| David Pleat had been installed as the new Spurs boss in 1986/87 and his
tactic of playing a lone striker, supported by 5 midfielders, was to put
Clive Allen in the record books. With players of the calibre of Osvaldo
Ardiles, Chris Waddle and Glenn Hoddle carving out opportunities galore
for him Clive was in dreamland. The season opened with Allen netting a
hat-trick in Spurs 3-0 win over Aston Villa at White Hart Lane. Clive
hit 2 further hat-tricks during the season, in Spurs 3-0 home win over
Norwich City and in a 5-0 thrashing of West Ham United in the League
Cup. Allen also managed to rack up 8 double strikes as he hit the best
form of his career. Fired by his amazing scoring exploits Spurs were
chasing trophies on three fronts. Incredibly, Clive notched 12 times in
Spurs 9 League Cup games, scoring at least once in each game. The
semi-final, played over 2 legs, went to a replay and although Allen
scored 3 times against Arsenal, it was Spurs deadly rivals that made it
through to Wembley. In the FA Cup Spurs made it all the way to the final
against Coventry City, with Allen netting three times on the road to
Wembley. In the final itself it was Clive who got Spurs off to a dream
start by heading them in front after just two minutes (see photo above, far side of six yard box arm raised in celebration)
but City fought back to win a thrilling game 3-2 in extra time.
Although the season had ultimately ended in failure for his side, Clive
had the distinction of surpassing his idol, the legendary Jimmy Greaves,
as the all-time top scorer for Spurs in a single season. His incredible
feat of scoring 49 times in all first class games earned him both the
Professional Footballers' Association and the Football Writers'
Association Player of the Year awards. In his time at Spurs Clive earned
2 England caps, against Turkey in 1987 and Israel in 1988. In March
1988, after playing 156 competitive games and scoring 112 times for
Spurs, he was sold to Bordeaux for a fee of £1 million. (Tony Smith) |