Chay Cooper is one of the most skilful players that I have seen play for Spurs at Academy level. From Harlow in Essex, and formerly of Southend United’s Academy set-up, winger Chay Cooper was at Spurs for a number of seasons as an Academy player, up until leaving the club at the end of the 2020/21 season. Mainly playing as a winger, Chay could also play in central-midfield or as a CAM. Another player who was a part of the very talented 2018/19 Academy first year group, Chay Cooper is a player with an excellent low centre of gravity. He is a very creative player, who is direct with the ball, and has tremendous ability to go past players with skill. Chay also has a real eye for goal, and he scored a good number of goals for Spurs at Academy level. Chay loves to test the goalkeeper from distance, and the player who first featured for the Spurs Under 18 side in 2018/19, would get a lot more game time for them in the following 2019/20 season. It was to be a season that I thought Chay excelled in for the Spurs Under 18 side.

Getting a good number of goals and assists during 2019/20, the then second year scholar Chay Cooper did really well during that season for Spurs. In the important FA Youth Cup fourth round tie away to Wigan Athletic, which Spurs lost 2-0. Chay unfortunately missed that game through injury, but such was the form that he was in that season for Spurs’ Under 18 side, I reckon that he could well have given  Spurs a much better chance of winning that game, had he played. After featuring for the Spurs Development side during the 2020/21 pre-season, Chay Cooper didn’t actually feature for the then Spurs Under 23 side that season, in competitive matches. He left Spurs at the end of 2020/21, and would go onto sign for League Two side Colchester United for the following season. A regular and very important player for Colchester’s Development side during that season, Chay scored an impressive 13 goals for the then Colchester Under 23 side. 

I attended one of the Colchester Under 23’s league matches (against Watford) during the 2021/22 season, and I thought that Chay was Colchester’s best player, in what were very windy conditions in Essex, on that day. The former Spurs man also made five competitive appearances for the Colchester United first team in 2021/22, scoring one goal and providing one assist from those matches. His goal, which came on the final day of the 2021/22 League Two season against Hartlepool, was yet another stylish and well taken goal. This season however, Chay hasn’t played a lot of football for Colchester, because of injury. He has made one appearance for Colchester’s first team, and some for their Under 21 side. And on his fairly recent return from injury he scored two goals for Colchester against Saffron Walden Town. Just this week it was announced that Chay had joined National League South side St Albans City, on loan until the end of the season. He could well make his debut for St Albans on Saturday afternoon, in their home league game against Hampton & Richmond Borough. 

I would like to wish Chay a very successful remainder of the season. I look forward to hopefully attending a St Albans game before the end of the season.

Maurizio Pochettino was a hardworking and skilful winger during his days in the Spurs Academy set-up. The son of former Spurs head-coach Mauricio Pochettino, Maurizio signed scholarship forms with Spurs during the summer of 2017, having previously been with Southampton’s Academy set-up. With good technique and skill on the ball, Maurizio is a clever player who got stronger and quicker during his days in the Spurs Academy set-up. Although he wasn’t always a regular for the Spurs Under 18 side during the 2017/18 season (his first year of scholarship), the player who was born in Barcelona would impress when he started matches. However, he continued to make good strides during the following season, a season that he started more matches in for the Spurs Under 18 side, and he made his FA Youth Cup debut during the same season. Progressing up to the Spurs Under 23 side during the 2019/20 season and also playing for the Spurs Under 19 side in the UEFA Youth League, Maurizio had some really good games for Spurs during that season.

The now 21 year old professional footballer would start the 2020/21 season with the Spurs Under 23 side, before moving to Watford on a permanent transfer in the January of 2021. During his time with Watford, Maurizio would spend the majority of his time there with their Under 23 side, and during his first season with the club his teammates included former Spurs Academy players Maxwell Statham and Phoenix Patterson. Maurizio made his one and only appearance for the Watford first team as a substitute against Brentford in the Championship during the 2020/21 season. During the following 2021/22 season he would score three goals for the Watford Under 23 side. He left Watford at the end of last season, and after a short time without a club Maurizio Pochettino signed for Spanish third tier side Gimnàstic in July of this year. Maurizio has so far made five competitive appearances for Gimnàstic. His most recent appearance came against Racing Rioja CF in the Copa del Rey, on Saturday. I would like to wish Maurizio all the very best of luck for the remainder of this season. 

