Today I'm going back 30 years to 1992 and Tottenham's League fixture against Coventry City played at White Hart Lane in front of 22,744.
The programme cover shows the club badge and, those of you who know your onions (or cockerels in this case) will know that this badge was a reworking of an earlier and simpler version. Apparently the previous cockerel perched on a ball emblem hadn't been copyrighted and was being used by pirate souvenir sellers outside White Hart Lane on a matchday. As a result, in the new and increasingly commercial world in which football clubs operated, the club decided to go with a new and copyrighted badge that changed the ball to a THFC logo accompanied by two lions and the latin motto "Audere est Facere" (To dare is to do). Sadly from my point of view, somebody decided that the lions should be red which immediately turned me and a number of others off the new badge. Whoever heard of a red lion? That's a pub! Followers of trends in badges will know that Tottenham eventually jettisoned this badge in favour of something more akin to the simple earlier design but which could be copyrighted. Not a hint of red in sight any longer thank goodness.
This game contained something of a rarity. A Gordon "Jukebox" Durie hattrick in a goal-laden 4-3 home win. Durie scored the first one more-or-less straight from an Erik Thorstvedt goal kick (yes, that's him on the cover of today's programme). It was "route one" at it's finest. Coventry's equaliser wasn't long in coming however. Poor marking in the box from a corner allowed Sean Flynn to turn and fire home. Corners? Spurs could do those too and Gary Lineker scored only his second goal of 1992 with a straight forward far post header from Andy Gray's cross. In the seconds before halftime Spurs had a third. This time Lineker turned provider squaring the ball unselfishly for Durie to tap in. 3-1 at half time and the game looked safe but, with just 12 minutes to go David Smith scored following good work from Paul Furlong. As Coventry pressed forward searching for an unlikely equaliser, Spurs broke forward themselves and Paul Stewart played in Durie for his hattrick goal. There was still one further goal to come however notched by Lloyd McGrath with just four minutes to go. It was too little too late for the Sky Blues (or yellows in this case!) and Spurs banked the precious three points.
1991/92 season was the final one before the Premier League era dawned. These days it seems like people would have you believe that football didn't exist before the Premier League came into being. Try telling that to fans of Leeds United who won the final Championship title before it became the province of teams in the second tier of English football. Spurs finished the season in 15th place (out of 22 teams) and we waved a fond farewell to Gary Lineker who was bound for Grampus Eight in Japan's J-League. Coventry did what Coventry always seemed to do and finished safe, just one place above the relegation positions, whilst fans of Luton Town, Notts County and West Ham United would get to see if their side could become the next winners of the famous Championship trophy (i.e. they went down).
CRB Match No. 774
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