The king of White Hart Lane

[spud]

Some of the older ones among you may remember a gentleman called Alan Gilzean. For those of you who don't, he was a forward who played mainly in the late '60s. It's difficult to describe his style, but the closest comparison that I can think of with a current player would be Berbatov. There are differences; 'Gilly' was better in the air and perhaps not as skillful, but they both had the same languid style, and each was both a creator and scorer of goals.

The reason for mentioning Gilly is because of the song that we used to sing for him. There may have been others before him, and there was certainly one who came after, but it was for him that I first sang it. To the tune of the christmas carol 'Noel', it went:

Gilzean Gilzean Gilzean Gilzean
Born is the king of White Hart Lane

A catchy little number, I'm sure you'll agree. Gilly might not have been our best player - he certainly wasn't when his striking partner was a certain J Greaves - but he was really, really good, and the song fitted.

It also fitted the next man who received the accolade: Glenn Hoddle. No more appropriate choice was ever made than to call Glenn the king of the Lane. From the moment he made his debut against Stoke to his leaving for France, the title was indisputably his.

I may be wrong, but I don't think we have sung the song since. But it's time that we did. We have in our side a great player. In the same way that Gilly was similar to but still different from Berbatov, he is similar to but different from another of our greats: Ossie Ardiles. I refer of course to Luka Modric.

Modric may not be universally thought of as our best player. You may consider King, or Van de Vaart or Bale to be more skillful or superior in their positions. What you can't deny is that Luka makes us tick. He is the heart of the team. As our manager rightly says, he would walk into just about every other side in the world. He is, quite obviously, world class.

It is about time we sang that famous old song again. Nobody else does; it's ours and ours alone. If anybody reading this has any influence on what we sing - home or away - then I humbly ask: please sing it for Luka. He is an outstanding player, he has served us well and his influence on the team continues to grow. He deserves it. Crown him the king of White Hart Lane.

All together now:

Modric Modric Modric Modric
Born is the king of White Hart Lane

 

[Maske2g]

There is only one King befitting of this song, and his name is Ledley.

 

[kernowspur]

Gilzean will always be the King of White Hart Lane for me. He was a great player and formed a remarkable partnership with Greaves. They made my youth much more enjoyable.

 

[CosmicHotspur]

I remember him well.

 

[Houdini]

He could have gone to Torino, but a word in his ear from a, Mr Law, meant he would spend the next 10 years with us.

 

[BringBack_leGin]

My father always talked about Gilly. Of course my father didn't come over till 1970 so he saw the Gilzean Chivers pairing instead.

I think only Ledley is fitting of the current crop, but he might not play for us again so who knows.

The Bale song (Gareth Bale, Gareth Bale, He was born to play for Spurs, Heeeee was bo-orn to-oo play for Spurs) is the closest of that type of song we have.

 

[guate]

I'm all for it. Gilzean was a superb player, one of, if not the finest header of a ball ever to grace WHL.
Modric, apart from being an amazingly intelligent footballer, is also similar, as Cosmic has said, in his ability to appear out of nowhere, to the late great John White.
Definitely Luka is worthy of this song as, with all respect to Ledley, he is our heartbeat and "King" as 'Arry tries to build our team around him.

 

[spud]

There is only one King befitting of this song, and his name is Ledley.

I agree he is most deserving, but it's about eight years too late to sing it for him; especially as it's debatable whether he'll play for us again. I just think, leaving King Ledley aside, Modric should get the song. Let's not forget that Gilly got it even though Jennings, Greaves and (possibly) Mackay were, at times, in the same team.

 

[THFC_67]

Went over to the '82 cup final from Ireland, first trip to Wembley, and remember a group of spurs fans singing it about Hoddle.

Would've been a great song for Ledley but sounds perfect for Luka.

Long live the King.

 

[RichieS]

My dad's just lent me the book In Search of Alan Gilzean. Haven't started it yet but one of the quotes on the back is Greavesy saying that he was the best player he ever played with. High praise indeed!

 

[Shepspurs]

My dad's just lent me the book In Search of Alan Gilzean. Haven't started it yet but one of the quotes on the back is Greavesy saying that he was the best player he ever played with. High praise indeed!

It may be the only one he remembers playing with.

I remember Gilzean, and a cousin had a cat called Gilly named after him. Also recall him scoring in his testimonial game. (Gilzean that is, not the cat)