May 18, 1991, 30 years ago: The Football Association (FA Cup) Final is held at the old Wembley Stadium in London. Tottenham Hotspur of North London defeats Nottingham Forest of the East Midlands, 2-1.
"Spurs" needed this win, as they were more than £20 million in debt, and finished 10th in the Football League Division One. To make matters worse, their local arch-rivals, Arsenal, won the League, for the 2nd time in the last 3 years.
But they had one asset, midfielder Paul Gascoigne. The chubby Newcastle native had caught the world's attention at the 1990 World Cup, helping England reach the Semifinals. In the Semifinals of the FA Cup, he scored on a free kick that helped beat Arsenal. What the soccer world did not yet know is that -- in this era before the establishment of the Summer and January transfer windows -- Spurs had already agreed to sell "Gazza" to Lazio of Rome, Italy.
Early in the Final, Gascoigne tried to win the ball, and kicked Forest's Garry Parker in the chest. Referee Roger Milford gave him a warning, when he should have given him at least a yellow card. In the 15th minute, Gazza struck again, tackling Gary Charles near Spurs' penalty area.
A midfielder tackling a right back? Usually, it works the other way around. A tackle like that sometimes injures the player being tackled. But this also worked the other way around: Gazza tore up his knee, and had to leave the game, despite the fact that he didn't receive the straight red card he should have gotten, or even a yellow card.
But Milford did award Forest a free kick, and Stuart Pearce, Forest's Captain and left back, known as "Psycho," drilled it past Spurs' Norwegian goalkeeper Erik Thorstvedt, giving Forest a 1-0 lead. To make matters worse for Spurs, in the 25th minute, Gary Lineker seemed to have scored, but the goal was disallowed for offside. Five minutes later, Lineker was brought down in the box by Forest's Welsh keeper Mark Crossley, and was awarded a penalty. But Crossley saved it, and the game was still 1-0 to Forest at the half.
In the 55th minute, Paul Stewart scored an equalizer. It remained 1-1 at the end of normal time. In the 94th minute, Mohamed Ali Amar, the Spanish midfielder of Turkish descent known as Nayim, took a corner. Stewart met it, and set it up for Spurs' Captain, centreback Gary Mabbutt, to head it in.
In the 1987 FA Cup Final, Mabbutt had scored an own goal to give Coventry City the Cup over Spurs. Now, he was on the other side of it: He was beaten to the header by Forest centreback Des Walker, who headed it in. Spurs held their 2-1 lead for the rest of extra time.
Three times, the FA Cup has been decided on an own goal, and Mabbutt was involved in the last 2. The other was in 1960, when Mick McGrath hurt his Blackburn Rovers team, giving the Cup to Wolverhampton Wanderers.
Terry Venables had starred as a player for Chelsea and Tottenham, winning the 1967 FA Cup with the latter. He had managed Barcelona to the La Liga title in 1984. Now, he had managed Spurs to the FA Cup.
Brian Clough had starred as a player for Middlesbrough and Sunderland, before a knee injury ended his career early. He had managed Derby County to the League title in 1972, flopped at Leeds United, then moved to Derby's East Midlands arch-rivals, Nottingham Forest, and managed them to the League title in 1978, and to the European Cup in 1979 and 1980. He had won the League Cup as Forest manager 4 times, including the 2 seasons before this.
But in his long and storied career, as both a player and a manager, the FA Cup eluded him. This was as close as Cloughie would ever get to the Cup, and "El Tel" had beaten him.
Although Prince Charles and Princess Diana were on hand, it was Katharine, Duchess of Kent, who handed the Cup to Mabbutt.
As often happens, the Spurs players had recorded a "Cup Final song," in anticipation of an expected victory. It was titled "When the Year Ends in One" and they had help from musical duo Charles Hodges and Dave Peacock, a.k.a. Chas & Dave. Spurs have won the FA Cup in 1901, 1921, 1961, 1981 and 1991; the League in 1951 and 1961 (winning both in 1961, the 1st "Double" in the 20th Century); and the League Cup in 1971.
And so, when every subsequent year ending in 1 came around, the song was brought back, as Spurs fans were sure that another trophy would arrive. It hasn't: They lost the FA Cup Semifinal to Arsenal in 2001, came no closer to a trophy in 2011 than the Quarterfinal of the UEFA Champions League, and, this year, 2021, lost the League Cup Final and got no closer in any other trophy push.
