David Howells - Special

Host Ricky Sacks was joined by Jason McGovern and Tottenham Hotspur legend David Howells for this edition of the Last Word On Spurs. David came through the youth system and made his Spurs debut in 1986, scoring in a 2-1 victory against Sheffield Wednesday. He went on to play for the club 277 games and scoring 22 goals. David started his career as an attacking midfielder and matured into a holding midfielder. Teddy Sheringham once described David as a player`s player and was appreciated for his work rate more by his team mates than the fans in the stands. David would never pull out from anything where he might get hurt. I remember watching Spurs V Aston Villa just after the 1990 Italia world cup and scoring a header. Unfortunately, as a result of the challenge on David`s header, he ended up getting knocked out and ended up being carried off on a stretcher. Additional to his work rate, he was also had a bit of craft to his game. He could pass the ball well and every now and then he would produce a Hoddle type pass that would unlock the opposition defence. He made a massive contribution to us winning the 1991 FA cup and in many opinions he was the man of the match in the famous 1991 semi final against South London United. Although it was strongly touted at the time, David never went on to play for England. When Graham Taylor took over the England reigns many suggested that Howells would be one of players to win their first cap for England under the new regime. A few years later saw the dawn of the famous five under the stewardship of Ossie, It was the start of the 1994-95. Although we started playing some great attacking play we were somewhat very lightweight when it came to winning the battle in no mans land and as a result ended up losing a lot of games. Unfortunately, after only a couple of months into the season Ossie lost his job and Gerry Francis was replaced. During the exotic times of the famous five, David had been overlooked and one of the first changes that Francis made was to reinstate Howells in the midfield to add some steel. It made a massive difference and was one of the key factors to the successful start that Francis had made. #THFC #COYS #TOTTENHAM #HOTSPUR #TOTTENHAMHOTSPUR #SPURS Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices