Spurs vs Liverpool | Boot in both camps | Ray Clemence

One of Liverpool's all-time greats after a silver-laden 14 years at Anfield, it was often put to Ray Clemence that maybe his time at Spurs went somewhat under the radar.

How do you follow five league titles, the FA Cup, League Cup, three European Cups, two UEFA Cups and the European Super Cup? That's the dynasty of the Bill Shankly/Bob Paisley years that goalkeeper 'Clem' was part of from 1967-1981, his 665 appearances in all competitions yielding 13 major trophies for the all-conquering Reds.

Fans outside N17 may not know that Ray - who sadly passed away in 2020 - played another 330 competitive matches for us between 1981-1987, when injury finally ended a glorious career.

He helped us retain the FA Cup in 1982 in what was a memorable 1981-82 campaign where we reached the final of the League Cup - only to be beaten by Liverpool in extra time at Wembley - and reached the semi-finals of the European Cup Winners Cup, this time losing out over two legs to Barcelona. We also finished fourth in Division One. Ray also won another five England caps during his time at Spurs - almost 10 years after his first - taking his tally to 61.

Speaking to us ahead of his induction into our Hall of Fame back in 2014, Ray told us about the motivation for his switch from Liverpool L4 to London N17...

“I played for a very big club at Liverpool so to come down here to yet another big club with supporters who are also so passionate, so desperate to see their club win silverware, was special for me,” he said. “The European nights in particular were special nights. I remember making the decision to leave Liverpool and I had to come to a club that had European football.

“Keith Burkinshaw (Spurs manager) got in touch with me, the club had just won the FA Cup in 1981, so it was an ideal fix for me, to come to London, to play for one of the top clubs in the country, a team that was playing European football, a team that had the likes of Ossie Ardiles, Ricky Villa, Glenn Hoddle, Stevie Perryman - it was ideal.

“I knew I could come here and have a chance of winning things and in the first season we reached the League Cup Final, reached the semi-finals of the European Cup Winners Cup and won the FA Cup. We had a good league run as well. It was ideal for me. It lengthened my playing career by seven years and got me into coaching.

“I really wanted to win something at Spurs. We had a frustrating time in terms of reaching the League Cup Final only to be beaten in extra time, reached the semi-final of the European Cup Winners Cup and got beaten so to win that FA Cup, albeit after a replay, was special and it justified my decision to come down. Hopefully I played my part in that successful time at the club.”

Awarded an MBE inn 1987, Ray announced his retirement in March, 1988 and became our goalkeeping coach that summer. He combined his duties as reserve team manager from June, 1989 and as assistant to first team coach Doug Livermore from May, 1992 to June, 1993. He was later appointed England's goalkeeping coach under Glenn Hoddle in August, 1996 and remained at the FA until 2013, including a role as Head of Development.