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with about five minutes to go that we were maybe a bit edgy.”
Our 2-1 victory over the Blues secured the fifth of our eight
successes in the competition to date and the first of four major
triumphs for Gilzean during his time with us.
“After the game, we went to a hotel in central London and had
our victory banquet,” continues Alan, on the events of that May
weekend. “The following day, we had the open-top bus parade
and it was just incredible seeing the number of people that had
turned out.”
In addition to his career with ourselves and Dundee, Gilzean
won 22 caps for Scotland between 1963 and 1971, scoring 12 times.
He lined up against England on three occasions during that period,
scoring the only goal of the game in a 1-0 victory for the Scots
over the Three Lions at Hampden Park on April 11, 1964. He also
started for the Tartan Army as they visited Wembley Stadium to
take on England on May 10, 1969.
“We lost 4-1 in that game, which is horrible for a start!” smiles
Alan. “Martin Chivers was in the squad for that game I think and
Alan Mullery and Martin Peters started. I never stopped hearing
about that defeat from Tottenham’s England contingent thereafter.
Martin Peters, who scored two in the game, joined us in 1970 so I
was constantly reminded about the 4-1 loss! “Funnily enough, I once remember asking Dave Mackay what
his worst moment in football was, and he quickly responded
with ‘England 9 Scotland 3’ (April 15, 1961). ‘I was never allowed
to forget about it’, Dave told me. I started to laugh and he said
‘don’t laugh, you’ll get a day like that’. Sure enough, the 4-1 defeat
against England in 1969 was ‘that’ day for me!”
Gilzean’s next visits here were far happier occasions, as he
started in our League Cup Final victories of 1971 and 1973.
“I played in three finals at Wembley for Spurs and I have to be
honest and say none of them were real classics,” admits Alan, who
was also a UEFA Cup winner with us in 1972.
“The important thing was that we won all three though. Wembley
is a great place for any footballer to play, but you really want to
be a winner on this stage. I was so lucky that with Spurs, I got to
be a winner each time.”MEMORIESI PLAYED IN
THREE FINALS AT
WEMBLEY FOR
SPURS AND NONE
OF THEM WERE
REAL CLASSICS. THE
IMPORTANT THING
WAS THAT WE WON
ALL THREE
Alan with Martin Peters
and Bill Nicholson (right)
after our 1973 League
Cup Final triumph