In my latest piece on the where are they now former Spurs players series, I’ll be looking at Gerry McMahon, and his time at Spurs during the 1990s. Although not someone who technically came through the youth system at Spurs (this series is often about former Spurs youth/Academy players), Gerard Joseph McMahon was born in Belfast, Northern Ireland, in the December of 1973. He started his footballing journey with Lurgan United, before joining Glenavon as a scholar in 1988. It was with Glenavon that the highly skilful and fast forward with an eye for goal, was scouted by a number of English clubs, after impressing for Glenavon as a teenager. McMahon was scouted, almost by chance by Spurs during the early 1990s. Spurs’ former Northern Ireland scout Robert Walker recalled to me how he first became aware of Gerry McMahon, in my 2021 interview with him: “ A memory which stands out from my time at Spurs, was when Spurs were signing Nicky Barmby, who had come over here to play against Northern Ireland Schoolboys and I kind of had to look after him for a while as John Moncur was having lunch with Nicky’s mum and dad. ”

“ Another one was a player called Justin McBride who was a very good player and played for Glentoran and was in his early 20s. This would have been in 1991 and I had to go and watch Justin playing for Glentoran v Glenavon in an Irish Cup game, the game ended 0-0. The replay was at Glenavon’s ground on the Tuesday night, so I went up to the game to watch Justin, but there was a player playing for Glenavon who I’d never heard of. As I knew most of the players over here, I could not understand why I I never heard of him, he was absolutely brilliant. I had no mobile phone at the time, so I went down to the social club and got a pound changed into ten pence pieces, and went to the phone on the wall and rang Terry Venables and said that you can forget about Justin McBride as I’ve seen somebody else. They then sent Ted Buxton (Spurs’ chief-scout) over to watch him but he (Gerry) ended up getting hurt in that game, but they signed him a week later for a good fee and also Spurs came over to play Glenavon in a pre-season friendly. Also part of the deal. The player also got to stay with Glenavon until the end of the season when they reached the Irish Cup Final, so Ted Buxton came over to watch the cup final and Glenavon won 2-1, that player was Gerry McMahon, who scored the winner. Gerry was another who loved it at Tottenham. ”

After joining up with Spurs in the summer of 1992 after being signed by the club for a fee of £100,000 , Gerry McMahon would often feature for their reserve side. However, in time he would feature for the Spurs first team in competitive matches  on 20 occasions during his time at the club. He did score one goal for Spurs, and that came in a UEFA Intertoto Cup game against Östers IF. However, going back to the start of Gerry’s time at Spurs, and after he had spent time playing for them at both youth and reserve team level and also for Barnet (on loan), a very special day for the former Northern Ireland international would have been his competitive first team debut for the club. That came in a Premier League match with Coventry City at White Hart Lane at the end of the 1994/95 season. Gerry would leave Spurs in 1996, just over four years after he had joined the club, and after trials with Stuttgart and Udinese, the forward would depart for Stoke City on a permanent transfer.

Later playing for Scottish club St. Johnstone, during a particularly good time for the club in the late 1990s, Gerry McMahon returned to England for a while to trial with some clubs. However, he returned to Northern Ireland to reunite with Glenavon in the August of 2000, and would later become assistant manager, caretaker manager and reserve team manager at the club. Continuing his coaching career, Gerry was assistant manager with Loughgall, before becoming player-manager of Dromara Village, and later manager of Lurgan Celtic (Gerry even played as a goalkeeper in one game for them in 2019!). Nowadays the former Spurs man is a first team coach at Dollingstown FC, who play in the third tier of Northern Irish football, and he has been in that role since joining them from Lurgan Celtic in the summer of 2019. I would like to wish Gerry a successful remainder of the season with Dollingstown. He is somebody who should be very proud of all that he achieved in his footballing career as a player, and of course at Spurs.

Aaron Skinner’s tenacious style of defending, as well as his excellent work rate, and versatility meant that he was a regular starter for the Spurs Under 18 side, after joining Spurs’ Academy set-up during the 2019/20 season. From Salford, in Lancashire, Aaron Skinner had previously been with Bury, before moving to Bolton Wanderers’ Academy set-up after Bury’s Academy had closed. A central defender who can also fill in at full-back, or in midfield mainly as a defensive-midfielder, Aaron is a player who is good on the ball but also strong in the challenge. After joining Spurs on trial in the autumn of 2019, Aaron made his competitive debut for the Spurs Under 18 side in an Under 18 Premier League Cup fixture with Stoke City, and soon after that match he signed for Spurs. I watched every game that Aaron played for Spurs’ Under 18 side during the 2019/20 season, and although he would often play in central defence, often alongside Marqes Muir, Aaron would also play in defensive-midfield on occasions.

