Double-winner Dyson on the great away days

Terry Dyson has let us into the secret of the double-winning team’s incredible run of away wins over 50 years ago – there wasn't one!

Bill Nicholson’s men put together a run of 10 straight victories on the road from April through to November, 1960.

That included eight on the trot in the double-season, 1960-61, when the team won their first 11 matches in the old First Division, drew against City in October and then won the next four before finally succumbing at Sheffield Wednesday in November.

So what was the secret? “We just played the same way away from home as we did at White Hart Lane,” said Terry, who contributed 17 goals in the double season including the second goal in the FA Cup Final against Leicester City.

“There was no secret really. In fact if there was a secret, that was it.

“We had two wingers and we attacked teams, home and away. That’s how Bill wanted us to play. He wanted us to win, obviously, but he also wanted us to play with style.”

Terry’s highlights of the away run included a 3-2 win at Arsenal in September – ‘I scored a header, you never forget a goal against the Arsenal’ – and a 4-3 thriller against Newcastle at St James’ Park October 29, which proved to be the 10th and final away win of the sequence.

“I remember that, what a game! We were losing at half-time and scored late. St James’ Park was open at one end in those days, not completely enclosed like it is now and there were so many people there. It was an amazing atmosphere.”

The run ended at Hillsborough and a 2-1 loss against title-challenging Sheffield Wednesday on November 12, 1960.

“Maurice Norman scored that day, I think we battered them as well!” recalled Terry. “We just couldn’t win at Hillsborough. We didn’t have a lot of success there over the years.”

The team went on another great run after the loss at Hillsborough – seven wins and a draw in eight matches – and by coincidence, clinched the title with a 2-1 win against Sheffield Wednesday at the Lane on April 17. 1961.

“We just prepared a game at time and the big thing for everyone connected with the club was to win the double,” said Terry, now 79.

“That was history.

“Everyone remembers people who make history or are first to achieve something, like Roger Bannister and the four-minute mile, Hillary and Everest. People remember the first and they will always remember us.”