The 1990–91 season was the 85th season of competitive football played by

Tottenham Hotspur Tottenham Hotspur Football Club, commonly referred to as Tottenham () or Spurs, is a professional football club based in Tottenham, London, England. It competes in the Premier League, the top flight of English football. The team has playe ...

. Entering the 1990–91 season,

Terry Venables Terence Frederick Venables (born 6 January 1943), often referred to as El Tel, is an English former football player and manager, and an author. During the 1960s and '70s, he played for various clubs including Chelsea, Tottenham Hotspur and Queen ...

stayed on as manager for his fourth season in charge of Tottenham with the team ending in tenth position. They won a record eighth

FA Cup The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual knockout football competition in men's domestic English football. First played during the 1871–72 season, it is the oldest national football competi ...

, beating

Nottingham Forest Nottingham Forest Football Club is an association football club based in West Bridgford, Nottinghamshire, England. Nottingham Forest was founded in 1865 and have been playing their home games at the City Ground, on the banks of the River Tren ...

in the final and they got knocked out in the quarter-finals of the Football League Cup by

Chelsea Chelsea or Chelsey may refer to: Places Australia * Chelsea, Victoria Canada * Chelsea, Nova Scotia * Chelsea, Quebec United Kingdom * Chelsea, London, an area of London, bounded to the south by the River Thames ** Chelsea (UK Parliament consti ...

Season summary

Tottenham's league form was average at best: having stood in third place after 17 games, the club won only three of their next 21 league matches, slumping to tenth place in the final table. The club had better luck in the

: after defeating London arch-rivals (and that season's eventual champions) Arsenal in the semi-final, they defeated

2–1 in the final. As well as giving Tottenham their first post- Heysel European campaign (in the

Cup Winners' Cup The UEFA Cup Winners' Cup was a European football club competition contested annually by the winners of domestic cup competitions. The cup was, chronologically, the second seasonal inter-European club competition organised by UEFA. The tournam ...

) and ending the club's seven-year trophy drought, the FA Cup win made Tottenham the first club to win the trophy eight times, although this record has since been surpassed by Arsenal and Manchester United. The only downside of the FA Cup triumph was an injury to star midfielder Paul Gascoigne, who ruptured his cruciate ligaments in a tackle on Forest fullback

Gary Charles Gary Andrew Charles (born 13 April 1970) is an English football coach and former professional player. He played as a right-back, notably beginning his career with Nottingham Forest and featured in the inaugural Premier League season under Brian ...

early in the first half. The injury would put his transfer to Italian side

Lazio it, Laziale , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demographics_type1 = , demographics1_footnotes = , demographics1_title1 = , demographics1_info1 = , demographics1_title2 ...

on hold until the 1992–93 season. Gascoigne had earlier scored a tremendous free-kick in the 3–1 win against Arsenal in the semi-final (

Gary Lineker Gary Winston Lineker (; born 30 November 1960) is an English former professional footballer and current sports broadcaster. He is regarded as having been one of the greatest English strikers. His media career began with the BBC, where he has ...

scored Tottenham's other goals, with Arsenal's Alan Smith scoring Arsenal's goal). Off the pitch the club were in danger of going into administration. With £20 million of debt (around £45 million equivalent in 2020) and shares in Tottenham Hotspur being suspended in the autumn of 1990, Irving Scholar resigned as Chairman of the club. In June 1991, manager Terry Venables and businessman, Alan Sugar, took over the club with equal shares and Alan Sugar being made chairman.

Squad

:''Squad at end of season''

First-team squad

Reserve squad

Transfers

Loans out

Transfers in

Transfers out

Overall transfer activity

Expenditure

Total: £200,000

Income

Total: £925,000

Net totals

Total: £725,000

Kit

The FA Cup final saw Tottenham debut a longer style of shorts as part of their kit. Although the long shorts were ridiculed at first, within the decade all clubs in English football would have adopted the style.

Pre-season and friendlies

Pre-season In an organized sports league, a typical season is the portion of one year in which regulated games of the sport are in session: for example, in Major League Baseball the season lasts approximately from the last week of March to the last week of Se ...

