The Dark History of Tottenham Hotspur

Tottenham Hotspur: the dark history

How an underhand strategy and a desire to rewrite history has transformed how people think about football in London.

To begin, somewhere near the start, and take you into an interesting world of politics and sport unlike anything you’d see today in football, poker online or any professional sport…

In 1882, the Hotspur Football Club was formed by a group of school boys attending a Bible class at All Hallows Church.

Tottenham’s aim early on, like so many clubs was to join a league and win it, and so they were interested in the attempt by Woolwich Arsenal to form a Southern League to rival the northern based Football League in 1892.

Indeed there was no reason why they should not apply to join the league – along with 21 other clubs, which they did.  But Tottenham had the ignominy of being the only club not to get any votes.

Which suggests either that between 1882 and 1892 Tottenham had remained totally obscure, or else they had managed to annoy the rest of football in the south so much that everyone hated them.

Which was it?

I’ll pull all this together in a moment and give an answer, but we may note to start with that whatever the reason, Tottenham’s longer term development was not hindered for they went professional at the end of 1895 and joined the Southern League.

In 1900, Tottenham won the Southern League title and in 1901 the FA Cup, but despite the fact that other London teams such as Chelsea and Clapton Orient were in the Football League, and Woolwich Arsenal from Kent were also there, Tottenham did not get admitted to the Football League until 1908, when they came in and won the second division.

So again we have an interesting situation.  Tottenham, with great success, ruling the Southern League, winning the FA Cup no less (and lets not be churlish, this was years before Arsenal even managed to get to the semi finals,) could not get out of the Southern League and into the Football League.   Again, why?  Even Clapton Orient got in, when they didn’t.

Here’s another drop of history and it is this which starts to give us the idea.

Tottenham were relegated in 1919 when Arsenal were promoted.  Tottenham argued that although they had ended up bottom in 1915 (the previous year of the league) the league was being extended by two clubs and precedent would mean that they should stay up with the top two in division 2 being promoted.  This plea was rejected.

Again, the League did Tottenham no favours.  Again, why was this?

So to summarise our question…

Why did Tottenham get zero votes when they tried to join the Southern League in 1892, why did it take so long for them to join the Football League despite some early success and why did they get kicked out of the first division in 1919?  What had everyone got against them?

I think the answer is to do with attitude, style and approach.  In essence the rest of football really didn’t like Tottenham very much because of their behaviour.

Let’s go back to the very name Hotspur.   Tottenham found a playing area near Northumberland Park, an area which by repute was owned by the family of Sir Henry Percy, alias Hotspur, made famous by Shakespeare in Henry IV.  (And remember we are talking 15th century history here – not present day stuff).

The name Hotspur was a powerful name – it was a name that had come to symbolise British strength and determination, plus flamboyance, risk taking and the like.  (Actually history paints a different reality, but this is how the word “Hotspur” was seen in the late 19th century).

But London already had a Hotspur club that laid claim to an inheritance of Sir Henry Percy – London Hotspur.   The Percy family lived at Syon Park, which is south of the river, and that is where London Hotspur played.

What Tottenham were doing in adopting this name was several things.  Firstly they were trying to find a romantic link through the Northumberland Park region to the hero Harry Hotspur.  Second they were trying to take the name of the club London Hotspur, who themselves were getting a reputation.  Third they were trying to give themselves instant fame, an instant reputation.

It would be rather like a club newly formed at the time of the death of Winston Churchill calling itself Tottenham Churchill.  Popularist but ultimately a bit of a cheek.

The Duke of Northumberland’s family, who are the descendants of Harry Hotspur had not direct claim over the name “Hotspur” but they would undoubtedly have been concerned to see a general use of the name here there and everyone.  One club, London Hotspur, playing by their ancestral home, perhaps with permission to use the name, might be one thing.  But suddenly another one turning up, would be something else.  How many more “Hotspurs” would arise?

One can imagine them getting irate, and writing a letter.  Legend has it that a letter was indeed received at Tottenham, which caused them to change their name from Hotspur FC to Tottenham Hotspur, although the legend now says it was a wrongly delivered letter – intended for London Hotspur.

