Tanganga: ‘Month with ground staff made me realise how much I love football’

Birthday boy Japhet Tanganga played the waiting game while learning the beautiful game in our Academy – and has quite literally built his fledgling career from the ground up.

In this extended version of an interview first published in our official matchday programme for the visit of Norwich City in the Premier League back in January, the latest player to graduate onto the Premier League stage after coming through our youth set-up tells us how he wasn’t afraid to get his hands dirty on his journey to the first team, while also explaining how he hopes to honour the memory of our late Under-23s Coach Ugo Ehiogu and how he was blown away by the new stadium – on his second visit!

As he celebrates his 21st birthday today, here's another chance to read our in-depth chat with this popular young talent...

Japhet’s journey

With us since the age of 10, the athletic young defender made his debut for our Under-18s as a 15-year-old in 2014 and gradually progressed up into the Under-23s, where he’d been a staple for some two-and-a-half years before seizing his first team chance this season.

Some might say it’s been a long time coming. Aside from a fleeting appearance in a low-key pre-season friendly in Girona the summer before last, the Hackney-born youngster had a comparatively late introduction to first team football.

While others moved on, Japhet crucially kept his head down, kept grafting in the Development Squad and when an opportunity finally opened up for him on our summer tour to Asia – with senior defenders Davinson Sanchez, Eric Dier, Serge Aurier, Ben Davies and Danny Rose all absent from the trip – he grasped it with both hands. Outstanding in showcase matches against Juventus, Manchester United, Real Madrid, Bayern Munich and Inter, his competitive debut followed at Colchester United in the Carabao Cup in September. And after a number of appearances on the first team bench in the months that followed, he was thrust into the side for his Premier League bow against table-topping Liverpool in January, following that up with a Man of the Match display in our FA Cup replay win against Middlesbrough, where he touched the ball more times than any other player on the pitch. He's currently up to 11 senior appearances, most recently making his Champions League debut in the away leg of our round of 16 tie with RB Leipzig.

“Honestly, I think the biggest problem for young players is just being impatient,” he said. “You see other people that are younger than you playing first team football, their time has come a bit sooner than you and you’re almost looking at it thinking ‘what do I have to do to get that opportunity?’ You almost feel like you’re getting old. But it’s all about timing.

“This season has just shown me that anything can happen and when you do get your opportunity you need to be ready and you need to be able to perform so that you do manage to stake your claim. If I wasn’t doing all the things off the pitch that I should be doing then when I did get my opportunity I might have missed it because I might not have performed the way I should have. That’s due to the work I was doing on the pitch with Wayne (Burnett, Under-23s Coach) and the extras I was doing in the gym. Literally all I can say is that it’s about timing, just being patient, waiting and working behind closed doors where no-one can see. Then when your time comes, you’re ready because of what you’ve been doing in training. Thankfully I was able to get that opportunity and I was able to take it. I’m a religious person, too, and I feel like without God I wouldn’t be where I am today. From now it’s just important to keep on working, to not stop doing the things that I was doing to get that opportunity, to keep on doing those things and working even harder and harder to try to continue to be selectable in future.”

A solid grounding

By his own admission, Japhet wasn’t always the most mature lad during his teenage years and at one stage in the Under-18s, he, along with our coaches and his father, decided to arrange a spell of work experience with our team of ground staff with a clear purpose in mind – to help him understand the “real world” challenges we all face. It was the making of him.

“Honestly, looking back at it now, I would say that was the turning point,” said Japhet. “That was when the penny dropped, just seeing how passionate the ground staff were in their job. You’re coming in early, it’s cold, you’re working outside, but the passion that they have for how they work, maintaining the pitches, placing the flowers around the edge of the training ground, how precise they are and how they pay attention to detail – it’s amazing and it made me realise that I do love football and whether things are or aren’t going my way, this is my passion and I’ve just got to take it seriously. I’ve been given a gift to be able to play football so I shouldn’t misuse it.

“We spoke with Darren (Baldwin), the head of our ground staff, and he was able to find work for me. I worked with Tim (Judd, head gardener) and a lot of their team for a month and it was probably the hardest month of my Under-18s year but, honestly, it made me learn a lot and I’m so grateful to all the ground staff. My dad was involved with it as well – he felt that I needed to work, to be in an adult environment to understand the position that I’m in.

“I still speak to the ground staff now. When I see them, they’re happy to see me playing in the stadium and it’s just great because they’re all top, top people. They make the training ground and stadium the way they are and when so many people compliment us about Tottenham’s facilities, it’s due to the ground staff and how great they make everything for us. They are just amazing and they – along with my coaches, of course – helped to shape me into who I am today. I’m not the finished article, I’m still growing, but it all started from there to be honest.”

