Colliison Course - Paul Gascoigne and Gary Charles

Following on from a tweet received from a friend on my timeline, the request came about stating your favourite footballing photo. A rush of memories came through my head from Pele and Bobby Moore embracing in 1970 after Brazil defeated England 1-0 in a World Cup group game, Maradona facing down five Belgian midfielders at once, Terry Butcher's face awash with crimson and flimsy bandages.

However, after a few moments thought, and when on social media you should give yourself a moment before replying, I struck upon the image below:

The image I selected was of the tackle in the 13th minute of the 1991 FA Cup Final when Paul Gascoigne recklessly tackled Nottingham Forest right back Gary Charles as he was moving across the Spurs penalty area.

In this moment of collision, impact and action - is one of the most famously bad attempts at a tackle in the late 20th century, but it also symbolises the moment the first half of an illustrious career came crashing to a shuddering halt.

Oddly, both the people in this image have strangely lived parallel lives despite being from different ends of the country, different positions, different races - both had amazing technical gifts, capped by England and yet have had to both fight their demons, both have had much documented battles with alcoholism, with one cutting short his career through this abuse and the other suffering time in prison due to drink driving.

In the build up to the game on 18th May 1991, much had been made about this being a battle between two people. Two huge characters of the game at that time, one played on the pitch the other was on the sideline - this was a battle between the clown, Paul Gascoigne and the mercurial, Brian Clough seeking to obtain the one major trophy he has never won as a manager in his prestigious career. Clough would be denied again and within three years, he would resign from the City Ground club ending his long association with football and retreat into retirement.

Gascoigne had seemingly single-handedly pushed Tottenham Hotspur to the final, winning games by the sheer abundance of his talent bringing Spurs from deficits to amazing victories against teams in rounds three to six, before one of his greatest moments versus Arsenal in the first FA Cup semi-final to be played at Wembley Stadium in the month before. His fourth minute wonder free-kick gave Spurs a lead they never relinquished to take the white half of North London to their first FA Cup Final since 1987, and deny the eventual League Champions - Arsenal - a chance at a domestic double.

Gary Charles was born in East London, played for Clapton and was then signed by Nottingham Forest. Belovingly nicknamed the Brazilian due to his skills he made his debut in 1987 at the age of 17, a player of immense promise he was playing in a showpiece final at the age of 21. He would be capped by England twice. He was a forerunner for eventual attacking right backs such as Kyle Walker and Cafu, marauding down the right flank at a pace rarely seen while still showing great defensive capabilities when called upon. As Clough said himself, "When Charles plays a one-two, he goes like a gazelle. It's so effortless - at first it looks as if he's not moving, yet he's 40 yards up the field."

The funny thing is that the foul on Gary Charles, was not the worst tackle committed by Gascoigne on that day. Lore and myth has established that with Paul Gascoigne attempting to overcome minor injuries to be fit for the biggest game of his career - sports hernia, hamstring and lack of match fitness - Gazza effectively wound himself up in the build up the game so much so that he was not in control of his actions. In an attempt to put his stamp on the game, he was slow to a ball in a fifty-fifty with midfielder Garry Parker, and promptly embedded his studs firmly in Parker's mid-riff. A challenge which albeit in the first minute, went unpunished by referee Roger Milford - seemingly, the first minute get one for free adage coming to fruition, and Parker getting to his feet swiftly helped with Milford's decision making. Yet Gascoigne was clearly off the pace of the game typified by the last action he made in a Tottenham shirt, the lunge at Gary Charles - another tackle that evaded administrative action by Milford.

The tackle signifies this unenviable coming together of two parties at the crossroads of their careers. A talismanic individual seemingly wanting to self-destruct his career - the injury sustained in the challenge by Gascoigne would sideline him for one year and delay his proposed move to Italian club, Lazio for one season eventually debuting for them in September 1992. 

After a long delay from Gascoigne's treatment and eventual leaving the field on a stretcher, Stuart Pearce scored from the resulting free-kick to give Forest a one-nil lead which was the score at half-time. Tottenham would equalise in the second half from Paul Stewart (another individual who battled demons all his life) forcing the game to go into extra-time. Tottenham would win their record setting 8th FA Cup (and their last) thanks to an own goal scored by Des Walker to give Tottenham a 2-1 victory; and give their captain Gary Mabbutt the glory and redemption following his own own goal four years previously versus Coventry, as he lifted the Cup.

Gary Charles would have his own battles, overcoming alcohol abuse and depression and moving from Forest to Derby in 1993, then Aston Villa in 1995 before coming closer to his hometown of Newham by signing with West Ham in 1999 but constant injuries meant he only made eight appearances in three seasons for the East End London club. His drink driving charges came in 2004 and now he acts as an advocate with a business providing care and support for those experiencing depression and battling alcohol and drug dependency.

