Bill Nicholson's Glory, Glory Era

Nicholson had joined Tottenham Hotspur as an apprentice in 1936. The following 68 years saw him serve the club in every capacity from boot room to president. He guided Tottenham to major trophy success three seasons in a row in the early 1960s: the League Championship/FA Cup double in 1961, the FA Cup in 1962, and the European Cup Winners Cup in 1963.

Key players in the first Nicholson Tottenham side included:

* Danny Blanchflower was the club captain and together with Nicholson nurtured and developed Tottenham's articulate and exciting playing style and glory, glory ambitions.
* John White who in his short time with Spurs became known as the "Ghost", but was tragically killed by lightning while playing golf.
* David Mackay was the archetypal footballing hard man, who was immortalised in a press photograph squaring up to Billy Bremner of Leeds after receiving a thoughtless foul.
* Jimmy Greaves who (as of 2005) remains the club's record league goal scorer with 37 in the 1962-63 season and 220 in his 1961-70 Spurs career. He also scored 44 times for England (the third highest total ever).

After 1964, the Double side began to disintegrate because of age, injuries and transfers.

Nicholson rebuilt a second successful team with canny imports like Alan Gilzean, Mike England, Alan Mullery, Terry Venables and the full back partnership of Joe Kinnear and Cyril Knowles. They were good enough to win the 1967 FA Cup while finishing third in the league.

Nicholson added the League Cup (in both 1971 and 1973) and the UEFA Cup (in 1972) to Tottenham's illustrious history before he resigned at the start of the 1974-75 season after a poor start and having lost the 1974 UEFA Cup final with Tottenham fans rioting in Rotterdam. The Glory Glory Days were over.

Keith Burkinshaw: the Quiet Man

Tottenham slipped out of the First Division at the end of the 1976-77 season, and the club's directors installed coach Keith Burkinshaw as manager in a bid to revitalise Tottenham's fortunes. They won promotion to the top flight in one season, and lifted the FA Cup in 1981 beating Manchester City in a replay, with Ricardo Villa scoring a solo goal that is still discussed. Spurs retained the trophy the following year, beating QPR. Key players in this successful Tottenham side included Steve Archibald, Garth Crooks, Glenn Hoddle, Osvaldo Ardiles, Villa and, local lad, Steve Perryman who, in seventeen seasons, played an unbeaten 655 league games for Spurs. These players inspired Tottenham to UEFA Cup glory in 1984, but Burkinshaw walked out on the club within days to be succeeded by Peter Shreeve.

In 1982 the club was bought by Monte Carlo-based property tycoon Irving Scholar who was a White Hart Lane season ticket holder. His arrival was seen by most as a breath of fresh air in a boardroom which had been dominated by just one or two (very elderly) directors since 1943. The immediate challenge for Scholar was to reinstate financial stability after the construction of a massive new West Stand had almost bankrupted the club and its holding company.

Shreeve and Pleat: the Nearly Men

Peter Shreeve (often incorrectly named as "Shreeves") was in charge of Tottenham for two seasons, achieving a third place finish in his first season but losing his job after a slump in 1985-86. Luton Town manager David Pleat was appointed his successor, and for much of 1986-87 it looked as though it would be a very successful season for Spurs. They were in the hunt for the title until almost the end of the season, finishing third, and reached the FA Cup final where they took on Coventry City. Spurs had never before lost a major cup final while their opponent, Coventry, had never even reached a Cup Final before. Spurs were the favourites but suffered a shocking 3-2 defeat at the hands of John Sillett's team. Pleat quit the following October amid press rumours about his private life.

Hitting the headlines with El Tel

Spurs veteran and well-known wisecracker, Terry Venables was named Pleat's successor and began an eventful six-year reign at White Hart Lane during which Tottenham were rarely out of the headlines. After two disappointing league seasons, Venables guided the club to third place in 1989-90 and the following year they again won the FA Cup. The impressive new-look Tottenham team included two players who starred in England's run to the semifinals of the 1990 World Cup – Paul Gascoigne and Gary Lineker.

