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Bill Nicholson 26.01.1919 - 23.10.2004

THFC6061

THFC6061

Paul Robinson
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Happy Birthday Billy Nick - RIP.


"It is better to fail aiming high than to succeed aiming low. And we of Spurs have set our sights very high, so high in fact that even failure will have in it an echo of glory."


"There's no use being satisfied when things are done wrongly. I want perfection."


"It's magnificent to be in Europe, and this club - a club like Tottenham Hotspur - if we're not in Europe.... we're nothing. we're nothing."


"It's no use just winning, we've got to win well."


"It's been my life, Tottenham Hotspur,and I love the club."


"...intelligence doesn't make you a good footballer. Oxford and Cambridge would have the best sides if that were true. It's a football brain that matters and that doesn't usually go with an academic brain. In fact I prefer it when it doesn't. I prefer players not to be too good or clever at other things. It means they concentrate on football."


"We must always consider our supporters, for without them there would be no professional football. It would be better to have more fans watching football the way they like it played, rather than have a few fans watching football the way we would like it played."


"The public can't be kidded. They know what they want to see, what is good and what is bad and what is just average. At least I believe they do."


"If you don't have to drag yourself off the field exhausted after 90 minutes, you can't claim to have done your best."


"Any player coming to Spurs whether he's a big signing or just a ground staff boy must be dedicated to the game and to the club. He must be prepared to work at his game. He must never be satisfied with his last performance, and he must hate losing."


"Naturally I'm a Tottenham man. So far as football is concerned, it means almost everything, doesn't it really? Because I can reflect back to being a player with, and manager of some of the finest players that have ever been in the game."


"When it is played at its best football remains the greatest game of all. And Tottenham, so close to my heart, is still to me the greatest club."


"I always said that it was an honour to serve Tottenham Hotspur and I feel the same every time I walk back into the stadium."


"Spurs have got to be the best in the land, not the second best."


"If you don't win anything, you have had a bad season."
 
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It was a crying shame that he never actually received the knighthood that I think was more than deserved for what he achieved in the game.
 
Every quote gave me goose bumps , that is how and why we are Tottenham hotspur . I love my club and so proud to support this mighty club
 
Nice one Statto. What happened to real football men like Bill? Legend has never had a more appropriate candidate.
 
RIP our Legend, Mr. Tottenham Hotspur, hopefully very soon, with this talented squad and talented manager, we win something again. Remembered, never forgotten.
 
I only started supporting Spurs in 88. But I was very quickly educated in all things Bill Nic. He may not have been my era, but he will ALWAYS remain the fulcrum of everything that our great club values and stands by.

A true legend =D>
 
THFC6061 said:
A1643.jpg



Happy Birthday Billy Nick - RIP.


"It is better to fail aiming high than to succeed aiming low. And we of Spurs have set our sights very high, so high in fact that even failure will have in it an echo of glory."


"There's no use being satisfied when things are done wrongly. I want perfection."


"It's magnificent to be in Europe, and this club - a club like Tottenham Hotspur - if we're not in Europe.... we're nothing. we're nothing."


"It's no use just winning, we've got to win well."


"It's been my life, Tottenham Hotspur,and I love the club."


"...intelligence doesn't make you a good footballer. Oxford and Cambridge would have the best sides if that were true. It's a football brain that matters and that doesn't usually go with an academic brain. In fact I prefer it when it doesn't. I prefer players not to be too good or clever at other things. It means they concentrate on football."


"We must always consider our supporters, for without them there would be no professional football. It would be better to have more fans watching football the way they like it played, rather than have a few fans watching football the way we would like it played."


"The public can't be kidded. They know what they want to see, what is good and what is bad and what is just average. At least I believe they do."


"If you don't have to drag yourself off the field exhausted after 90 minutes, you can't claim to have done your best."


"Any player coming to Spurs whether he's a big signing or just a ground staff boy must be dedicated to the game and to the club. He must be prepared to work at his game. He must never be satisfied with his last performance, and he must hate losing."


"Naturally I'm a Tottenham man. So far as football is concerned, it means almost everything, doesn't it really? Because I can reflect back to being a player with, and manager of some of the finest players that have ever been in the game."


"When it is played at its best football remains the greatest game of all. And Tottenham, so close to my heart, is still to me the greatest club."


"I always said that it was an honour to serve Tottenham Hotspur and I feel the same every time I walk back into the stadium."


"Spurs have got to be the best in the land, not the second best."


"If you don't win anything, you have had a bad season."
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Exactly. I have always felt that if we want to qualify for CL, we should do so as champions and not as 4th placed team !
 
I always consider him the founder of the club, i know we were around before him but he was what brought us up the way we should play the game.

Slightly off topic but i can not believe it is so long ago he died it seems like yesterday, i remember going to watch the game after when we played charlton and felt the players did not put in enough effort to praise his memory, went out afterwards with the wife and the inlaws to the theatre, the producers i think it was with lee evans. Wow can not believe it was so long ago.
 
japenesegardenlover said:
I always consider him the founder of the club, i know we were around before him but he was what brought us up the way we should play the game.
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Actually, I think I have to disagree with you there, chich.

Bill Nick is definitely the most important man in Spurs' history. No other player or manager served us so well or for so long or won anything like as much for us.

But I credit Arthur Rowe with defining the Spurs style of football. And so would Bill Nick, I suspect, if he was still alive. Bill Nick took the Push and Run philosophy to a whole new level, certainly. But the core principles were those that he learnt under Rowe.

Slightly off topic but i can not believe it is so long ago he died it seems like yesterday, i remember going to watch the game after when we played charlton and felt the players did not put in enough effort to praise his memory, went out afterwards with the wife and the inlaws to the theatre, the producers i think it was with lee evans. Wow can not believe it was so long ago.
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I remember the game against Bolton on the very day that he died. A palpable sense of sadness around the stadium, despite the fact that most present would not have seen much, if anything, of Bill Nick's teams and despite the fact that he was an old man who had had a fantastic innings. I remember the photo and video montage, played to the beautiful and haunting tones of Annie Lennox singing Into The West (from Lord Of The Rings) and grown men, all around, openly weeping. And I remember Bolton scoring early and then disrespecting the great man's memory by shamelessly time wasting for 80 minutes. It was the most brazenly cynical performance I have ever witnessed - Nicky Hunt being the worst culprit. Of all the memories to sully in such a way - the man who, above all, championed the need for players to entertain the fans.

Lastly, I remember his memorial service at WHL and another montage - but this time set to a heartbreakingly slow version of Glory, Glory (that I haven't been able to find since) and yet more tears from all present.
 
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Fair enough jimmy, of course we did win the league under rowe before my time though;)

I get things wrong did we play charlton around that time or am i remembering things wrong? im sure i was there when we played charlton and i thought the players showed a lack of respect for his memory. Maybe that was my first game after he passed.
 
japenesegardenlover said:
Fair enough jimmy, of course we did win the league under rowe before my time though;)

I get things wrong did we play charlton around that time or am i remembering things wrong? im sure i was there when we played charlton and i thought the players showed a lack of respect for his memory. Maybe that was my first game after he passed.
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Had to look it up, mate! We played Charlton in our following home game, two weeks later.
 
Yes Arthur Rowe led the way.

Bill Nich took it onward.
 
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