Dave Mackay RIP

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Just wish to add my condolences to the passing of a true Spurs legend.
For me, Dave Mackay was the greatest ever player to play for Spurs, yep even greater in his overall impact than my beloved Greavesie.

As John Motson says in his brilliant piece on Spurs, he arrived at Spurs to the roll of drums.


He was our Lionheart, as the poem says 'Stop all the clocks.'

Silence the pianos and with muffled drum
Bring out the coffin, let the mourners come.

http://homepages.wmich.edu/~cooneys/poems/auden.stop.html

I was at the game where Mackay grabbed hold of Bremner and snarled right at him, and as LH says, Dave wasn't too fond of the photo.

The fact was that Mackay wasn't just hard, he also had great technique, see the story in Motson's piece about his tennis ball wizardry, a thunderous shot and general all round 'fitba skills'.

Mackay will always be in my all-time Spurs XI, and always as captain.

RIP Dave 'the great' Mackay.
 
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I was a young kid in Kuwait in the early 80s. In Kuwait the two top clubs are Al-Arabi and Al-Qadisiyyah. I was/is a huge fan of Al-Qadisiyyah. MacKay was the coach of Al-Arabi. Hearing how tough and brave he was, no wonder his team was so dominant, physical, and skillful. They won the league there 5 out of 6 years including 4 in a row. I hated him (didn't know he was Spurs legend since I started supporting them right around the same time) as they beat us easily every time we met, they looked in a different league to the whole region and beat every team from all countries of the region. I was like "Why didn't our club get this guy? I hate him coz he is so good".
Since I got to know all about him later I decided to demote my idol Glenn Hoddle to 3rd place and have MacKay as 2nd greatest Spur of all time. RIP ..

I miss old times football

:cool:
 
Shelfside27 said:
Great post mate. thanks for that. Always good to hear from people who were actually there to witness those great teams
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Cheers Shelfside, yep we've had some great teams and great players, and hopefully there will be more to come for you 'young 'uns'.

As you can guess it's very emotional for me. Try as I do to avoid it, more and more life becomes about memories of what was, rather than thoughts of what will be.

To quote another poem

There was a time when meadow, grove, and stream,
The earth, and every common sight
To me did seem
Apparelled in celestial light,
The glory and the freshness of a dream.
It is not now as it hath been of yore;--
Turn wheresoe’er I may,
By night or day,
The things which I have seen I now can see no more.


http://www.poets.org/poetsorg/poem/ode-intimations-immortality-recollections-early-childhood
 
Thought paul coyt half time tribute was very effective. But why oh why has the minute silence been replaced by applause.

Dave Mackay contribution to spurs and football in general deserved a minute silence. It would of been impeccable observed and personally to me seams more fitting.

RIP Dave you truly were a legend.
 
paddygspur said:
Thought paul coyt half time tribute was very effective. But why oh why has the minute silence been replaced by applause.

Dave Mackay contribution to spurs and football in general deserved a minute silence. It would of been impeccable observed and personally to me seams more fitting.

RIP Dave you truly were a legend.
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Originally brought in by some clubs to drown out any booing of minutes silences for players that may not be as popular as others. George Best springs to mind. Many fans felt his problems and early death were his own making* Hence a round of applause, not a silence

* Not necessarily my view..I thought the bloke was a genius
 
Tottenham Sean said:
Originally brought in by some clubs to drown out any booing of minutes silences for players that may not be as popular as others. George Best springs to mind. Many fans felt his problems and early death were his own making* Hence a round of applause, not a silence

* Not necessarily my view..I thought the bloke was a genius
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Or the away fans if they are of that demeanour.
 
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Mackay wasn't really a centre half. Sure as he got older he moved to the back four, but in his heyday, he was a wing half, he'd have been a defensive midfielder in modern parlance. But one who could score and create as well as destroy.

The great Spurs team of 60-63 like all the major English teams of the time only played one centre half, and that was Maurice Norman. (There was doubtless the occasional game that Big Mo missed, but so consistent and injury-free was he, that I can never remember anyone else but him playing for Spurs at that time in that position).

And to give Brian Reade a bit more of a history lesson, Spurs best centre half of the 60s and 70s, wasn't either Norman or Mackay, it was Mike England. (IMHO of course)

For me England was our best-ever centre half, certainly in the past 60 years, although King runs him close, but injuries, alas, etc.
 
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While at the ground yesterday I came to realise what a very key "problem" actually is with Spurs.....

We once had the greatest team and the greatest players...everything since then has had the shadow of greatness to contend with. This is why our collective standards are so high and our mediocrity sometimes so much more pronounced and unpalatable.

It would seem, based on first hard view points, that the standard for the greatness was set by Dave Mackay....that is what must be treasured most in memory.
 
Well said Lee, it's been a problem at the Lane since the double and the glory glory Euro nights. So many times since our fans have been hard on subsequent players. For example Terry Venables was a perfectly good midfielder, but because he was no Blanchflower, he got unfairly criticised and lumbered with the nickname 'Vegetables'.

On the other hand I, as some/many here will know, do get annoyed by our current owners refusal to spend the type of money we used to spend in the 50s and 60s, when we were one of the big spenders, buying the glamour stars. For example, directly/indirectly we took three of Chelsea's best players off them, (Smith, Allen, Greaves, while they were still at their peak). Fat chance of that happening nowadays.
 
Greaves357_bestever said:
Well said Lee, it's been a problem at the Lane since the double and the glory glory Euro nights. So many times since our fans have been hard on subsequent players. For example Terry Venables was a perfectly good midfielder, but because he was no Blanchflower, he got unfairly criticised and lumbered with the nickname 'Vegetables'.

On the other hand I, as some/many here will know, do get annoyed by our current owners refusal to spend the type of money we used to spend in the 50s and 60s, when we were one of the big spenders, buying the glamour stars. For example, directly/indirectly we took three of Chelsea's best players off them, (Smith, Allen, Greaves, while they were still at their peak). Fat chance of that happening nowadays.
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Greavesie came from Milan. He wanted to sign for us, even though Chelsea expressed an interest in taking him back.

Just out of interest, who was the last player we signed from Chelsea that we took when they were either still on the up or at their peak?

I'm guessing either Durie or Cundy? And what a fine pair they turned out to be!
 
LarryCatt said:
Greavesie came from Milan. He wanted to sign for us, even though Chelsea expressed an interest in taking him back.

Just out of interest, who was the last player we signed from Chelsea that we took when they were either still on the up or at their peak?

I'm guessing either Durie or Cundy? And what a fine pair they turned out to be!
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As I was careful to point out I was talking about directly/indirectly. Greaves came indirectly from Chelsea after a short spell in Milan.
 
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