Shortly after, Venables joined forces with businessman Alan Sugar to take over Tottenham Hotspur PLC and pay off its £20 million debts, part of which involved the lucrative sale of Gascoigne. Venables became chief executive, with Peter Shreeve taking charge of first-team duties. His second spell as team manager lasted just one season, before he was dismissed in favour of joint coaches Ray Clemence and Doug Livermore. The likes of Gascoigne and Lineker had gone, replaced by newer players like Teddy Sheringham and Gordon Durie. The club's league form was dogged by bad feeling over the Sugar-Venables legal dispute. Tottenham's first Premier League season ended with an unremarkable mid-table finish and Venables was soon removed from the club's board after a bitter legal dispute with Sugar.

Ossie Ardiles fails to deliver

Having just won the Division Two playoffs as manager of WBA, former star Ossie Ardiles became the club's next manager in 1993. He was renowned for pronouncing Tottenham as Tottingham as well as winning two FA Cups and a UEFA Cup.

Spurs finished in a disappointing fifteenth place - having an outside chance of relegation right up to the penultimate game of the season. Even worse, the club was linked with financial irregularities which involved illegal payments being made to players during the 1980s.

During the 1994 close season, Tottenham was found guilty of making illegal payments to players and given the most severe punishment in English football history: 12 league points deducted for the 1994-95 Premier League season, a one year ban from FA Cup competition, and a £600,000 fine. Sugar protested against these penalties, on the grounds that the people involved were no longer at the club. The FA Cup ban and points deduction were both eventually quashed.

Meanwhile, Ardiles and Sugar went on a spending spree and captured three expensive foreign players - German striker Jürgen Klinsmann and the Romanian midfielders Gheorghe Popescu and Ilie Dumitrescu.

With stunning flamboyance and tactical ineptitude, Ardilles employed the Famous Five: Sheringham and Klinsmann up front, Barmby just behind the strikers, Anderton on the right and Dumitrescu on the left. There was little money spent on the defence.

While Popescu and especially Dumitrescu never completely adapted to the English game, Klinsmann was a sensation alongside England star Sheringham, scoring freely and becoming a White Hart Lane favorite. Ultimately these expensive signings made little difference to Tottenham's unremarkable form and Ardiles was sacked in September 1994.

Much Promise but Little Success

Ardiles was replaced by former QPR manager Gerry Francis. He turned around the club's fortunes dramatically - at least for the remainder of the 1994-95 season. Spurs took advantage of their reinstatement to the FA Cup and reached the semifinals, a mere 4-1 defeat against eventual winners Everton preventing them from reaching the final. Tottenham climbed to seventh place in the league. During this time key players were sold: Barmby (to Middlesbrough), Klinsmann (to Bayern Munich) and Popescu (to Barcelona).

1996-97 saw Tottenham finish in a disappointing 10th place. A frustrated Sheringham requested a move and was sold to Manchester United in 1997, with Les Ferdinand's arrival making little difference to the team's fortunes. In November 1997, with Spurs second from bottom in the Premiership and in real danger of relegation, Francis was sacked. Christian Gross, head coach of Swiss champions Grasshoppers, was appointed. He re-signed legendary striker Jürgen Klinsmann, whose second spell proved a key factor in securing Tottenham's Premiership survival. But Gross was uninspiring, the team had no direction and he was sacked with the heroic Klinsmann finally retiring.

George Graham, one-time manager of arch-rivals Arsenal, was tapped to lead the club prior to the 1998-99 season. Graham did comparatively well in his first season as Spurs manager as the club secured a mid-table finish and won the League Cup by defeating Leicester City at Wembley. However, yet another mediocre league performance followed in 1999-2000.

By the start of 2001, Sir Alan Sugar's irascible patience broke. His hard-nosed style sat awkwardly in a passionate and intuitive sport like football. The last straw for him were threats and insults from dissatisfied fans towards his family. Sugar eventually sold his controlling interest in Tottenham to ENIC Sports PLC, run by Daniel Levy (like Scholar, another lifelong Spurs fan) who has backing from Bahamas-based billionaire financier, Joseph Lewis.

