The one that got away

[HobbitSpur]

I think this has been lost in translation. The actual story goes that back in 94 he was caught sniffing around White Hart Lane

 

[sunnydelight786]

As someone else mentioned we did push hard in the 80's to bring him to us. This may come as a shock to some of our youngers supporters t when any top player became available we were right at the top of the list as a possible destination. Him alongside the likes of Hoddle, Waddle, Ossie, etc, would have made us champs. He would have done for us what he done for Napoli.

 

[danielneeds]

As someone else mentioned we did push hard in the 80's to bring him to us. This may come as a shock to some of our youngers supporters t when any top player became available we were right at the top of the list as a possible destination. Him alongside the likes of Hoddle, Waddle, Ossie, etc, would have made us champs. He would have done for us what he done for Napoli.

It's not a given he would have had the same effect in England as in Napoli. There he was indulged all his excesses, and was a God in that city, even the mafia doing his bidding. The whole team was set up for him to be the fulcrum. The culture here was very different.

Would have been some ride though!

We also came very close to signing Kempes when bringing Ossie and Ricky over. He was some striker too. His wife preferred the sun in Valenica though!

 

[StanSpur]

He played one game for us against Inter back in the 80's. In a friendly or testimonial.

You are right, he played in Ossie's testimonial in 1986 against Inter, I remember getting so excited about all the photos in the papers with him in a spurs kit thinking he was coming then, before too long, hoddle and waddle were gone and, bar a brief gazza/lineker period, it has been a long wait for that quality to return - loving the past 6-7 years all the more for it!

 

[yido_number1]

You are right, he played in Ossie's testimonial in 1986 against Inter, I remember getting so excited about all the photos in the papers with him in a spurs kit thinking he was coming then, before too long, hoddle and waddle were gone and, bar a brief gazza/lineker period, it has been a long wait for that quality to return - loving the past 6-7 years all the more for it!

For me the era when Jol was manager was the turning point. Berbatov onwards we suddenly had really class players that everyone wanted. For me VDV will always be my favourite player, just oozed class. If we had a superfit VDV now I think we would be winning the league.

 

[Zammo]

It's not a given he would have had the same effect in England as in Napoli. There he was indulged all his excesses, and was a God in that city, even the mafia doing his bidding. The whole team was set up for him to be the fulcrum. The culture here was very different.

Would have been some ride though!

We also came very close to signing Kempes when bringing Ossie and Ricky over. He was some striker too. His wife preferred the sun in Valenica though!

I was lucky to spend some time with Micky Hazard once and he spoke of Kempes having a trial at Spurs.

 

[14/04/91]

I was lucky to spend some time with Micky Hazard once and he spoke of Kempes having a trial at Spurs.

Did we decide on Colin Lee instead?!

 

[eddiev14]

As someone else mentioned we did push hard in the 80's to bring him to us. This may come as a shock to some of our youngers supporters t when any top player became available we were right at the top of the list as a possible destination. Him alongside the likes of Hoddle, Waddle, Ossie, etc, would have made us champs. He would have done for us what he done for Napoli.

Obviously the money of the Premier League and a subsequent lack of success in the 90s (plus Sugar being an awful chairman) led to us dropping away from the big 5, but do you feel that's all it was?

What I mean by that is do you think we made mistakes in buying and selling players in the era just before the Premier League began, and did that have a big impact?

I only mention it because I started supporting the club in 1990 but I was quite young so don't remember that period too well. However, from what I can remember we had a couple of really good players (Thorstvedt, Gazza, Lineker etc) but loads of pretty average players. This was basically the theme throughout the entire 90s and early 2000s until Arnesen and Jol shook things up.

Maybe I am not remembering the early 90s too well, but how did we go from a team of players like you mentioned to only 2-3 top class players in such a short period of time?

Thanks, appreciate the info!

 

[piedpiper]

The one that got away......Leandro Damiao.