Part 3 of a heartwarming reminder of the 90s and why we love Spurs
- Mar 26
- 7 min read
Ginola, Klinsmann and That Goal!
In this final instalment of 90s nostalgia I’ll share with you my favourite three memories of supporting Spurs in a chaotic decade.
3. Ginola – simply magnifique
David Ginola’s brilliance particularly stands out (and perhaps is scored higher than it objectively should) because of the sheer apathy most of us felt about the rest of the team and club as we hit the nadir of our mediocrity in the late 90s.
When he joined us from Newcastle in 1997 we wondered whether we were signing a busted flush – Kenny Dalglish had sidelined him and question marks had been raised about his ability or willingness to help defensively. Spurs fans have always adored a maverick and Ginola was definitely that. We only saw glimpses of his mercurial talent in his first season – the deeply traumatic 97/98 campaign but a wonder goal against Liverpool and some world class assists for Klinsmann contributed, in an understated way, to our survival. Allegedly he and Klinsmann didn’t get on. The striker demanded that Ginola be picked on the wing to supply him with crosses but the Frenchman wanted to play centrally.
The following season saw Ginola take over from Klinsmann as our talisman. The goal at Barnsley in the FA Cup was Ricky Villa-esque. He was so good that not even George Graham could find reason to drop him.
It was not just the sight of Ginola beating full back after full back with an incredible mix of skill, speed and power but the sound of it. Those inside the stadium would hear that click of the seat flicking up as its occupant raised to his or her feet in anticipation of what they might see him do next.
Ginola’s role in the 1999 League Cup success was varied. Largely marked (and kicked) out of the semi-finals and Final he was majestic in the quarter final against Manchester United with two assists and the vital third goal.
In the end Graham got his way and forced him out in Summer 2000 but only after Ginola had acted as the only source of entertainment during a turgid 1999/2000 season.
2. Walking in a Klinsmann wonderland (twice)
I could have included an entry about watching Jurgen Klinsmann in action and some of the incredible goals that he scored across two spells in north London but instead I wanted to discuss his arrival(s).
Spurs had a tradition of making audacious signings – often established world class talent. In the 60s it was Greaves, in 1978 when Spurs stunned world football by signing Ossie Ardiles (and Ricky Villa) and then again when Gary Lineker joined in 1989. So perhaps it shouldn’t be a surprise that just five years later another world class striker would join the club.
However, Spurs were in utter turmoil in 1994. Just 12 months after Terry Venables had been unceremoniously sacked by Alan Sugar the club descended into civil war played out in the media. The 93/94 season was a near disaster with Spurs only just avoiding relegation and then compounded when the FA charged the club with improper financial payments and announced a 12-point deduction the following season as well as an FA Cup ban.
With Arsenal having also won the European Cup Winners’ Cup being a Spurs fan was tortuous and there seemed to be no light at the end of the tunnel…until news spread in late July that Germany’s striker Jurgen Klinsmann had agreed to join the club at the insistence and persuasion of Alan Sugar.
For those of a certain vintage remembering where you were when you heard Klinsmann had signed is our ‘Where were you when JFK was shot moment’. For me, as a 13-year-old in the first week of school summer holidays I discovered the news while flicking through Teletext!
The news was treated with the sheer euphoria usually reserved for winning a cup final and once the realisation set in that the world’s best striker was now a Spurs player we basked in ‘Klinsmania’. As we had been four years earlier the football world was drawn to Spurs for positive reasons as the new season began. Klinsmann marked his debut, at Sheffield Wednesday, with a goal and the now trademark dive celebration.
His time with us was too short and at the end of the ultimate rollercoaster season he activated a clause allowing him to leave us to join Bayern Munich. His departure made us incredibly sad but we understood why he wanted to go. Alan Sugar was less sympathetic causing him to brandish Klinsmann’s #18 shirt as not fit to wash his car with in an incendiary interview on BBC. Sugar would go on that summer to label foreign players as ‘Carlos Kickaballs’ basically mercenaries only interested in the new riches of the Premier League. Fast forward two and half years.
It was December 1997 and with Spurs in the bottom three under the new management of Christian Gross it was hard to imagine a bleaker moment since relegation in 1977. Two days before Christmas the incredible news that Alan Sugar had buried his hatchet with Klinsmann and had agreed to resign the then 32-year old on deal until the end of the season provided the perfect festive joy. Klinsmann had fallen out of favour at Sampdoria and was desperate for a guaranteed first-team spot to secure his spot as Germany’s centre forward at the 1998 World Cup. It seemed a pragmatic opportunity for both parties.
