90sSpursBook
Erik Edman
Whilst today has the questionable honour of a Europa League spot about it, today will be the first in a couple of years with little riding on the result of our final game. Here's a look back at some of our recent final day fixtures:
2013: Sunderland (h) won 1-0; a fitting end to Bale's time as a Spurs player although we didn't know it at the time. We expected a win against an already-safe Sunderland side and knew we'd have to hope Arsenal
Would drop points at Saudi Sportswashing Machine, whose manager Alan Pardew had publicly stated 'he didn't care if they lost 4-0' - they did lose 1-0 fairly routinely despite the 'ghost goal' and our 1-0 win was an anti-climax.
2012: Fulham (h) won 2-0; with the uncertainty of Chelsea's pending CL final the following week there was an air of uncertainty. A win over a Fulham side with nothing to play for would guarantee us 4th and if Arsenal were to drop points at WBA we would be 3rd and thus ensure CL football. The goons won 3-2 and we won 2-0 at a canter with goals by Ade and Defoe to clinch 4th. It turned out to be Harry's last game, Kaboul picked up an injury which effectively ruled him out for a season and Chelsea fluked the CL.
2011: Birmingham (h) won 2-1: nothing in it for us as we had all but secured 5th spot but Birmingham needed a win to secure safety but depending on other results could also take a point. When Gardner equalised for them in the 80th min it brought the loudest cheer I've ever heard from the away end; however a goal elsewhere doomed them and Pav's defected winner further rubbed salt in their wounds. We applauded them at ft and sung 'you beat the scum 2-1' in a rare moment of mutual fan appreciation.
2010: burnley (a) lost 2-4: having secured momentous 4th spot and first ever CL qualification with a 1-0 win at City in midweek we returned to the North West to play already-relegated Burnley to turn in a traditional 'sexy' result. A win for us and a goons defeat at home to Fulham would seen us finish 3rd. Despite going 2 goals ahead early on to then discover goons were also 2 ahead we took our foot well and truly off the gas and proceeded to lose 4-2. As a footnote Ben Alnwick was our keeper that day making only his second, and last, spurs app - his only other one also came at Burnley when we lost 3-2 in the league cup sf in 2009.
2009: Liverpool (a) lost 1-3: a dead rubber. Despite a great end to the season we lost convincingly at Anfield with Robbie Keane scoring our late consolation against the team he'd begun the season with.
2008: Liverpool (h) lost 0-2: dead rubber at end of cup winning season; we'd been horribly uninterested and out of form since feb. Torres turned Dawson inside out for second goal.
2007: Emirates Marketing Project (h) won 2-1: we'd secured 5th and second successive season in European football during the midweek. Two first half goals gave us a routine win.
2006: west Ham (a) lost 1-2: Lasagnegate. No need to elaborate I'm sure!
2005: Blackburn (h) Drew 0-0: as dead rubber as it sounds. Our feint hopes of qualifying for uefa cup had ended with a 1-0 defeat at Middlesbrough the weekend before.
2004: wolves (a) won 2-0: a horrible season which ended with back to back victories. We were safe and wolves already down going into the game; Defoe and Keane scored.
2003: Blackburn (h) lost 0-4: a poisonous atmosphere. Matt Etherington had a tear up with a fan and the pitch was littered with season ticket books. Our season had badly petered out despite a positive start and ended with back to back 4 goal defeats (having lost 1-5 at Middlesbrough the previous week) which cemented our place in mid table and thus began the end for Hoddle as manager.
2002: Leicester (a) lost 1-2: a win at already relegated Leicester meant nothing other than that we'd finish above West Ham in 8th; alas we lost and apparently Hoddle went mental at them.
2001: Man Utd (h) won 3-1: a dead rubber - we were mid table and United champions by some distance. With Hoddle back at the Lane there was almost a feel-good factor heightened by an encouraging 3-1 win courtesy of 2 Willem Korsten goals; teddy played for Man U for last time before returning to the Lane and Campbell joined in 'lap of honour' on last duty for Spurs with his future still undecided.
2000: Sunderland (h) won 3-1: dead rubber; we played in new navy blue away kit and Stephen Carr scored 'goal of the season' with long run and chip from an angle.
