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Irving Scholar nearly signed Alec Ferguson after Burkinshaw

Mr.D

Old Member
Dec 2, 2014
4,262
7,876
No he didn't. Scholar became Chairman in November 1982, the new West Stand was completed in 1981.
1982 actually. But you're right about scholar not being there.
However, in my defence I'm old and my memory isn't what it was.
 

dondo

Well-Known Member
Jan 4, 2006
8,603
14,091
Who did we replace burkinshaw with ? Shreeves?

Yes we did, bad move looking back now( shreeves was a top coach not a top manager) burkinshaw laid the foundations for us to be a top side for years maybe finances played a part too to be fair
 
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Pellshek

Well-Known Member
Dec 30, 2015
2,509
7,289
Haven't seen or heard of Scholar in ages, so Googled him to see if there was a recent photo. The first line from Google Images:



Uhhm. Issues. There are...issues here.
 

TheChosenOne

A dislike or neg rep = fat fingers
Dec 13, 2005
47,874
49,706
From an old Independent article...

Nov 1982 Monaco-based Irving Scholar buys control of Tottenham, pounds 4 million in debt, and installs Douglas Alexiou as chairman.
Jun 1983 Tottenham announce aim to be first football club to be floated on Stock Exchange.

May 1984 Manager Keith Burkinshaw sacked after winning Uefa Cup. Replaced by Peter Shreeves.

Aug 1984 First annual meeting announces pre-tax profits of pounds 902,000 compared with pounds 168,000 for the previous 12 months.

May 1986 Shreeves sacked and David Pleat appointed manager.

Oct 1986 Spurs report loss of pounds 730,000, wiping out 1985 profit of pounds 653,000.

May 1987 Lose to Coventry in FA Cup Final.

Oct 1987 Loss cut to pounds 330,000. Pleat resigns and former player Terry Venables returns as manager. Bank debts mount to more than pounds 12m over next two years as ground development costs spiral and Hummel leisurewear firm slumps.

Jul 1989 Chris Waddle sold to Marseille for pounds 4.5m.

Aug 1990 Scholar has controversial dealings with Robert Maxwell in a bid to raise more funds. As a result Paul Bobroff is forced to resign as plc chairman but remains a director.


Jan 1991 Nat Solomon appointed chairman of Tottenham Hotspur plc and refuses to deny that club could cash in on sale of Paul Gascoigne.

Mar 1991 Venables launches unsuccessful pounds 20m bid for the club with Larry Gillick.

May 1991 Tottenham win the FA Cup, but Italy-bound Gascoigne ruled out for a year after rupturing knee ligaments in final.

Jun 1991 Alan Sugar confirmed as Venables' new backer. Maxwell tables fresh proposals, but Sugar and Venables secure the takeover of the club.

Jul 1991 Shreeves appointed team manager for second time with Venables chief executive.

Dec 1991 Company announces pounds 7m rights issue with Sugar taking holding to 47.8 per cent. Results for 1991 showed loss of pounds 2.9m, later revised to pounds 1.78m (1990 - pounds 1.01m). Trading restarted in shares after 14-month suspension.

May 1992 Gascoigne sold to Lazio for pounds 5.5m.

May 1992 Shreeves sacked again. Doug Livermore and Ray Clemence appointed in place.

Sep 1992 Club announces profit of pounds 2.66m.

May 1993 Venables voted out as chief executive but High Court injunction puts sacking on hold. Stock Exchange to investigate Venables after he reveals company set to make pounds 5m profit for year. Venables' financial adviser Eddie Ashby sacked by the club and director Jonathan Crystal, a Venables' supporter, asked to resign. He refuses. Sugar offers Venables 88p a share, the amount he paid two years ago, to buy him out. He rejects the bid as 'derisory'Jun 1993 Judge refuses to renew injunction against sacking after three-day hearing and orders Venables to pay Sugar's costs.



It's a wonder the club didn't go under and even more surprising managed to pick up some silverware during those times.

Other shenanigans not mentioned above were the 'selling off' of the Cheshunt training ground, some loss making ticket sales/marketing business with other league clubs and there was something going in with Hummel ?
 

Rocksuperstar

Isn't this fun? Isn't fun the best thing to have?
Jun 6, 2005
53,290
66,758
I notice 1988 wasn't mentioned being swamped in controversy or debt or anything... i imagine we were just all so high from Gazza signing up that we just stopped caring for 12 months :D
 

fieryjack

Well-Known Member
Jan 13, 2006
3,372
690
From an old Independent article...

