Spurs stories | Andros Townsend, from Tottenham to Turkey

Eagle-eyed fans watching re-runs of Heung-Min Son’s first Spurs goal against Qarabag ahead of last week’s UEFA Europa League opener against the Azerbaijan side won’t have missed the player with the assist for that historic strike - Andros Townsend.

Now plying his trade with Antalyaspor in Turkey, Andy Greeves caught up with the Academy graduate - a player who broke through aged 19 and shone in European competition, and went on to make 93 appearances, 2011-2016 - for last week’s official matchday programme.

Here's what he had to say - and don't forget you can buy our official matchday programme either at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, or online here...

Your association with Spurs goes back to your childhood. How did you come to join the Club as a youngster?

Andros: "I was seven or eight at the time. My Sunday league team, Ridgeway Rovers, had two or three players who had already joined Spurs, and a Spurs scout came to watch us on the back of that. The scout liked me, offered me a trial and the rest, as they say, is history."

How do you reflect on your Academy days?

Andros: "They were amazing. I was a big Spurs fan, so it was a dream come true for me to join the club I supported and to eventually come through the ranks to play for the first team. Not many players get to play for the club they support. As a young player - and as a fan, first and foremost - being around the first team players was incredible. Some of the senior players I remember from when I first joined were Edgar Davids, Robbie Keane, Michael Carrick and Ledley King."

Prior to making your Spurs first team debut, you were loaned to Yeovil Town, Leyton Orient and Ipswich Town. How do you look back on those experiences?

Andros: "Without those clubs and the loan system, I wouldn’t have had the career I had. When I was trying to break through into the first team, we had Gareth Bale on one wing, Aaron Lennon on the other! It was an almost impossible task to dislodge them from the team and I had to go out and earn my stripes and prove what I could do in League One and the Championship. I think it was those loans that helped me really get taken seriously by the Club. A lot of my team-mates at the time had to utilise the loan system - obviously, Harry Kane is a famous example of that."

It’s fair to say your Spurs debut in a 3-0 win over Charlton Athletic in the FA Cup in January 2011 was memorable for a number of reasons...

Andros: "Absolutely! I’ve been lucky to have a few debuts in my career where things have gone exactly as I would have wanted. To score on your Spurs debut, to win and be named ‘Man of the Match’… it ticked every single box in terms of how you would imagine a debut going! I’ve used the term ‘dream come true’ already, but that was exactly what my Spurs debut was."

You played seven times for Spurs during the 2011/12 season with six of those appearances coming in the Europa League. It must be a competition of which you have fond memories?

Andros: "The Europa League was fantastic for me. It was the competition that really gave me the chance to get the minutes early on in my Spurs career. I don’t think I fully appreciated back then just how important the Europa League was to me, as my focus was always about playing in the Premier League. But during my career, the Europa League at Spurs was the only time I played in European football and all players are striving to play in Europe. And importantly, it was a competition that allowed me to stake a claim to be playing regular first team football."

In one of those matches, you scored in a 4-0 win over Shamrock Rovers in December 2011 and also made two assists that night which included one that enabled Harry Kane to score his first Spurs goal…

Andros: "It was a special night for me, scoring a ‘worldie’ with my right foot and then setting Harry up for his first Spurs goal. It was a great night for the youngsters overall. We were pretty much out of contention for qualification for the knockout phase of the competition by then, so Harry (Redknapp) decided to play a load of the kids. So myself, Harry, Jake Livermore, Danny Rose, Yago Falque... we all got minutes. We did the Academy proud that night."

A memorable season for you in 2013/14 began with a goal in a 5-0 victory over Dinamo Tbilisi in August 2013.

Andros: "That was a goal I really enjoyed. It was a significant moment too as I saw that as being the real starting point for my first team career at Spurs. I had gone out on loan in the second half of the previous season and played Premier League football at Queens Park Rangers under Harry Redknapp. I did well there and it was a case of ‘now, can I go and prove myself at Spurs’. I was an unused substitute in our first Premier League match of the season away to Crystal Palace but after that goal in Tbilisi, I started the next Premier League match against Swansea and I was named in the England squad. Everything took off from there. My initial opportunity to be playing regularly came as a result of an injury to Aaron Lennon. But it was so tough to break through at Spurs at the time. My opportunity in the first team was probably only ever going to come if one of the other players in my position was unavailable through injury or suspension. You had to be patient and wait for your chance and then take that chance when it came. Fortunately, I was able to do that."

