Dyson at 80 - Terry in his own words

As double-winning great Terry Dyson hits the grand old age of 80, we look back at some of the glory, glory moments of his career at Spurs in his own words.

Terry signed in 1954 and went on to play 255 times for us, scoring 55 goals, before departing in 1965.

He played a key part in the double season, when he played 47 of 49 matches as we clinched both league championship and FA Cup, where he scored a flying header in the final against Leicester City.

His most famous moment in a white shirt arrived two years later when he scored twice as we became the first British team to win a European trophy with a 5-1 demolition of Atletico Madrid in the final of the European Cup Winners Cup.

Speaking on the club’s ’50 Greatest Players’ DVD, Terry looked back at those famous days…

Terry on - joining Spurs
“I was in the Army and I was stationed at Woolwich. The Tottenham scout saw me when we played against the Guards and I scored five goals. He asked me to come to Spurs for a trial. I had to get from Woolwich to Tottenham and I didn’t have a clue. Anyway, I managed to get here and it was a reserve game against Palace. I remember getting off at Manor House and getting a bus to White Hart Lane. I remember walking in and Jimmy Anderson was manager at the time and he was there, he introduced me to the lads and we drew 1-1. I didn’t play badly and he asked me to play again. We played against Oxford and Cambridge Universities and I scored in both of those matches and started to play reserve games regularly. I came out the Army and signed and that’s when I turned professional.”

Terry on - the development of the double team
“We just happened to click, that team. We blended in together. We had that fantastic start with the 11 straight wins and you always knew that as long as you kept winning, the manager wasn’t going to change the team too much. We got more and more confident. After two or three matches we were all thinking ‘we’re quite good, you know’ and that maybe we could do something. We took one game at a time, played the next, the next, the next and that’s how Bill Nicholson wanted us to be."

Below: Terry with Dave Mackay and Bobby Smith after clinching the double by winning the FA Cup at Wembley - Bobby and Terry scored as we beat Leicester City 2-0

Terry on - scoring the big goals
“I was fortunate to score in big games. There was the FA Cup Final in 1961, I missed a sitter earlier in the game but I scored and when I was jogging back to the half-way line I thought to myself ‘I’ve done something all kids dream about’. The best though has to be the Cup Winners Cup Final in Rotterdam, the fifth goal. I did a one-two with Tony Marchi and I just went on and on and they kept backing away. I couldn’t see the keeper - I just hit it and it flew into the top corner. That was the best goal I scored.”

Terry on - his favourite memory
“I’ve a few but the day we clinched the double. The only shame was we didn’t play as well in the final as we did for most of the season. We made history that day. People always remember the first - Roger Bannister’s mile, Hilary climbing Everest – and people remember us and they can’t take it away from us.”