One Christmas I travelled up to White Hart Lane by car with a friend. We normally caught the train but they don’t run from Hampshire up to London on a Boxing Day. We parked in a random car park near the ground and grizzled about the exorbitant cost to do so. As we got out of the car, an elderly gent was getting out of an old Cavalier or such-like vehicle. My friend and I looked at each other and then back at the man. It was Bill Nicholson.

We were too stunned to say anything stronger than ‘hello’ and that was the only time I’ve met him. All through the 4-0 defeat of Watford – Ginola was rampant that day – we mused about the absurdity that our greatest ever Manager and current club President didn’t take up his right to have the best car parking space at the ground. Let alone that he quietly joined the throng of supporters strolling to the ground.

Upon reflection and with the all the evidence surfacing in the past few days, I guess I shouldn’t have been surprised at all.           

In all the years I’ve been regularly going to Spurs games my eyes have only seen the glory of the Worthington Cup. Successive Managers have tried and failed to emulate the silk and steel of the sides that Bill Nick sent out to play for Tottenham. In fact, it’s been more enjoyable to read the literature and what video coverage there is of the days of yore than to watch the contemporary action. The legendary names of the 60s and early 70s roll off the tongue as do the great European sides that visited the Lane pre Champions League. It may be common place for sides like Benfica, Feyenoord and AC Milan to play in England now but it wasn’t back then. Those names were reserved for teams that deserved to face them and Bill Nick’s Spurs teams were one of them.

Having not seen any of Bill Nick’s teams’ play I can’t add any first-hand anecdotes about them. All I will say is that he gave us a history to be proud of. It’s somewhat ironic that our closest rivals are playing a brand of football that’s quoted as being closest to that of our double-winning side. Spurs fans have often been criticised for harping on about the glory glory days but that’s because we’ve not had it so good since and probably never will again. We owe the majority of our proud history and our world wide reputation to Bill Nicholson.