john duncan -most underrated spurs striker ?

[doubledecker]

Looking at the scoring records of our strikers over the years I was reminded about John Duncan . 118 games, 62 goals. A scoring ratio only bettered since then by Lineker and Allen ( not by much ) and equal to Klinsmann. Better than Chivers, Archibald, Crooks, Falco, Sheringham, Armstrong, Defoe, Keane, Berbatov.
From what I remember Duncan played in some pretty poor Spurs teams in the late 70's . He is never mentioned among our top strikers but his record speaks for itself. I wonder how many remember him - I can't recall a more underrated striker.

 

[TheChosenOne]

Great player back in the day - He was grafter and a joy to watch but was often out injured a la sicknote.

Thaks for reminding me.

 

[C0YS]

he came in 1975, the year we got relegated, I suspect a lot of those goals came from when we were in the second teir?

George hunt is prob. the most prolific of are strikers who never gets mentioned with this recored 185 (125) but he moved to Arsenal sooo...

 

[doubledecker]

he came in 1975, the year we got relegated, I suspect a lot of those goals came from when we were in the second teir?

George hunt is prob. the most prolific of are strikers who never gets mentioned with this recored 185 (125) but he moved to Arsenal sooo...

Not quite right COYS , he joined in 1974.Our season in the second division was 1977-78 when John scored only 16 of his goals in 27 games. You were right about his injuries - in the season we got relegated he played only 9 games through injury and if he had not been out I am sure we would have stayed up.

 

[C0YS]

Not quite right COYS , he joined in 1974.Our season in the second division was 1977-78 when John scored only 16 of his goals in 27 games. You were right about his injuries - in the season we got relegated he played only 9 games through injury and if he had not been out I am sure we would have stayed up.

I stand corrected

 

[doubledecker]

I stand corrected

Would like to claim it was my photographic memory but stats courtesy of MEHSTG.

 

[phil]

Looking at the scoring records of our strikers over the years I was reminded about John Duncan . 118 games, 62 goals. A scoring ratio only bettered since then by Lineker and Allen ( not by much ) and equal to Klinsmann. Better than Chivers, Archibald, Crooks, Falco, Sheringham, Armstrong, Defoe, Keane, Berbatov.
From what I remember Duncan played in some pretty poor Spurs teams in the late 70's . He is never mentioned among our top strikers but his record speaks for itself. I wonder how many remember him - I can't recall a more underrated striker.

We must be telepathic as I mentioned "(underrated) John Duncan" earlier this morning in a list of favourite strikers in the "Favorite Spurs XI" thread.

Duncan was a prolific scorer in an era of poor Spurs teams. Most of the other strikers mentioned played in far more successful sides.

For those of you who have forgotten him, follow the link.

http://www.mehstg.com/duncan.htm

He deserves greater recognition.

 

[dannythomas]

We must be telepathic as I mentioned "(underrated) John Duncan" earlier this morning in a list of favourite strikers in the "Favorite Spurs XI" thread.

Duncan was a prolific scorer in an era of poor Spurs teams. Most of the other strikers mentioned played in far more successful sides.

For those of you who have forgotten him, follow the link.

http://www.mehstg.com/duncan.htm

He deserves greater recognition.

Nice article, good memories. For his success in scoring in poor Spurs teams he is worthy of a place in Spurs Hall of Fame. Would be nice if the club recognised a brave campaigner.

 

[TheChosenOne]

Throughout my time supporting Spurs we always seemed to have a Scots "talismanic" player in the team that excited the fans with their style and artistry

I'm thinking Bill Brown, Dave Mackay,John White, Alan Gilzean, Steve Archibald, Alfie Conn to name a few.

A few others spring to mind like Neil McNab, Graeme Souness & Gordon Durie but in my personal opinion they didn't cut it - Well Souness definitely not, only played as a sub once and buggered off the big headed sod. Richard Gough could have been one of the greats if he hadn't have bugged out after a single season. Just my own opinion though.

 

[ohh_when_the_spurs]

iversen....now he was a joy to watch

 

[3Dnata]

Football was fairly brutal then.
I'd almost forgotten about John Duncan but he was very good when not injured.
First Ralph Coates, then Duncan and Conn, great players who would have had better careers with Spurs had it not been for bad fouls.

 

[SpurSince57]

he came in 1975, the year we got relegated, I suspect a lot of those goals came from when we were in the second teir?

George hunt is prob. the most prolific of are strikers who never gets mentioned with this recored 185 (125) but he moved to Arsenal sooo...

