Fri 04 November 2022, 11:45
Tottenham HotspurWelcome back to our new series for 2022/23 - 1 from 30 - as we continue to mark 30 years of the Premier League.
English football's new dawn kicked-off on the weekend of 15/16 August, 1992 as the FA Premier League replaced Barclays League Division One, ending a structure of Division One-Four that had been in place since 1958. Thirty years on, the Premier League is amongst the most watched and most valuable sporting leagues in the world.
In this series, we're featuring a match from those 30 years that corresponds with our next fixture - next up, a win against title-challenging Liverpool in November, 2000 and a match that helped boost the careers of two home-grown players...
Spurs 2-1 Liverpool - 19 November, 2000
George Graham turned to our Academy to take on this Liverpool machine almost 22 years ago - kick-starting two careers of two young defenders - one of whom would become a modern day Spurs legend.
Gerrard Houllier's men were flying when they arrived in N17. The Reds were third, packed with stars – Fowler, Owen, Gerrard, Redknapp, Carragher, Hyypia, Berger, Hamann, Murphy, McAllister, Litmanen, Babbel, Smicer, Ziege – and they would clinch the treble of League Cup, FA Cup and UEFA Cup that season.
We were 11th and a few injuries had hit, including experienced defenders Chris Perry and Ramon Vega.
Never fazed by using younger players, George, who, remember, handed Ledley King his debut at Anfield in May, 1999, brought in Ledley and Alton Thelwell for his debut.
Alton started in a back three, Ledley in midfield - and we won 2-1 thanks to goals from Les Ferdinand and Tim Sherwood. Both youngsters stayed in and around the squad for the rest of the season, Ledley with 23 appearances, Alton making 18 as we finished 12th and reached the semi-finals of the FA Cup. Both featured off the bench against Arsenal at Old Trafford.
Spurs: Sullivan, Carr, Perry, Thelwell, Young, Clemence, King, Sherwood (Freund 84), Anderton, Ferdinand (Armstrong 84), Rebrov. Substitutes (not used): Walker, Vega, Korsten.
