally in Seattle with his wife and their twins, a son and a daughter.




Peter Collins is 61 today. The central defender came to us from Chelmsford City in 1968 and remained with Spurs until 1973, making 106 appearances in all.

He scored twice within the first nine minutes on his debut against Glasgow Rangers at White Hart Lane but the highlight of his career was our 2-0 win in the 1971 Football League Cup Final against Aston Villa.

His career was ended through injury and he is now a property developer in Spain.




Winger Chris McGrath is 55 today. He came to the Lane as an apprentice in 1972, made his first team debut in 1973 and went on to make 46 appearances for us, with a loan period at Millwall in the 1975-76 season, before
transferring to Man Utd in 1976 for four seasons, where he made 38 appearances. In 1980 he moved to the USA to play for Tulsa Roughnecks.

He was last heard of working for Glaxo-SmithKline in Ware, Herts.

Born in Belfast, Chris was capped 21 times for Northern Ireland.




Born in Dagenham, midfielder/defender Joe Martin is 21 today. He joined the Spurs Academy in 2005 from West Ham's youth team and signed his first professional contract in 2007 and played regularly for our reserve side. After a loan period with Blackpool, he transferred to the Seasiders in March 2008.

Joe gained England caps at Under-16 and Under-17 levels and is the brother of David, Liverpool goalie and their dad is former West Ham player Alvin.




Centre forward (William) Tommy Roberts was born today in 1898 in Handsworth in the West Midlands. He played for Leicester Fosse, Preston NE and Burnley and joined Spurs in 1928 after a second spell at Preston. He broke an arm in a motor vehicle accident in 1927 and had suffered injury problems before he came to the Lane.

He played in four games for us, scoring twice and was also capped twice for England, scoring in both games.

When he retired, he was a publican in the Preston area for thirty years and he died on 13 October 1965, aged 69.




Finally, a mention for Ryan Giggs who is 36 today.

 

CosmicHotspur

Better a wag than a WAG
Aug 14, 2006
51,069
22,383
Gary Lineker OBE is 49 today and needs no introduction - a true Spurs and England legend (with us from 1989 to 1992) and now forging a TV career as well as being married (for the second time) to a woman young enough to be his daughter.

The partnership he had with Gazza is also legendary. But bear in mind that he has declared that his heart will always be with Leicester City, despite his success with Spurs. Too many honours and medals to list...




Right back Alan Hutton is 25 today. We signed him from Rangers in 2008 and he has so far played in 26 games for us, fracturing an ankle which kept him out of the game for the start of the 2008-09 season.

Alan has been capped fourteen times for Scotland and there are rumours that other clubs are interested in luring him away from the Lane.




Tough-tackling (and sometimes aggressive, which has got him into a lot of trouble in the past) left back Ben Thatcher is 34 today. He played for Millwall and Wimbledon before joining Tottenham in 2000. He moved on to Leicester City after making 36 appearances for us and has since played for Manchester City and Charlton and is now with Ipswich.

He was capped for both England Under-21s and seven times for Wales.




Former midfielder Stuart Beavon is 51 today. Three generations of his family have been footballers - dad Cyril and son Stuart Jnr, who plays for Wycombe Wanderers.

Stuart was an apprentice at Spurs and made his debut in 1978. He played in only four games for us, with a loan period at Notts County, before transferring to Reading for ten seasons and he later played for Northampton and Newbury Town before retiring from the game.

 

CosmicHotspur

Better a wag than a WAG
Aug 14, 2006
51,069
22,383
Yesterday's birthdays were done but seem to have disappeared - a problem trying to save them I think, so here are the December 1st birthdays again!

Goalie Allan Taylor was born today in 1905 and played for North Shields, Newcastle and South Shields before journeying south to Tottenham in 1931. He played in 70 games for us before moving on to Hartelpool in 1937 where he ended his playing career. In the photo, he is the sixth player along in the top row.

Allan died in 1981.




Centre half Arthur Hitchins was born in Plymouth in 1913. He played for Walthamstow Avenue and the delightfully-named Lee Bridge Gasworks teams before joining Tottenham in 1934.

He had a couple of seasons at our nursery club, Northfleet, returning to the Lane in 1937 for two seasons and making 42 appearances.

Arthur died in 1975.

***​

74 today (if still with us), right winger Jeff Ireland came to us from Finchley in 1957 and made three first team appearances before transferring to Shrewsbury Town in 1959 for a season and then ended his playing career with Folkestone.

I can find out nothing else about him, he seems to have sunk into obscurity.

***​

Striker Simon Dawkins joined our Academy in 2004 and progressed to our reserve side, but failed to make it into the first team. He joined Leyton Orient on loan in 2008 and left them in January this year. He was released from his contract at the Lane in June.




