I started following Spurs as 9 year old in 1981, the reason being wasn't due to some family loyalty, my Dad was and still is a West Ham fan. The year before he had tried desperately to get me to follow West Ham but it didn't feel right. I sat there one Thursday night, in the front room watching the FA Cup replay and watched jaw wide open as Ricky Villa jinked his way past the Man City defence and scored what is the best ever FA Cup Final goal bar none. I was hooked. That was it, I wanted to score a goal like that. My Dad bless him didn't stop me and a lifetime of hurt was opened up to me.
Hungry for the history of this fantastic new team I'd discovered, I poured over the history of this club and read all about a man called Bill Nicholson, how he had created the first ever Double winners, for those of you born since the 1990's this wasn't something that happened all the time. It was extremely rare and difficult to do. I was in awe of this place called White Hart Lane and the history that it was steeped in.
I was spoilt as a new fan back then, we won the FA Cup the following year, were quite successful in the league, Arsenal were awful, so were West Ham and Chelsea and we won the UEFA Cup in 1984. I thought this was it, we would will all the time. Keith Burkinshaw was the manager back then, and I believe him only to be second to Bill Nicholson in our history of managers that have been in charge of our club. Could that be about to change though? Have we got at the moment the manager that could surpass both of them?
Lets be honest until Mauricio turned up at Southampton who had heard of him? I personally thought that he was just another foreign manager who would probably fail and get Southampton relegated. How wrong I was. He brought through home grown talent and got Southampton playing attractive and stylish football. In his first full season they finished 8th and got them their highest ever Premier League points total. We pounced in the May 2014 after the disaster of Sherwood's reign and the rest so far is history.
Weve had some awful managers down the years, Gross, AVB, Ardilies (Loved him as a player), Francis, Sherwood, Shreeves, Pleat, and yes Im going to say it Venables. I dont buy into all the messiah rubbish with him, he was out to line his pockets and his business interests were detrimental to us a team. We should have pushed on in the 90,s except we didn't, we stagnated and got worse. Eric 'the monster idiot' Hall cherry picked our best players and led them away from us.
Since Mauricio has been here we have a core group of young English players, hungry talented players, that some of us have written off before. Kyle Walker and Danny Rose spring to mind for me. I saw them as non reliable and not good enough for us. However under Mauricio and his team they have become England regulars. He has added well to the squad in the summer, strengthening where needed to make us more competitive going forward.
In the past we were known as a cup side, no one took us seriously, now all you hear is ex Arsenal players talking about us, they are worried because they know with Wenger in charge they have stagnated and not pushed on. Money speaks volumes in football nowadays, look at Man City and Chelsea, but under Mauricio we are building a new stadium, a new team, and the future is very bright.
The players are signing new long term contracts, where in the past we have lost our best players we are now keeping them. They know something special is about to happen. we as fans can feel it, and as long as we keep Mauricio we will get there.
It took Ferguson 6 years to win the league, with a club far more advanced than we are now, with the ability to get the best players and a network that produced some of the greatest young English players weve ever seen. In two years Mauricio has finished 5th and 3rd, developed 5 England regulars, kept the best players weve seen in years at the club and has recruited wisely through the summer. This man, given time, will be the greatest manager weve ever had.
I would be happy this year with finishing in the top four and winning a trophy. I feel thats realistic for us. History will judge Mauricio on what he won as a Spurs manager, he will be judged on his trophies and his success with the team. Only then will we say that he is the best manager weve ever had, only then will he be able to be judged alongside, Nicholson and Burkinshaw. I think he can and will surpass both of these men, given time and patience, by us the fans, and by the board. Lets give the man time, because I personally believe he is going to surpass all of our expectations in the next few years.
I started following Spurs towards the end of the Nicholson era and had no real appreciation of Spurs history under him before that, so while historically our best manager ever is undoubtedly Sir Bill, in my time as an older fan, Keith Burkinshaw is tops and it is a pity that we never got to see what more he could have done. Therein lies my fear for Poch, that whatever his own ambition, he will be at the mercy of the board and considering our turnover since Keith, and in particular the disgraceful way Jol was treated, I don't have a lot of confidence that he'll be around long enough to exceed Nicholson's achievements.
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