Today I'm going back 35 years to 1987 and Tottenham's FA Cup 4th Round (or, to give it it's proper title as the programme did that day, the FA Challenge Cup 4th Round) tie against Second Division Crystal Palace, played before a crowd numbering 29,603.
Crystal Palace may be a strange name for a football team but it refers to the part of South London that was once home to a huge glass and cast iron building which was located there from 1854 until 1936 when it was destroyed by fire. It was built for the Great Exhibition of 1851 and was originally located in Hyde Park but was then relocated to Sydenham Hill where, as a significant landmark, it attracted visitors for over 80 years. When they were formed in 1905, Crystal Palace FC played in the grounds of the Palace itself and. as a child, I distinctly remember that Palace were nicknamed "The Glaziers" after all the glasswork in the Palace. Sadly that nickname seems to have more or less died out and, today, the fans are much more inclined to refer to the team as "The Eagles" no doubt after the eagle depicted on the club's badge.
The programme cover star is, of course, Steve Hodge, whose professional career began with Nottingham Forest in 1980. Hodge would go on to appear more times for Forest under the management of Brian Clough that any of his subsequent clubs making 206 League appearances and scoring 50 League goals in total for Forest, not bad for a midfielder. From Forest, Hodge moved to Aston Villa where he spent just one season before moving on to Tottenham. He made only 45 League appearances for Tottenham scoring 7 goals before returning to Forest for a second spell. He also went on to appear for Leeds United (where he won a League Championship winners medal), Derby County and QPR amongst others before finally retiring in 1998. Hodge was also capped 24 times for England, appearing in the 1986 World Cup in Mexico where he was the lucky recipient of Maradona's match worn shirt following England's infamous defeat to Argentina. I wonder what Sir Alf Ramsey would have made of that?
David Pleat's Spurs won the featured tie comfortably against Steve Coppell's Palace by 4-0 with goals coming from Gary Mabbutt, an own goal from former Spur Gary O'Reilly, a Clive Allen penalty with the final goal scored by Belgian international Nico Claesen. Spurs would go all the way to the Wembley Final that season but lost the Final to the Sky Blues of Coventry City and ended up empty handed at the end of the season.
CRB Match No. 483
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