The 2013/14 season saw you score twice in 33 Spurs appearances, while you also played five times for England during the campaign, scoring on your debut in a 4-1 win against Montenegro in October 2013…

Andros: "I’m going to say ‘dream come true’ again, but that’s exactly what my England debut was. It was a must-win game in front of a sell-out Wembley crowd. It was similar to my Spurs debut, I was able to score and win Man of the Match and then help my country qualify for the 2014 World Cup with that win, and the 2-0 win over Poland a few days later."

How much did you enjoy working under Mauricio Pochettino during the 2014/15 season, which saw you score six goals in 35 matches in our colours?

Andros: "I probably appreciate working with Mauricio even more now than I did at the time. He was the first manager I’d known to really move the wingers inside, into the pockets, and have the full-backs overlapping. I took too long to adapt to that way of playing and that eventually led to my departure from Spurs. But looking back, I appreciate what a trailblazer Mauricio was and how great it was to work with a manager of his calibre and learn from him. One of the biggest impacts a manager has ever had on me during my career was that season under Mauricio Pochettino."

At the start of the 2015/16 season, your in-swinging corner provided the assist for Sonny’s first Spurs goal against Qarabag. What are your memories of that?

Andros: "I don’t remember that Qarabag game very well, I have to be honest. So that’s nice to learn that I supplied Sonny’s first assist!"

How apparent was it early on in Sonny’s Spurs career just how good a player he was?

Andros: "As soon as Sonny arrived at Spurs, he made such an impact on and off the pitch. My first, and one of my best memories of him was after he signed, he brought Korean chefs into the training ground to provide food for everyone. It was his way of introducing himself to everyone at the Club. It was an incredible gesture and people appreciated how thoughtful he had been. Getting to know Sonny, you appreciate that kind of thing is him to a tee. He is such a nice guy and so down to earth. And what a player he is. He really hit the ground running in training and in matches. It was obvious early on that we’d signed a special player. It’s also no surprise to see him still going strong and being the main man at Spurs these days."

You departed Spurs for Newcastle United halfway through the 2015/16 season. How hard was it for you to leave your boyhood club?

Andros: "It was very tough to leave the club I had grown up supporting and been associated with for such a long time. The decision was taken out of my hands in many respects, as I wasn’t really playing at all at that time. So that at least made a difficult departure easier. I look back so, so fondly on all the good years I had at Tottenham from the age of eight all the way through until when I left."

Who were your best mates during your time at Spurs?

Andros: "Certainly, the players I came through the ranks with... Ryan Mason, Harry Kane, Danny Rose, Kyle Walker, Jake Livermore... all the players that shared a similar journey to me at Spurs were the ones I was closest with."

You scored once in 31 appearances for Luton Town last season. How do you look back on your experience at Kenilworth Road?

Andros: "It was a great experience for me. Luton gave me a chance to play Premier League football again when that wasn’t on offer elsewhere. I will always be hugely grateful for that. To be a small part in that unique Luton story, going from the Conference to the Premier League and then me playing in their debut season in the Premier League, that’s something I will never forget. There was the disappointment of the relegation, which still hurts, but it doesn’t detract from what was an incredible experience as a I say. I’ll always have a soft spot for Luton."

You joined Antalyaspor this summer and made your debut for the club in a 2-1 win over Adana Demirspor recently. How are you excited about this new chapter in your career?

Andros: "The move was a real last-minute one. They knew they had a transfer ban coming and it was a case of them calling me and saying ‘we can offer you this, but we need you to decide within 48 hours whether you accept or reject it’. I looked at everything… the football and playing in a top division but also the city, how beautiful it was, the climate, experiencing something completely new. I had a gut feeling that even though I was being rushed, it was an opportunity I had to take as something like this might not come along again. Antalya, where I am living, is like heaven on earth. It’s absolutely beautiful here. It was hard to leave Luton but I had some great conversations with the manager and the chief executive and they were very supportive of me in taking an opportunity like this at this stage in my career. I was living here (Antalya) for about a month before my transfer was actually confirmed. When you move to a new country, you obviously expect things to be different and I was prepared for that. However, it was a unique experience waiting for a transfer to be confirmed like this! There’s a hotel at the training ground where I’m living currently and hopefully my family will be able to come out and join me eventually."