In one moment, two lives cross paths, they might be of different backgrounds but this contact together means more than people realise at the times and the impact on themselves and each other is more powerful than people would realise.

Tottenham v Arsenal

This is the original post, read the full link at THE HISTORY BOYS website

In North London, there is a rivalry that stretches the length of Seven Sisters Road. At the South of it are Tottenham Hotspur, founded in 1882, two-time English League Champions, the first British team to win a European trophy and winners of the FA Cup eight times.


At the other end are Arsenal, recently of Highbury, but now at the Emirates Stadium in Islington. Founded in 1886 but not in North London, and there in lies the birth of the rivalry. Arsenal were founded by munitions workers in Woolwich, South East London as Dial Square before being renamed Royal Arsenal, then Woolwich Arsenal. The famous emblem and nickname of the club, the Gunners comes from the association with the munitions workers.


However, in 1914 after a flirtation with bankruptcy before the start of The Great War, they moved to a ground north of the river and dropped the Woolwich due to the transplant to become just Arsenal.

As our current socio-political climate with a mass global pandemic bringing professional sports to a standstill, the first World War suspended all sport until it reconvened in 1919. At the end of the 1914-15 season, Arsenal were languishing in 5^th place of the Second division. The First Division was expanded to 22 teams with the two clubs atop the second division, Derby and Preston duly promoted.  Yet Tottenham were relegated, with Arsenal promoted in their place.

VAR - Reinventing the Wheel

The Premier League has a problem, and I am not writing this as a disgruntled Tottenham Hotspur fan whose team lost the possibility of a 2-0 lead away at Leicester. We were still 1-0 up and conspired to lose a game we were in the ascendancy of.  Tottenham as a team has problems, and you cannot blame VAR.

I also write this piece as a football referee, one who has done the job for 20 years. Not since the back pass rule have we seen such a stark change at the top of professional football - a rule change that is changing the nature of football so much that it is all we talk about at length.

I accept the VAR decision (eventually), yet I am flummoxed that the FA, UEFA and FIFA are treating the utilisation of video technology with such difficulty as if it is the first time anyone has seen such technology before, as if they are reinventing the wheel.

Football feels it is the global sport, and to a great extent they are right. It is played everywhere, even Greenland, with over 200 nations in its world rankings attempting to qualify for Qatar 2022 where the final 32 nations will converge for the ultimate accolade.

Yet there are smaller sports in terms of global reach and power that utilise their own version of VAR to a greater benefit of integrity and professional standards.

Cricket take the border line fine margins such as LBW appeals, run out and stumpings to be clear in those matters; yet they broadcast it to the paying public at the ground to show the decision, they are also involved then in the theatre of the moment. At this moment, the public at the ground for football are oblivious of the video being shown to the VAR officials - this is disrespectful and ignorant of the masses.

Rugby Union is enjoying its own World Cup in Japan, in the England game versus Tonga there were three possible tries in the first half; one given, one denied and one resulted in a kickable penalty. However, again the screen in the stadium was shown the footage; yet the difference is the referee is mic'd up talking to the man in the booth conversing on the decision at length but with intelligence and clarity to make sure the correct decision is reached.

It helps that rugby has a foundation of respect towards match officials, but the official is given the space to think and come to the correct conclusion. Unlike football where you would be encircled by both sides wanting their preferred outcome. In that instance you have 22 voices shouting at you and one in your ear, when you should be focusing on hearing the one in your ear. No wonder the pressure is so high, how can you concentrate when you have so many voices baying at you.

The problem is not so the fact that VAR does not work, it does work and gets the decisions right; it is the culture of football fans not being able to accept decision immediately and then hating about officials, opponents and law makers on social media instantaneously. You do not see this from rugby or cricket fans though, it is more of an 'it is what is mentality' while in football to quote Mario Balotelli it is a 'why always us?' mentality.

Yet the arrogance of football, as the global commodity it is which comes with a global currency is intrinsic to the problem. Football is a universal language as all high class sports are, a language that crosses boundaries, cultures and dialects to be played by all; yet the arrogance with which they have gone about implementing video technology - from the reluctance to utilise goal-line technology at World Cups to the unwillingness to address visual and verbal dissent towards highly pressurised match officials smacks of governing bodies standing still while the world sped up, even throwing the collective full VAR muscle at the Women's World Cup smacking of hypocrisy and sexism making the women mere guinea pigs for the more important male subjects.

