2,055 - a new Q&A - part four

Three giants of Tottenham Hotspur. 10 questions.

Welcome to part four of our special 2,055 Q&A with Steve Perryman, Gary Mabbutt and Pat Jennings, all-time Spurs greats and our top three appearance makers with 854, 611 and 590 matches respectively, a grand total of 2,055.

Over the course of the 10-part series we’ll talk about the day they signed, walking into the dressing room as youngsters, biggest influences and magic moments over their collective span of 34 years at the Club we all love - 1964-1998. What game would they love to play again? What made them proudest? Over 20 years since the last of the trio retired from playing - Mabbsy in 1998 - what does Spurs mean to them?

These are our heroes, legends whose names are and will be forever indelibly linked with Tottenham Hotspur.

2,055 - part four

Bill Nicholson meant a lot to you all, and played a key role in all of your careers - do you have one abiding memory of the great man?

Steve Perryman

Signed by Bill as a schoolboy, 1967 - his manager until 1974

"It’s the look you got when he came into the dressing room when you were a couple of minutes late. Just the look. You didn’t get fined, you didn’t have to call him sir, or boss or gaffer, just Bill, and that look, that look... we all need that discipline, however you deliver it. His was a steely-faced look and when you did something that made that look sort of not crumble into a smile, but become a smile, you knew. That smile wasn’t alongside a well done, but you knew. You knew when you did wrong, and you knew when you did right, without words. He was a massive, massive influence through his reactions to what you had done.”

Gary Mabbutt

Signed on Bill's recommendation from Bristol Rovers in 1982

“Bill was great. I was very close with Bill and Darkie, his wife. Bill’s life was football. You could sit down with him and talk about football all day. That was his love, Spurs was his love and when you spoke to him, you got that passion. The great thing about Bill was that despite everything that he achieved, he was a down to earth, humble man. I’m sure as a manager he was tough, but the times I met him he was our chief scout, you could sit down with for a chat. Bill brought me into the Club, gave me my opportunity. My memories of him – I could go on all day. He used to come and see us at the training ground, talk about the game. Once he brought me in, he was very supportive, always had time for me. I guess the defining moment has to be that first phone call. That changed my life forever.”

Pat Jennings

Signed by Bill from Watford in 1964 - his manager until 1974

“It’s our first meeting, and when he said, ‘forget about mister, call me Bill’. I’m on first name terms with the great man himself! Me at 18! As a manager, in terms of all the managers I’ve worked with at the Club, and at international level, I’ve never heard anything that I didn’t hear from him all those years ago. That was how good he was. He was just so far ahead of his time. He expected so much. We’d come in after matches and even though we’d won two or three, he’d say ‘you lot haven’t entertained the fans today, if I could give them their money back, I would’. The fans were number one for him. Everything was for the fans. He was different class. We came into the dressing room after the Grasshoppers match in the UEFA Cup (1973) and Bill said, ‘you lot should give your goalkeeper your bonus money’. It was the only compliment he gave me in all those years!”