By davep
December 31 2005

New Years Eve and a time to celebrate, reflect on the year gone by and then look to the future with maybe a resolution or two to ring in the changes. This is the last match of what has been an eventful 2005 for Tottenham Hotspur New Years Eve and a time to celebrate, reflect on the year gone by and then look to the future with maybe a resolution or two to ring in the changes. This is the last match of what has been an eventful 2005 for Tottenham Hotspur and one on which to look back on with some hope. And the first fact for this weeks column is that in the whole of 2005 the only team to have won at White Hart Lane is Chelsea. It would be a shame for that to change on the last day of the year.

Someone pointed out that we played Newcastle at home on New Years Eve in 1966 after having just lost away to West Bromwich Albion. Not strictly true but close enough for me. What actually happened was on Boxing day we traveled to the Hawthorns and lost 3-0. We then played West Brom at home on the following day (27th December) and 39,129 saw us draw 0-0. The next match was indeed Newcastle United on New Years Eve at White Hart Lane. We won on that occasion by 4 goals to nil in front of a crowd of 27,948. Dave Mackay, Jimmy Greaves (twice) and Terry Venables being the goalscorers. That season saw Spurs finish in 3rd place in the old first Division behind Manchester United and Nottingham Forest and we of course went on to win the 1967 Cup final against Chelsea.

2002 saw us play Newcastle over the holiday period but at St James’ Park. On that occasion we lost 2-1 with our goal coming from a Dabizas own Goal.

The last time we played Newcastle at home on New Years Eve was in 1988. Boxing Day had seen us play out an unattractive 0-0 draw at the Lane against Luton Town and on New Years Day we entertained the Geordies. An ex Newcastle midfielder scoring for Spurs against his former club on that occasion as goals from Paul Walsh and ex Geordie Chris Waddle sealed a 2-0 win watched by 27,739. We went on to finish 6th in Division One that season.

Another Holiday period game at the Lane took place on 28th December 1957. This was a highly entertaining 3-3 draw and Maurice Norman, Tommy Harmer from the penalty spot, and Alfie Stokes doing the honours for the Lily whites with 51,649 watching. We finished 3rd that season.

For the only other Holiday period games between the sides you have to turn the clock back to 1920. Now the other day there were discussions about the league fixtures at this time of the year. Consider this; On Christmas Day 1920 Spurs traveled to St James’ Park to play Newcastle United. 30,000 Supporters saw a 1-1 draw with Alex Lindsay scoring our goal. Two days later Newcastle traveled down to White Hart Lane for the return fixture. A crowd of 54,500 witnessed a 2-0 home win with Bert Bliss and Jimmy Dimmock scoring the goals. We ended that season in 6th place in Division One and once again went on to win that seasons FA Cup.

One of the things that Newcastle fans keep reminding us these days is how many fans they have. Well lets have a look at one day in 1950. On the 18th November a crowd of 70,336 crowded into White Hart Lane to witness our best victory over the Magpies. An Alf Ramsey penalty opened the scoring followed by goals from Sonny Walters, Les Bennett, Eddie Baily and then a Les Medley Hat-trick sealed a 7-0 win. Newcastle finished a respectable 4th place that season and what about Spurs. Oh Yes, that was the famous Push and Run Championship season wasn’t it. And that wasn’t even our record crowd. That was 75,038 against Sunderland wasn’t it.