Spurs on this day 27 in occasional series

By Dave P
December 31 2004

We have played Everton on New Years Day on four previous occasions, all of them in the old Football League Division one. The first of these meetings took place in 1913 at Goodison Park when a crowd of 30,000 saw us win the game 2-1

Spurs on this day - January 1st - Opponents Everton


We have played Everton on New Years Day on four previous occasions, all of them in the old Football League Division one. The first of these meetings took place in 1913 at Goodison Park when a crowd of 30,000 saw us win the game 2-1 with both of our goals being scored by Billy Minter who went on to Manage Spurs for a while before becoming Assistant Secretary of the club.

Two years later we again travelled to Goodison Park for a 1-1 draw played out in front of 17,000 supporters. Herbert Bliss was our scorer on that day. An inside forward or centre Forward, Bert Bliss was known for his tendancy to shoot from any angle and distance and he often caught keepers unawares. In 315 first team games for the club (including friendlies) he netted 168 times. He was the leading scorer in the Division 2 Championship side of 1919/1920 and won a FA Cup Winners medal with us the following season.

1915 was the last full Division 1 season before regional competitions were set up for the duration of the Great War and we unfortuately finished bottom of the league. On resumption of normal football after the war in the 1919/20 season we were in Division Two and we finished as champions, six points clear of Huddersfield.

The next News Years Day fixture against Everton took place in 1923 when once again we travelled to Goodison Park and lost 3-1, our only goal on that occasion was scored by scotsman Alex Lindsay. Alex Lindsay was a sort of Gary Doherty of his day being equally at home as a central attacker or a Half Back. In 211 League appearances he scored 42 Goals before transferring to Thames in August 1930.

The final New Years Day fixture against Everton and the only one at White Hart Lane was in 1966 when 36,953 saw a closely contested 2-2 draw. Spurs Goals on that day came from Cyril Knowles and Frank Saul.


Whilst on the subject of Holiday matches Spurs' last home Christmas Day fixture was on 25th December 1956. A crowd of 27,761 saw us defeat Everton 6-0 with a pair of goals from Terry Medwin, a penalty from Tommy Harmer, a brace from Bobby Smith and a goal from Alfie Stokes. Alfie Stokes joined the club as an amateur from Clapton in 1951 turning pro 2 years later. He made his debut against Bolton and scored. Unfortunately for him he was at the club at a time when we had a number of talented Inside Forwards thus limiting his appearances. Nevertheless in 69 League and Cup games he scored 42 goals before leaving for Fulham.

One other interesting story from a Spurs - Everton game occurred on 12th April 1924 at White Hart Lane. During the course of a 5-2 victory for Everton their Right Winger Sam Chedgzoy decided to exploit a loophole in the laws of the game. This allowed a corner taker to touch the ball more than once with no other player touching it. In actual fact he dribbled it along the goal line after tapping the ball to himself and then scored. The Law was amended almost straightaway after that incident.

No loopholes today please Tottenham.