Mid-season

Post-season

Kirin Cup Soccer The is an association football tournament organised in Japan by the Kirin Brewery Company. The host, Japan, is a participant in every edition. The tournament was founded in 1978 then known as Japan Cup (International competition which nationa ...
tournament

Competitions

Overview

First Division

League table

Results summary

Results by matchday

Matches

FA Cup

Football League Cup

Statistics

Appearances

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Erik Thorstvedt Erik Thorstvedt (born 28 October 1962) is a Norwegian former professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper. He won 97 caps for the Norwegian national team, and was the starter in goal at the 1994 FIFA World Cup. He played for Viking, Eik- ...

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Kevin Dearden Kevin Charles Dearden (born 8 March 1970) is an English former professional footballer who made more than 400 appearances in the Football League, playing as a goalkeeper for many clubs. He later became a coach, and is currently goalkeeper coac ...

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Guðni Bergsson Guðni Bergsson (born 21 July 1965) is an Icelandic former professional footballer and former president of the Icelandic Football Association from 2017 to 2021. As a player, he was a defender who notably played in the Premier League for Tott ...

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Justin Edinburgh Justin Charles Edinburgh (18 December 1969 – 8 June 2019) was an English professional football manager and player who played as a left back. He notably played in the Premier League for Tottenham Hotspur, where he made 213 league appearance ...

, , 14+2 , , 1 , , 5 , , 0 , , 5 , , 0 , , 24+2 , , 1 , - , DF , align="left" ,

Terry Fenwick Terence William Fenwick (born 17 November 1959) is an English football manager and former player who played either as a centre-back or a full-back. During his playing career, he made a total of 455 appearances in the Football League for Cryst ...

, , 4 , , 0 , , 2 , , 0 , , 2 , , 0 , , 8 , , 0 , - , DF , align="left" ,

Ian Hendon Ian Michael Hendon (born 5 December 1971) is an English football manager and former player who played as a defender. Playing career Hendon was born in Ilford, Greater London. Primarily a right-back but sometimes deployed in the centre or in ...

, , 0+2 , , 0 , , 0 , , 0 , , 0 , , 0 , , 0+2 , , 0 , - , DF , align="left" ,

Gary Mabbutt Gary Vincent Mabbutt (born 23 August 1961) is an English former footballer who made more than 750 professional appearances, first playing for Bristol Rovers and going on to play 619 games for Tottenham Hotspur, despite being diagnosed with type ...

, , 35 , , 2 , , 6 , , 1 , , 6 , , 0 , , 47 , , 3 , - , DF , align="left" ,

Mitchell Thomas Mitchell Thomas (born 2 October 1964) is an English former footballer who played as a defender. While at Tottenham Hotspur he started in the 1987 FA Cup Final. Playing career David Pleat brought Thomas into the Luton Town side from Limbury b ...

, , 23+8 , , 0 , , 2 , , 0 , , 4+1 , , 0 , , 29+9 , , 0 , - , DF , align="left" , Dave Tuttle , , 4+2 , , 0 , , 0 , , 0 , , 0+1 , , 0 , , 4+3 , , 0 , - , DF , align="left" , Pat Van Den Hauwe , , 31+1 , , 0 , , 5 , , 0 , , 2 , , 0 , , 38+1 , , 0 , - ! colspan=14 style=background:#dcdcdc; text-align:center, ''Midfielders'' , - , MF , align="left" , Peter Garland , , 0+1 , , 0 , , 0 , , 0 , , 0 , , 0 , , 0+1 , , 0 , - , MF , align="left" ,

Paul Allen Paul Gardner Allen (January 21, 1953 – October 15, 2018) was an American business magnate, computer programmer, researcher, investor, and philanthropist. He co-founded Microsoft Corporation with childhood friend Bill Gates in 1975, which ...