1999: Man Utd (a) lost 1-2: the game we all wanted to lose; having won the league cup and meandering around mid table our only interest in this game was that losing it would give United the title (en route to the treble) and thus deny the Goons a second successive league title. With 'come on you Spurs' banners on display at Highbury we went 1-0 up early at Old Trafford causing muted celebrations in the away end but normal service resumed with Beckham and Cole scoring to send all at OT home happy.
1998: Southampton (h) Drew 1-1; a dead rubber but only because Klinsmann had saved our bacon the week before at Wimbledon. Klinsmann scored in a tame 1-1 draw in his final appearance of his second spell. Disgracefully Gross didn't allow Mabbutt or Howells any game time in what was their last game as spurs players.
1997: Coventry (h) lost 1-2: a turgid season for us saw us marooned in mid table for majority of it but for the Houdini's of Englands top division Coventry needed a win to stand any chance of staying up - and what better place to come than White Hart Lane. Teddy played his last game (of his first spell) as Coventry went 2-0 ahead in the first half; Paul mcveigh scored his only spurs goal and despite a second half semi siege we lacked the guile and determination to save Middlesbrough.
1996: Saudi Sportswashing Machine (a) drew 1-1: a double edged sword of a game. Toon had virtually blown the title and had to beat us and hope United would lose at Boro; meanwhile we had to win and hope Arsenal would lose at home to Bolton. With Man U ahead early Saudi Sportswashing Machine became deflated and we took advantage with Dozzell scoring early in the second half; with Bolton taking a shock lead at Highbury all was in our favour too. That proved too good to be true though; goons scored twice in a minute and Saudi Sportswashing Machine equalised meaning we finished 8th having been 5th with half an hour to play.
1995: Leeds Utd (h) Drew 1-1: Klinsmann's emotional send off. We had nothing to play for but Leeds secured Uefa cup football after Teddy's first half volley had been cancelled out. Drama elsewhere as Blackburn, capatianed by a certain Tim Sherwood, won the league title at Anfield pipping United to a third successive crown.
1994: QPR (h) lost 1-2: Having secured our place in the Premiership in midweek with a 6 pointer at Oldham we had nothing to play for in this dead rubber derby. The weather was miserable and the game not much better; Teddy equalised in between two Trevor Sinclair goals meaning Rangers had finished above us for the 4th successive season. Their manager, Gerry Francis, would become our next manager some 6 months later.
1993: Liverpool (a): lost 2-6. Cant remember much about this but probably as bad as it sounds; we'd won 3-1 at Highbury in the midweek to secure our, to date, last double over the Goons so dont think anyone too bothered about this game which begun a summer of discontent with Venables sacked the following week.
1992: Man Utd (a) lost 1-3; we'd flirted with relegation throughout the middle of the season and early Spring but by May were safe. Gary Lineker played his final domestic game in English football and appropriately scored in the final minute of this match which meant very little to either side for the final game of the old football league Division 1 pre Premier League.
1991: Liverpool (a) lost 0-2; with minds on the FA Cup final the week after we made several changes and were soundly beaten 2-0.
1990: Southampton (h); In the days before Champions League and the magic of 'top 4' we went into this game in 4th spot knowing that a win over Southampton and Arsenal failing to win at Norwich would see us finish above them for the first time since 1987. Two Gary Lineker goals were enough for us meanwhile Arsenal could only draw 2-2 at Carrow Road meaning we were top dogs in North London and finish ahead of the previous seasons League Champions for the last time (depending on what happens today!) However, with English clubs only just reinstated to European football 3rd was not enough to qualify for the following seasons UEFA Cup. (Aston Villa (2nd) were our sole representatives in the UEFA Cup; Man Utd became the first FA Cup winners since Everton in 1984 to play in the Cup Winners-Cup and Liverpool were still banned and so were unable to compete in the 90/91 European Cup - I always felt this was a travesty - Villa should have had Liverpool's place and we should have played in the UEFA Cup!)
1989: QPR (a) lost 0-1; a dead rubber game won by ex-Spur Mark Falco; we finished a credible 6th although the real drama came 3 weeks later when the Goons won what should probably be described as an iconic final day league win at Anfield.
