Spurs - Reincarnation

By Jon P.
April 11 2006

The most exciting aspect of Spurs’ much improved performance this season has to be the emergence of Aaron Lennon as an electric paced dynamic winger that will strike fear into apposing full backs.

The most exciting aspect of Spurs’ much improved performance this season has to be the emergence of Aaron Lennon as an electric paced dynamic winger that will strike fear into apposing full backs. OK he is not yet the finished article but his potential is truly awesome and I think that the improvement he has shown over the season has also been amazing. At the start of the year we could all see he had great pace, but now he is really starting to deliver in terms of final ball and shots on goal.


When we first got Lennon I was straight on the phone to my oldest friend who happens to be along standing Leeds fan. Having supported them for the best part of forty years through thick thin and more thin, he said that Lennon was the most outstanding young talent that Leeds had produced in all his time supporting the club. He also said he was good enough for the first team straight away and was proved right very quickly.


The great thing about Lennon is that he is a player that gives the crowd a buzz every time he gets the ball. You believe he is going to do something special and generally manages to live up to these expectations two or three times in a match. How good is he and how good can he be? Well I for one would be quite happy to see him coming off the England bench in the summer to give us a “different option” that does not involve Peter Crouch.


Comparisons with other great Tottenham wingers of the recent past do not ring true because we haven’t had anyone with this much pace for a good while. Lennon clearly hasn’t got the silky skills of a Ginola or Waddle and is far more of a traditional flank player than these great drifters. Someone he does remind of however is John Chiedozie a sometimes forgotten man from man from our great 80’s teams.


Younger posters probably will not know too much about Chiedozie but in his day he had the same blistering pace that Lennon has and could make good full backs look very, very ordinary on his day.


The first time I saw him Chiedozie was playing for Notts County when they were in the old First Division (yes struggling Notts County were in the top flight). Chiedozie gave our full back of the day (can’t quite recall who) a torrid time beating him for pace every time he got the ball. Graham Roberts had watched this happen for most of the afternoon and finally decided enough was enough. Next time Chiedozie got the ball Roberts moved across from centre back and completely flattened him. What happened next is I think a great illustration of the phenomenon of the “Tottenham Way.” There were a few cynical cheers but the general reaction on the old shelf side, where the foul took place, was for the crowd to actually give Roberts unmerciful stick because that was NOT the way Tottenham played football. The really satisfying bit of it all (apart from winning the match) was that this outstanding performance was logged in the memory banks of the powers that be at Spurs and at the end of the season we went out and bought Chiedozie, because that WAS how Spurs did things at the time.


Chiedozie had two good seasons at the Lane scoring a very respectable 12 goals in 53 appearances (a good return for a winger – Aaron take note) and helping Spurs to finish 3rd in 1985/86 and 86/87. If my memory serves me right injury eventually robbed him of the extra yard of pace and he move on in 87/88 after only one game. I believe he now runs a bouncy castle business, something you suspect Lennon will never have to do.


Highlight of his time at club has to be a 4-1 thrashing of Chelsea in 1985. In the greatest mismatch since Godzilla took on Bambi, Chiedozie was faced with a lump of wood called Doug Rougvie masquerading as a Chelsea full back. Needless to say Chiedozie put in a match winning performance (capped with a goal?) and made Rougvie look like the complete plank that he was.


In his day Chiedozie could create the same buzz around the ground that Lennon does today, although sometimes failed to deliver the true quality that we knew he could produce. Players blessed with such pace are all too rare in our game and in Lennon I think we are very lucky to have such a talent. Lets hope he goes on to fulfil his true potential and unlike Chiedozie also goes on to help us secure some overdue silverware.