Gary Doherty: The secret Spur in Boston

Gary Doherty will never forget our 2000/01 run to the FA Cup semi-finals.

Scoring a late, late winner in the third round against Leyton Orient, Gary then provided a hat-trick of assists in the next round as we came back from 2-0 down to progress past Charlton with a 4-2 triumph. In the quarter-finals, he once again stepped up, scoring the decisive goal in a 3-2 victory over West Ham. Then, in the semi-finals, he found the target once more, heading home to put us in the lead against old rivals Arsenal at Old Trafford. Unfortunately though, a Gunners comeback ultimately saw our journey end there.

We recently caught up with the former Republic of Ireland international to discuss that FA Cup run, his time in north London, his journey since and find out what he’s up to now.

If you happen to be frequenting Boston - the fine state capital of Massachusetts, USA - when Spurs are in action, make sure you head down to Clerys bar in South End where you may just bump into Gary.

Making 70 appearances for us in his four years in north London at the start of the new millennium, our former player is now based over in the USA having made the move across the pond last year to begin the next stage of his career – setting up his own soccer school.

And yes, it is ‘soccer’ now for the former Republic of Ireland international who, amidst the difficulties of the COVID-19 pandemic, has been busy integrating into US life over the last 12 months. That has included continuing to keep a keen eye on how we have been getting on, as he has done since he departed White Hart Lane in 2004. Even though he is now over 3,000 miles away from N17, his following of the Club has remained as strong as ever, and Boston has been key to that as Gary regularly meets with the city’s huge official Spurs Supporters’ Club. Despite having played in our famous colours and scored some memorable goals for us though, the now 41-year-old admits he has kept his Spurs history rather incognito so far in New England as he enjoys a bit of the quiet life.

“I moved over to Boston just over a year ago to start a soccer school, to do private coaching and that sort of stuff. Naturally, with COVID hitting though, it’s not the best time to set up a company, but I’m loving the move,” Gary explained. “I love the city. Obviously, there are a lot of Irish people here as well and with Tottenham having a big Supporters' Club here, it’s been good for me.

“Boston has got one of the best Spurs Supporters' Clubs in the US. We all meet in a bar for the games which are always an early start, like December's north London derby which was at 11.30am over here, but with Tottenham doing so well it’s always worth making the trip down there, having a few beers and watching the team. It’s good, the Americans love it.

“They get a big crowd. I was here on holiday a few years ago and they got a fantastic crowd. I went for a cup game, I think it was against Rochdale. It was like a 7.30am kick-off our time and there was still a fantastic crowd, the bar put on breakfast. They have a really good set-up here.”

When asked whether the members of the Supporters’ Club knew about his Spurs past, Gary laughed: “No, no, no. The branch leader Ryan knows who I am, we have a good chat, and he brings over the odd supporter for a little chat and we just talk about the team and stuff like that, so that’s nice. But I keep it low key. I don’t think I’m famous enough over here that they’d recognise me to be honest, so I get to watch the game in peace! But obviously, if they do recognise me, then I’m more than happy to talk about the old times and talk about the good recent times.”

Throughout our history, we have frequently enjoyed success in years ending in the number one. Since our first FA Cup win, coming as a non-league side in 1901, we have gone on to lift various major silverware in 1921, 1951, 1961, 1971, 1981 and 1991. During Gary’s spell with the Club, as aforementioned, for a moment in April, 2001, it looked like we were going to add to that sequence.

While we were struggling in the league during the 2000/01 season, we were flying in the FA Cup. We had dispatched Leyton Orient, Charlton Athletic and Stockport County in the early rounds before overcoming West Ham in the quarter-finals to book our place in the final four – ‘Doc’ having been instrumental in that run. Then, 13 minutes into the semi-final clash with Arsenal at Old Trafford, he opened the scoring and, in that moment, it looked like it might have been our year.

“I remember it – with the year ending in one and several of Tottenham’s FA Cup wins coming in years ending in one – so I was confident going into that campaign,” Gary reflected. “I got the winner against Leyton Orient and I played really well against Charlton - that was probably the best game I had in a Tottenham shirt, as a centre-forward. I think we were 2-0 down but we won 4-2, and I think I set up three or four of the goals which was great. Then the West Ham game - they had just beaten Manchester United, so they were thinking they were going to win – but we went to Upton Park and beat them, I managed to score a goal there as well.

“The other semi-final ended up being Liverpool v Wycombe, but we were kind of hoping in the draw, ‘please, let us get Wycombe’. You certainly didn’t want Arsenal in the semis, they had an incredible team, so you definitely didn’t want to get them. So, when Arsenal came out, you were like ‘ah’! They were kind of the best team and obviously Liverpool got Wycombe.

“I think we had Arsenal the week before in the league - I had a really good game at Highbury although we lost 2-0. So, I went into the semi-final quite confident that we were going to do okay. We had such a young team and then we brought back all of our experienced players. I think it was Glenn Hoddle’s first game as manager as well, so we were obviously riding on the wave of that and then I put us 1-0 up.

“I thought we were going to hold out and keep going but they had a fantastic team with the likes of Thierry Henry, Dennis Bergkamp, Patrick Vieira, Tony Adams, Martin Keown, David Seaman and Ashley Cole. They managed to beat us 2-1. Conceding from a set-play as well was disappointing. You look back on it as a great time but also losing a semi-final is tough. I was never lucky enough to play in an FA Cup Final. It’s just a shame it didn’t work out as it would have been fairytale stuff for Glenn. So that is one I regret even though it is one of my best moments.”

Not just in his time with us, but throughout his career with his four other clubs - Luton Town, Norwich City, Charlton Athletic and Wycombe Wanderers - as well as his time on the international stage with Ireland, Gary has always had a great relationship with supporters. From nicknames that stuck such as ‘the ginger Pele’ to even a UK chart-listing song entitled ‘Gary Doherty’ – those that followed the beautiful game certainly had a soft spot for the versatile Irishman.

“I knew you were going to say that… they made a song about me!” he smiled as he recalled the 2010 tribute song by the Norwich-supporting Indie group We Can’t Dance. “I never got to meet them, I just heard about the song. The lads around the Norwich training ground were saying ‘Doc, some band has made a song about you’. I thought it was fine. It was quite rock’n’rolly and I quite like my rock’n’roll music, but I will stick to Kings of Leon, I think. But yes, it did make me smile. A few of my mates sing it to me after a few beers. So, it’s kind of funny. I think it did quite well in Ireland, apparently.

“That kind of thing stuck with me throughout my career. I had all these kinds of wacky things going on through my career and it was just like ‘Oh wow, did that really happen?’ You look back 20 years later and go ‘Was that really happening?’

“Strange times but I really enjoyed it. Norwich was great and I was very lucky at Tottenham that the fans were always very good to me. They stood by me during the tough times. Even when I meet them now – I always seem to meet Spurs-supporting taxi drivers if I’m in or around London so we always reminisce and stuff, I really enjoy that.”