Lloris
Woodgate Dawson Vertonghen
Lucas _____ King Dembele _____ Ekotto
Bale _____ Kane _____ Ginola
Lloris has been the longest serving keeper in my Spurs supporting lifetime and by far the best, and has easily been good enough for far more successful clubs.
Woodgate gave me the best memory I have of Spurs.
Dawson loved us and put his body totally on the line for us with no shortage of characters usually making up for perhaps lesser ability.
Vertonghen was a pleasure to watch, made defending beautiful, but also showed no end of passion and commitment to the club. The best Belgian centre back of the two in my opinion.
Lucas ends up at RWB to avoid sticking Bale there or putting a slow centre back at RB in a bank 4, but he gets in by virtue of pulling off the most seemingly impossible feat I’ve witnessed and getting me to by far the biggest match of my lifetime. All been downhill since the 95th in Amsterdam for this club.
King is probably the player I both identify with most here and also by far the best. Aside from his first few matches and last season at the club, even though he was broken, a truly world class footballer who was way too good for us for the entire time he was here. Only gets in midfield because I prefer him and all the centre backs to any central midfielder we’ve had.
Dembele as he was a one man midfield for so long, and when he did have a competent partner it felt like we had 12 men. Also really took pride in representing us and our decline can almost be intrinsically linked to his body finally giving up.
Ekotto because fuck me he was fun to watch, and though there was the odd brain fart I never actually felt uncomfortable with him on the ball. Really clever player too and, despite his ambivalence towards what modern professional football has become, he was still a huge personality,
Ginola because but for him the entirety of the Graham era would’ve had me giving up on this club before I really got started. Magical footballers who played for the fans and deserved better than he was given.
Bale because fuck me nobody can match him for getting you out of your seat with his outrageous feats of skill, pace, power and unpredictability, often all in one go.
Kane because, even with last summers tomfoolery, is the player who fought the hardest to become top class, was proving the most people wrong and has given us the most consistent top class service of any player since Hoddle. Eriksen the one player who has a hat in that last ring, but I was telling people about Kane from long before he left our kids sides and I was preaching his future greatness to all who would listen after he’d made those initial appearances under Sherwood while others were overly fixated with his body, not his brain,
Honourable mentions; Lennon, Anderton, Mabbutt, Klinsmann, Son, Keane and Defoe.
Sheringham had talked his way out of my affections over the years.