Tottenham Hotspur Blog | White Hart Pain

Blog of a long suffering Spurs fan. This is my occasionally obscure take on the ups and downs of life at the Lane.

The top 5 Spurs players of all time

By 38 Comments

That title is possibly a bit misleading because I’m not quite old enough to cover since 1882 but I’ll just go as far back as my memory will take me! I’ll be looking at about the last 20 years or so.

5. Teddy Sheringham – Ok, I know whenever he signs for a new club it has always been his lifelong dream to go there but you can’t argue with the player Teddy was for Tottenham. He did well in both spells and was probably the most intelligent player we ever had when it came to being in the right place at the right time.
4. Jurgen Klinsmann – We were  minus 12pts, how the hell did Sugar convince him to sign?! Sign he did, and it really transformed the club. He was never going to stay forever and his second period was never going to be as magical but he brought an atmosphere to the Lane that hasn’t been seen since.
3. David Ginola – I wasn’t convinced he would be anything more than a pretty boy picking up his big wage packet when we signed him, how wrong I was. He had his off days but when he was on his game, there was no one better. He went even higher in my estimation when he tipped us to beat Chelsea 2-1 before the Carling Cup final!
2. Glen Hoddle – One of the most naturally gifted Englishmen of the modern era, just a shame he turned into a David Ike style nut job. I’m not going to hold that against the man who brought us Diamond Lights though. Here’s what Tony Cascarino thinks of Hoddle; “When Glenn tried to be funny, it was time to pass ’round the laughing gas because he was probably the unfunniest man I have ever known. He was also completely besotted with himself. If he had been an ice cream, he would have licked himself”.
1. Gary Mabbutt – This was a bit obvious but the bloke is an absolute legend. He not only had to contend with being an insulin dependant diabetic, he also got half his face smashed off by that thug Fashanu but he still came back for more. Gary lifted both the UEFA Cup and FA Cup and gave us everything he had, week in, week out. Although I love Ledley, I would give anything for another captain like the original Mabbs.

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Comments

  1. You ask top 5 players of all time and can only go back 20 years!!!
    what about in no special order
    Bill Nicholson
    Dave Mackay
    Pat Jennings
    Gazza
    Jimmy Greaves
    Steve Perryman
    Dimitar Berbatov
    and so on ……………

  2. Sorry, but impossible to have a top 5 without Danny Blanchflower, Dave Mackay and Jimmy Greaves. As far as I’m concerned the other two places are up for grabs – Choose any two from Gilzean, Hoddle, Jennings, Gazza, Perryman, Mabbut, Cliff Jones, Klinsmann, Clive Allen plus a host of others!

  5. One or two season players cannot be considered – therefore no place for the likes of Klinsmann, Berbatov. I think to qualify a player must have shown loyalty and have been there for at least 5 years

    I would therefore go for
    Danny Blanchflower
    Dave Mackay
    Jimmy Greaves
    Pat Jennings
    Steve Perryman

    Gary Mabbut would be first on the subs bench

  8. Blanchflower
    Mackay
    Jennings
    and my boyhood hero and his replacement as my hero
    Greaves and Hoddle.
    I would die to see film of John White, the Ghost, I was just too young to see him play.

  9. I think this is maybe a top 5 of your time supporting Spurs?
    my first season as a Spurs man was 93/94 I think so I never saw them, but from knowing my history you gotta have Blanchflower (esp as he’s Norn Irish!!) and Greaves is our all time top goalscorer. There’s Jennings, Gazza, Lineker, Clive Allen (check out his goals ratio!!), mackay, Perryman (all time top appearances – 638 i think!) and so on…

    Nice wee article, but definitely the wrong title.

  10. Honorary mention for David Howells. Maybe not the most gifted, but had loyalty seeping though his pores. True legend.

  11. I forgot to mention Mr Spurs, Steve Perryman. A quality player with the heart of a lion who was too versatile for his own good. R.back, sweeper, midfield. This stopped him getting an England cap. But the five I chose were the highest possible quality.