Football is game that is simple to play, simple to coach and if done right, simple to referee. Yet the game has slowly been stripped off its values as bank balances swelled and popularity soared to unseemly levels.

While VAR will become more expected as creases are ironed out over the season - a number of games have gone by without incident - yet they need it to alter initial penalty decisions overturn errors and have a referee go to the video itself to see the error of his or her ways.

Football should realise it is not reinventing the wheel, just added a better tyre to help with the tread.

Spurs-y: When is a Choke not a Choke

You have a lot of ups and downs being a Tottenham Hotspur fan, more downs than ups in my lifetime. Things could be worse, I've never seen my team get relegated but they have only won three trophies in my lifetime since I started going - 1991, 1999 and 2008. I don't count the cup trophies of 1982 and 1984 as I was busy rolling around myself.

Yet the most recent Spurs defeat in an FA Cup semi-final to Manchester United (21-4-18) was not your typical Spurs-y performance; it was not the sort of game where they went all Spurs-y and threw it away.  The only circumstance was they threw away a position of superiority and did not see it out, but this was against a team who wanted to win the game versus a side who wanted to play football.

This has been the criticism of Tottenham in recent years, they like to play football and yet cannot do the things you need to do to win vital football matches. For all the stats of possession and territory translating to shots on target, there remains a lack of composure in the final third.

In the season when Leicester City won the league, they came to White Hart Lane and won 1-0 due a set-piece goal after Tottenham had dominated. Leicester soaked up pressure, got one chance and converted it. At that moment, the game did not seem important until it was important.

Tottenham again find themselves in moments of superiority and yet cannot convert into dominance or victory, before they took the lead on Saturday they were in the ascendancy and yet did not force De Gea into many saves with off-target attempts.  They finished the first half on the front foot including an Eric Dier effort hitting the bottom of a post.

In the second half, more pressure was undone by Manchester United converting their first chance of the half and then it was down to Tottenham to breakdown a stoic resistance of a familiar Mourinho side.

And yet the team struggled to find an fluidity or cohesion, trying to pass through a resolute back-line without little success failing to utilise the width and delivery of Kieran Trippier.  Whilst Pochettino may be at fault for not starting Toby Alderwield on Saturday, there were not many options on the bench to change the game - Erik Lamela has had an indifferent run of form, Lucas Moura is good on the ball but not electric in the box and there was no out and out striker to score a goal.

The reliance on Harry Kane reared its head again and he was unusually absent throughout the game, Christian Eriksen was hounded in possession and Moussa Dembele was outmuscled and below par.

Oddly, the goal came from a long ball from Davison Sanchez which found Eriksen in acres of pitch to pass to Alli unmarked in the box to convert the first goal.  Reminiscent of Alli's goal versus Chelsea which also came from a long ball; the pragmatism to remain loyal to the passing and movement led to our downfall as we were over-run in midfield by Pogba, Matic and Herrera.

Pochettino can do only so much to prepare his troops for these big games, but until they win a big one, those questions will circulate constantly from naysayers and critics.  Another season without a trophy leaves a bitter pill, but a close season with more additions may make it easier to swallow. I have been lucky enough to see Tottenham captains lift trophies three times at Wembley. It has been 10 years since the last, how long must we wait for the next?

Two Tribes

Journalist and Liverpool football fan, Tony Evans, has a new book set for release from Bantam Press. Two Tribes focuses on the 1986 FA Cup final between Liverpool and Everton, the first time the Merseyside clubs met in the showpiece final at Wembley Stadium.

In 1986, the eyes of the world were upon the two Liverpudlian clubs, a year after the Heysel Stadium disaster; a tragedy which had far-reaching impact upon the cultural and sporting landscape for years to come.

Evans has brilliantly constructed a time machine and cultural artefact looking at the cause and effect of the Heysel tragedy and why it might have happened, not blaming Liverpool fans as many tried to but focusing on the political landscape in the United Kingdom where a toxic environment of anti-government resentment led to protests upon the football terraces.

Evans' notes that hooliganism had been ripe in the football stands for many years not just in English stands but European ones when teams visited.  He notes that two weeks before Heysel, Everton played in the Cup Winners' Cup final in Rotterdam without any incident.  The contrast between the two was vast, partly because Liverpool was the best club side in the world at that moment, more of a spotlight was thrown on them and their fans.

Ultimately, the tragedy at Heysel was blamed on English supporters, with a blanket club ban on English sides in European competition for five years. This led to teams missing out on being in the best club tournaments, mainly Everton who won the league twice and could not play against the continental best.  This led to certain players moving to Continental Europe - Gary Lineker, Glenn Hoddle, Chris Waddle - to extend their careers.

