Highlights of History: Spurs at their Best

What do you know about the history of your favorite team? Definitely not enough! In this article, we’re chasing down memorable highlights that you probably don’t know. After all, 140 years isn’t easy to keep track of – and, yes, the Spurs are just as old. The club was founded in 1882, and formed by the two teams of the Tottenham and Haringey districts. Since then, triumph has followed triumph, and, as we must admit, also accompanied by defeats and lows, resulting in a mile-long success story overall. Here are our highlights!

Tottenham’s leap from amateur to professional is unique. In 1895, the club lent money to its player Ernie Payne to replace his lost soccer boots. As a result, the FA (The Football Association) suspended Spurs for two weeks and accused them of “professional machinations.” The club in turn took this as an opportunity to become an official professional club in the Southern Football League from Christmas 1895. It was a huge leap that meant their matches were suddenly attended by crowds of up to 15,000.

In 1900, Spurs secured the Southern Football League championship title, and in 1901, the club won the FA Cup without being a member of the Football League – an unprecedented event. So even then, the sportsmen put their motto “Audere est Facere” (Dare is do) unapologetically into practice, in front of 110,000 spectators against the absolute favorites Sheffield United. At that time, the south was rather ridiculed, never had a team from this region won a serious victory. The North and the Midlands usually made the game, and nothing else had been expected this time.

The application for admission to the Football League was accordingly rejected at the first attempt. It was only when Stoke declined that Spurs slipped up and were allowed to count themselves among the members of the elite circle as of the 1908/09 season. Probably all the bookmakers’ bets were nevertheless against the blatant outsiders, who still had to earn their laurels. On the modern top betting sites, it looks mostly different today, the Spurs often take the place of the favorite.

Just have a look at sbo.net, choose a digital bookmaker on the comparison portal, and check the current odds. Nobody scoffs at these southerners anymore! The aforementioned website can be used free of charge and without obligation, you can compare the conditions of reputable betting platforms here at your leisure before you make your decision on a provider. At that time, soccer fans had yet to learn what the Hotspurs were made of.

Initially, the team was assigned to the Second Division, but it didn’t stay there for long. Already in the first season, the Spurs achieved 2nd place and were promptly promoted to the First Division. However, this resulted in a long fight against relegation, because the level of the new division was really high. Hard years came in Europe, which only ended in 1945. After that, soccer in England reached new popularity records! In 1949, Spurs became the first team in the world to introduce the double pass as a playing strategy, a great move that once again brought our sportsmen into the limelight. 1950/51 saw a well-deserved victory in the Football League, the championship title sparked new self-confidence – and jubilation throughout Tottenham.

1960/61 was also one of the most memorable seasons: At that time, Tottenham Spurs won the championship and the FA Cup, the so-called “double” had never been achieved by any other team. In 1962, in the European Cup Winners’ Cup, they reached the semi-finals, and the following year Spurs won the European Cup Winners’ Cup. Against Atletico Madrid, they managed the highest final victory this competition had ever seen: The Spaniards were defeated 5:1.

This was followed by many turbulent years with long dry spells and few highs.  But when Heung-Min Son moved to Spurs from Bayer 04 Leverkusen in 2015 at the latest, things took a massive turn for the better. He became a key performer on the team. In 2015/16, the club qualified for the Champions League as third in the table and also made it to the round of 16 in the UEFA Europa League, where they were eliminated by Borussia Dortmund. The following year, Spurs managed 86 points and second place in the table – a new club record!

We know that’s far from all, the highlights are simply too numerous to list all of them. But maybe now you feel like digging through the history of Tottenham Spurs and making your own discoveries.