Rather before everyone's time, as was Ted Harper, who managed an incredible 63 goals in 63 league games between 1929 and 1931. His 36 goals in a season stood as a club record until Bobby Smith equalled it and Greavsie beat it by one, and as far as I know he still holds the record for both Blackburn and Preston.

Back to John Duncan, definitely an undeservedly forgotten man, probably because he played when we were going through our ropiest period since WWII and none of us like to remember that too much. Also nearly took Chesterfield to Wembley in 1997, and would have done if Elleray hadn't disallowed a clear goal.

 

[southlondonyiddo]

I might be doing JD a huge dis-service but I always remember how bad Chris Jones was rather than how good John Duncan was

Maybe he was a no frills goalscorer and pro like Lineker and you didnt really notice him until the ball was in the back of the net

 

[dannythomas]

I might be doing JD a huge dis-service but I always remember how bad Chris Jones was rather than how good John Duncan was

Maybe he was a no frills goalscorer and pro like Lineker and you didnt really notice him until the ball was in the back of the net

Yes that is a reasonable comparison , better than Lineker in the air but he got most of his goals close in. Chris Jones was an honest player but hardly a Gilzean or a Sheringham. I actually think JD was more of a Clive Allen very single minded and would have done well as a lone striker. Of course if he had Waddle, Hoddle Ardiles Allen and Hodge behind him he would no doubt have had an even better goals per game ratio than he did.

Would be nice if our present day JD had the same percentages !

I agree with SS57 that John did well in management and a shame that he did not make it to the next level.

 

[doubledecker]

Rather before everyone's time, as was Ted Harper, who managed an incredible 63 goals in 63 league games between 1929 and 1931. His 36 goals in a season stood as a club record until Bobby Smith equalled it and Greavsie beat it by one, and as far as I know he still holds the record for both Blackburn and Preston.

Back to John Duncan, definitely an undeservedly forgotten man, probably because he played when we were going through our ropiest period since WWII and none of us like to remember that too much. Also nearly took Chesterfield to Wembley in 1997, and would have done if Elleray hadn't disallowed a clear goal.

I wondered if there are any stats about the average goals per game in Division 1/ EPL matches in each decade ? My impression is the rate was much higher in the 60's and before when the formations were more attack minded but I may be wrong. Would enable us to compare individual scoring stats in different eras.

 

[AngerManagement]

He must be somewhat under rated, because to my knowledge I have never heard of him nor heard people old enough to have seen him talking about him.

 

[Jon Shelfside]

I might be doing JD a huge dis-service but I always remember how bad Chris Jones was rather than how good John Duncan was

Maybe he was a no frills goalscorer and pro like Lineker and you didnt really notice him until the ball was in the back of the net

I was a big mate of one our first team players that played with him, and I like John Duncan as I feel all teams need a good goal scorer. My mate at the time said most of the team did not like him because he did not work, and was greedy, but I would have John in my team any day before Armstong and Jones.
I am not sure he would have kept us up, as that was a very poor team that took us down, and our one season in the old Div2 was a season that fans that were around then will remember it well. Mansfield away in the rain, Britol, Sheffield U, the grounds were full of Spurs fans, and of course Southampton away !!!! My wife said I went white when they hit the post near the end. !!!!

 

[PT]

We bought Colin Lee from Torquay and another guy from Stoke City whose name escapes me in order to climb back out of the second division. We also had Duncan and Jones, a youth graduate, who was raw but effective in the air.

John Duncan was prolific when he was fit but was hardly a regular because of his fitness record. I have a scrap book of newspaper cuttings from that second division season and if Duncan had have been more regular we would have gone up as Champions.

 

[SpurSince57]

We bought Colin Lee from Torquay and another guy from Stoke City whose name escapes me in order to climb back out of the second division. We also had Duncan and Jones, a youth graduate, who was raw but effective in the air.

John Duncan was prolific when he was fit but was hardly a regular because of his fitness record. I have a scrap book of newspaper cuttings from that second division season and if Duncan had have been more regular we would have gone up as Champions.

That would have been, er, Ian Moores.

Duncan played barely 100 games in four seasons, and it was 42 games a season then. From memory he missed about a third of our promotion season.

 

[Jon Shelfside]

We bought Colin Lee from Torquay and another guy from Stoke City whose name escapes me in order to climb back out of the second division. We also had Duncan and Jones, a youth graduate, who was raw but effective in the air.

John Duncan was prolific when he was fit but was hardly a regular because of his fitness record. I have a scrap book of newspaper cuttings from that second division season and if Duncan had have been more regular we would have gone up as Champions.

Ian Moores
Him and Colin Lee scored a hat trick each in our 9 goals against Bristol Rovers.