And today's birthday, just the one:

Awarded an MBE for his services to Welsh football, Mike England is 68 today. A tall, commanding centre half, he came to the Lane after eight seasons with Blackburn in 1966 as a replacement for Maurice Norman.

He spent nine seasons with Tottenham, playing in 300 games, collecting an FA Cup Winners' medal in his first season with us, before returning to Wales to play for Cardiff in 1975 for a season. He then went to the USA and played for Seattle Sounders for four years and spent a season with Cleveland Force.

Capped eleven times for Wales Under-23s and with 44 full caps, he also managed Wales from 1979 to 1987.

When he retired from the game, he opened and ran nursing homes in Wales.

I knew Mike back in the late 60s, bumped into him in nightclubs and had an occasional meal and drink with him. Thoroughly nice guy.

 

CosmicHotspur

Better a wag than a WAG
Aug 14, 2006
51,069
22,383
Just one today, from times gone by.

High-scoring inside right Percy Humphreys was born today way back in 1880 in Cambridge and played local football before joining QPR in 1900. He moved on the following season to Notts County and was there until 1907, had a brief spell with Leicester Fosse in 1907 and then transfered to Chelsea for two seasons. He was capped once for England in 1903.

Percy joined Spurs in 1909 and played in 45 games for us, scoring 24 times. The most important goal was the one he scored against Chelsea in the last game of his first season with us, which meant Chelsea were relegated and we weren't.

He returned to play for Leicester Fosse for a season in 1911 and then ended his career as player-manager with Hartlepools Utd for the 1912-13 season. He managed Swiss side FC Basel from 1913 to 1914.

Percy died in London on 13 April 1959, aged 78.

In this 1910-11 team photo, he is the third player from the left in the third row down.

 

TheChosenOne

A dislike or neg rep = fat fingers
Dec 13, 2005
47,874
49,706
Hi Cozzie,

Just had a read through, it is alarming to say the least when I read these birthday posts, knowing that the young men I watched in the 60's 70's onwards are all pushing on -or indeed dead. It brings home the mortality of us all.

Chris McGrath - a week older than me ! I have a mate who works in Glaxo's I haven't seen him for a while but next time I do I'll enquire about McGrath.
 

CosmicHotspur

Better a wag than a WAG
Aug 14, 2006
51,069
22,383
Hi Cozzie,

Just had a read through, it is alarming to say the least when I read these birthday posts, knowing that the young men I watched in the 60's 70's onwards are all pushing on -or indeed dead. It brings home the mortality of us all.

Chris McGrath - a week older than me ! I have a mate who works in Glaxo's I haven't seen him for a while but next time I do I'll enquire about McGrath.

I get a shock too when I post up the 60s team players' birthdays - many in their 70s now and as you say some, sadly, no longer with us.

I know it's your birthday very soon - birthday thread treats will be forthcoming! :wink:
 

CosmicHotspur

Better a wag than a WAG
Aug 14, 2006
51,069
22,383
Speedy and talented outside left Jimmy Dimmock, who has a rightful place in the Spurs Hall of Fame, is a name that should never be forgotten in Spurs history.

He was born in Edmonton in 1900 and went to Montague Road School. He signed with Spurs as an amateur in 1916, turning professional in 1919 and played in 400 league games for us, scoring 100 goals and in 38 FA Cup games, scoring twelve goals - one of which clinched the FA Cup final win for us in 1921 - and he still remains our youngest FA Cup Final player at 20 years of age.

Capped three times for England (should have been more), he didn't leave Tottenham until 1930. In 1934, he played for Ashford Town and later for Tunbridge Wells in Kent, retiring from the game in 1936 after which he worked in road haulage for a while. Jimmy suffered poor health as he aged and eventually lost both legs. He died in the North Middlesex Hospital in Edmonton on 23 December 1972.

If there was ever a Tottenham player I would have delighted in watching, it was Jimmy Dimmock. Sadly, before my time.




Terry Naylor is 61 today. A tough, uncompromising full back, he had worked as a meat porter at Smithfield before joining Spurs in 1969, which earned him the nickname of "Meathook".

He put in 314 appearances for us before moving on to Charlton Athletic in 1979 and worked as a postman when his football career ended in 1983. He was born in Islington and still lives in the area.




Ian Hendon is 38 today and was born in Ilford. Mainly playing at right back, he joined Tottenham as a youth player in 1981, was part of our 1990 FA Youth Cup winning side and worked his way through the ranks, making his first team debut in 1989. He represented the England Under-21 side seven times.

He made seven first time appearances and after loan spells with Portsmouth, Leyton Orient and Barnsley he joined Leyton orient in 1993 and was a regular first team player for them in his four seasons there. He later played for Notts County, Northampton Town, Shefffield Wednesday and Peterborough before joining Barnet in 2003, where he took on the captaincy.

