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Okay, let’s get straight to the point: it is time to evaluate the greatest XI in the history of Tottenham Hotspur. The criteria used here to pick the players are the number of years spent at the club, how good they were in that time, how much of a global impact they had and how good they went on to became at their peaks – even if they weren’t playing for Tottenham at that point.
Since this is an all-time XI, compiling it is quite hard due to the fact that the North London club have had a lot of good players playing for them, so much that the likes of Paul Gascoigne, Harry Kane and Christian Eriksen have missed out from the final list.
The formation used here is a 3-4-1-2 in order to accommodate an extra creative player while also not hindering the defensive strength of the team by much. The formation can easily shift to a 4-3-3 when Spurs don’t have the possession.
So, here we go.
Goalkeeper: Pat Jennings
Right now, we see Hugo Lloris defending the nets between the sticks for Tottenham Hotspur – and he does it quite amicably. The Frenchman took over from Brad Friedel in 2013 and has since held his position as the first-choice goalkeeper at the North London outfit.
In his four years as a first-choice, Lloris has established himself as one of the club’s greatest ever goalkeepers, but he is still quite far away from the man who is still regarded as Tottenham’s best ever shotstopper: Pat Jennings.
Not only is Jennings a highly revered figured by the Lilywhites, he is also much admired by the British people in general due to his outstanding abilities as a goalkeeper.
The now-retired Jennings played a record 119 times for Northern Ireland – an achievement that still stands unbroken – and is still among the only two goalkeepers to win the PFA Player of the Year, which he won in 1976.
Centre-Backs
Left-centre: Ledley King
When speaking of football tragedies, Ledley King’s name is bound to pop up at some point or the other. The former Spurs captain is perhaps the greatest defender England never had. Such was his quality that even fans of rival teams adored him.
However, a chronic knee injury didn’t allow him to reach the almost-unassailable potential that he had. Nevertheless, in the matches that he could play, he was almost always the best player on the pitch and attackers always found it hard to go past this rock of a defender.
Which is why he finds himself stationed at the left-centre-half.
Sweeper/Libero: Dave Mackay (captain)
For the libero role, there couldn’t possibly be anyone better than retired Spurs legend, Dave Mackay. He was regarded as a tough-tackling left-half who converted into a sweeper in the later stages of his career.
A natural leader, Mackay was known for barking instructions while waving his hands at team-mates and also his quality on the ball, which is why he would be the best for the libero role in this 3-man defence and also as the captain of the team.
Right-centre: Steve Perryman
Let’s get this straight: Steve Perryman is a Tottenham legend. The man made 866 appearances for the white half of London and still holds the admirable record. In a time like this, where players always look to greener pastures, it is almost impossible that anyone would break Perryman’s record.
In his 3-man defence, he takes the right-central zone, which is akin to what he did as the right-sided centre-back or a right-back for Spurs in his playing days.
Wing-backs
Left: Cliff Jones
This might not be the best position to play the man dubbed as the most naturally gifted player in Spurs’ double-winning team back in the 60s, but we have to make-do whilst also making sure that Jones gets to play in his preferred left-flank.
The original Welsh wizard, Jones was among the star players that helped Spurs win the double in 1960-61. He was regarded as the greatest left-winger during his time and is still is among the most respected figures in the game.
Right: Danny Blanchflower
On the opposite flank, it will be another Tottenham legend that will be partnering the highly talented Cliff Jones. The Times ranked Danny Blanchflower as the greatest player in the history of Spurs – and there is a reason for that.
He was one of the members of the great double-winning team and always believed that winning alone isn’t the most important thing, but doing it in style also matters, wording it beautifully in one of football’s best quotes...
"The great fallacy is that the game is first and last about winning. It is nothing of the kind. The game is about glory, it is about doing things in style and with a flourish, about going out and beating the lot, not waiting for them to die of boredom." - Danny Blanchflower
Midfield
Luka Modric
Ah, Luka Modric. One could almost say that Spurs’ foray into the top echelons of English football was incepted with the acquisition of Luka Modric from Dinamo Zagreb. The midfield maestro was bought for a then club record £16.5 million and spent four decorated years at the White Hart Lane before joining Real Madrid.
In that time, he was once awarded as Tottenham’s player of the year in 2011 as he engineered some genius piece of football whilst playing from the centre of the park. Spurs fans still fondly remember him for the great services that he rendered to the club.
Ossie Ardiles
Ossie Ardiles is perhaps the greatest Argentine player to have played in England. The former Tottenham midfielder was an elegant player in the middle of the park and enjoyed 10 solid years at the White Hart Lane.
A midfielder with tremendous guile and mesmeric ball-control abilities, Ardiles was the archetypal midfielder who could do almost everything. He would often sit deep and defend in one moment and then be at the end of an attacking move to score a goal in the very next moment.
Alongside someone like Luka Modric, only God knows how good he would have been.
Glenn Hoddle
For many, he is the best player to ever play for Tottenham Hotspur. Glenn Hoddle was a gifted playmaker who played behind the striker(s) and fed them with delightful balls that would rival a French pastry cuisine in terms of art.
In his time with Spurs, he won the FA Cup twice and led the team to a UEFA Cup win in 1984. He is among those players that helped Spurs come back to the first division after being relegated for the first time in 27 years in 1976-77.
He spent 12 great years at Spurs before moving to Monaco, where he won the French League in his very first season and was voted as the best foreign player in France that season.
Forwards
Left: Gareth Bale
Imagine if Gareth Bale was still playing at Spurs and was starring alongside Harry Kane in attack; a dreadful sight for the opponents, a wonderful one for the fans. The Welshman was just a promising prospect in Southampton, but he became a global star by the time he left Spurs for Real Madrid.
The Welshman won the Premier League Player of the Year in 2012-13, after which he moved to Real Madrid for a world record fee of £86 million. His most memorable moment in a Spurs shirt was destroying Maicon and Inter defence with his sheer pace and ruthless goal-scoring abilities – something which still defines him as a world-class player.
In this team, he would play in a position where his skills would be used best: a left-inside forward.
Right: Jimmy Greaves
A list like this without Jimmy Greaves would be no list at all. While Harry Kane might be shattering many goal-scoring records, he is still quite far away from Jimmy Greaves’ goal tally for Spurs which stands at 266 goals from 381 games.
Greaves was a punisher – anything inside a box, even half a chance, and he would bury it at the back of the net. He had an astute sense of where to be and when to be and used it to full effect to punish the opponents. His pace and acceleration were also a constant source of worry for the defenders as he could also dribble his way out of trouble.
Sounds familiar to someone who already plays for Spurs, doesn’t it? We are looking at you, Kane.
Who knows, if Kane decides to stay at Spurs for a long time, he might as well go on to break the great Greaves’ record.
