ANTHONY GARDNER

Towering centre-back who began his career with Port Vale as a Trainee in July 1997 before turning professional a year later and going on to score four times in 44 first-team appearances.

Joined us in January 2000 and he made his debut as a substitute at Derby County in March 2001. Injuries saw him appear just 40 times in his first three seasons with us but he doubled that tally in 2003-04 alone.

Scored his first goal for us in a 3-2 home win against West Ham in September 2002.

His season was yet again disrupted by injuries in 2004-05, as foot and Achilles problems saw him miss most of pre-season before the foot injury later re-surfaced.

Typically of his luck at Spurs, he recovered to take his place in central defence for the first few games of 2005-06 before agonisingly rupturing his thigh muscle at Aston Villa in September - meaning another lengthy stint on the sidelines.

However, he returned in fine style with excellent performances at Everton and Arsenal in the run-in. In total, he made 18 appearances in 2005-06.

In 2006-07 his appearances were again limited, with him making 14 in all competitions in a season which saw him ruled out for a lengthy spell with a hairline fracture of the fibula.