I remember two matches well in which the then second year scholar played in defensive-midfield for the Spurs Under 18 side. The first one was against Brighton (away), a game that Aaron played tremendously well in, and where he won so many challenges in the midfield, before later moving to full-back for the latter stages of the match. I named Aaron man of the match for that one, and also the game against Swansea City soon after, when he also played in defensive-midfield and did really well. He finished the 2019/20 season really strongly for the Spurs Under 18 side, and he would even make the bench for the Spurs Under 23 side. During the 2020/21 season Aaron didn’t make many appearances for the Spurs Under 23 side after pre-season, although he would make two Premier League 2 appearances for Sunderland when on he was on trial with them, in addition to his two appearances for the Spurs Under 23 side during that same season. Aaron would leave Spurs at the end of the 2020/21 season.

After spending some time without a club, Aaron joined Northern Premier League Premier Division side Bamber Bridge (they are based Lancashire) in the November of 2021. There was a Spurs connection with Bamber Bridge at the time, with former Spurs player and Academy graduate already Mark Yeates playing for Bamber Bridge during that season. Aaron made his league debut for Bamber Bridge in a 1-0 win over Basford United in late November, and he would play a really good number of games during the remainder of that 2021/22 season, helping Bamber Bridge to a sixth place finish in the league. Remaining with the club for the following 2022/23 season. Aaron has been a regular starter for Bamber Bridge so far during this season, and he has been versatile in where he has played, and he has scored two goals so far this season. 

Bamber Bridge currently sit in 7th place in the league this season, and it is great to see the 20 year old former Spurs Academy player getting vital experience of playing non-League football regularly, as he continues to get better. I would like to wish Aaron all the very best of luck for the remainder of this season, and I am sure that he will work his way back up the leagues in the future.

During his days in the Spurs Academy set-up, Rayan Clarke often played out on the flanks as a winger. Capable of playing on either flank, and also as a centre-forward, Rayan had been at Spurs for a long time before he made his competitive debut for the Spurs Under 18 side during the latter stages of the 2016/17 season. Clarke would sign scholarship forms with the club during the summer of 2017, and after spending some time out injured, he returned to the Spurs Under 18 side just after the start of the 2017/18 season. He would make a good number of appearances for Scott Parker’s side during that 2017/18 season. However, it was during the following 2018/19 season that Rayan really established himself in the Spurs Under 18 side, as a second year scholar. Part of a very good Spurs Under 18 side that came so close to winning the Premier League South during that season. Rayan scored a good number of goals that season, and provided a good number of assists as well.

A highly skilful and creative winger with very good pace, and a real eye for goal. Rayan Clarke is unpredictable in the way that he dribbles with the ball, and he does like to go inside with the ball from the flank and test the goalkeeper from distance. A good crosser of a ball and a player who can go past players with the ball really well, Rayan actually started for the Spurs Under 18 side against Southampton, in the first ever game that was played at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, in 2019. During the following 2019/20 season Rayan Clarke spent one season with the then Spurs Under 23 side full-time (he had already featured for the Spurs Under 23 side in the past), and he would score one goal for the Spurs Under 23 side. Unfortunately Rayan was released by Spurs at the end of the 2019/20 season. He went on trial with a number of clubs in England during the following 2020/21 season, including Sunderland, where he scored one goal from one competitive appearance for their Under 23 side.

Rayan spent some time without a club before signing for non-League side Hayes & Yeading, earlier on this season (2022/23), but he later signed for Isthmian League South Central Division side Westfield FC, during the current season. Rayan last made an appearance for Westfield on the fifth of October, in a league fixture with Bedfont Sports. It’s great to see Rayan playing competitive football again, and at the age of 21, I’m confident that he’ll work his way back up the leagues again in the future. I would like to wish Rayan all the very best of luck for the remainder of this season.

London born professional footballer Armando Shashoua was a player who excelled for Spurs at Academy level, during his time at the club. The younger brother of another former Spurs Academy player – Samuel Shashoua. With his low centre of gravity, skill, excellent close ball control and outstanding work off the ball, Armando is also a leader on the pitch, as he showed for Spurs at Academy level so often over the years. After joining Spurs on a full-time basis in the summer of 2017, Armando worked his way up the ranks at the club, at Academy level. He was a regular and important player for the Spurs Under 18 side, during his two seasons as a scholar at the club, and during his second season of scholarship at Spurs, Armando was the captain of the Spurs Under 18 side. He would later progress to the Spurs Under 23 side, and he finished the 2019/20 season as the top scorer of the Spurs Under 23 side, despite leaving the club in the January of that season, to join Spanish third tier side Atlético Baleares, on loan to the end of that season. After making some appearances for Atlético Baleares during that 2019/20 season, Armando would leave Spurs to join the team from Mallorca, in the summer of 2020 on a permanent transfer. Following in his brother Samuel’s footsteps, after he had already played for Atlético Baleares.