Nov 1982 Monaco-based Irving Scholar buys control of Tottenham, pounds 4 million in debt, and installs Douglas Alexiou as chairman..........



..........other shenanigans not mentioned above were the 'selling off' of the Cheshunt training ground, some loss making ticket sales/marketing business with other league clubs and there was something going in with Hummel ?

All that is just a blur now, as it was then :woot:
 

StartingPrice

Chief Sardonicus Hyperlip
Feb 13, 2004
32,568
10,280
He turned us down because he really wanted the Man U job and knew he had to wait a couple of years for it. It's well known. Can't believe any Spurs fan wouldn't know about it to be fair.

Where (and when) did you hear this? Genuine question, because the story that did the rounds at the time, that I heard, was that Mrs Ferguson put the kybosh on it* because she didn't want to move so far south (particularly not to London). If a United supporting friend told you that, and relatively recently, I'd take a big dose of salt with it. I've got United supporting friends and they do like to project backwards their Ferguson led epoch of domination as though the club was always marked out, gigantic and uber-special. In the 1980's we were more recently successful than them. They were the first English team to win the European Cup, but we were the first English team to win a major European trophy, and Forest (under Clough) had won two European Cups. United were utterly dwarfed by Liverpool, Everton had won the league eight times when Fergie joined United, and were on the way to making it nine. United got a certain amount of the sympathy vote because of the Munich tragedy, but weren't the only club to have faced tragedies. They were best known in the 1980's for hiring a string of big-name managers who made big money signings but never achieved much. Turning us down to wait two years for the United job (did he have a definite time-scale given to him by someone in United, or was he just waiting in the vague hope that the job would becoming available and he might get it?), would be kinda like if Pochettino had been at Espanyol five years ago and offered the ArseAnal job but turned them down because he wanted us and thought he might get it in two years if he waited. There were several clubs that were as attractive, or more so, and as good or better bets for success at the time.

Like I said, it is a genuine question because I heard, and all I have ever heard anyone else who has a memory of it, that his wife kyboshed the move. *Don't forget, Scholar is saying that Ferguson had shook his hand that he accepted the job (after he laid so much emphasis on handshakes being as concrete as a contract). In a sense, he didn't turn us down, he reneged. Would he really do that to a club that had a brilliant, if inconsistent, team, and pretty good recent success just to wait two years for a club of horrible recent reputation for not giving managers a chance and very little success in decades?
 

Bulletspur

The Reasonable Advocate
Match Thread Admin
Oct 17, 2006
10,690
25,246
Where (and when) did you hear this? Genuine question, because the story that did the rounds at the time, that I heard, was that Mrs Ferguson put the kybosh on it* because she didn't want to move so far south (particularly not to London). If a United supporting friend told you that, and relatively recently, I'd take a big dose of salt with it. I've got United supporting friends and they do like to project backwards their Ferguson led epoch of domination as though the club was always marked out, gigantic and uber-special. In the 1980's we were more recently successful than them. They were the first English team to win the European Cup, but we were the first English team to win a major European trophy, and Forest (under Clough) had won two European Cups. United were utterly dwarfed by Liverpool, Everton had won the league eight times when Fergie joined United, and were on the way to making it nine. United got a certain amount of the sympathy vote because of the Munich tragedy, but weren't the only club to have faced tragedies. They were best known in the 1980's for hiring a string of big-name managers who made big money signings but never achieved much. Turning us down to wait two years for the United job (did he have a definite time-scale given to him by someone in United, or was he just waiting in the vague hope that the job would becoming available and he might get it?), would be kinda like if Pochettino had been at Espanyol five years ago and offered the ArseAnal job but turned them down because he wanted us and thought he might get it in two years if he waited. There were several clubs that were as attractive, or more so, and as good or better bets for success at the time.

Like I said, it is a genuine question because I heard, and all I have ever heard anyone else who has a memory of it, that his wife kyboshed the move. *Don't forget, Scholar is saying that Ferguson had shook his hand that he accepted the job (after he laid so much emphasis on handshakes being as concrete as a contract). In a sense, he didn't turn us down, he reneged. Would he really do that to a club that had a brilliant, if inconsistent, team, and pretty good recent success just to wait two years for a club of horrible recent reputation for not giving managers a chance and very little success in decades?
You make a lot of sense!!
 
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