2013: Sunderland (h) won 1-0; a fitting end to Bale's time as a Spurs player although we didn't know it at the time. We expected a win against an already-safe Sunderland side and knew we'd have to hope Arsenal
Would drop points at Saudi Sportswashing Machine, whose manager Alan Pardew had publicly stated 'he didn't care if they lost 4-0' - they did lose 1-0 fairly routinely despite the 'ghost goal' and our 1-0 win was an anti-climax.
2012: Fulham (h) won 2-0; with the uncertainty of Chelsea's pending CL final the following week there was an air of uncertainty. A win over a Fulham side with nothing to play for would guarantee us 4th and if Arsenal were to drop points at WBA we would be 3rd and thus ensure CL football. The goons won 3-2 and we won 2-0 at a canter with goals by Ade and Defoe to clinch 4th. It turned out to be Harry's last game, Kaboul picked up an injury which effectively ruled him out for a season and Chelsea fluked the CL.
2011: Birmingham (h) won 2-1: nothing in it for us as we had all but secured 5th spot but Birmingham needed a win to secure safety but depending on other results could also take a point. When Gardner equalised for them in the 80th min it brought the loudest cheer I've ever heard from the away end; however a goal elsewhere doomed them and Pav's defected winner further rubbed salt in their wounds. We applauded them at ft and sung 'you beat the scum 2-1' in a rare moment of mutual fan appreciation.
2010: burnley (a) lost 2-4: having secured momentous 4th spot and first ever CL qualification with a 1-0 win at City in midweek we returned to the North West to play already-relegated Burnley to turn in a traditional 'sexy' result. A win for us and a goons defeat at home to Fulham would seen us finish 3rd. Despite going 2 goals ahead early on to then discover goons were also 2 ahead we took our foot well and truly off the gas and proceeded to lose 4-2. As a footnote Ben Alnwick was our keeper that day making only his second, and last, spurs app - his only other one also came at Burnley when we lost 3-2 in the league cup sf in 2009.
2009: Liverpool (a) lost 1-3: a dead rubber. Despite a great end to the season we lost convincingly at Anfield with Robbie Keane scoring our late consolation against the team he'd begun the season with.
2008: Liverpool (h) lost 0-2: dead rubber at end of cup winning season; we'd been horribly uninterested and out of form since feb. Torres turned Dawson inside out for second goal.
2007: Emirates Marketing Project (h) won 2-1: we'd secured 5th and second successive season in European football during the midweek. Two first half goals gave us a routine win.
2006: west Ham (a) lost 1-2: Lasagnegate. No need to elaborate I'm sure!
2005: Blackburn (h) Drew 0-0: as dead rubber as it sounds. Our feint hopes of qualifying for uefa cup had ended with a 1-0 defeat at Middlesbrough the weekend before.
2004: wolves (a) won 2-0: a horrible season which ended with back to back victories. We were safe and wolves already down going into the game; Defoe and Keane scored.
2003: Blackburn (h) lost 0-4: a poisonous atmosphere. Matt Etherington had a tear up with a fan and the pitch was littered with season ticket books. Our season had badly petered out despite a positive start and ended with back to back 4 goal defeats (having lost 1-5 at Middlesbrough the previous week) which cemented our place in mid table and thus began the end for Hoddle as manager.
2002: Leicester (a) lost 1-2: a win at already relegated Leicester meant nothing other than that we'd finish above West Ham in 8th; alas we lost and apparently Hoddle went mental at them.
2001: Man Utd (h) won 3-1: a dead rubber - we were mid table and United champions by some distance. With Hoddle back at the Lane there was almost a feel-good factor heightened by an encouraging 3-1 win courtesy of 2 Willem Korsten goals; teddy played for Man U for last time before returning to the Lane and Campbell joined in 'lap of honour' on last duty for Spurs with his future still undecided.
2000: Sunderland (h) won 3-1: dead rubber; we played in new navy blue away kit and Stephen Carr scored 'goal of the season' with long run and chip from an angle.