Armando did really well, in my opinion during the 2020/21 and 2021/22 seasons for Atlético Baleares, and he has improved even further in his all-round game. He made 51 competitive appearances for Atlético Baleares during his time in Mallorca, scoring four goals from those appearances. Armando played in a number of different roles on the pitch, during his time at Atlético Baleares. Impressing with Atlético Baleares over the past two seasons, Armando impressed with his ability to bring the ball forward at pace and with great skill from midfield, while starting matches in that position. Armando also played in the CAM role, where once again he linked the play really well, showed his ability to glide past players, as well as working really hard off the ball. He has always been a very clever player, who never stops running and impressing with his movement off the ball, and at Spurs he was a player who I always thought would achieve great things in the game. 

During the 2021/22 season the former Spurs Academy player was a very important player for Atlético Baleares, as they achieved great things in the Spanish Copa del Rey, with Atlético Baleares reaching the round of 16 of the competition that season, having entered it at the first round stage. Armando started his former club’s round of 16 game against Valencia, completing 90 minutes of their 1-0 home loss to Valencia. After two seasons of good strides with Atlético Baleares in the league and cup, the 21 year old midfielder signed for Spanish LaLiga 2 side UD Ibiza last month, on a contract for the next three seasons with Ibiza. Ibiza finished in 15th place in LaLiga 2 last season, and I am sure that Armando will help to improve the side further, as he steps up to play second tier football in Spain, in a very competitive league. I still watch a lot of Armando’s matches, since he left Spurs, and it has been great to see him get better and better in his all-round game. Armando played for UD Ibiza yesterday, against his brother Samuel’s side CD Tenerife, although I don’t believe that Samuel featured in that game. However, hopefully both brothers will feature in the two fixtures involving Ibiza and Tenerife in LaLiga2, this season (2022/23).

I would like to wish the very consistent Armando Shashoua a very successful season, in 2022/23, with Ibiza. He should already be very proud of all that he has achieved in the game, so far.

Midfielder Dylan Duncan was at Spurs for a good number of years as an Academy player. The Londoner signed scholarship forms with Spurs in the summer of 2015, and was part of a very good Spurs Under 18 side during the next two seasons, which included the likes of Japhet Tanganga, Brandon Austin, Samuel Shashoua and Marcus Edwards. Primarily starting matches in central midfield, Dylan can also play as a defensive-midfielder, as a CAM and out wide as a winger. Capable of running games from midfield, the now 23 year old footballer showed his very good technical ability on the ball over the years for Spurs, and also his fine skill on the ball, and ability to go past players with it. Duncan would feature regularly for the Spurs Under 18 side during the 2015/16 season and also the 2016/17 season. A midfielder player who has an eye for goal, Dylan joined the then Spurs Under 23 side for the start of the 2017/18 season, and during that season and the following 2018/19 season he would play a really good number of games for the Spurs Under 23 side.

Dylan scored one goal from 26 Premier League 2 appearances for the Spurs Under 23 side, and he also showed the creative side of his game. Unfortunately Dylan left Spurs at the end of his contract, at the end of the 2018/19 season. He soon joined Queens Park Rangers for the following 2019/20 season. Getting a good amount of games for the QPR Under 23 side during the first part of the 2019/20 season, Dylan joined Scottish side Dunfermline Athletic, on loan in the January of 2020. He would then return to QPR for the start of the 2020/21 season, and would join up again with their Under 23 side. Dylan left the West London side at the end of that 2020/21 season, after his contract with them came to an end. After spending quite a while without a club, Dylan signed for League of Ireland Premier Division side Finn Harps  on the 18th of June 2022. The club from County Donegal in Ireland, are currently in ninth place in the The League of Ireland Premier Division, and they will be hoping to avoid relegation from the top division this season.

Dylan will be an important player for Finn Harps during the remainder of the season. He made his competitive debut for Finn Harps as a second half substitute in a league game against Sligo Rovers, and Dylan has subsequently featured in their last two league fixtures. Dylan was always a played that I thought highly of during his Spurs Academy days, and it is really good to see him playing full-time football, again. I would like to wish Dylan all the very best of luck for the remainder of this season with Finn Harps.