Historically, Spurs' record in the Cup was a decent one. From 1901 to 1991 -- 90 years, but, due to the tournament's cancellation during both World Wars, 80 tournaments -- they won it 8 times, an average of once every 10 tries: 1901, 1921, 1961, 1962, 1967, 1981, 1982 and 1991. From 1961 to 1991, 31 tries, once every 5 years.
But since 1991, they haven't even reach the Final. They've reached the Semifinal 8 times, and lost all 8: 1993 and 2001 to Arsenal, 1995 to Liverpool team Everton, 1999 to Newcastle United, 2010 to Portsmouth, 2012 and 2017 to Chelsea, and 2018 to Manchester United.
Losing to Arsenal was humiliating enough. But the 2010 loss was particularly galling: Harry Redknapp had won the 2008 FA Cup with Portsmouth, then left them for Tottenham, leaving them bankrupt, and they were already guaranteed relegation in 2010, but got to the Semifinal again, and beat Tottenham in extra time, before losing the Final to Chelsea.
Anyway, after the 1991 Final, they did indeed sell Gascoigne to Lazio, for £5.5 million. Only 24 years old at the time, he missed the entire 1991-92 season. Injuries meant that he was never the same again, although there was still the occasional flash of his former talent, including a goal for England against Scotland in Euro 96.
Mental illness and alcoholism have plagued him ever since, and he hasn't worked in the sport at all since 2005. He's about to turn 54, and hasn't been to rehab since 2017. It's hard to tell whether he's clean at the moment, but, at least, he looks healthier than in recent years.
But, despite big spending and big talk, especially over the last 10 years, Spurs' record has been pathetic. They reached the Champions League Final in 2019, losing to Liverpool. But, since the 1991 FA Cup, their only trophies have been the League Cup in 1999 and 2008. And if you still consider the League Cup a "major trophy," then perhaps no one should consider your team a "big club."
Spurs haven't won the FA Cup since May 18, 1991. That's exactly 30 years. How long has that been?
*
The 1990-91 season came on the heels of the 1989 Hillsborough Disaster and the subsequent Taylor Report, which mandated, among other things, all-seater stadiums. Of the 20 teams then in Division One:
* Tottenham, Nottingham Forest, Arsenal, Liverpool, Crsytal Palace, Leeds United, Manchester City, Manchester United, Everton, Chelsea, Queens Park Rangers, Sheffield United, Norwich City, Aston Villa and Luton Town were able to reconfigure the stadiums they then had.
* Tottenham, Arsenal and Manchester City have since ended up building new stadiums anyway.
* Southampton, Coventry City, Sunderland and Derby County built new stadiums instead of reworking the ones they had.
* Wimbledon moved, to become Milton Keynes Dons.
In the time since Spurs last won the FA Cup, it's been won by Arsenal 10 times, Chelsea 7 times, Manchester United 5 times, Liverpool 3 times, Manchester City twice, and once each by Everton, Portsmouth, Wigan Athletic and Leicester City.
Ronaldo (the real
one) was 14 years old. Thierry Henry, Jamie Carragher, Gianluigi Buffon, Didier
Drogba and Carles Puyol were 13. Tim Howard was 12. Andrea Pirlo turned 12 the
next day. Ronaldinho was 11. Steven Gerrard and John Terry were 10. Iker
Casillas turned 10 just 2 days later. Hope Solo, Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Landon
Donovan were 9. Carli Lloyd, Clint Dempsey and Franck Ribery were 8. Wayne
Rooney, Heather O’Reilly, Cristiano Ronald and Bradley Wright-Phillips were 6.
Megan Rapinoe, Manuel Neuer and Vincent Kompany were 5. Olivier Giroud, Jamie Vardy, Luis Suarez and Dax McCarty were 4. Lionel Messi was 3. Sergio Aguero, Robert Lewandowski and Mesut Ozil were 2. Alex Morgan and Gareth Bale were a year and a half. Toni Kroos was 1. Jordan Henderson was 11 months. Aaron Ramsey and Eden Hazard were 4 months. Antoine Griezmann was 2 months. And Virgil van Dijk, Jack Wilshere, Neymar, Mario Gotze, Mohamed Salah, Alisson, Paul Pogba and Harry Kane weren't born yet. Nor was current Spurs manager Ryan Mason, born on June 13, 1991.
