Derek Tharme was a stalwart of the Spurs A team from when he signed in 1956, to when he left the club at the end of the 1961/62 season. From Brighton, Tharme was playing for local side Whitehawk when he was scouted and recommended to Spurs by their chief-scout Ned Liddle. Derek was a full-back, who was capable of playing on either side, was a highly intelligent defender. He was also a strong full-back with good pace and reading of the game. Derek lived in digs with Mel Hopkins in Ponders End, when he’d first joined Spurs in 1956. He played with some great players in the Spurs A team and also the reserve side, who he played for on occasions also. And in those early days with the club, Derek played alongside Spurs legend Sonny Walters in the Spurs A team. Like many players from the same era, who were at Spurs, Derek Tharme had to do national service in the army. However, while he was in the army, he played matches for the Western Command, and Derek got the opportunity to play with some really fine players for the Western Command side.

In one particular game for the Western Command in the November of 1957, against The Irish League, Derek was a member of the Western Command side that travelled to Belfast, to play this game at Windsor Park. They got the ferry over from Liverpool, to Belfast to play the match against a fine Irish League side. This would have been a really good experience for Derek, and he still remembers the game at Windsor Park well. Playing for the Western Command on the day in the game against the Irish League, was former Blackburn Rovers player Dave Whelan, and also Bobby Charlton, a player who would not only become a legend of Manchester United, but also a real legend of English football as well. However, the game itself, wasn’t much of a contest on the day. The Irish League side won 6-0! With goals from Ballymena United player McCrea, Johnny Neilson (he played for Bangor) and Coleraine player Trainor. Most of the goals were scored by players who actually didn’t start the game. Bobby Charlton did go close to scoring a goal for the Western Command during the game, and although it would have been a difficult game for young Derek Tharme, the experience would have been a memorable one.

Such was the fine play from the Irish League side, they were actually quite unlucky not to win the game by more goals. Derek won several Eastern Counties League titles with the Spurs A team, and an East Anglian Cup, as well as playing in the Football Combination League with the reserve side. However, the games spent playing with the Western Command, still bring back very happy memories for the now retired Derek Tharme, who celebrates his 85th birthday in August. After leaving Spurs he would play for the likes of Southend United, Crawley Town and Hastings United (with Spurs legend Bobby Smith). Derek got the opportunity to return to Spurs for the first time since leaving in 1962, last year to watch a Premier League game between Spurs and Leeds United. He is a really top man, and Spurs still means a lot to him. 

Former Spurs Academy player Noni Madueke is now playing his football for Chelsea’s first team, following a big move to the West London club from Dutch side PSV Eindhoven, in January. Madueke was with Spurs as a schoolboy Academy footballer up until the end of the 2017/18 season, when he chose not to sign scholarship forms with the club, instead opting to join PSV Eindhoven. The extremely skilful winger started his career with the Crystal Palace Academy, prior to joining Spurs’ Academy set-up. Noni progressed up through the Academy ranks at the club (I saw him play on maybe three occasions), and his creativity and excellent skill always stood out whenever I saw him play. Part of the same Academy age group as Harvey White, Madueke made his one and only appearance for the Spurs Under 18 side in a Premier League South fixture away to Aston Villa, in the February of 2017. In this fixture against Aston Villa, Spurs basically fielded an Under 16 side, because of the fact that the Spurs Under 18 side had an important FA Youth Cup quarter-final tie with Newcastle United the following mid-week.

In the game against Aston Villa, players such as Brooklyn Lyons-Foster, Jamie Bowden and Phoenix Patterson all started for Spurs, while Aston Villa had Jacob Ramsey featuring from the bench for the home side. The game finished 2-1 to Aston Villa, but quite late on in the second half Noni Madueke, a player who at the time was a member of the Spurs Under 15 side, came on to make his competitive debut for the Spurs Under 18 side. A little bit earlier on in the game, another player from the same Academy age group, Luis Binks (Now of Bologna, in Serie A) also made his debut for the Spurs Under 18 side. Binks came close to scoring during the Aston Villa game, while shortly after Madueke was substituted on, he found the back of the net, but his effort was ruled out for offside. Even in the limited time that he played in that game, Noni stood out and showed real glimpses of his quality. As did Luis Binks, who had a good game for Spurs in defence. Noni Madueke, despite spending some time out with injury, would do really well with PSV.

Returning to Hotspur Way with a PSV Under 19 side for a UEFA Youth League game in 2018, Noni Madueke did really well with PSV’s first team, prior to his return to England. And the England Under 21 international has so far made 11 Premier League appearances for Chelsea, scoring one goal.

