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The first of our four League Cup triumphs to date saw us beat
Aston Villa, then of the old Third Division, 2-0 here at Wembley on
February 27, 1971. We were back two years later to take on Norwich
City in the same competition, with substitute Ralph Coates giving
us a 1-0 victory over the Canaries.
“Aston Villa gave us a really good match in ‘71 and you certainly
couldn’t tell they were a lower division side at the time,” he reflects.
“Chiv (Martin Chivers) always popped up with important goals for
us and he did it again in that final, scoring twice. Villa had quite a
few Scots in their team that day and I remember Pete Collins at the
back doing a great job up against my compatriot Andy Lochhead.
They were both strong individuals and I think Pete came out on
top in that clash.
“Norwich was another tough game in 1973 and the longer it was
goalless, the more you worried it might not be our day, even though
we were the better side. Ralph Coates – who had started on the
bench that day but came on when John Pratt got injured – got our
winner. He didn’t score that many goals for us, Ralph, and that made
the moment even more special. I remember watching him sprint off
in delight when he scored... it was great to see.”
From the ‘old’ Wembley Stadium to the current one, Gilzean is a
regular visitor to the ‘home of football’ these days, working in the
venue’s lounges on our home matchdays.
“I’m here for most of the weekend games,” says Alan. “Phil Beal
gives me a lift to the matches as we live quite close by in Somerset.
I’m going to have to buy him a taxi driver hat! It’s always nice travelling
to games and reminiscing about our playing days.
“I’m really enjoying coming to the matches and I have to say,
the future looks bright for the club with the team we have, a new
stadium on the horizon and a great manager in Mauricio Pochettino.”
Alan Gilzean (left) and Martin Peters (no 10)
congratulate Martin Chivers (no 9) after his
second goal against Aston Villa here in 1971
TOTTENHAM HOTSPUR V APOEL FC