Remembering Ralph - Spurs and Burnley legend

Think Spurs and Burnley ahead of Monday night's trip to Turf Moor, and one name immediately springs to mind. The late, great Ralph Coates.

The two clubs were Ralph's great football loves and he served both with great distinction for 17 years.

Born in County Durham in 1946, Ralph signed amateur forms at Burnley in October, 1961, making his league debut for the Clarets in December, 1964.

He went on to play 216 times and captain the Turf Moor side before being snapped up by Bill Nicholson in May, 1971.

A mobile and energetic player, Ralph made his Spurs debut at Wolves in August, 1971, and went on to make 248 appearances for us in all competitions, scoring 24 goals before departing for a new career path in Australia in 1978. He would soon return and finish his career at Leyton Orient.

He was a member of the Spurs team that won the UEFA Cup in 1972 and reached the final of the same competition two years later. However, his most memorable moment came in the League Cup Final at Wembley in 1973 when he went on as substitute against Norwich City and scored the only goal of the game.

A regular host in our hospitality lounges throughout the 2000s, Ralph was inducted into our Hall Of Fame in May, 2010, before sadly passing away almost 10 years ago in December, 2010.

Capped four times by England, his first in 1970, Ralph switched Lancashire for the Lane after Burnley's relegation from the top flight at the end of the 1970/71 season.

Speaking back in 2009, Ralph told us how the move came about. "I got a phone call from Jimmy Adamson, Burnley's manager, desperate to get me to the ground. Unknown to me Burnley had agreed a fee of £190,000 with Tottenham and I went to Stone in Staffordshire to meet Bill.

"I heard the fee and said 'don't be stupid, no player is worth that'. It was the record straight cash deal at that time. It was an emotional moment because I'd been at Burnley so long, but I agreed everything with Bill and one of the biggest pulls was that Spurs had won the League Cup and were in Europe."

The move was a shock to the system at first. "The culture was totally different, we had a young side at Burnley but, through experience, I was a fatherly figure there. Then I came to Spurs which was a team full of stars, a dressing room full of internationals, names such as Alan Mullery, Mike England and Pat Jennings, Martin Chivers, Martin Peters, Steve Perryman, you can go on and on and on. It was tremendous to move to such a big club."

Again speaking in 2009, Ralph gave us a fascinating behind-the-scenes account of how Bill Nicholson and Danny Blanchflower visited the Burnley hotel after the 1962 FA Cup Final.

"I’d joined the groundstaff at Burnley and we were taken to Wembley for the 1962 FA Cup Final. Of course, I never thought at that time what would happen. As we all know, Spurs were a fantastic side at that time and it was a great final.

"I remember we were back at the team’s hotel and Bill Nicholson and Danny Blanchflower came to the hotel when we were having our reception and brought the FA Cup in. It was such a nice gesture and everyone in the room stood up and clapped. The respect between the clubs was tremendous and I felt it in the atmosphere at the time.

"Jimmy Adamson was captain of Burnley and he was just making his speech. The joke that always sticks in my head was that as Bill and Danny came in, Jimmy was speaking. They stood at the edge of the dining area, Jimmy noticed them and at the time, Danny was doing adverts for Weetabix, so Jimmy said 'and yes Danny, we had Weetabix for our first course tonight'. It was a nice moment.

"Jimmy then stopped his speech and welcomed Danny and Bill and everyone stood up and clapped, congratulating each other. The camaraderie between the clubs was terrific.

"When I went to watch the 1962 final, my admiration was for Burnley, it was my club, I was on the groundstaff but when I watched Spurs live and the players they had they went up even further in my estimation.

"I never, ever thought I’d end up playing for Tottenham but as time went on and I graduated through the ranks, the transfer happened.

"I’d actually been on tour with the England Under-23 team to the Far East and Bill Nicholson was the manager, so I got to know him there. He was a lovely man and I had so much respect for him."

Ralph's goal-den moment arrived at Wembley in March, 1973, but the day didn't exactly start as planned for him.

"It's funny, football is a life of ups and downs and I started the day disappointed because Bill told me I was starting as sub. I had a slight injury and he wasn’t going to risk me.

"So I made my mind up that I’d be watching the game. It’s a silly situation, you hope you get on but you don’t want to get on because you know the team would probably be struggling in that scenario.

"However, unfortunately John Pratt got injured after 15 minutes which was very sad because he’s a mate of mine, and then I came on and how things change, over the course of a few hours, and that day I scored the winning goal against Norwich in the League Cup Final.

"It was a terrific moment though, and my fan mail trebled! Afterwards you realised how much it meant to people."