| Martin Chivers signed for Spurs from Southampton in January 1968 for a
then British transfer record fee of £125, 000. The young forward had
made his name in his local team's 1966-67 Division 2 promotion winning
side and was seen by the White Hart Lane club as the eventual successor
to Jimmy Greaves. On his debut for Spurs in January Chivers scored the
opener for his side in their 2-1 victory at Sheffield Wednesday. Later
in the same month Tottenham's new number 9 hit both goals in the
Londoners 2-2 F.A. Cup draw with Manchester United at Old Trafford. The
following season provided more signs of encouragement, with Chivers
scoring ten goals in his 23 league and cup appearances. Great things
were expected of Martin in season 1968-69 and in September the big man
scored his first hat-trick for Spurs in their 4-1 2nd round League Cup
win at Aston Villa. However, later that month Chivers suffered a serious
knee injury in a 2-1 home win over Nottingham Forest and he was
sidelined for almost a year. With his fitness regained, Martin Chivers
made 31 league appearances in 1969-70 and hit 11 goals. His return to
the side signalled the end of Jimmy Greaves days at The Lane and Chivers
and Alan Gilzean were now established as Spurs first choice strikers.
The injury to his knee had prevented Chivers breaking into the full
England team, having to content himself with 5 appearances for the
under-23's, for whom he scored twice, against Scotland and Hungary. In
total Chivers made 17 appearances for England under-23's and it proved
to be an ideal international apprenticeship. It was a bold decision by
Bill Nicholson to let the club's all time record scorer Jimmy Greaves
leave for West Ham, but a fully fit Martin Chivers would repay his
manager's faith. (Tony Smith). |
The photograph of Martin Chivers playing for Tottenham Hotspur was taken at Leicester City
in 1972 by George Herringshaw. ©
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(Part 2) 1970-1972.
The
1970-71 season was the beginning of Martin Chivers golden years, for
both club and country. He played in all 58 of Spurs competitive games
and scored 34 times, hat-tricks coming against Coventry in a 4-1 home
League Cup win and in a 4-0 victory over Dunfermline in the Texaco Cup.
Chivers seven goals, including the two in the final against Aston Villa,
were largely responsible for his side winning the League Cup. Martin
netted twenty-one times in the league, helping Spurs to a third place
finish. Alf Ramsey awarded the Spurs forward his full England debut in
April 1971 in England's 3-0 Wembley win over Greece in a European
Championship qualifier. The new boy, playing alongside Geoff Hurst,
scored England's opener and played a further seven times for his country
that season, scoring 6 more times. During 1971-72 Chivers hit the best
form of his career, making 64 appearances and scoring an astonishing 44
times. In September his goal earned Spurs a win at Torino in the 1st leg
of the fledgling Anglo Italian League Cup Winners Cup Final and he also
scored Tottenham's first in their 2-0 win in the return leg. Chivers
seven goals in seven League Cup games enabled Spurs to make a spirited
attempt at defending their trophy. Although he was on target in both
legs of the semi-final against Chelsea, it wasn't sufficient to stop
their London neighbours reaching the final. The Spurs number 9 saved his
most impressive form for the season's UEFA Cup challenge. Martin played
in 11 of Spurs 12 games and scored 8 times, scoring a home hat-trick in
a 9-0 destruction of Keflavik in the opening round. The real glory for
Chivers came in the 1st leg of the all English final when his superb
double gave his side a 2-1 win at Wolves. Martin helped Spurs capture
the crown with a hard fought 1-1 draw in the return leg. (Tony Smith).
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Martin Chivers is pictured above on 8th. December 1973. Photo George Herringshaw. ©
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(Part 3) 1972-1976.
Martin
Chivers continued his rich vein of scoring form in the 1972-73 season,
scoring 33 times from 61 appearances. Four of these goals came in the
League Cup as Spurs won the competition for the second time in three
seasons with a 1-0 victory over Norwich City. In a December home replay
with Liverpool, in the quarter-finals, the big man had popped up twice
to help earn Spurs a 3-1 victory. Chivers was also on target in the
semi-final second leg at Wolves, where the Londoners drew 2-2 to reach
the final. The England international's European form was also impressive
as Spurs reached the semi-finals of the UEFA Cup. Chivers played in all
of his sides 10 games, scoring 8 times including 5 in the opening round
tie against Lyn Oslo. The possibility of another piece of European
silverware for Chivers ended when Spurs lost on the away goals rule to
Liverpool. Tottenham made it all the way to the final of tha same
competition the following season and their centre-forward again featured
heavily. Of Spurs 12 games he played 10 times and scored 6 goals,
including the opener in the home 2-0 victory over Lokomotive Leipzig in
the semi-final 1st leg. The final was to bring disappointment however,
with Dutch side Feyenoord coming out 4-2 winners on aggregate. In 1973
Chivers won the last of his 24 England caps (13 goals), appearing a
remarkable 11 times for his country in that one year. The Spurs forward
was on target for England 6 times during this hectic year, scoring
against Scotland in a 5-0 Hampden Park romp in February, both in
England's 2-1 victory against Northern Ireland in May and further goals
against Wales, USSR and Austria. (Tony Smith).
