As a midfield player Neil Douglas was a very tough tackling one, who played the game at a good intensity. From Hamilton, in Scotland, Neil was scouted by one of Spurs’ Scotland scouts and would join Spurs in 1960, playing there for a while in the youth team, and also in the old Wood Green league, on occasions. Neil was on the ground-staff at Spurs for just under a year during the early 1960’s. I recently had the great pleasure of speaking to Neil about his memories of his time at Spurs as a youth team player.

What is your earliest footballing memory?

Neil: I remember when I got picked for the primary school football team, and I remember playing in a blue jersey for that team, and I must have been about nine then. So that would be my first footballing memory.

What are your earliest memories of your time at Spurs? And how did you come about joining the club?

Neil: I had played with the school team and we got to a cup final, which we won. My mother told me that some guy was at the door of our house, and that he said that he was from Tottenham Hotspur. After that I’d played for the Hamilton district team and the Lanarkshire Schools team, but because I was travelling down to London in Easter of 1960, I missed out on being capped for Scotland’s Schoolboy team, which is what I had been told. I can remember getting the sleeper train down to London from Glasgow, where I was met by a guy called Harry Evans. I played against Crystal Palace in a South-East Counties League game at 11 o’clock on a Saturday, before we went to White Hart Lane to watch Spurs versus Manchester City, I think it was. In the Crystal Palace game I played well, but I was a small lad up against really big players. And I think that we won against Crystal Palace in that game. I later got put up at a hotel at Russell Square, by Spurs.

Did you have any footballing heroes/inspirations and if so who were they?

Neil: There were quite a few of the Rangers players that I was a fan of, as I supported them. I was also a fan of Dave Mackay, when he was at Hearts, as he was my type of player, and someone who like myself, liked tackling. Unfortunately when I was at Spurs, Johnny Wallis didn’t like me making slide tackles, as while I was good at it up in Scotland, the guys in England were just a bit too fast. So Johnny used to always tell me to get off the floor! I was also always a fan of John White, who played for Scotland at the time, and it was a pleasure to meet him. I went to the movies a couple of times with John, at Spurs, and he was in the army on national service, when I first went down to Spurs. He was staying at the same hotel as myself, and one night rather than going to a show, he asked me if I wanted to go to the movies, and so we went and watched a film. And we did a couple of times after that, as well. So him and I were very friendly.

Who were your greatest influences at Spurs?

Neil: You always looked up to Danny Blanchflower and people like that, and obviously Bill Nicholson as well. Whenever Bill came into a room there was complete silence. There were also people like Dave Mackay, who was first class, and also Bobby Smith, who was quite a character. So my experience at Spurs was really first class.

Could you describe to me what type of player you were? And what positions you played in during your time at Spurs?

Neil: I was kind of a right-half, centre-half or left-half player, which is now what they call midfield. So I would sort of pick the ball up and take it forward, and also make tackles as well. I would never stop running as I was a fit player, and I’m still quite fit now, at 78. So I was a midfield played who did well in a 4-4-2 formation, who liked playing at wing-half. That’s where they played me on the day that we played Crystal Palace, when they played me at left-half on that day.

Were there any players at Spurs who you would watch closely to try and improve your game or look to learn from?

Neil: I watched Dave Mackay and Danny Blanchflower a lot, but I watched Dave Mackay because he was a very tough and tenacious player. I also used to watch Maurice Norman, the centre-half, and watch the things that he did on the pitch. So I just tried to take it all in, and it was just a good experience and time in my life.

What was your time at the Lilywhites like on the whole?

Neil: It was excellent, and I thoroughly enjoyed it. It was a great experience for me. Coming to London I got to see the buses and the underground, that I’d only ever seen before on the TV and at the pictures. But on the whole my time at Spurs was really first class. I got to meet people like Jimmy Greaves and Dennis Law, when they came down to White Hart Lane. There was a player at Spurs called Tommy Harmer, and his career at Spurs was coming to an end, and I’d never really heard of him, but it turned out that he was a legend. He used to go to places like Earl’s Court, and do kick-ups with the ball and I’d actually seen him do it at the gym at Spurs, and his ball control was absolutely first class.

What was the greatest moment of your footballing career?

Neil: I played for the school team, Hamilton district, Lanarkshire Schools and then Tottenham, and I really enjoyed it. I even won a junior cup medal at Hampden. The highlight would have probably been going to Rangers rather than going to Motherwell, after I left Spurs, but oh well. I just loved playing football, and I played until I was about 30.

Could you talk me through some of your favourite memories or ones which stand out from your time in the Spurs Youth side? 

Neil: One memory was moving in with David Sunshine (former Spurs youth team player) and his family. The reason for that was that I had been living just behind Park Lane in Tottenham, with an old lady. I don’t know whether I upset her, but anyway that’s when David Sunshine stepped in and said that his family could put me up. They were the happiest times, and we used to go to Leyton Baths with him and his brother, to go swimming. We also used to go and watch Leyton Orient, and I and the others used to have this ticket/pass which allowed us to go to all the different stadiums for free. So on the whole it really was an experience for me. I went to Germany with the youth team which was great, even though I don’t think that I actually played for Spurs in that youth tournament. But, the camaraderie of being with the team was great, and I used to help out and things like that. After that I was dropped into a league called the Wood Green league, and I deteriorated after that. I realised that the games were basically being played in public parks, like Hackney marshes. I found myself that I just didn’t have it in games. The club were bringing players in on trial a lot, and so that made it more difficult for me.

Who was the toughest player that you ever came up against?

Neil: Again it’s hard for me to answer that, but to me it didn’t matter, as I would have tackled any player. If a player were to tackle me, then I’d make sure that I’d tackle them before the end of the 90 minutes. So nobody really sticks out in my memory, but I never pulled out a tackle, because otherwise you would injure yourself.

Were there any players at Spurs who you were particularly close to during your time at the club?

Neil: I was friendly with John White, and also Dave Mackay, who you could have a laugh with, and there were other great lads like Bert Wilkie and Jimmy Collins. Bill Brown was someone who I never really got to speak with, but I got on well with a lot of the other first team lads. From the youth side there was obviously Monty (David Sunshine), who was a first class guy. I also got on well with the goalkeeper Martin Edney and Alan Dennis, who was always immaculately dressed, and also there was Phil Beal, who was a nice lad.

Could you talk me through your career after you left the Lilywhites and what prompted you to leave the club?

Neil: I knew that I wasn’t going to get higher with Spurs at the time, and I felt a bit disillusioned, and at 15 I decided to call it a day with Spurs. I went up to Motherwell for a while, although I wasn’t on the ground-staff with them. I later played lower league/non-League equivalent football, and I even got to win a cup medal at Hampden Park! I also took up golf when I was 19, and I’m still playing it now!

What would your advice be to the young Spurs players of today as they look to rise up through the ranks at the club?

Neil: Well I think that the only thing that you can do is to listen and take advice, and also believe in yourself.

After all these years how do you look back on your time at the Lilywhites, and is Spurs a club that you still hold close to your heart?

Neil: I must admit that it was so long ago, and only being there for ten months, I think that I dreamt it. Sometimes people will say to me that he played for Tottenham Hotspur, and I’ll say to them that I was there to clean boots and wash the shirts! But, to say that I played with Tottenham Hotspur sounds a bit ludicrous to me. I can remember painting the stanchions at White Hart Lane with the other ground-staff lads. I can also remember players like Jimmy Collins laying cement down on the terraces and doing things like that during the holidays. The weather was always great when I was at Spurs, it really was terrific.