Today I'm going back 14 years to 2008 and Tottenham's League Cup (or Carling Cup if you prefer) Final victory over Chelsea at Wembley Stadium played in front of a crowd numbering 87,660. Yes! Here it is! The last time that Spurs actually won any silverware! 14 years ago! Not much of a trophy haul for a so called big club is it? As for the programme cover? Well let's just say that I've seen better!
Another pub quiz question: I wonder if you can name the respective managers on duty that day? Chelsea's manager was Avram Grant and Tottenham's was Juande Ramos, neither of whom would appear in a favorite managers list for many fans of either club! Grant, an Israeli with a Polish passport, skipped having a playing career and began coaching at the age of 18. He was relatively successful as a coach in Israel graduating to manage the National team there between 2002-5. Following a brief spell in England as Technical Director at Harry Redknapp's Portsmouth, the appointment of Grant as Director of Football at Chelsea surprised most, more so when he replaced Jose Mourinho as First team manager in 2007. In practice, Grant was a close personal friend of Chelsea owner Roman Abramovic and he ended up managing Chelsea for just one season: 2007/8. In the end Grant won nothing at Chelsea despite getting them to two Finals: this one and the little matter of the Champions League Final that season which was lost only on penalties against Manchester United. He completed his time at Chelsea without losing a single home game, just as Jose Mourinho had done before him. Grant's contract at Chelsea was terminated just three days after the Champions League Final and he went on to manage both Portsmouth and West Ham United as well as the national team of Ghana.
Juande Ramos lasted only a few months longer at Tottenham that Grant had done at Chelsea, his tenure lasting two days short of one year. Despite winning the League Cup, a poor start the following season in which Spurs suffered their worst ever start to a League campaign, saw Ramos lose his job with his replacement being Harry Redknapp. His next managerial appointment? Real Madrid of course! It was a role that would last a little over six months before he headed East to manage CSKA Moscow and then the Ukranian side Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk. The League Cup win with Tottenham was Ramos's last trophy as a manager.
In the League Cup Final, the opening goal came after 39 minutes and was scored by a man whom I have waxed lyrical about in these articles before. Didier Drogba scored directly past Paul Robinson from a free kick to give Chelsea the halftime lead. Spurs had to wait until the 70th minute for an equaliser and it came from the penalty spot following a clear handball by Wayne Bridge. Up stepped Dmitar Berbatov to make it one a piece and that was the way it stayed until the final whistle. The winner came just four minutes into the added thirty and was scored by one of the least likely to do so players. From a Jermaine Jenas free kick, Jonathan Woodgate attacked the ball but his initial header was saved by Petr Cech whose punch ricocheted back onto Woodgate's head and bounced into the back of the net. I doubt that Woodgate knew much about it but I'm sure that he couldn't care less. Scoring the winner in a Cup Final at Wembley? That'll do nicely thank you very much! It was Tottenham's first major trophy for nine years. As skipper Ledley King lifted the trophy that day, little did we know that it would be the last for such a long time.
CRB Match No. 1612
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