He continued to play until the end of the 2008-09 season, having been caretaker manager in 2004 and assistant manager for the 2007-08 season, taking on and fully concentrating on the manager's role in 2008.




Goalie Simon Brown is 33 today. He joined Spurs as an apprentice in 1996 and had several loan spells before joining Colchester in 1999, never having made a first team appearance for us.

He moved on to Hibs in 2004 and left them on a free transfer in 2007. Signing for Brentford for a season, he had a loan spell at Darlington and then returned to Brentford until the end of the season. He signed for Northampton Town in September this year.

 

CosmicHotspur

Better a wag than a WAG
Aug 14, 2006
51,069
22,383
Gerry Francis is 59 today. Born in Chiswick, he managed Spurs from 1994 to 1997, not a happy regime and many supporters were dissatisfied with various aspects of his management style and decisions.

He was pretty much a QPR man, having served his apprenticeship there and played for and captained the side from 1968 to 1979 and for a second spell for the 1981-82 season and having managed them from 1991 to 1994 and again from 1998 to 2001.

A strong midfielder, he also played for Crystal Palace, Coventry City, Exeter (where he was also manager), Cardiff, Swansea, Portsmouth and Bristol Rovers (also managed them) and was capped twelve times for England. He is currently coaching at Stoke City.





Andy Booth is 36 today. The striker was born in Huddersfield where he first played football from 1992 to 1996, joining his local side as a trainee. He transferred to Sheffield Wednesday and was with them until 2001 and during his last season with them, he came to Tottenham for a loan spell, figuring in four games for us. He was capped three times for the England Under-21 side.

He returned to Huddersfield for eight seasons before retiring from the game and he is acclaimed as a legend there, having made over 450 appearances for the club. A petition has been started to have a statue of Andy erected outside the club where he is now an Ambassador.





Gordon Durie is 44 today. Born in Paisley, the striker was capped 43 times for Scotland and played for East Fife (1981-84), Hibs (1984-86) and Chelsea (1986-91) before joining Tottenham in 1991.

He made 58 appearances for us before returning to Scotland to play his best football for Rangers from 1993-2000 and he ended his career with Hearts in the 2000-01 season.

His son Scott is a youth player with Rangers.





Paul McVeigh is 32 today. Born in Belfast, the striker/attacking midfielder was capped 20 times for Northern ireland.

He was at the Lane from 1996 to 2000 and made three appearances before transferring to Norwich City on a free transfer until 2007. He played for Luton Town for the following season and returned to Norwich last summer.






Goalie John Tate was born today in 1892 in Chester-le-Street and began his football career with local side West Stanley.

He was with Spurs for the 1913-14 season and made four appearances for us before returning home to play for West Stanley. John died in 1973.


How odd that three of them with birthdays today are ginger! I wish I could find a pic of John Tate to check him out too. Eek
 

CosmicHotspur

Better a wag than a WAG
Aug 14, 2006
51,069
22,383
6'5" retired goalie Espen Baardsen is 32 today. He was born in San Rafael in the USA of Norwegian parents.

He joined Spurs in 1996 and was part of our 1999 Worthington Cup winning squad, although he only made 23 appearances in our first team. He moved on to Watford in 2000 and transferred to Everton for the 2002-03 season. He then lost interest in football and retired from the game aged only 25 and went globe-trotting, before joining an asset management company in London and, in that capacity, he appears regularly on the CNBC TV network.

At international level, Espen played in more than 20 matches for the Norwegian Under-21 team, and also won four caps for the senior national team. He won a bronze medal in the European Under-21 Championship held in Romania in 1998 during which he received the Best Goalkeeper of the Tournament award. He was part of Norway's 1998 World Cup squad squad as third-choice goalkeeper, even though he has never lived in Norway.





Jamie Clapham is 34 today. The left back was born in Lincoln and began his playing career with Spurs in 1994. He made only one first team appearance and had loan periods with Leyton Orient, Bristol Rovers and Ipswich, transferring to Portman Road in 1998 where he played until 2003. He also played for Birmingham, Wolves and Leicester and joined Notts County in September 2008.

His dad, Graham, and maternal grandfather Bert Wilkinson were also professional footballers.




Retired left back Mark Bowen is 46 today. Born in Neath, he was capped 41 times for Wales. He joined Spurs as an apprentice in 1980 and turned professional the following season. He made 17 appearances for us, including our UEFA Cup winning team of 1984.

He transferred to Norwich City in 1987 and made 321 appearances for them, was their Player of the Year for 1990 and is rightfully in their Hall of Fame. He moved on to West Ham for the 1996-97 season and had a short spell with Shimizu S-Pulse in Japan before returning to the UK and joining Charlton Athletic, where he sustained a serious injury.

He later had brief spells with Wigan and Reading, where he began his coaching career which led him to a post coaching the Welsh National side and moving on to several other coaching positions. He is now assistant manager at Manchester City.

 
Top