By Dave P
April 24 2005

I’m going to start this weeks article with a Bill Nicholson quote just to remind us all what we are aiming for as we go into tonights fixture with the enemy; I’m going to start this weeks article with a Bill Nicholson quote just to remind us all what we are aiming for as we go into tonights fixture with the enemy;

‘It's magnificent to be in Europe, and this club - a club like Tottenham
Hotspur - if we're not in Europe.... we're nothing. We're nothing’

A win tonight will go a long way towards putting Tottenham Hotspur back into Europe and the added incentive of ensuring that tonight is the night Woolwich lose the title would be enough to make me sink a dram or two in celebration.

Wins at the library do not come very often but when they do they are occasions of immense pleasure for all Spurs fans and wins in April at their place are very few and far between. We have never played them at their place on 25th April before but we did play them once on the 24th and that was in 1940. The 1939/40 season was abandoned due to the war after just three games and two regional leagues were hastily convened. Regional League South A won by them, and Regional League South C which we won.

4,455 supporters attended the fixture on 24th April 1940 and saw us win by a 4-2 scoreline. The scorers for us were listed as Andrew Duncan, Johnny Morrison (2) and Ronnie Dix. As I mentioned we won the regional league South ‘C’ with West Ham in second place and Woolwich third.

The only two other April wins at their place came in more recent times. First of all was a game that took place on 3rd April 1976. 42,031 supporters (many of them Spurs Fans – we used to get the whole clock end in those days) including myself descended on Highbury to witness two Johns score in a 2-0 victory. John Pratt and John Duncan. This was Terry Neills last season at Spurs before turning to the dark side so it is interesting that his first signing for Spurs (Duncan) scored the goal that made the game safe. In 1976 Spurs finished 9th and Woolwich finished in 17th place.

More recently in 1982 we went down the Seven Sisters Road on 12th April, just nine days after reaching the FA Cup Final for the second year running. 48,897 supporters saw a superb performance by Spurs as we won 3-1. Micky Hazard and Garth Crooks (twice) getting the goals on that day as we headed towards a very respectable 4th place finish in the league.

Now I have already mentioned one Goon Manager (Terry Neill) and so it is time to mention another. Herbert Chapman is mainly known for his managerial successes as the manager at Huddersfield Town and at Woolwich. He was also a player at Spurs between 1905 and 1907 scoring 22 goals in 77 games in our Southern League days. Indeed he was our top scorer with 11 goals in 28 games in the 1905/06 season. Now Chapmans first match in charge of Arsenal was on 29th August 1925 and their opponents at Highbury were ………. Tottenham Hotspur, and we won, 1-0 with a Jimmy Dimmock goal in front of 53,183 fans.

Whilst on the subject of people who have featured for both sides I feel it is time to mention a Goalkeeper who played for both teams. Not Big Pat but John Eggett. Who’s he you say?.. Born on April 19th 1874 in Wisbech, he played for Doncaster Rovers in their first spell in the Football League before moving south.. Not very tall, standing 5 feet 9 inches, he joined Woolwich in 1903 and made 67 appearances for them missing only one game in two seasons. However, he spent the 1903/04 season in the Woolwich reserves before joining Spurs in May 1904. He was our ever present keeper until injury struck in September 1906 having made 66 Southern League appearances and 8 FA cup matches.and was our keeper while Chapman was playing for us. John Eggett passed away in Doncaster in 1943 aged 69.

Now back to the task in hand. We have not won at Highbury since 11th May 1993 when in a premiership game, Teddy Sheringham and John Hendry (twice) gave us a 3-1 win. That’s twelve years and in the in between years we have drawn 5 and lost 6. They have ridden their luck there on a number of occasions and it is time to put it right and lay another ghost to rest

Come on you Lilywhites.