This particular fixture between Spurs and Crystal Palace, was the first meeting between the two sides since 1945, when they met in the old Football League South. This fixture took place at Selhurst Park, in the early stages of the 1969/70 season, in front of over 39,000 supporters, and it would end in Spurs winning 2-0, with goals from Jimmy Pearce and Martin Chivers winning the game for Spurs. However, it was one particular goal from forward Jimmy Pearce, which will have stood out for the fans who were in attendance at the game. It wasn’t a goal from long distance, nor was it a goal with great build-up play. Instead it was a goal scored with a really fine piece of skill from the boyhood Spurs supporter, Jimmy Pearce. After Alan Gilzean had latched onto a loose ball in midfield, the former Scotland international went forward with the ball before passing it to Pearce, who was just inside the Crystal Palace penalty area, on the right side of the box.

Jimmy Pearce’s first time effort on goal was quite sublime. He hit the ball with power, with the outside of his boot, and although it initially looked as if it might go wide of the goal, it had such swerve on it, that it nestled into the bottom left corner of the Crystal Palace goal. It left the goalkeeper with no chance of saving it, as the ball was struck so well and with such swerve on it. It was one of a number of fine goals that Jimmy Pearce scored during his Spurs career.

Versatile forward Terry Lloyd was a real prospect at Spurs during the late 1950’s/early 1960’s era of the club. From east London, Terry played schoolboy football for East Ham, and he would excel at that time in schools football, and in the process he was scouted by a number of major London clubs, ranging from Spurs to QPR. Lloyd was recommended to Spurs and then manager Bill Nicholson, by Spurs’ Chief-scout at the time – Dickie Walker (former West Ham United player). Bill Nicholson personally visited Terry’s parents’ house in east London to ask them if Spurs could sign him onto the ground-staff. A centre-forward by trade, who was also more than adept at playing out wide as a winger. Terry Lloyd had excellent off the ball movement, was very alert and also incredibly fast, liking to make runs in behind the other team’s defence. He was a fine goal-scorer who could finish well with both feet, but he was also strong in the air and capable of scoring a good amount of headed goals. In one game for the Spurs youth side against QPR in the FA Youth Cup, Terry scored five goals!

Terry Lloyd was a player with an impressive work-rate, and his ability to play on the flanks as a winger, made him an important player for Spurs’ Youth team, and he would go on several tours with the youth team, to compete in tournaments in Europe. He would also play in the same Spurs youth side as Phil Beal and Frank Saul. As a youngster Terry looked up to Spurs greats Cliff Jones and Bobby Smith, to try and further improve his game. Terry would progress to play some games for the Spurs A team on occasions, but it was in the youth team where he had his best time at the club, making some good friends with the other players along the way. Terry was also in attendance at the celebrations of the double winning season dinner at the Savoy Hotel. Unfortunately he wasn’t retained by Spurs at the end of the double winning season of 1960/61, although assistant manager at the time Harry Evans, said to Terry that he wanted him to stay at the club. He would later join his boyhood club West Ham United, where he would play for their A team, after returning from an injury that had ruled him out for six months.

Terry would later play amateur football for Brentwood Town, before later working in the city, and then working for the port of London. However, after doing the knowledge, Terry would become a London cabbie, a job that he did for many, many years. Now retired, Terry enjoyed his time at Spurs immensely, and like so many others at the club he was just so unlucky that the Spurs A team, reserves and first team were just so incredibly competitive at that special time in the club’s history. However, there is so much to be proud of in his footballing career alone.

This old First Division fixture with Everton occurred well over 60 years ago, at a time before Bill Nicholson had even taken over as manager of Spurs. The year was 1958, and Spurs, whose manager at the time was Jimmy Anderson, were in Liverpool to face Everton, at a time of the year when the Grand National was taking place. The Spurs team were staying at the Adelphi Hotel the night before the game, with the Spurs players meeting all of the famous jockeys of the time, as well as stars and actors such as Laurence Olivier. However, the game which took place at Goodison Park the following day, couldn’t have started any better for Spurs, who took the lead early on through a young part-time/amateur player – Eddie Clayton, on his first team debut (he had only found out that he was playing for Spurs earlier that day). The Spurs team had great players such as the goalkeeper Ted Ditchburn starting, plus other top players of the time, such as Bobby Smith and Danny Blanchflower. In front of over 30,000 spectators, Spurs doubled their lead thanks to a goal from Bobby Smith, before Clayton got his second goal of the game, to make it 3-0.

Early on in the second half, Spurs made it 4-0, with Bobby Smith getting his second goal of the game. Everton responded really well to conceding their fourth goal of the game, and they ended up getting three second half goals, to make it a nervous end to the game for Jimmy Anderson’s side, although Spurs did manage to hold on. During the game, Eddie Clayton thought that he’d got his hat-trick, to make it a dream debut, after scoring with a headed goal from a corner-kick, but he’d given one of the Everton players a little push, and so the referee ended up disallowing the goal. Clayton also had an effort which hit the woodwork during that game. It was an incredibly memorable debut for the east Londoner, and the former Eton Manor player still remembers that game really well to this day. Spurs finished in third place in the First Division during the 1957/58 season. It was to be Jimmy Anderson’s last full season in charge of the side, with Bill Nicholson taking charge of the team during the following season. Those years post Arthur Rowe and pre Bill Nicholson, were very interesting ones in the history of Spurs.