| Bill Nicholson about the
tactics for the game on 14.03.1962
(THFC programme 19.08.2000) |
"We were due to play Ipswich
and in our team chat before the match, I was keen that we should change
tactics and have our wing halves mark their wingers instead of our full
backs doing the job. This was
because they had wily Jimmy Leadbitter Pulling the strings back from
deep and I believed that if our full-backs could do a smothering job it
would allow us to raid forward while, we hoped, Danny Blanchflower and
Dave Mackay throttled them before they could set up anything.
But there was a disagreement about
playing it that way and I conceded the point, because I did not want
them playing a tactical plan they were unhappy about. They beat us
home and away. 3-1 on our pitch. If we had beaten them 3-1
at White Hart Lane would have done the Double again, it was as simple as
that. It was all a question of tactics."
The teams met in the Charity Shield at
the start of the following season ...
"There was no nonsense this time. I put my foot down and told them
very firmly that we would play this one my way. We beat them 5-1." |