Another dream fails: Hoddle and Pleat (again)

Many rate Glenn Hoddle as the best player ever to have worn a Tottenham shirt, but his time as manager was turbulent and ultimately disappointing. He took over the club in April 2001, with the team lying thirteenth in the FA Premier League table and with an ageing squad (nine players being aged 30 and over, by the end of 2001). His first match in charge was an FA Cup semifinal defeat to North London rivals Arsenal. A second humiliation followed to Arsenal in the summer, when club captain Sol Campbell defected to Arsenal on a Bosman free transfer. Thus with limited funds to improve the squad, Hoddle turned towards more experienced and cheaper players in the shape of Teddy Sheringham, Gus Poyet and Christian Ziege for inspiration.

The following season saw a promising improvement, as the Spurs finished in ninth place. However, a League Cup Final defeat to Blackburn Rovers and thus, failure to qualify for Europe, left Hoddle under pressure for the following campaign.

Once again, only limited funds were available during the summer, with the only significant outlay being £7 million for Robbie Keane, who joined from Leeds United.

The 2002-03 season started well, with Tottenham leading the table after four games and remaining in the top six as late as early February. But with just seven points in the final ten games, the club was left with a disappointing tenth place.

During season 2002-03, a number of players began to publicly criticise Hoddle's management style. Nearly all were players who had been frozen out of first team action expressed frustration at their manager's poor communication skills. Hoddle was later to claim that a lack of boardroom support, particularly from then director of football David Pleat, was unhelpful in this respect.

Six games into the 2003-04 season, Hoddle was sacked. Director of Football David Pleat took over "temporarily" with bleak results and entertainment value. Daniel Levy's board of directors were said to be scouring Europe for the perfect replacement manager. Speculation was rife. Through the season Pleat's team's uninspired performance deepened unpopularity.

Going Continental: Jol

In May 2004, after months of press and spectator speculation concerning a new manager, Tottenham surprised everyone with a massive revamp including Dane Frank Arnesen as Sporting Director, and French national coach Jacques Santini as head coach. This nominated "dream team" was strengthened when Dutchman Martin Jol, who had spent some of his playing career in England, was named Santini's assistant.

Despite success with France, Santini soon appeared very uncomfortable in English football. The team played very defensively with little spirit - certainly not in "the Spurs way". Doubters were proved correct in November when Santini walked out on the club after less than five months in charge. This extraordinary departure saw Jol assume charge. Tottenham climbed the table and Jol was named Premiership Manager of the Month for December 2004. Their away form was poor though and the team eventually achieved a respectable ninth place.

At the end of the 2004-05 season, Frank Arnesen was "tapped up" by Chelsea who later paid damages said to be in the region of £8 million to Tottenham Hotspur. Jol achieved a coup by signing Edgar Davids from Inter Milan in August, 2005 on a free transfer. Former St. Etienne chief Damien Comolli became the new Sporting Director of Tottenham Hotspur in September, 2005.

Managers Who Have Served The LilyWhites

Frank Brettell 1898-99
John Cameron 1899-1906
Fred Kirkham 1907-08
Peter McWilliam 1912-27
Billy Minter 1927-29
Percy Smith 1930-35
Jack Tresadern 1935-38
Peter McWilliam 1938-42
Arthur Turner 1942-46
Joe Hulme 1946-49
Arthur Rowe 1949-55
Jimmy Anderson 1955-58
Bill Nicholson 1958-74
Terry Neill 1974-76
Keith Burkinshaw 1976-84
Peter Shreeve 1984-86
David Pleat 1986-87
Terry Venables 1987-91
Peter Shreeve 1991-92
Doug Livermore and Ray Clemence 1992-93
Ossie Ardiles 1993-94
Gerry Francis 1994-97
Christian Gross 1997-98
George Graham 1998-2001
Glenn Hoddle 2001-03
David Pleat 2003-04
Jacques Santini 2004
Martin Jol 2004-present