Early years

In 1882 the Hotspur Football Club was formed by young men and teenagers from a local grammar school and Hotspur cricket club. It is thought that the name Hotspur was associated with Sir Henry Percy (Sir Harry Hotspur) who lived locally in the 14th Century. The team later became Tottenham Hotspur to distinguish itself from another team called London Hotspur.

At first Hotspur played in navy blue shirts. The club colours then varied from light blue and white halved jerseys (as a tribute to the then classy Blackburn Rovers), to red shirts and blue shorts, through chocolate brown and old gold and then, in the 1899-1900 season, to white shirts and navy blue shorts as a tribute to Preston, the most successful team of the time.

In 1888 Tottenham's moved their home games from the Lee marshes to Northumberland Park where the club was able to charge for spectator admission. By 1896 Tottenham Hotspur had been admitted to the Southern League and was attracting crowds of nearing 15,000 spectators. Charles Roberts became Chairman from 1898 to 1943.

In 1899 Spurs made their final ground move to a former market garden behind a public house in nearby High Road, Tottenham. In time the ground adopted the name of a local thoroughfare, "White Hart Lane". The move proved successful as in 1900, Tottenham won the Southern League title and crowned this achievement the next year by winning the FA Cup and by becoming the only non-League club to do so since the formation of the Football League in 1888. A crowd of 114,815 saw a 2-2 draw against Sheffield United at Crystal Palace [1], but just 20,740 watched as Spurs won the replay 3-1 at Burnden Park.

And so began a strange coincidence that saw Tottenham Hotspur do well in years ending with the number "one" (although some say the year must begin with one, as well) – see When the Year ends in one.

Tottenham Hotspur joins the Football League

Despite the FA Cup success, Tottenham performed unexceptionally in the following seasons. The Southern League's fixture list offered too little potential to guarantee financial security. This was especially so as Tottenham had formed itself into a limited liability company (a step towards professionalism) back in 1898. Eventually, Spurs achieved election to the Second Division of the Football League for the 1908-09 season, immediately winning promotion as runners-up to the First Division. Their record between 1910 and the Great War was poor and when football was suspended at the end of the 1914-15 season, Tottenham (which had lost many players to the armed forces) were bottom.

After the Great War

There were alleged shenanigans in 1919 which saw Arsenal - who finished 6th in Division 2 the previous last season - elected to the First Division in Spurs' place. It is this event that is supposed to have triggered the derision most Spurs fans feel for the "Gooners". But Tottenham were convincing Division Two Champions in 1919-20. They built on a team that had begun coalescing before 1914 and in the following year, 1921, Spurs went all the way to their second FA Cup Final victory beating Wolves 1-0 at Stamford Bridge.

The Twenties and Thirties

Spurs' 1921 Cup triumph was followed by almost 30 years of under-achievement and disappointment. After running-up to Liverpool in the league in 1922, the Spurs experienced a steady decline, culminating in 1928's relegation. The FA Cup was no better; Spurs could do no better than the quarterfinals, getting that far three years running 1935-1938. Despite enjoying the talents of Arthur Grimsdell, Fanny Walden, Tommy Clay and Taffy O'Callaghan, this era saw Spurs playing "second fiddle" in North London to the Arsenal. However, 1930s football was a tremendously popular sport, and despite Spurs' relative mediocrity, 75,038 souls (and bodies) squeezed into White Hart Lane in March of 1938 to see them lose 0-1 to Sunderland in the FA Cup.

On September 3, 1939, as Chamberlain declared war, Spurs were seventh in the Second Division. League Football was abandoned for the "duration".

Post-war Push-and-Run

Like Britain as a whole, Spurs were lack-lustre immediately after the war. They finished no higher than fifth in the Second Division and made just one disappointing FA Cup semifinal appearance.

However, by 1949 Arthur Rowe, who had spent his entire life as a player with the Spurs, was manager. He devised and developed the “push-and-run” tactical style of play. This involved quickly laying the ball off to a teammate and running past the marking tackler to collect the return pass. It proved an effective way to move the ball at pace from goalkeeper to far goal net - players' positions and responsibility being totally fluid. For the first time Spurs won admirers because of their élan and panache; they played not just to win, but to entertain too.

In Rowe’s first season, Spurs’ speed and precision dazzled opponents and delighted supporters. Rising to the top of Division Two at the start of September 1949, Tottenham ran away with their first ever league title. In 1951 they found it harder, but still won Division One Championship and became the first side to win the Second and First Divisions in successive seasons.

Playing heroes included Alf Ramsey (later even more famous as England's international manager), Bill Nicholson (whose glory days were also still in the future), captain Ronnie Burgess, Ted Ditchburn in goal, Len Duquemin and Sonny Walters.

Almost inevitably, opponents learned to negate the novel Spurs tactics, and in the years up to 1956 they dropped steadily down the league table. But for the rest of the 1950s new players came in and started making a difference. Arguably the most significant step was the appointment of Bill Nicholson as manager on October 11, 1958 when Spurs thumped a hapless Everton 10-4. It was a portent of things to come.