September 29 – Spurs Throw it Away

AS we see to be picking on Newcastle United quite a lot recently (but, hey, can you blame us?), we thought it was time to look at the Premiership’s other ‘crisis club’ – Tottenham.

Today in 2001 Spurs managed to grasp defeat from the jaws of victory when they threw a 3-0 half-time lead when they hosted Manchester United at White Hart Lane.

With Glenn Hoddle in charge Spurs fans began the season with the usual ‘this is our year’ rhetoric, and when goals from Dean Richards, Les Ferdinand and Christian Zeige put Spurs 3-0 up at the interval a famous win over the Champions was in their sights as the United player trudged of the pitch, fearing the worst.

We can only speculate as to what was said in the United dressing room, but it probably isn’t something we should be repeating on here as Fegie no doubt used the hairdryer treatment.

Andy Cole pulled one back for United in the first minute of the second half and just before the hour mark Laurent Blanc headed home to make it 3-2. Ruud van Nistelrooy bagged the equaliser with 20 minutes left and it was obvious that a rampant United side weren’t going to settle for the draw.

Veron put United ahead for the first time and Beckham would make it five with a long-range effort to complete a famous victory. When a shell-shocked Hoddle was asked what went wrong, he merely answered “half-time.” Glenda had obviously been paying for some sins that year, as in six months earlier, when he was at Southampton, he had seen his charges throw away a 3-0 half-time lead to Tranmere in the FA Cup, losing 4-3.

A relieved Sir Alex said: “Remarkable, absolutely remarkable. It might not have been too good for the blood pressure but I’ll be able to look back on that day and remember it vividly for the rest of my life. Not many managers could say that.”

When asked if the famous hairdryer came out at the interval, Fergie kept his cards close to his chest: “I’m not saying exactly what I said to the players at half-time, but the essence of it was to stop feeling sorry for themselves. These are the best players in the country and they should play like that.”

See the action of United’s magnificent comeback below and see what else was happening in the world of football today here.