I believe this to be highly unlikely, for the simple reason to the club which was to become Tottenham Hotspur was not in London at the time – and in fact was not in London for a very long time to come.

The chances of a letter for London Hotspur, from Syon Park, south of the river, ending up with a team not even in London is too remote to give credence to.

Tottenham (which incidentally was where I grew up as a child, living in Devonshire Hill Lane which runs parallel to White Hart Lane) was part of Middlesex from 1850 to 1965.   True, it was part of the London postal area (London N17) and the Met Police District, but in terms of administration and local government it was in Middlesex, not London.

In 1934 the urban district was incorporated as a municipal borough (still part of Middlesex) and it was only when this was abolished in 1965 following the London Government Act in 1963 and it became part of the London Borough of Haringey.

These facts were discovered by readers of the Woolwich Arsenal site “Making the Arsenal” and I am very grateful to them for the discussion which brought this to light.

So Tottenham Hotspur were formed, but they were already known as a club that pushed its luck, usurping the name “Hotspur” from another club, already using that name.  That explains why they started getting rejected from early ballots for entry into leagues.

But then Tottenham made matters much worse for themselves.  In 1905 when Chelsea was created out of nothing (see the special feature article on this topic) they (Chelsea) applied for a place in the Southern League.   And Tottenham Hotspur objected on the grounds that London already had too many clubs!

Now that was cheek and a half.  Tottenham had no right to speak on London, because it was clearly in Middlesex, not London.   Woolwich Arsenal (in Kent) made no such objection.   It was widely seen as the uppity Middlesex club sticking its nose into things again.

However Tottenham made so much fuss that Chelsea was rejected by the Southern League, with support from clubs like Brentford, and Croydon Common.  So Chelsea applied for a place in the Football League and got in.

But the Football League would not forget Tottenham’s negative and arrogant behaviour in trying to speak for London, so from then on , no matter that they had won the cup, they were kept out of the League.

Eventually they did get in, but then they jumped back on the bandwagon in 1913 when Woolwich Arsenal moved to Highbury.  Again they led the arguments again, and forgetting their previous PR disasters they used the “London clubs” argument.  Henry Norris, a master at this sort of tactic, pointed out that this might well be a matter for London clubs, but not a matter for clubs from “other counties.”

“Maybe Lancashire and Yorkshire have an opinion,” he said, “and certainly if we listen to the opinion of Middlesex, we must listen to Yorkshire and Lancashire.”

Norris made the point that if the Football League were to be a national league, then the capital – the real LONDON – not the adjacent counties – needed football teams, and at that moment it only had Chelsea.  Adding Arsenal to the list would at least give London two – as Middlesex had two (Orient and Tottenham).

This is why Tottenham, the Middlesex club, had no friends in 1919 when Arsenal applied for a place in the first division to represent LONDON.   Tottenham claimed that by coming bottom in 1915 they should have stayed in the 1st division when it was expanded.  But on what grounds?

Their only grounds were the fact that they were NEAR LONDON.

That was it – and indeed when Tottenham Hotspur make references to Woolwich Arsenal, we should always remember, they endlessly tried to manipulate London football from without – and that is why the Football League lost patience with them, and told them to shut up.

Woolwich Arsenal could become Arsenal, and Arsenal could have their place in the 1st division.

——-

This is one of several special features on the history of Arsenal.  Others are to be found on the Making the Arsenal web site.  You can also read the history of Arsenal in 1910 in the book Making the Arsenal

71 Replies to “The Dark History of Tottenham Hotspur”

  1. nigel, that would be interesting, if we had dropped the word Woolwich when we moved, but the changing of the Arsenal name through its various forms (Dial Sq, Royal Arsenal, Woolwich Arsenal, The Arsenal, Arsenal) never once coincided with a move.

  2. But Spurs didn’t move so it is academic. Tottenham Hotspur remain the true north London club. With the new ground being built on top of the current White Hart Lane and their former ground at Tottenham marshes being just 1/2 mile away, their entire history has been in Tottenham. Unlike the nomadic existence of Woolwich Arsenal.