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Spurs Martin Chivers is here seen in action on 4th. October 1975
by George Herringshaw. ©
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(Part 4) 1974 - 1976.
By
the beginning of the 1974-75 season Martin Chivers was now the senior
forward at Tottenham, Alan Gilzean having left for South Africa at the
end of the previous campaign. The season proved to be a nightmare for
Spurs. Chivers missed the opening three league games, all 1-0 defeats,
and on his return to the team in August, Spurs went down at home to
Manchester City 2-1. In early September Martin played his last game for
the manager who had signed him from Southampton 6 years earlier. There
was to be no fond farewell for Bill Nicholson, as Chivers could do
little to prevent Middlesbrough winning 4-0 at Spurs in the 2nd round of
the League Cup. The new manager given the responsibility of keeping
Spurs in Division 1 was ex-Arsenal hero Terry Neill, who took over in
September. Chivers found the back of the net for his 1st goal of the
season in Neill's first game in charge, a 5-2 defeat at Liverpool.
Injuries restricted Chivers league appearances to 28 games, in which he
scored 10 times. Crucial goals came in a 2-1 win over West Ham, two in a
3-2 win over Wolves, against Arsenal in a 2-0 win and the last in Spurs
4-2 win over Leeds, which secured their place in top flight football.
The following season, 1975-76, was to be the last at White Hart Lane for
the former England star. The Spurs number 9 appeared 37 times in all
competitions, scoring 9 times. Tottenham finished 9th in Division 1 and
were beaten in the League Cup semi-final by Newcastle United. Martin
Chivers last appearance for Spurs came on April 24th 1976 when he was
sent on as a substitute in a 3-0 home defeat by Newcastle, on the last
day of the season. His final goal had come in the previous month's 5-0
home win over Sheffield United. After 367 competitive games and 174
goals for Spurs, Martin Chivers left in the summer of 1976 for Servette
of Switzerland for a fee of £80, 000. (Tony Smith)
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Biography of Martin Chiver's England career 1971-1973.
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Battle-hardened Tottenham Hotspur striker Martin Chivers had been at the helm of the Spurs attack for three seasons before Alf Ramsey finally gave him a chance at international level, having decided that the likes of Jeff Astle and Peter Osgood were not reliable enough to get goals in England colours. Chivers' debut came in a 1-0 win over Malta in a qualifier for the 1972 European Championships; he scored his first England goal in the next game against Greece (a 3-0 win) and put away two more when Malta came to Wembley for a return game and received a 5-0 hammering. The first real sign of his international credentials came during the 1971 Home Internationals, however, when he scored twice in a 3-1 win over Scotland at Wembley, and from hereon in, he became England's big scoring hope for the future, despite his already close-to-peaking age of 26. When the qualififers resumed in the autumn of 1971, Chivers scored in a 3-2 win against Switzerland in Basle and put away a clinching second in a 2-0 victory over Greece in Piraeus.
However, he was marked out of the crucial final pairing of qualifiers against West Germany as England lost 3-1 at Wembley and fought for a goalless draw in Berlin. He scored in the Valentine's Day 5-0 massacre of Scotland at Hampden Park in 1973 and then put away three goals as England swamped all of their rivals in the Home Internationals. By now he was one third of a fearsome looking striker trio - the others were Mick Channon and Allan Clarke - but just as the threesome were settling down, Ramsey switched the formation for the crucial 1974 World Cup qualifier in Chorzow, dropping Channon, and England looked lost and devoid of ideas and ill-disciplined as Poland won 2-0. Chivers, who won his 20th cap that day, scored in the friendlies which followed against the Soviet Union and Austria (which ended 7-0) but was, like Channon and Clarke, denied constantly in open play by Polish keeper Jan Tomaszewski as the visitors earned their notorious 1-1 draw at Wembley and booked their place at the World Cup.
Although he was as unlucky as any other player on the park, Chivers occupied a good deal of martyrdom from that defeat, as Ramsey didn't select him for either of the two subsequent internationals which he would ultimately control, and successors Joe Mercer and Don Revie also felt they had better options elsewhere. For Chivers' part, 13 goals in 24 internationals was a very healthy record, bearing in mind his late start. His place in the list of successful England strikers is more than safe. (Matthew Rudd)
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