Five... connections between Spurs and Portugal

Fans going back to the early part of the 21st century will remember our three Portuguese players - Jose Dominguez, Helder Postiga and Pedro Mendes - but did you know that one of our most successful managers had a spell at this evening's UEFA Champions League opponents Sporting CP? Or that a player from the late 1920s won a hat-trick of titles as manager of the Lisbon club?

Our latest 'five...' explains all, with five connections between Portugal and Spurs...

Randolph Galloway

After ending his days as a player, former Spur Randolph Galloway set out on a managerial and coaching career that saw him travel the world, with his greatest success coming during his time with Sporting CP. Born in Sunderland, he started out as a full-back but was converted to centre-forward during his time while serving in the Yorkshire Regiment. After the First World War, he played for Sunderland Tramways before spells with Derby County, Nottingham Forest, Luton Town and Coventry City. After having a trial with Spurs, he was signed up in August 1928, as cover for Tom Roberts who had just arrived from Preston North End. But within a few weeks, Galloway had displaced Roberts in the team and scored on his Spurs debut against Southampton on 1 September 1928. He netted twice in his first three league outings but was struck down by injury and never featured for us again. Retiring in 1929, he embarked on a coaching career with started in Spain where he had spells with Sporting Gijon, Valencia and Racing Santander. Immediately after the Second World War, he took charge of Costa Rica before managing clubs in Uruguay and Switzerland. At the age of 53, he became manager of Sporting CP and won a whole host of silverware, most notably three consecutive league championships between 1951-53, before a brief spell with Vitoria brought to an end his footballing career.

Keith Burkinshaw

Keith Burkinshaw also gained silverware during his time with Sporting CP, leading them to the Portuguese Super Cup during 1986-87. The two-legged clash against Benfica in December 1987 saw Sporting enjoy a 3-0 away win before finishing the job with a 1-0 victory at the Estadio da Luz. Keith – inducted into our Hall of Fame during May, 2004 - first joined the managerial ranks when, at the age of 29, he took up the role of player/manager at Workington during 1964-65. His playing career also included spells with Wath Wanderers, Denaby United, Wolverhampton Wanderers, Liverpool and Scunthorpe United. Coaching stints at Newcastle and then here at Spurs preceded his eight years as our manager from 1976, which yielded FA Cup success in 1981 and 1982 and the UEFA Cup in 1984. He coached the Bahrain National team between his spells here and in Lisbon and after returning to the UK in 1988, he served in various capacities with Gillingham, Swindon Town, West Bromwich Albion and Stoke City. A spell as Director of Football and caretaker manager at Aberdeen followed before Keith became the assistant manager of Watford, where he helped the club reach the Premier League in 2006.

Jose Dominguez

Portuguese winger Jose Dominguez left Sporting CP to join Spurs in August 1997 and spent three years in north London. Born in Lisbon, he hadn’t made a single appearance for Benfica and had been loaned out to a couple of third tier Portuguese sides when Birmingham City swooped to sign him in March 1994. His performances at St Andrews during 1994/95 not only helped them back to the Premier League at the first attempt, but also led to him representing Portugal’s Under-21s and a big money move to Sporting. He picked up full international honours during his two years with the Lisbon club, before Gerry Francis secured his arrival at White Hart Lane. When on top of his game, Dominguez showed great pace, sensational dribbling skills and plenty of trickery but unfortunately he didn’t get too many opportunities to display his attributes. He was on the move again in November 2000, joining Kaiserslautern in Germany, before spells in Qatar and Brazil, and started his coaching career back in his homeland with Uniao de Leira. Dominguez returned to Sporting to coach their reserve side and, most recently, was assistant manager with Turkish outfit Gaziantep.

Helder Postiga

Striker Helder Postiga arrived at Spurs with a reputation as a highly-regarded young goalscorer but sadly never fulfilled his potential at White Hart Lane. Under the management of Jose Mourinho, Postiga made his name during the 2002/03 season with Porto, scoring 19 goals to help his side win a trio of trophies including the Portuguese title and UEFA Cup, although he missed the final through suspension. He arrived in north London in June 2003 and made his debut at Birmingham City two months later, however it wasn’t until a League Cup tie against Manchester City in December that he opened his account for Spurs, scoring our second in the 3-1 win. Postiga only added one further goal to his tally in lilywhite and, at the end of the season, returned to Porto. That summer, he netted a late equaliser for Portugal against England at Euro 2004, a game which the Three Lions lost on penalties. Postiga later joined Sporting and spent three years with the club between 2008-11 and later had spells with Real Zaragoza, Valencia, Deportivo La Coruna, Atletico Kolkata in India and Rio Ave.

Pedro Mendes

When Helder Postiga left Spurs to join Porto in July 2004, it was a move which saw Portuguese midfielder Pedro Mendes switch in the opposite direction. After making his name with hometown club Vitoria Guimaraes, he joined Porto and starred in their team which won the Portuguese title and Champions League in 2004. A hard-working, box-to-box midfielder, he started brightly in N17, but after picking up an injury, he found it difficult to recover and left us for Portsmouth in January 2006. He won the FA Cup with Pompey in 2008 before moving to Rangers, helping them to the Double in 2009, and then returned to Portugal for spells with Sporting and Vitoria Guimaraes before retiring. His time at Spurs will always be remembered for the ‘goal’ that never was, at Old Trafford in January 2005, when his lob from halfway was spilled a yard over the line by Manchester United goalkeeper Roy Carroll, only for the officials to fail to notice and not award the goal!