NORMAN GILLER’S SPURS ODYSSEY BLOG No 539
Submitted by Norman Giller
What a lousy week. Here I am knee-deep in tears for the loss of exceptional football men Martin Chivers and Terry Yorath as Tottenham bow out of the FA Cup against a superb Aston Villa side.
I leave the nuts and bolts of the Villa victory to our Spurs Odyssey guru Paul H. Smith HERE, and will plunge you into deeper despair with informed gossip passed on to me last night by an old Dutch contact of mine (I do still have some veterans who remember me from my Fleet Street reporting days).
He told me: “Prepare yourself to lose Micky van de Ven. Barcelona and Real Madrid will battle for his signature in the summer. I know Micky’s family and I understand he has set his sights on playing in La Liga, and Dutch boss Ronald Koeman has filled his head with stories of his glory days with Barca in the 1990s before Micky was born. Both clubs are prepared to break the bank to get him.”
That’s all I needed to hear as I mourned the death of my old mate “Big Chiv”, whose sudden passing I have recorded HERE. I loved the Ambling Alp from his earliest days alongside young Mick Channon at Southampton, and we used to regularly chat about the good old, bad old days when he became a popular “meeter and greeter” at Tottenham.
How we could do with his goal-scoring power right now. It would stop all the chat about Thomas Frank collecting his compensation cheque. There is a growing army of Spurs supporters who would be happy to see Frank walking out of the door after a misery run of seven defeats in his last 13 matches.
I saw somebody online dismissing Frank as “a clown”. He is actually a proper football man with total commitment to the game, but he is just not getting through to his injury-ravaged team.
He did not help himself by getting pictured drinking out of an Arsenal-logoed cup at Bournemouth. A mug yes, a clown no.
The second half fight back on Saturday was propelled by the pride of the players plus the tactical changes that Frank made, revealing his in-depth knowledge of the game. But that first half was something out of a nightmare that made many Tottenham disciples question their allegiance.
The growing “Change for Tottenham” protesters include many thoughtful, totally immersed fans who have had enough of the empty promises from the Boardroom. They are demanding a fresh approach to a growing crisis and the winter of discontent will take a nasty turn if West Ham are not dispatched this weekend.
I admire the Lewis family for holding their nerve and supporting Frank. Continually changing managers is not the answer to Tottenham’s problems. But I think the Dane will be sent to Greenland if there are not back-to-back victories over the Hammers and Borussia Dortmund in the Champions League (at least you can’t say I’m not topical with my metaphors).
Spurs then face Scott Parker’s Burnley away in the Premier League and finish their Champions League group commitments with a difficult journey to Eintracht Frankfurt.
Acting skipper van de Ven didn’t hide behind excuses after the Cup exit. “Gutted obviously that we’re out of the cup,” he said. “First half nowhere near our level, nowhere near where we need to be and second halfway better.”
I just hope my old Dutch mate is wrong that Micky could be saying something similar in Spanish this summer.
COYS! Or should that be ole?
Here we go with the 20th week of our quiz that tests your knowledge of Tottenham players and the club’s history …
Who has won 15 caps for his country, wears the No 23 Spurs shirt and against which team did he score his first goal for Tottenham in a 3-3 draw?
Please email your answer to me at soqleague@gmail.com and make the subject heading Quiz Week 20. Deadline: midnight this Saturday. I will do my best to respond to all who take part.
The rules are the same as in the previous 11 seasons. I ask a two-pronged question with three points at stake – two for identifying the player and one for the supplementary question. In the closing weeks of the competition I break the logjam of all-knowing Spurs-history experts with a real stinker of a tie-breaking poser that is based on opinion rather than fact. This is when I lose what few friends I have.
This season’s main prize will be a framed certificate announcing the winner as SOQL champion 2026, plus three signed books to be revealed at a later date.
Last week I asked: Which Yorkshireman started his League career at Elland Road, won eight England caps and against which team did he score the 94th minute winning goal for Spurs in a League Cup final at Wembley?
Answer: Jonathan Woodgate/Chelsea
See you back here on Monday.
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