  3. By the way Tony Attwood, you were quick to counter Neil Hughes “allegations” yet you failed to respond to my post of August 15 when I countered all of your allegations about Tottenham Hotspur’s early history. All of which are completely unfounded – and indeed some of which are outright lies.

  4. RBS

    Get over it. Arsenal have been in north London since 1913, a long time before any of us and our parents were born, and will be staying so accept the fact both clubs are generally classed as north London. What is your problem with that? Everybody else accepts it as a fact. Also however academic it is it’s a fact Spurs seriously wanted to move away from Tottenham to go to the Olympic stadium. So how can you be so sanctimonious about staying in Tottenham and calling Arsenal nomadic when they have been in Islington so long. They are both great clubs so why not enjoy their rivalry as close neighbours.

  5. Only one professional London club has moved so far from their origins. Woolwich Arsenal. Approximately 14 miles as the crow flies or 18 miles by road. So it doesn’t just “happen”. Hence the reason the north London clubs, Spurs & Orient were so opposed to the move back in 1913.

  6. RBS not quite sure that “hence” is quite right. The League considered the matter at their AGM in 1910, and ruled then that they had no regulations relating to where a team played. Tottenham had objected to Chelsea’s application to join the Southern League in 1905, and won the day with that objection – but that was against a new club newly formed. The League never followed this line.

  7. RBS

    You seem so bitter even in a season in which Spurs have done very well. As I said get over it, it happened 103 years ago.
    Good job you wasn’t around then, you’d never have coped!

    By the way Wimbledon, a London professional club, moved to Milton Keynes a few years ago which is much further.

  8. That’s strange Tony, as one of your own blogs seems to back up my case. These are your words about the move in 1913.

    “Immediately the protests started and on 23 February Tottenham supported by Clapton Orient called for a meeting of the League Management Committee to prohibit Arsenal’s move north. However the League reiterated their statement made at the 1910 AGM of the League that nothing in the rule book controlled where a club played its home games. In short they had no rule to apply.

    Thus inevitably on 1 March the Football League rejected appeals by Tottenham to prohibit Arsenal from moving to Gillespie Road”

    So yes “hence” is a correct term. If Arsenal had moved 1 mile down the road (like Tottenham did, when they moved from Tottenham marshes to White Hart Lane), there would have been no protest from any club. The fact is Spurs & Orient were outraged, because the move was so was unprecedented & dramatic encroaching into their local fan base areas. They protested even though they knew it would almost certainly be in vain.

    Although Spurs continued to thrive after the move, becoming the first London side to win the FA Cup twice, first to do double, first to win a European trophy, etc etc, I feel Woolwich Arsenal pretty much destroyed Orient as a major footballing force. Orient were 4th two years in a row in the 2nd division in 1911 & 1912, a year later Arsenal moved to Highbury & it was another 50 years until they reached that kind of league position again. So you talk of Tottenham’s “dark” history but Arsenal’s is far more shameful – the move to north London helping stifle the ambitions of London’s second oldest club (formed one year before London’s third oldest club – Tottenham).

  9. I was very interested to read about the dark history ot Tottenham and the fact about Syon Park. I lived in Brentford, Middlesex as a child and often went down to Syon Park ( north of the river ). Not South of the river as written about. I drew the Duck of Northumberland mansion in a School project and had a part time job in the garden centre . I take it the plot of land near by was not Brentford F C ground ,Griffin Park, established 1889.

  10. RBS – I see you point, but you must also remember that Tottenham’s case was seriously hampered because they had appealed successfully in 1905 against the application of Chelsea to join the Southern League, on the basis that there were already too many clubs in London and that an additional club would hinder they profitability.

    The Southern League gave in to the request and as we know Chelsea immediately applied to the Football League, who gave them a place. Tottenham of course could not object to that as they were not league members.