Red Star Belgrade won the European Cup, the tournament which, a little more than a year later, would be rebranded as the UEFA Champions League. And, as stated, Arsenal, the real team in North London, won the Football League.
The Chicago Bulls were about to win their 1st NBA Championship, and the Pittsburgh Penguins their 1st Stanley Cup. The Cincinnati Reds were the holder of baseball's World Championship, and the New York Giants of American football's. The Heavyweight Champion of the World was Evander Holyfield.
The Olympic Games have since been held in America twice; and once each in France, Spain, Norway, Japan, Australia, Greece, Italy, China, Canada, Britain, Russia, Brazil and Korea. The World Cup has since been held in America, France, Japan, Korea, Germany, South Africa, Brazil and Russia.
The Prime Minister of Britain was John Major, and of Canada, Brian Mulroney. The monarch of both was Queen Elizabeth II -- that hasn't changed.
The President of the United States was George H.W. Bush. His son George W. had recently bought the Texas Rangers baseball team. Ronald Reagan, Jimmy Carter, Gerald Ford, Richard Nixon, their wives, and the widows of Lyndon Johnson and Jacqueline Kennedy were still alive. So were Prime Ministers Margaret Thatcher, James Callaghan, Harold Wilson, Edward Heath and Alec Douglas-Home.
Bill Clinton had just been sworn in for a 5th term as Governor of Arkansas, and was preparing a run for President. Hillary Clinton, of course, was the State's First Lady. Barack Obama had just begun work at a Chicago law firm. Donald Trump was in the process of divorcing Ivana and marrying his mistress, Marla Maples. Neither of these women, of course, is the current Mrs. Trump. And Joe Biden was a Senator from Delaware, and Chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee.
The Governor of the State of New York was Mario Cuomo. The Mayor of the City of New York was David Dinkins. The Governor of New Jersey was Jim Florio. The current holders of those offices? Andrew Cuomo, Mario's son, worked for Dinkins as Chair of the New York City Homeless Commission. Bill de Blasio also worked for Dinkins, as a City Hall aide. And Phil Murphy was working for Goldman Sachs in New York.
The Pope was John Paul II. The current Pope, Francis, was teaching theology in Frankfurt, Germany, under his birth name, Jorge Mario Bergoglio. Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev had recently been awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. There have since been 5 Presidents of the United States, 6 Prime Ministers of Britain, and 3 Popes.
There were still living veterans of the Spanish-American War, the Boer War and the Russo-Japanese War. There were still living survivors of the Johnstown Flood, the Galveston Hurricane, the General Slocum disaster and the San Francisco Earthquake.
Douglas Coupland coined the expression that defined people born between the mid-1960s and the mid-1970s, myself included, in the title of his novel Generation X: Tales for an Accelerated Culture. Alexandra Ripley published Scarlett, the authorized sequel to Gone With the Wind.
Tom Clancy published the Jack Ryan novel The Sum of All Fears, John Grisham The Firm, and Bret Easton Ellis American Psycho, later turned into a film in which Christian Bale became the kind of man his later character, Batman, would have pursued and caught. None of the Harry Potter or A Song of Ice and Fire novels had yet been published.
Stephen King published Needful Things, George R.R. Martin was working on his Wild Cards series, and J.K. Rowling hadn't yet published anything. No one had yet heard of Deadpool, Alex Cross, Bridget Jones, Ash Ketchum, Robert Langdon, Master Chief, Rick Grimes, Wynonna Earp, Lisbeth Salander, Bella Swan or Katniss Everdeen.
Major films then in theaters included The Marrying Man, Drop Dead Fred, A Kiss Before Dying, A Rage in Harlem, and What About Bob? Released in the coming days were Backdraft, Hudson Hawk, Thelma & Louise and Soapdish. Major TV shows that had recently premiered included the CBS version of The Flash with John Wesley Shipp, Evening Shade, Dream On, Beverly Hills 90210 (iconically),
Cop Rock (ignominiously), Blossom, Dinosaurs and Sisters.