, , 34+2 , , 3 , , 6 , , 0 , , 6 , , 0 , , 46+2 , , 3 , - , MF , align="left" , Paul Gascoigne , , 26 , , 7 , , 6 , , 6 , , 4+1 , , 6 , , 36+1 , , 19 , - , MF , align="left" , David Howells , , 29 , , 4 , , 4 , , 0 , , 6 , , 0 , , 39 , , 4 , - , MF , align="left" , John Moncur , , 4+5 , , 0 , , 0 , , 0 , , 1+1 , , 0 , , 5+6 , , 0 , - , MF , align="left" ,

Nayim Mohamed Alí Amar (born 5 November 1966), known as Nayim, is a Spanish retired professional footballer who played as a central midfielder. He scored a last-minute goal for Real Zaragoza in the 1995 UEFA Cup Winners' Cup Final against Arsenal, w ...

, , 32+1 , , 5 , , 3+2 , , 1 , , 2+3 , , 0 , , 37+6 , , 6 , - , MF , align="left" ,

Vinny Samways Vincent Samways (born 27 October 1968) is an English former professional footballer and manager who played as a central midfielder from 1986 until 2006. He notably played in the Premier League for Tottenham Hotspur and Everton. He also pla ...

, , 14+9 , , 1 , , 4+1 , , 0 , , 4 , , 0 , , 22+10 , , 1 , - , MF , align="left" , Steve Sedgley , , 33+1 , , 0 , , 4+1 , , 0 , , 4+2 , , 0 , , 41+4 , , 0 , - , MF , align="left" , Paul Stewart , , 35 , , 3 , , 5 , , 2 , , 6 , , 4 , , 46 , , 9 , - ! colspan=14 style=background:#dcdcdc; text-align:center, ''Forwards'' , - , FW , align="left" , Phil Gray , , 3+3 , , 0 , , 0+1 , , 0 , , 0 , , 0 , , 3+4 , , 0 , - , FW , align="left" , John Hendry , , 2+2 , , 2 , , 0 , , 0 , , 0 , , 0 , , 2+2 , , 2 , - , FW , align="left" ,

, , 32 , , 15 , , 6 , , 3 , , 5 , , 1 , , 43 , , 19 , - , FW , align="left" , Paul Moran , , 0+1 , , 0 , , 1 , , 0 , , 0 , , 0 , , 1+1 , , 0 , - , FW , align="left" ,

Paul Walsh Paul may refer to: *Paul (given name), a given name (includes a list of people with that name) *Paul (surname), a list of people People Christianity * Paul the Apostle (AD c.5–c.64/65), also known as Saul of Tarsus or Saint Paul, early Chri ...

, , 16+13 , , 7 , , 1+3 , , 0 , , 3+3 , , 0 , , 20+19 , , 7 , -

Goal scorers

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, , 15 , , 3 , , 1 , , 19 , - , rowspan="1" , 3 , , MF , , align="left" , Paul Stewart, , 3 , , 2 , , 4 , , 9 , - , 4 , , FW , , align="left" ,

, , 7 , , 0 , , 0 , , 7 , - , 5 , , MF , , align="left" ,

, , 5 , , 1 , , 0 , , 6 , - , 6 , , MF , , align="left" , David Howells, , 4 , , 0 , , 0 , , 4 , - , rowspan="2" , 7 , , MF , , align="left" ,

, , 3 , , 0 , , 0 , , 3 , - , , DF , , align="left" ,

, , 2 , , 1 , , 0 , , 3 , - , rowspan="1" , 9 , , FW , , align="left" , John Hendry, , 2 , , 0 , , 0 , , 2 , - , rowspan="3" , 10 , , DF , , align="left" ,

, , 1 , , 0 , , 0 , , 1 , - , , DF , , align="left" ,

, , 1 , , 0 , , 0 , , 1 , - , , MF , , align="left" ,

, , 1 , , 0 , , 0 , , 1 , - ! colspan="3" , Total !51 !13 !11 !75

Clean sheets

{, class="wikitable sortable" style="font-size: 95%; text-align: center" , - !width=10, !width=200, Player !width=50, First Division !width=50, FA Cup !width=50, League Cup !Total , - , 1 , , , , 12 , , 1 , , 3 , , 16 , - ! colspan="2" , Total !12 !1 !3 !16

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:1990-91 Tottenham Hotspur F.C. season Tottenham Hotspur F.C. seasons