  11. All very interesting stuff. I’m writing because i wonder if anyone knows the exact location of the Spurs ground in Northumberland Park. I’ve never seen it mentioned. I know that my idol from the 1950s, Ted Ditchburn had a shop on this street so perhaps it was close by. Anyone?

  12. Brian, Tottenham played on Tottenham marshes until they moved to White Hart Lane in 1899. This was public open ground. They hired rooms at local pubs, such as The Milford Tavern (on corner of Park Lane & Somerford Grove) or the Park Hotel (next to Northumberland Park Station). They also held the annual dinner at The Milford Tavern. Tottenham played Royal Arsenal or Woolwich Arsenal (not sure which as Arsenal have changed their identity more times than Clark Kent)on the Marshes in 1887. Spurs were winning 2-1 when the game was abandoned due to bad light. This is referenced in various books about Tottenham’s history, Brian Belton’s “Forward the Spurs” is one, focusing on the early history.

  13. Tottenham formed 1882 join LONDON FA.
    Arsenal formed 1886 join KENT FA.
    Tottenham first competitive match LONDON Association Cup.
    Arsenal first competitive match KENT Senior Cup.

  14. Actually Arsenal joined both the Kent FA and the London FA. Indeed if you read the history fully you’ll see that at one stage both FA’s had games that they demanded Arsenal play on the same day and Arsenal were forced to put out two teams.

  15. But the fact is Arsenal joined the Kent FA and their first competitive match was in the Kent Senior Cup (even if as you say they also joined the London FA).

    Tottenham never joined the Middlesex FA only ever being members of the London FA. First competitive match in the London Association Cup.

    So Tottenham Hotspur have only ever been a club representing London.

    In the 1890s, Tottenham’s old ground at Northumberland Park was even chosen as the venue for north v south London match.

    In 1893 the Corinthian Casuals played Tottenham a quote from one of the Casuals at the time ‘There is no doubt that North London football and especially Tottenham is a power to be reckoned with’. Note no mention by the Casuals of Tottenham being a Middlesex club.

  16. This is an interesting read, so I hope you will add my comments.

    In the mid 1850’s long before Tottenham and Arsenal were formed, London was expanding rapidly. So the general post office introduced 10 postal districts in London. There were two for Central London, and eight more stretching 12 miles radiating from the post office near St. Paul’s Cathedral. These districts were based on the main points of the compass. If we look at the Map of the Original London Postal Districts of 1857 (which is readily available to view on the internet) we can see Tottenham in the Northern district of London. It also shows Middlesex mostly being contained within these districts of London.

    The County of London (referred to by some bloggers) was formed in 1889 several years after Tottenham were formed, and up to then Highbury was probably also part of Middlesex.

    So Tottenham was in the Northern District of London in 1882 and Arsenal did not come along until 1913. So I think it clear that Tottenham are in fact the first team in North London.

    With that cleared up we move on to the events of 1919 that saw Tottenham dealt a hammer blow – one to which we responded to with true dignity and simply won promotion the following season with a FA Cup win as well.

    Now please bear with me as we take some background information on board:

    1. Something that people may not know is that in 1919 a second division team, namely Leeds City was expelled from the Football League (after 8 matches) in September 1919 as a result of failing to account for alleged financial irregularities between 1915 and 1918 when called to do so. As a result 5 senior officials of Leeds City were banned for life, including a certain Herbert Chapman. I have to point out that Chapman was reinstated a few years later when appointed manager of Huddersfield Town, on the basis that he had resigned from Leeds City in December 1918.
    2. It is also worth pointing out that William Hall (Arsenals vice chairman) was appointed to the Football League Management Committee in 1912 and would therefore have voted on FA decisions.
    3. At the end of the 1914/5 season Chelsea finished one place and one point above Tottenham and Manchester United finished two places and two points above Tottenham. Now it is worth mentioning that Manchester United and Liverpool were allegedly involved in a betting scandal, fixing the result of the match between them to a 2 – 0 win for Manchester United. This result elevated them above Chelsea thus avoiding the drop to Division 2 at the beginning of the 1915/6 season. However there was a cessation of professional football until the end of the Great War.
    4. A Liverpool win would have kept Manchester United on level points with Tottenham and Chelsea above Manchester United. Several players were given life bans, but neither club were punished. The Chairman of Liverpool was John McKenna who was also the president of Football League Management Committee.