  15. Damn this is tough : )

    Blanchflower
    Nicholson
    Greaves
    Jennings
    Hoddle

    Arthur Rowe should get a mention too… the modern game owes much to his managerial majesty

  21. Jimmy Greaves
    Dave Mackay
    Pat Jennings
    Glenn Hoddle
    Paul Gascoigne
    subs:
    Danny Blanchflower
    Alan Gilzean
    Graeme Roberts
    Osvaldo Ardiles

    Seen all of the above but not John White.
    Hope the following may join from present squad if stay long enough:-
    Gomes
    Bale
    Modric

  22. Cant pick top 5, We need to pick a top 30 or 50, older fans than me go on about Bobby Smith. This article makes a nice change and has got me thinking COYS

  23. I understand younger people with shorter memory span, but its hard to fathom someone older who thinks Chivers should be in this list… Berbatov should not be considered – skill is not a criteria without commitment to the cause. In my view the correct list (5) in the correct order should read:
    Greaves
    Lineker
    Gazza
    White
    Blanchflower
    The next 5, and in the correct order should read:
    Jennings
    Klinsman
    Hoddle
    Waddle
    Jones
    This is a considered opinion and I omit Allen, Perryman, Mabbut, and Ardiles with fond regret

  25. pat jennings was the best ever keeper to pull on a spurs shirt. dave mckay was an incredible player in the heart of the midfield – he ran the game and made a huge difference renowned for his tough-tackling ways. danny blanchflower was a legend. but jimmy greaves is the best ever spurs player and i have never seen a player since with such ability and goal-scoring talent. other quality players such as hoddle, stevie perryman and gazza are missing. klinsmann wasn’t anything special. a legend is a player who has served tottenham hotspur with loyalty and given an exceptional contribution to the club that has shaped its history. none of your 5 have done that. ask people who klinsman is in 5 years and they wont know.
    dont talk about stuff you clearly have no knowledge on!

  27. Well said Anonymous – difficult to boil so many greats down to 5 but your comments are hard to fault. I felt you might be a bit harsh on Klinnsman given the dire straits we were in at that time when he arrived with a skilled aggression and a measure of arrogance that we had been sorely missing after rather stupid sales of the likes of Waddle etc.

  28. Greatest Spurs man – Bill Nicholson
    Greatest Spurs spirit – Danny Blachflower
    Greatest Spurs player – Glenn Hoddle

    Burgess, Greaves, Mackay, Cliff Jones, Jennings, Perryman and others make up the rest of the team

  29. I have already commented about John White, but what this survey has shown is why we are all ‘Spurs supporters. I first watched ‘Spurs at W.H.L.in 1948. Consequently I have had the privelege of seeing some of the best players in British football for 60 years. My feeling is that there is no other club in Britain that can put together a list of so many wonderful players and it is no suprise to me that we could not list our best 5. We would be hard pushed to list the best 50.

  30. Mackay
    Blanchflower
    Greaves
    Hoddle
    Perryman

    Honourable mentions to

    Mabbutt
    Jennings
    Roberts
    Conn
    Ardiles
    Lineker
    Hughton

  31. Five players is not enough.
    We must pick an all-time team.

    Manager….Nicholson

    Goal….Jennings

    Defenders…Perryman, McKay, King.

    Midfield. Gazza, Blanchflower, Hoddle, White.

    Forwards…Likeker, Greaves, Clive Allen.

    Subs…Ardilles, Brown, Waddle, Norman, Jones, Ramsey.

    Spurs fan since 1959
    Glory, Glory Tottenham Hotspurs.

  34. That’s why I am going to Miss Berba and Keane so much – even if Bent and Pavlov score a hatrick every game , I just love the way they play football.

  35. You can only really comment on players you have seen and my best would be:

    Jimmy Greaves – greatest player ever to represent spurs.
    Pat Jennings – best keeper I have ever seen.
    Dave Mackay
    Glenn Hoddle
    Cliff Jones

    but there are so many other great players and so many loyal grafters – like Phil Beal, Gary Mabbutt, Mike England, Steve Perryman, Graham Roberts that the list would be endless.

  37. dave mackay best ever
    blanchflower
    perryman
    hoddle
    greaves

    and room somewher for graham loyal 150% roberts

  38. I’ve seen them all since 1946 and, although Jimmie Dimmock was before even my time, he was the one the old fans used to talk about – played 400 games and scored 99, not bad for a winger, especially the one that won the cup in 1921.

    Agree with most of those already mentioned and, although I agree Jennings was a great keeper, I don’t think he was any better than Ted Ditchburn.

    Although the War didn’t end until he was almost 25, he played 572 first team games, including every league game from April 1948 to March 1954 – a club record of 247 games, which included winning the 2nd and 1st Division Championships in 1949/50 and 1950/51.

    Other players well worth remembering from those two Championship seasons – not already mentioned – were the five forwards.

    All had their careers interrupted by the War but all spent virtually their whole careers at the club.

    “Sonny” Walters (346 appearances, 109 goals – not bad for a winger), Les Bennett (aged 28 when the League started again after the War, he still managed 377 appearances, 104 goals), Len Duquemin (373 appearances, 184 goals), Eddie Bailey (381 appearances, 90 goals) and Les Medley (aged 26 when the League restarted, 254 appearances, 74 appeaances, again not bad for a winger).

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