Another reason led to things changing was the advent of a new money windfall as the 'Big Five' attempted to get more live football on television screens; broadcast companies would not feature live football apart from cup finals and major international tournaments for fear of broadcasting fights on the terrace rather than the beautiful game.

Evans makes good points on this influx of money and how it would change football and those who play it; the drinking culture is incorporated into a chapter on Frank McAvennie who helped West Ham to third in the first division when Liverpool won the double.

But for all the money, there is still a feeling that the clubs love their fans but are negligent to their safety as Heysel and the fire at Bradford were eerie harbingers to the ultimate tragedy of Hillsborough which was three years away.

It is important Evans states that football mirrors society at vital times in history; football during the mid-1980s was a place away from government where people seeked freedom from the monotony of social angst. 

Today we live in a world of isolationism, breaking away from Europe and selfishness; on our football fields we think our league is better than everyone else's yet our teams struggle in Europe and players are paid fortunes whilst fans are asked to pay more and more for a product that rarely delivers. 

Yet there remains in football a tribalistic mentality - us v them - that underscores many who watch the game, and seen at the London Stadium two weeks ago when West Ham fans made their bitterness known to the owners of West Ham United barraging them with chants from below as they sat in exulted seats.

Through the microcosm of one momentous year in English league football - from drunken footballers periously sitting astride the tenants of amateurism and professionalism; the Full Members' Cup in the absence of European competition - culminating in the coronation of one of England's greatest club sides, Evans has crafted a wonderful book that is part keepsake, part social comment, part football lore but fully brilliant.

Two Tribes is out from Bantam Press in Hardback from Thursday 22nd March.

My thanks to Thomas Hill at Transworld Books for the opportunity to review.

There's Bad, then there's Moussa

It seems like every time I go to Wembley to watch my beloved Tottenham Hotspur, I feel compelled to write a blog. This is good for thinking and putting thoughts down on paper. When I wrote before Christmas in criticism of Brighton's negative restrictive play in defeat, unfortunately this piece is again going to be in the negative.

However, it is not a negative piece about the FA Cup losing its lustre - seeing 7000 Newport County fans travel to London on a freezing evening shows that the competition will never lose appeal in the lower leagues because of days like this; it is not negative about Pochettino's team selection - this was necessary because of the forthcoming North London Derby three days away, it was correct to give Lloris, Vertonghen, Dier, Dembele a complete night off with the insurance policy of Eriksen, Alli and Kane on the bench.

No, this piece is about quite possibly the worst player I have ever seen wear a Tottenham Hotspur shirt which in watching the team for nearly 30 years I feel is quite a statement. I have seen some bad players - of varying positions and talent. Some could not step up to expectation and got found out (Neil Sullivan), some were not worth the exorbitant transfer fee (Sergei Rebrov/Dean Richards), some were just not good but showed endeavour (David Tuttle/Stuart Nethercott), some could be called donkeys but at least they produced (Gary Doherty) but never have we bared witness to a player of such staggering ineptness and cringe-inducing confidence. This player is more capable of passing the ball out of play than passing to a team-mate.

The player's name is Moussa Sissoko. The man who was paramount in France's gallop to the European Championship final in 2016, who put this same Tottenham side to the sword in a swashbuckling 5-1 defeat on the last day of the 2015/16 season in his last game for Newcastle United.

When playing for Newcastle, Sissoko played off the right wing and could run at the defence whilst dribbling at speed linking up with a front man effectively. This has not translated to the Spurs side which has featured numerous occasions of wasteful possession, misplaced passes and skewed shots.  I have seen him unable to pass to a team-mate from three yards away, he runs into defenders thinking he can go through them like Superman however his feet are like two blocks of kryptonite when in possession.  He runs ungainly, like a floppy limbed hurdler who has hit the penultimate obstacle in a 110m hurdle race falling unelegantly for the line and still landing five metres short of the finishing line.

Perhaps as a club we were guilty of signing a player who made our team look stupid on a bad day; he is capable of good days just not when wearing white.  Perhaps he is not capable of succinct effective passing in a team used to counter-attacking at pace and precision.

It is a shame that this piece has to be written but when fellow supporters and viewers, keep uttering 'He's bad isn't he', 'He's awful' and words such as embarrassing are thrown about for a professional footballer it is important people are told. Sissoko will not (hopefully) be on the bench on Saturday afternoon, mostly because we have better players who will be better options.

Pochettino rung the changes last night to give players a breather from the workload of a season with continued involvement within three competitions; you trust that he will give the spectators a breather from Sissoko on Saturday.