    Now on to 1919.

    I think we all know that the football league First and Second Divisions were each increased to 22 teams at start of the 1919 season, and according to Arsenal’s then manager (Leslie Knighton in his autobiography in chapter 7) it was agreed to follow precedent and simply promote the top two teams from the previous season. So, how on earth a team that finished 5th in the second division ended up in the top flight of English Football?

    Again we can see Leslie Knighton’s reference to Arsenal’s chairman – Henry Norris – (a man he refers to as Footballs’ Napoleon) using ‘influence and power’ and at the resumption of professional football in 1919, it was decide to ignore the aforementioned precedents, and a vote took place instead.

    So we come to the vote. The meeting was chaired by John McKenna with William Hall on the committee. We can read what we like into all this, but Henry Norris is alleged to have used influence which is something that the the Arsenal Manager (Leslie Knighton) writes about in his book. Chapter 10 is quite interesting as well. It is titled ‘I dope Arsenal for a FA Cup Tie’.

    A few years later Norris was banned from having anything to do with professional football (in 1927). Being a rather outspoken person Norris tried to sue the FA Committee for libel, and entered into two court cases against the FA. During the first case, Norris admitted a string of irregular financial transaction as far back as 1919 when Arsenal made unaccounted payments to secure new players. He admitted payments to players named Voisey and White and a string of other financially irregularities throughout the next few years. The second case was thrown out of court without being heard.

    So to sum up, at the resumption of professional football in 1919 we potentially have a betting scandal with Liverpool and Manchester United unpunished, we have Arsenal chairman making irregular payments to players going unpunished, we have the committee being influenced by Norris and the vice chairman of Arsenal sitting on the same committee. The result of the whole event was Chelsea (finished one place above Spurs) were not involved in the vote, and stayed in the First Division. Arsenal were voted in and Spurs were voted out!

    Spurs had the last laugh, and won the second division at the first attempt, with a record number of points and won the FA Cup as well!

    Final statement – Arsenal are the only club in the top flight of English football who did not win promotion to it. Herbert Chapman bronze statue confirms Arsenal’s gratitude to him – somewhat ironic that the man that saved Arsenal was a Tottenham player!

    All of the above is taken from available information on the internet, including Leslie Knighton’s autobiography. The validity of some of it cannot be proved or disproved – the choice is yours – I have my own opinion!

  17. This is really bizarre Johnny. All the issues you mention are covered in enormous detail in this blog incorporating evidence from contemporary sources and the most fulsome analysis of the sources that has ever been undertaken. Yet you come onto this site and ignore most of it and present your own approach with hardly any evidence at all. Do you expect us to believe your summary without evidence when we have spent almost two years gathering all the evidence – which you have totall ignored?

  18. Hi Tony, apologies if I have offended you in any way whatsoever – it was not my intention. I enjoyed the read. I do not doubt your extensive research, but personally found tracking down a copy of Leslie Knighton’s autobiography quite difficult. If you deem it appropriate, please feel free to remove the post. Good luck…

  19. Knighton’s autobiography is on the internet and can be inspected there but much of it is untrue. The drugs story certainly doesn’t stand up to inspection, the limit on the transfer fees is shown to be untrue on multiple times, the “brother in law of the club physio” had just won the league with Rangers and was brought back by Chapman when he retired, the transfer fee he claims to have offered for Buchan was far, far more than Arsenal paid… so it goes on. It was a fantasy tale by a man who was short of money writing without any notes from the era, 21 years after the events. As you’ve read it you might also care to read George Allison’s authobiography which came out the same month, and which tells a different story. I do hope you might read the series “Henry Norris at the Arsenal” – not least to get the true story about what happened with the election of Arsenal in 1919. And incidentally this was not the first time a club was elected to the first division.

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