Career Record
martin chivers - fact file
1967 - 1976 forward
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FULL NAME : MARTIN HARCOURT CHIVERS Born on 27th April 1945 in Southampton, England. Height : - .m (' ") Weight : - - kgs (st lbs)
A powerful striker, who became a bit of a cult at White Hart Lane after signing from Southampton and then became a legend with his scoring leading Spurs into a successful early part of the 1970s. Chivers attended Taunton's Grammar School in Southampton as a boy, where he did well at school academically and sportingly. Martin was a discus thrower as a youngster and this no doubt helped his long throw !! He wrote to his local club for a trial and was looked at while playing for CPC, the club's nursery side. Signed professional for the South Coast club in September 1962 and was given his debut shortly afterwards as a 17 year old. He went on to hold the record number of England Under 23 caps and represented Young England and the Football League. It was the following season that he became a first team regular and finished as joint leading scorer on 21 goals. In 1965-66, he got 30 goals in 39 matches to help the Saints to promotion to Division 1, but on promotion, he was unhappy at being replaced by a more experienced striker in Ron Davies and with Mick Channon coming through the ranks, manager Ted Bates allowed Chivers to go to one of the many clubs chasing him. Paying a fee worth £125,000 that included Frank Saul going the other way, Martin joined Spurs from Southampton in January 1968. The fee was a club record at the time and Chivers became the country's most expensive player on moving to White Hart Lane. He made a scoring debut on 17th January 1968 v Sheffield Wednesday in hitting the net once late in a 2-1 away win, but found it hard to break the Greaves/Gilzean partnership. In September 1968, Chivers was carried off with a serious knee injury v Nottingham Forest and was out of the game for the rest of the season. When he came back, he was stronger and fitter and staked a claim for a starting position in the team. With Jimmy Greaves being sold to West Ham United in 1970 and with England's Martin Peters, joining in the same deal, things started to click for the big front man. A League Cup win over Third Division Aston ViIla at Wembley kick started the trophy haul with Chivers scoring both goals. It capped a fine season for the striker who played in all 58 matches and scored 34 goals, as well as earning a third place finish for the club and scoring his first England goal. His partnerships with Alan Gilzean and Peters brought many goals for Chiv and his long throw-ins were a trademark of his game, which in turn provided chances for others. but if the 1970-71 season was good, the next was even better, as Chivers scored 44 goals in 64 games as the team reached the semi-final of the League Cup and won the UEFA Cup against Wolverhampton Wanderers, mainly thanks to two away goals from the man that gave Spurs a 2-1 lead to take back to White Hart Lane. The next season brought another League Cup win, this time without a Chivers goal in the final, but he had been instrumental in them getting there, with a goal against Liverpool in the quarter final and one away at Wolverhampton Wanderers in the semi. Martin had been scoring regularly in the league and got eight UEFA Cup goals to propel Spurs to a semi-final against Liverpool, which was lost on away goals. In October 1973, England drew with Poland at Wembley in a World Cup qualifying match which knocked them out of the competition and with Sir Alf Ramsey's sacking as England manager, Chivers was not chosen again, as Joe Mercer took temporary charge and then Don Revie favoured players who he had worked with. Manager Bill Nicholson had frequent bust-ups with Chivers, who he tried to gee up to get more out of him, as he often thought the player was not giving his all. But the striker was always in the top echelons of the scoring charts and in 73-74, he took Tottenham to another UEFA Cup final against Feyenoord, but this time they lost on aggregate and it was the end of an era for many of that team. Chivers was paired with Chris Jones, John Duncan and Chris McGrath in the season that followed, but when Spurs were thrashed 0-4 by Middlesbrough in the League Cup, Nicholson began to think his own time was up. Having resigned, Nicholson left the new manager Terry Neill a side who had some quality, but Chivers was injured for a lrge portion of the season and hit only 10 goals in 28 games. Tottenham really began to struggle and only just avoided relegation with Chivers only netting nine times. Knowing that his time at the club was coming to an end, he was released to sign for Servette of Switzerland for £80,000. He played there for a while before returning to England to play for Norwich City and Brighton and Hove Albion. On leaving the professional game, he played a short while for Dorchester Town. While at Norwich, an FA Cup defeat to Leicester City saw manager John Bond label Chivers a disgrace and put him up for sale straight away. On leaving the game, Martin ran the Brookman's Park hotel in Hertfordshire and now works as a match day host at White Hart Lane. NICKNAME : Chiv
Career Record
Career Record
Honours |
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Records held
Was the first substitute to score a goal for Southampton against Newcastle United on 29th April 1967. Holds the Spurs record for European goal-scoring with 22 goals in 32 games. Held the record number of England U 23 caps. |
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1970 Lived at Epping, with wife Carole and children Andrea 3 and Melanie one month old. Played golf off a 10 handicap at Abridge twice a week. Late November, Martin Chivers' wife Carole gave birth to a new baby daughter, Melanie. Two favourite Spurs moments - Last minute equaliser v Manchester United in FA Cup 3rd Round at Old Trafford. Home v Stoke City in 1970-71 when he curled a shot from the left around keeper Gordon Banks. |
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1972 Lived in Chigwell with his wife Carol and their two daughters – Andrea (5) and Melanie (2). |
| What they said about Martin Chivers |
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| What Martin Chivers said about ... |
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"I don't have lucky signs, except my teeth. Sometimes I play with them in and sometimes out." |
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Appearances
| Season | League | FA Cup | League Cup | UEFA Cup |
| 1968-1969 | - | - | - | - |
| 1969-1970 | - | - | - | - |
| 1970-1971 | - | - | - | - |
| 1971-1972 | 39 (25 goals) | - | 7 (7 goals) | 11 (8 goals) |
| 1972-1973 | - | - | - | 10 (8 goals) |
| 1973-1974 | - | - | - | - |
| 1974-1975 | - | - | - | - |
| 1975-1976 | 28 (10 goals) | - | - | - |
| - | - | - | - | - |
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