The Knowledge | When Spurs vs Burnley was the hottest ticket in town...
Any meeting of Spurs and Burnley is bound to spark memories for our older generation of fans.
Back in the early 1960s, this was the hottest ticket in town.
Over four seasons - 1959/60 through to 1962/63 - both teams won the old First Division title and went head-to-head in the latter stages of the FA Cup. Indeed, in that time, neither team finished outside the top four.
We beat Burnley in the semi-finals of the FA Cup at Villa Park on our way to clinching the historic double of league and FA Cup in 1961. We then beat Burnley again in the 1962 FA Cup Final as we defended the trophy at Wembley but Burnley gained revenge by denying our hat-trick bid in the third round at the Lane the next season, January 1963.
Our success was delivered by the great Bill Nicholson, who added the European Cup Winners' Cup in 1963 as we became the first British team to win a European trophy. Bill would later add another FA Cup (1967), two League Cups (1971, 1973) and the UEFA Cup (1972).
Meanwhile, Burnley were led by Harry Potts, who in 12 years as manager at Turf Moor lifted the title in 1960, reached the quarter-finals of the European Cup in 1961 and was then runner-up in both the league and FA Cup in 1962 and third in the First Division in 1963.
Speaking to us back in 2015, Cliff, now 90 and such a key figure in those glory, glory days, told us all about the rivalry, and we run his quotes again here as we prepare to face the Clarets in the Premier League at Turf Moor on Saturday (3pm UK).
“It was the glory years for Tottenham, but also for Burnley,” reflected our legendary former winger Cliff, 159 goals in 378 appearances in all competitions for us, 1958-1968. “We were two teams similar in style, we both played good, attacking football. We put bums on seats, both teams. We were the teams to come and watch.
“We had Danny Blanchflower and they had Jimmy Adamson, very similar characters, intelligent, good footballers, leaders. They had Jim McIlroy, one of the greats of that time, striker Ray Pointon and John Connelly, a winger who was always a threat.
“We were big rivals, both winning matches and doing well domestically. It was like that for three or four seasons where we were always competing against each other for the top spots.
“Burnley and Tottenham was the match people wanted to see. They were always fantastic occasions.”
Spurs v Burnley - the rivalry - 1959-1963
1959/60
Burnley won the title, Spurs were third with Ipswich Town runners-up – only two points separated the teams.
Oct 1, 1959 - Spurs 1-1 Burnley - Medwin
Mar 1, 1960 - Burnley 1-0 Spurs
1960/61
Spurs won the title and the double, Burnley were fourth, 15 points behind. The teams also met in the FA Cup semi-final at Villa Park with Spurs running out 3-0 winners.
Dec 3, 1960 - Spurs 4-4 Burnley - Jones 2, Norman, Medwin
Apr 22, 1961 - Burnley 4-2 Spurs - Baker, Smith
FA Cup semi-final - March 18 - Spurs 3-0 Burnley - Smith 2, Jones
1961/62
Burnley finished runners-up to Ipswich with Spurs third, one point behind Burnley, four adrift of Ipswich.
Oct 28, 1961 - Spurs 4-2 Burnley - Jones 2, Saul, Clayton
Mar 17, 1962 - Burnley 2-2 Spurs - Greaves, Jones
FA Cup Final - May 5, 1962 - Spurs 3-1 Burnley - Greaves, Smith, Blanchflower
1962/63
Spurs were runners-up behind Everton with Burnley third.
Nov 24, 1962 - Burnley 2-1 Spurs - Greaves
Mar 30, 1963 - Spurs 1-1 Burnley - Greaves
FA Cup 3rd round - Jan 16, 1963 - Spurs 0-3 Burnley
