HODDLE, Glenn (1975-87)
Position: Midfield
Height: 6ft 1in
Weight: 11st 6lbs
Born: Hayes, Middlesex, 27 October, 1957
Signed from apprentice April 1975
Transferred to Monaco July 1987
Also played for: Monaco, Chelsea, Swindon Town, England
Spurs Record:
Debut: 30 August 1975 v Norwich City (sub) (FL) (h) drew 2-2
Appearances: League 370(7), FA Cup 47(1), League Cup 44, Europe 17(4)
Goals: League 88, FA Cup 11, League Cup 10, Europe 1
“The most naturally gifted footballer of his generation” is one of those overused clichés, but in the case of Glenn Hoddle it is an understatement. Hoddle was not just the most naturally gifted player of his generation, he was the most naturally gifted of many generations.
Living in Harlow, he was noted by our scouts as a schoolboy but it was only after playing in a local junior cup final in front of Martin Chivers that he was invited to train with us. Chivers and Ray Evans had gone along to present the trophies and Chivers mentioned Hoddle’s name when he got back to White Hart Lane. Only 11, he was outstanding even then and so he continued as he moved up through the ranks with Spurs signing him to apprentice and professional forms at the first opportunity.
Hoddle made his League debut as a substitute in August 1975 but Terry Neill was still finding his feet at Spurs and was not going to risk giving an 18-year-old free rein. It was not until February 1976 that Hoddle started his first League game and he announced his arrival with the type of goal against Stoke City he was to become renowned for, beating England goalkeeper Peter Shilton with a perfectly-placed long-range volley.
When Keith Burkinshaw took over as manager, he immediately showed his confidence in Hoddle’s talents by installing him as the midfield playmaker, the player around whom everything would revolve. It was a heavy burden for one so young and with the club relegated in 1977, it might have appeared one too demanding but Hoddle needed time to develop and Burkinshaw time to assemble the right players around him.
Tall, slim, elegant, perfectly balanced and with a bearing that just screamed confidence, Hoddle simply oozed class. There seemed nothing he could not do with a football whether it was playing quick-fire one-twos, threading it through a massed defence, juggling it in the tightest of corners, bending it round a defensive wall, chipping it into a few feet of space or dropping it inch perfect into the stride of a colleague.
Glenn could score too and what goals he scored. Any compilation of our top 20 goals of all-time would have several entrants from Hoddle - his edge of the box volley after a slick one-two with Ossie Ardiles against Manchester United in August 1979; his first-time sledgehammer against Nottingham Forest two months later when Gerry Armstrong and Chris Jones nodded on a Milija Aleksic punt; his delicate inch perfect lob from the angle of the area at Watford in September 1983; his parting gift to Spurs fans as he feinted and shimmied his way through the Oxford United defence in April 1987, the list is endless.
Glenn made his last appearance for Spurs in the 1987 FA Cup Final. Defeat was not the way he wanted to leave but he, more than many, had given the fans good times with the FA Cup in 1981 and 1982, the League (Milk) Cup final in 1982 and, although he missed the final because of injury, the UEFA Cup in 1984.
Hoddle won 53 full England caps, a reasonable number but barely half of what he should have collected. After leaving us, Hoddle took his talents to Monaco where his vision and skills found a new adoring audience to appreciate his artistry before embarking on a managerial career with Swindon Town, Chelsea, England, Southampton and then a return home to N17 in March 2001.
He led us to the League Cup Final in 2002 after a demolition of Chelsea in the semi-finals, but lost to Blackburn Rovers at Cardiff’s Millennium Stadium, and eventually left his role in September 2003.