Christopher Reeve was the most recent onscreen Superman, Michael Keaton had debuted as Batman, Sylvester McCoy had been the last Doctor Who (or so we then thought), and Timothy Dalton was playing James Bond.
No one had yet heard of The Seinfeld Four, Buffy Summers, Fox Mulder & Dana Scully, Andy Sipowicz, Jay & Silent Bob, Ross Geller & Rachel Greene, Doug Ross, Xena, Austin Powers, Carrie Bradshaw, Tony Soprano, Jed Bartlet, Jack Bauer, Omar Little, Leroy Jethro Gibbs, Michael Bluth, Michael Scott, Don Draper, Walter White, Jax Teller, Richard Castle, Leslie Knope, Sarah Manning, Jane "Eleven" Hopper or Maggie Bell.
No one had yet heard of The Seinfeld Four, Buffy Summers, Fox Mulder & Dana Scully, Andy Sipowicz, Jay & Silent Bob, Ross Geller & Rachel Greene, Doug Ross, Xena, Austin Powers, Carrie Bradshaw, Tony Soprano, Jed Bartlet, Jack Bauer, Omar Little, Leroy Jethro Gibbs, Michael Bluth, Michael Scott, Don Draper, Walter White, Jax Teller, Richard Castle, Leslie Knope, Sarah Manning, Jane "Eleven" Hopper or Maggie Bell.
"I Like the Way (The Kissing Game)" by Hi-Five was the Number 1 song in America. Michael Jackson was recording his album Dangerous. Bob Dylan had released the 1st of his Bootleg Series box sets. Nirvana were about to release Nevermind.
Kourtney Kardashian was 11 years old, Kim was 10, Beyonce was 9, Khloe Kardashian was 6, Lady Gaga was 4, Rob Kardashian and Kevin Jonas were 3, Rihanna was about to turn 3, Joe Jonas was 17 months; and Selena Gomez, Demi Lovato, Nick Jonas, Miley Cyrus, Nicki Minaj, Ariana Grande, Justin Bieber, Kendall Jenner, Kylie Jenner, and all of the members of One Direction weren't born yet.
Inflation was such that what $1.00 bought then, $1.76 would buy now. Or, more to the point of the country in question, what £1.00 bought then, £2.29 would buy now.
A U.S. postage stamp cost 25 cents (but would increase to 29 cents in the coming days), and a New York Subway ride $1.15. The average price of a gallon of gas was $1.20, a cup of coffee $1.55, a McDonald's meal (Big Mac, fries, shake) $5.71, a movie ticket $4.20, a new car $15,473, and a new house $151,100. The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed the day before at 2,886.83.
The Sega Genesis was the leading home video game system. There were mobile telephones, but hardly anybody had them. The Internet did exist, but hardly anybody had heard of it. The Hubble Space Telescope had just been launched, but it wasn't working, and another space shuttle mission would be needed to fix it. There were birth control pills, but no Viagra.
In the Spring of 1991, the Soviet Union began pulling troops out of Poland, ending a 52-year occupation of my ancestral homeland. The European Community responded to improvements in South Africa by lifting their longtime economic sanctions. The Italian ferry Moby Prince collided with an oil tanker off the coast of Livorno, killing 140 people. A tropical cyclone killed 138,000 people in Bangladesh. The Angolan Civil War was ended by a cease-fire. Nepal held its 1st multiparty election in 32 years. The people of Croatia voted to secede from Yugoslavia. And former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi of India was assassinated.
In America, Senator John Heinz of Pennsylvania and former Senator John Tower of Texas, both Republicans, were killed in separate plane crashes on back-to-back days. A series of tornadoes killed 21 people in the Midwest. Queen Elizabeth II visited America, and addressed a Joint Session of Congress.
David Ruffin, and former Baseball Commissioner Happy Chandler, and English soccer legend Stan Mortensen died. Kawhi Leonard, and Alexandre Lacazette, and Thiago Alcantara were born.
May 18, 1991. Tottenham Hotspur won the FA Cup. Unless you count the League Cup, which they won in 1999 and 2008 -- and you shouldn't -- Spurs have not won a major trophy since.
And since it looks like Harry Kane wants out, it seems unlikely they'll win one anytime soon. "It's happened again, it's happened again, Tottenham Hotspur, it's happened again!"
