When Football Was Football - Tottenham Hotspur
by Adam Powley

208 pages
Haynes Publishing
ISBN 978 1 84425 948 9
Price :  £18.99
Available from http://www.thelaneofdreams.co.uk. 

This large format book looks a bit timid from the outside, but when you open the pages, it draws you into a trip through Tottenham's past using some sumptuous photos drawn from the Daily Mirror's archive, many of which I have not seen before and give an insight into the club's early beginnings through to the mid-1990s.

With clippings from the Mirror through the years to illustrate the era being discussed, there are enough snippets of information that cane be gathered from these, as Adam Powley (well known to Spurs reading fans) highlights the major events in the history of THFC both on and off the pitch.  Legends are featured and the fans also loom large in the way the club has developed over the years.

But the photos are the main attraction of this book, with some unique opportunities to see how things were in years gone by and how they were in more modern times.  With over 200 pages of shots from the cameras of photographers over more than 110 years of Spurs history, it is a fine example of a pictorial record that tells more of a story than anyone could write.  The 1960s WAGs have nothing on the pros doing that job these days !!

My one disappointment with the book is that it stops in the mid-90s, leaving the latter years of the more modern era yearning for a follow up.  But then I suppose this is "When Football Was Football" and although it ran into the last chapter of the book entitled "The Football Business", it was not "When Football Was Big Business".  That can be for next Christmas !!

Recommended as a really good buy for any Spurs fan.

Spurs Captain, Assistant Manager and Legend Steve Perryman will be signing copies of the book at Waterstones in Enfield on Monday 7th December between 14:00 and 15:00.

For a chance to win a copy of the book - and the publishers have kindly offered prizes of two copies of the book for two readers who submit the correct answer (sorry, but the competition will be limited to UK residents only) - just send your answer to the question below by e-mail to mehstg@blueyonder.co.uk

Some interesting photos in the book focus on the 1921 FA Cup Final at Stamford Bridge.

The question for the competition is ...

WHO SCORED TOTTENHAM'S WINNING GOAL IN THE FA CUP FINAL OF 1921 ?

Answers must be received by midnight on December 15th 2009.
Winners will be chosen at random.

wyart lane