Written by Viorel Mesca.
Starting this week, football-talk.co.uk wishes to invite Spurs’ fans to take a look at Tottenham’s most notable players who were inducted into the Hall of Fame for their contribution to the club. Our first pick is former Welsh football international Clifford William Jones.
Cliff Jones was capped 59 times for Wales, scoring 16 goals, and at his best, was considered the best left winger in the world. The enthusiastic winger was born in Swansea and made his debut for Swansea Town in 1952. For Swansea, he played 168 League games and scored 47 goals. Jones was part of the Wales team that beat England 2-1 on 22 October 1955.
In the summer of 1958, he travelled to Sweden with the Welsh national team for the FIFA World Cup, where Wales did a great job losing agonizingly to Brazil in the quarterfinals. In 1958, he was bought by Bill Nicholson for Tottenham and quickly became a fan favourite and indispensable to the development of the team.
The 1960-1961 season was a historic one for domestic football in England, as Spurs became the first club in the 20th century to “Do the Double” by winning both the League and the FA Cup. Jones was seen as the entertainer of the most famous Tottenham side, and was one of the stars of the famous 1963 Cup Winners Cup Final against reigning holders Atletico Madrid in Rotterdam in which Spurs hammered the Spaniards 5-1, a scoreline which remains the joint largest margin of victory in a one-match European final.
Jones delighted the crowds for 10 years at white Hart Lane, as he starred in 370 games in all competitions scoring 159 goals in the process. According to an interview given to tottenhamhotspur.com, Jones remembered:
“I was an individual player but Bill Nicholson always reminded me that it had to be within the framework of the team. I loved it and couldn’t wait to get out there and play.
I always felt an air of expectancy when I had the ball and loved to respond to it. Bill Nicholson always said to us that the most important people in the stadium were not the players, not the management, but the supporters.
These people worked 40 hours a week and would then come out and support us and, even more so in those days, their money would pay our wages. The club is a huge part of the community and we were made aware of our responsibilities to them.
We had a great blend of players and personalities and it is not something that could be easily repeated, especially the way we played.
Winning wasn’t enough, it had to be done with a certain style. I had 10 years at the club and I loved everything about the period.
It was a brilliant 10 years for me and I look back on it with great affection. It was a privilege to be involved.”
In 1968 Jones left the White Hart Lane for Fulham, before finishing his career in non-league football. Mention should be that that Jones came from a great footballing family. His uncle Bryn Jones played for Arsenal in the 1930s; his father Ivor Jones played for Wales during the same decade. His grandson is Scott Neilson.
Cliff Jones will always be remembered as the “jewel in the crown” of Spurs’ most famous side.
Dear readers, please feel free to write to write your thoughts about Cliff Jones.