Debut discussions

After his Premier League debut against Liverpool on 11 January, Japhet told the story of how Jose Mourinho had approached him a few days earlier and asked his feelings over whether he should play. The outcome shows how far the defender has come as a person – he recalls a similar conversation with John McDermott, our Head of Academy Coaching and Player Development, ahead of his debut for the Under-18s away to Norwich City just over five years ago, which didn’t go quite as well…

“I remember going up to Norwich on the coach and John asked me ‘do you want to start?’ Obviously then I was coming into a new age group, I was 15 and I wasn’t sure, so I said ‘I don’t mind’ – I got a bit of stick for that from John about the way I responded! It turned out that he had plans to play me anyway and it was really good. I then played in an FA Youth Cup match against Wolves, we won, it was another good game and from there, I travelled with the lads a little bit for some of the next games. Unfortunately I tore my meniscus against Leicester and that was my season done but in that short period, the games were good and it was a nice jump up for me from playing in the Under-16s to appearing in the Under-18s at 15 years of age.”

Overcoming difficult times

Japhet remembers his first outing for the Under-18s at Norwich’s Colney training ground in November, 2014, with clarity. We won 3-0 but his young team-mate Joe Pritchard broke his leg that day. Thankfully he made a full recovery and is currently enjoying a good season in League One with Accrington Stanley.

“It was really bad because with the angle I was standing at, I could see what happened to Joe right in front of me,” he said. “He’s at Accrington Stanley now and having a good career but when he was here, he was great. He was probably one of the best trainers, the best guy to speak to if you ever needed any advice – he just knew exactly what to say.

“Todd Cantwell played that game for Norwich as well. I think he was the number 10.”

Another match that taught Japhet to deal with adversity is the last-ever Under-23s fixture at White Hart Lane, where Leicester City provided the opposition at the start of May, 2017, for what was the first Premier League 2 fixture following the sudden, tragic passing of our Under-23s Coach Ugo Ehiogu. Japhet was just starting to establish himself in that age group at the time and he said: “Ugo was a big role model for a lot of us in the Under-23s. Especially being a defender himself, he helped me so much, coached me, gave me so much advice and it was hard to play in the game after he died. But even then, you’ve got to remember that you’re playing football, you’ve got to blank out whatever is in your mind and focus on the game. That game was tough, though. The result (a 4-1 defeat) wasn’t what we wanted, we wanted to have a good send-off for him, but it was just an upsetting time to be honest. I can imagine him now, seeing me make my debut – he’d be laughing, calling my name, smiling and bantering me, but I hope he’s watching from up in heaven, seeing not only me but a lot of us. He took a lot of us under his wing and he helped a lot of our young players grow. I hope he’s looking down and seeing all the progress we’re making as football players and as men as well.”

New stadium

Having featured in the last-ever Under-23 match at the Lane, Japhet also had the distinction of turning out in the first fixture at that level in our new home – a superb 3-1 win over Manchester City back at the start of this season, on 16 August. He’d already made his debut in our new stadium with a cameo appearance at senior level during the International Champions Cup match against Inter 12 days earlier, but having been swept up in the first team routine, it wasn’t until that Friday night outing against City’s Development Squad where the wonders of our new stadium really hit home.

“That Under-23 match was the first time I’d started at the new stadium and to be honest it was amazing,” Japhet said. “It was amazing to see how they’d built everything and how it was all structured. I was just taken by it, surprised by how great the stadium was. I was fortunate enough to play in the Inter game for the first team but to be honest I didn’t really take it in – for the City game we all got there a bit earlier so we were able to really see what it was like. It’s just an amazing stadium. I can see why a lot of players, fans and managers rave about it because it is honestly fantastic.”

Present day

What does this talented young man make of his senior breakthrough this year?

“I’m just so grateful and so thankful to everyone who has got me to this moment,” he said. “My family, all the coaching staff – John McDermott, Wayne Burnett, Justin Cochrane when he was here, obviously the first team coaching staff – there are just too many to mention. As I’ve got older, I’ve had so many experiences where God has shown that he was there for me and my faith in him has helped to get me where I am today. I’m so grateful for everything that’s been happening. The fans as well – how they’ve been supporting me, how they’ve been cheering me on, it’s just so encouraging and I just want to give them more and try to give back to them what they’ve been giving me. I’m so happy, but the hard work is only just beginning.”