1999: Man Utd (a) lost 1-2: the game we all wanted to lose; having won the league cup and meandering around mid table our only interest in this game was that losing it would give United the title (en route to the treble) and thus deny the Goons a second successive league title. With 'come on you Spurs' banners on display at Highbury we went 1-0 up early at Old Trafford causing muted celebrations in the away end but normal service resumed with Beckham and Cole scoring to send all at OT home happy.
1998: Southampton (h) Drew 1-1; a dead rubber but only because Klinsmann had saved our bacon the week before at Wimbledon. Klinsmann scored in a tame 1-1 draw in his final appearance of his second spell. Disgracefully Gross didn't allow Mabbutt or Howells any game time in what was their last game as spurs players.
1997: Coventry (h) lost 1-2: a turgid season for us saw us marooned in mid table for majority of it but for the Houdini's of Englands top division Coventry needed a win to stand any chance of staying up - and what better place to come than White Hart Lane. Teddy played his last game (of his first spell) as Coventry went 2-0 ahead in the first half; Paul mcveigh scored his only spurs goal and despite a second half semi siege we lacked the guile and determination to save Middlesbrough.
1996: Saudi Sportswashing Machine (a) drew 1-1: a double edged sword of a game. Toon had virtually blown the title and had to beat us and hope United would lose at Boro; meanwhile we had to win and hope Arsenal would lose at home to Bolton. With Man U ahead early Saudi Sportswashing Machine became deflated and we took advantage with Dozzell scoring early in the second half; with Bolton taking a shock lead at Highbury all was in our favour too. That proved too good to be true though; goons scored twice in a minute and Saudi Sportswashing Machine equalised meaning we finished 8th having been 5th with half an hour to play.
1995: Leeds Utd (h) Drew 1-1: Klinsmann's emotional send off. We had nothing to play for but Leeds secured Uefa cup football after Teddy's first half volley had been cancelled out. Drama elsewhere as Blackburn, capatianed by a certain Tim Sherwood, won the league title at Anfield pipping United to a third successive crown.
1994: QPR (h) lost 1-2: Having secured our place in the Premiership in midweek with a 6 pointer at Oldham we had nothing to play for in this dead rubber derby. The weather was miserable and the game not much better; Teddy equalised in between two Trevor Sinclair goals meaning Rangers had finished above us for the 4th successive season. Their manager, Gerry Francis, would become our next manager some 6 months later.
1993: Liverpool (a): lost 2-6. Cant remember much about this but probably as bad as it sounds; we'd won 3-1 at Highbury in the midweek to secure our, to date, last double over the Goons so dont think anyone too bothered about this game which begun a summer of discontent with Venables sacked the following week.
1992: Man Utd (a) lost 1-3; we'd flirted with relegation throughout the middle of the season and early Spring but by May were safe. Gary Lineker played his final domestic game in English football and appropriately scored in the final minute of this match which meant very little to either side for the final game of the old football league Division 1 pre Premier League.
1991: Liverpool (a) lost 0-2; with minds on the FA Cup final the week after we made several changes and were soundly beaten 2-0.
1990: Southampton (h); In the days before Champions League and the magic of 'top 4' we went into this game in 4th spot knowing that a win over Southampton and Arsenal failing to win at Norwich would see us finish above them for the first time since 1987. Two Gary Lineker goals were enough for us meanwhile Arsenal could only draw 2-2 at Carrow Road meaning we were top dogs in North London and finish ahead of the previous seasons League Champions for the last time (depending on what happens today!) However, with English clubs only just reinstated to European football 3rd was not enough to qualify for the following seasons UEFA Cup. (Aston Villa (2nd) were our sole representatives in the UEFA Cup; Man Utd became the first FA Cup winners since Everton in 1984 to play in the Cup Winners-Cup and Liverpool were still banned and so were unable to compete in the 90/91 European Cup - I always felt this was a travesty - Villa should have had Liverpool's place and we should have played in the UEFA Cup!)
1989: QPR (a) lost 0-1; a dead rubber game won by ex-Spur Mark Falco; we finished a credible 6th although the real drama came 3 weeks later when the Goons won what should probably be described as an iconic final day league win at Anfield.
