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In two spells at Spurs Neil 'Razor' Ruddock played under 60 games, yet
his transfer fees swelled the club's coffers substantially. The
Wandsworth-born defender first joined Spurs from Millwall in March 1986,
the fee of £50,000 proving to be a bargain for the 17 year old, who had
yet to appear in a senior game for Millwall. At 6 feet 2 inches and
nearly 13 stone the youngster cut an imposing figure in the middle of
the Spurs defence. His debut came in a 1-0 home win against Charlton in
April 1987 and Ruddock went on to play a further 3 league games for
David Pleat's side towards the end of the 1986-87 season.
In October
1987 manager Pleat resigned, with Terry Venables taking over the reigns
in December. Ruddock made only 5 league appearances and played in a 2-1
defeat at Notts County in the FA Cup 4th round, where he scored his
first goal for the club. In June 1988 Neil was transferred back to
Millwall for a fee in the region of £300,000. Having moved on to
Southampton, Terry Venables re-signed Ruddock in May 1992 for a fee of
£750,000. Throughout 1992-93, Razor missed only 4 of Spurs 51 league and
cup games. Playing alongside either Gary Mabbutt or Jason Cundy,
Ruddock helped Spurs finish 8th in Division 1.
In the League Cup, Spurs
accounted for Brentford and Manchester City, before losing out to
Nottingham Forest in round 4. Ruddock & Co opened their FA Cup
campaign with a 5-1 home win over non-league Marlow. Wins at Norwich 2-0
and at home to Wimbledon 3-2 sent Spurs through to the quarter-final
where they accounted for Manchester City to set up a mouth watering
semi-final clash against Arsenal. That meant a first Wembley appearance
for Razor but it was not a happy memory as Spurs went down to a 1-0
defeat by the Gunners. With Terry Venables dismissal in the summer of
1993, a furious Neil Ruddock demanded a transfer and in August moved to
Liverpool for £2.5 million. (Tony Smith)
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