His arrival, and performances, never quite lived up to the fanfare of his first spell but his second coming is best remembered for his four-goal salvo at Wimbledon in May which essentially kept us up that season.
If you could write the perfect script for the ultimate afternoon as a Spurs fan you’d include all of the following:
Battling against an existential crisis
Beating Arsenal despite being written off as underdogs and no-hopers
Doing so by playing beautiful football
Wembley Stadium and a national audience
Our best player doing something remarkable
I wasn’t old enough to see Ricky Villa and the euphoria of 1981 nor the incredible tension and joy of the 1984 UEFA Cup Final penalty shootout. I have however witnessed first-hand beating the evil Chelsea empire to win the 2008 League Cup Final and watched aghast from my sofa Lucas Moura’s stoppage time winner to take us to the 2019 Champions League Final. However, none of those are close to the elation of the 1991 FA Cup Semi-Final victory over Arsenal.
The FA controversially decided to stage the first ever all north-London FA Cup semi-final at Wembley stadium – recognition of the huge demand for tickets from both clubs and the potential logistical concerns around hosting the game at Villa Park or Old Trafford.
Barely anyone backed us to beat the champions-elect who appeared on course for a second double. There were doubts over Gazza’s fitness, whether he or Venables would be around next season or even whether the club would exist if The Midland Bank called in the £11m debt that had been made public knowledge.
Our league form had suffered throughout 1991 and only a very strong Gascoigne and Lineker inspired start to the season meant that we were meandering around mid-table rather than fighting relegation.
The nation tuned in to BBC for this midday kick off expecting an Arsenal win but within five minutes Spurs drew first blook with the most dramatic and sensational goal many had ever seen. A free kick awarded 35 yards from goal shouldn’t have been a concern for David Seaman. He lined up a three-man wall. Legendary BBC commentator Barry Davies shared the same incredulity as he rhetorically asked ‘Is Gascoigne Going To Have a Crack’ as Spurs talisman strode purposefully to the ball before striking the ball with an unbelievable blend of power and accuracy to send the ball soaring around and over the wall on route to the very top corner of Seaman’s goal. “Oh I say, that is brilliant. That is one of the finest free kicks this stadium has ever seen’ Davies continued.
The game is mostly remembered for this goal but this memory does a disservice to the team performance. Spurs passed Arsenal off the pitch – as evidenced by the second goal that followed just five minutes later. Gascoigne was at the heart of it unlocking space for Paul Allen to cross and Lineker to poke home from close range against a bewildered Arsenal defence that had barely conceded all season.
The second half was tense after Arsenal pulled a goal back just before the interval. Gascoigne was withdrawn after an hour but his replacement Nayim - alongside Samways and Howells enabled Spurs to keep the ball. With fifteen minutes remaining and heart rates pulsing Lineker scored the decisive third. Davies again comes into his own describing how Lineker used Samways clever off the ball run ‘by using him by not using him’. There’s a touch of fortune about the way the ball finds the net through Seaman’s open hands, but nobody cared.
The final whistle was met with relief and ecstasy. We’d beaten Arsenal on the grandest stage and had thoroughly deserved it. Perhaps this win wouldn’t be remembered quite as fondly had we not gone on to win the Cup Final against Nottingham Forest but many Spurs fans revelling in the singing ‘You’ve lost that double feeling’ to dejected Gooners back down Wembley Way. Spurs Cup Final song B’ side track titled ‘The Victory Song’ mocked Arsenal’s role in our greatest afternoon but what makes this memory stand the test of time is the number of Arsenal fans I speak to now who still remain traumatised by it!
I know that I feel better having written this and I hope you do having read it. On reflection, many of these great moments followed, sometimes immediately, some of the darker times of the decade of which there were many. Who knows how deep this nadir in which we currently find ourselves will be, but history tells us that there is always a bright horizon not too far away.
If you’re not already aware of it please give my podcast a listen. It’s pure nostalgia all about the 90s including player interviews, season reviews and exploration of some of the key matches, people and events that defined the decade.
Gareth Dace is the author of "Hot Shot Tottenham" and "Is Gascoigne Going To Have a Crack?"
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