On 24th February 2008, Juande Ramos’ Tottenham were history makers. A 2-1 win against London rivals Chelsea, after a scrappy extra-time at Wembley, resulted in Carling Cup glory for the Lilywhites.
Frustratingly, this League Cup success is our first and only major honour since ENIC and Daniel Levy took over in 2001.
As Antonio Conte continues the North London club’s search for silverware, let’s have a look at where those who last won a trophy for Spurs are now.
GK: Paul Robinson
The former England goalkeeper was a regular feature for Tottenham, making 137 appearances in a four year spell, scoring a memorable goal against Watford in the process.
After Robinson saw out his career on the bench at Burnley, he became involved in media work and punditry. Most recently, the former Blackburn man commented on Spurs’ chances of silverware with Antonio Conte, believing the Italian can succeed with the backing of the club.
RB: Alan Hutton
The Glaswegian full-back, dubbed the ‘Scottish Cafu,’ racked up 51 appearances for Spurs and had a respectable career as a player, including a bizarre loan move to Mallorca.
Similar to Paul Robinson, as well as many other footballers without coaching badges, Hutton went into a media role after retiring from football in 2020.
CB: Jonathan Woodgate
The match winner in Tottenham’s last trophy triumph, Jonathan Woodgate, had a wide range of experiences in his career. This was something the Englishman needed after his disastrous debut for Real Madrid. After a year of injuries, Woodgate managed to score an own goal and receive a red card after two bookable offences on his first start at the Santiago Bernabeu.
After quietly seeing his career out with Middlesbrough, the former England defender took on various coaching roles at Boro before becoming first-team manager in 2019. He was dismissed just after a year in charge and then joined the Bournemouth coaching staff. This was until he became caretaker manager for a brief spell, failing to take the club back into the Premier League via the play-offs.
I know this next part may come as a surprise, but since his coaching endeavours, Woodgate has also now taken up a media role.
CB: Ledley King
One of the greatest defenders to ever play for Tottenham, Ledley King, has been one of the few players to have stayed close to the club and its operations.
King was appointed as a defensive coach under the reign of Jose Mourinho and appeared to have learned some Portuguese in the process. The mixture of jubilation and potential confusion on King’s face in the manager’s office after reaching the League Cup final in 2021 is really quite something.
Since the departure of Mourinho, under very questionable circumstances, Ledley King stepped away from coaching and has continued his role as a club ambassador. He now works alongside fellow Tottenham legend Michael Dawson.
LB: Pascal Chimbonda
The League Cup victory in 2008 was arguably the biggest game of Pascal Chimbonda’s career, other than maybe his one cap for France in 2006.
After a one year spell at Doncaster Rovers ended with a failed move to Chicago Fire, Chimbonda began to train with Market Drayton Town and ultimately retired at Ashton Town in 2019.
The Guadeloupean full-back now spends the vast majority of his time optimistically commenting under Tottenham’s Instagram posts, receiving plenty of love from the Spurs fans.
RM: Aaron Lennon
Lennon is one of two players yet to officially retire in this team. Since his ten years at Tottenham came to an end, the former England international has joined Everton, Kayserispor and has had two spells at Burnley.
The pacey winger’s contract at Burnley came to an end last season and is currently a free agent.
CM: Jermaine Jenas
The chances are you are aware of what Jermaine Jenas is doing now, due to his inability to say no to a TV appearance. If you are not aware however, since his retirement in 2014, Jenas has been one of the main football pundits in the country.
Many will remember his post-match analysis of a semi-final against Chelsea, where he was adamant Spurs didn’t deserve to lose (despite conceding four goals) due to the Lilywhite’s greater possession of the ball.
The former England man has also been commentating regularly over the last few years. One of the most memorable games he commentated on was Tottenham’s historic Champions League victory in Amsterdam in 2019.
More recently, the Nottingham born midfielder hosted the draw for the 2022 World Cup and is currently co-hosting The One Show on the BBC, additionally starring in multiple adverts.
CM: Didier Zokora
Didier Zokora only managed to score two goals across the 468 club appearances he made as a player. The midfielder secured a move to Sevilla in 2009 after three years in North London before moving on to Trabzonspor in 2011. He saw out the final years of his career in Asia, ultimately retiring at Semen Padang who are in the second tier in Indonesia.
The Ivorian, who is currently the nation’s most capped player after 14 years of service, went down the coaching route after his playing days were over. Zokora’s current role is assistant manager at AFAD Djékanou in his homeland.
LM: Steed Malbranque
The French left midfielder was at Spurs for two years, but still managed to rack up 62 appearances for the club. After a decade of English football came to an end with Sunderland, Malbranque moved back to France when he joined Saint Etienne.
He would later get his last big move in the form of a return to his first club, Lyon, where he played for a four year spell., which concluded with a move to Caen.
The 42 year-old has since dropped a level (quite a few in fact) and has been with FC Limonest Dardilly Saint-Didier since 2020, competing in the fifth tier in France.
ST: Robbie Keane
Tottenham Hotspur’s Player of the Year 2007-08, Robbie Keane, is without a doubt a Spurs legend. After two spells culminating to eight years at the club, Keane scored 91 goals for the Lilywhites, a fair portion of the 254 he scored for the dozen teams he played for. He only managed similar goal scoring numbers for a single club with LA Galaxy, where he was dubbed their most valuable player four years in a row.
The former Inter striker retired in 2018 while at Indonesian side ATK, where he was a player manager, before becoming the assistant manager for his own country. Keane scored 68 goals for the Republic of Ireland and is the highest capped player for his nation with 146 appearances, topping Didier Zokora’s record for Ivory Coast.
He followed up this coaching role with Ireland by joining up with former teammate Jonathan Woodgate at Middlesbrough, during which he obtained his UEFA Pro Licence.
Keane now dabbles in media work as well as participating in charity events, this includes being a regular feature in Soccer Aid for UNICEF.
ST: Dimitar Berbatov
The man who scored the spot kick to bring the League Cup final level, Dimitar Berbatov, is arguably one of the coolest players to ever grace the Premier League. In just two years at Tottenham, Berbatov became a fan favourite and made the game look effortless.
He continued his aesthetically pleasing style of play at Manchester United, Fulham and Monaco. After this he went on to PAOK and finally retired at Indian side Kerala Blasters, where he scored the last of his 213 club goals.
In a similar vein to Keane, Berbatov is a pundit but is working towards his UEFA Pro Licence. This is something he may not have continued doing if his bid to become the President of the Bulgarian FA was successful last year.
Manager: Juande Ramos
After a short spell at Tottenham, which was fairly unsuccessful away from League Cup triumph with a 38.18 win percentage, Ramos joined Real Madrid in December 2008.
After 27 games in charge of Los Blancos, half a season at CSKA Moscow and four years at Football Club Dnipro, he ended his managerial career at former club Malaga in 2016.
Tom Huddlestone, Younes Kaboul and Teemu Tainio were brought on during the League Cup final. The latter gave Spurs fans some of the greatest time-wasting the club has ever seen in the depths of extra time. Radek Cerny and Darren Bent were unused substitutes on the day.
Hopefully, there will be articles in the future about where the current Tottenham side are and how they brought silverware to N17. If anyone is capable of doing it, it is this current group of players under Antonio Conte.
Comentarios