da brwin： Tottenham Hotspur’s rich history has seen plenty of legendary players pull on the famous white shirt. From European triumphs to FA Cup heroics, there is no shortage of Spurs heroes from years gone by.
da dobrowin： Even with the trophies drying up in the modern era, the likes of Gareth Bale and Harry Kane have lit up White Hart Lane and the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.
But who are the Lilywhites’ greatest players? Here, we’ve listed who we believe makes the top 10. It was no easy task…
10 Ossie Ardiles
Appearances: 311
There are a number of names who will feel hard done by to have missed out on the list, such as Luka Modric, Moussa Dembele, Rafael van der Vaart and Ricky Villa to name just a few.
It is Argentine Ossie Ardiles who gets this list started though and the fact he both played for Tottenham and managed them as well says it all.
Ardiles’ first footballing venture outside of his home country took him to North London in 1978 where he then played for a decade.
During his time there, the midfielder racked up well over 200 appearances in the First Division.
A few years later, Ardiles ended his playing career with Swindon Town. It was with the Robins that his managerial career got underway and he then succeeded Ray Clemence at the Spurs’ helm in 1993, taking charge of 63 games with a points-per-game ratio of 1.16.
9 Gary Mabbutt
Appearances: 611
For six years of his time with Tottenham, Ossie Ardiles played alongside Englishman Gary Mabbutt.
The latter joined the club from his boyhood team Bristol Rovers in 1982 and remained in the white half of North London until his retirement in 1998. That is 16 years of service!
Mabbutt won the European Cup and FA Cup during his time there in 1984 and 1991 respectively, before then being awarded an MBE in 1994.
Only Steve Perryman made more appearances for Tottenham than Mabbutt’s 611 and it has to be mentioned that he had injuries and diabetes holding him back at times as well.
Mabbutt captained the club for 11 years and remains a dedicated ambassador to this day.
8 Gareth Bale
Appearances: 236
Gareth Bale is part of the modern iteration of Spurs and he of course had two spells with the club.
The first saw him arrive as a meek teenager in 2007 and then over a decade later, he returned on loan for a single season with a major trophy cabinet collection to boast.
Bale played for six seasons in the English capital before he made a blockbuster move to Spanish giants Real Madrid. Injuries and issues with adjusting certainly held him back in La Liga but that can’t take away from the three league titles and five Champions League successes.
A transition was afoot in front of everyone’s eyes with Bale beginning as a fullback and then growing into a supremely powerful winger that scored 21 goals in 33 Premier League games in his final campaign before being sold. He swept the awards that year including Premier League Player of the Season and PFA Player’s Player of the Year.
7 Hugo Lloris
Appearances: 444
Hugo Lloris replaced fellow Frenchman Younes Kaboul as Tottenham captain in 2015 under the management of Pochettino and only recently gave up the armband with his future at the club unknown.
Neutral fans are quick to pounce when he has made mistakes in the last few years and there have been plenty of them, not least the major clanger in the 2018 World Cup final which luckily for him, had to impact on the outcome.
Looking beyond these errors though, he has accumulated 151 clean sheets from 444 Tottenham appearances. 127 of these came in the league and this has him tied with Joe Hart in 12th in the all-time standings, ahead of the likes of Jens Lehmann, Paul Robinson and Shay Given.
Not winning a single trophy with the club is a big blemish on his record but he has remained the consummate professional throughout and was a superb servant for the Lilywhites.
6 Ledley King
Appearances: 322
From one iconic captain to another as Ledley King of course makes this top 10 list.
It is common knowledge that regular knee problems held him back from truly establishing himself as one of the greatest defenders of the Premier League era.
Whilst he maybe doesn’t get the acclaim for the wider public, he is a beloved figure at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium and remains as an ambassador to the club as well as previously being an assistant coach alongside Jose Mourinho.
King only ever played for one club in his professional career and he made a huge 268 Premier League appearances in the Spurs’ white.
5 Steve Perryman
Appearances 844
Steve Perryman was mentioned earlier and whilst the younger fans may not be familiar with his name, he is a true Tottenham icon.
For making the most appearances in the history of the club with 854 he is automatically a legendary figure.
The records he holds at Spurs are here, there and everywhere with just some of them being as follows. Most appearances in: the league (655), the FA Cup (69), the League Cup (66) and in Europe (64) not to mention he was captain for 11 years and scored 39 goals during his career.
In the ‘70s and ‘80s, Perryman was part of Tottenham teams that won the FA Cup twice, the League Cup twice and the UEFA Cup twice.
All of this and he went on to play for Oxford United and Brentford in his career as well!
4 Paul Gascoigne
Appearances: 112
Paul Gascoigne is one of the most beloved and cherished Three Lions of all time but he certainly made an impact on club football as well.
Most know him as Gazza and Gazza joined Tottenham in 1988 after breaking through at Newcastle United and becoming an icon there as well.
Due simply to his infectious nature both on and off of the field, with passion oozing everywhere, he quickly became a fans’ favourite in North London.
Gascoigne won BBC Sports’ Personality of the Year in 1990 and then in the 1990/91 season won an FA Cup with Spurs as well as the BBC Goal of the Season for his iconic semi-final free-kick against rivals Arsenal after just five minutes under the Wembley arch.
Gazza scored 33 goals in 112 Tottenham appearances.
3 Glenn Hoddle
Appearances: 490
Podium spots are upon us and it begins with another man to have managed Tottenham Hotspur as well as having played for them.
Glenn Hoddle took charge in 2001 just a couple of years after his time at the helm of the English national team drew to a close.
He led his side to the Football League Cup final where they were beaten by Blackburn Rovers, Andy Cole and Matthew Jansen scoring the goals for the winning side in Cardiff. Hoddle also won the Premier League Manager of the Month award twice that season.
Focusing on Hoddle’s time on the field and he won three trophies with Tottenham, including back-to-back FA Cup titles in 1981 and 1982. In 2007 he was inducted into the English Football Hall of Fame which says it all really.
His 490 appearances have Hoddle in fifth on the all-time list plus he is one of only 18 players to reach triple figures scored for the club.
2 Jimmy Greaves
Appearances: 379
Jimmy Greaves may not have made as many appearances for Tottenham as Hoddle but he certainly, at the very least, matched his impact on the club.
Up until recently he was the top-scorer in the history of the club and he sadly passed away recently as well, in 2021 at the age of 81.
Greaves also played for Chelsea, AC Milan and West Ham United and yet was able to make such a difference for Spurs.
Here is what the Tottenham Hotspur website writes about their beloved Greavsie.
“Bill Nicholson brought him back to England, joining our double-winning squad for a famous £99,999 fee in December, 1961. He hit a hat-trick on his debut against Blackpool and went on to score 266 goals for us in 379 appearances (all competitions).
“He scored in the FA Cup Final as we defended the trophy in 1962, twice in the Cup Winners’ Cup Final against Atletico Madrid as we became the first British team to triumph in Europe in 1963 and lifted the FA Cup again in 1967.”
1 Harry Kane
Appearances: 435
Jimmy Greaves is one of two iconic goal scorers that is engrained in the Tottenham history books with the other still playing professional football currently.
Harry Kane is of course the man in question and his hopes of breaking Alan Shearer’s record of 260 Premier League goals have surely gone out of the window with his major move to German giants Bayern Munich.
A lack of trophies to show for his individual brilliance and that of the team as well is a stick that will always be used to beat Kane with when discussing him as an all-time great in English football.
Before Kane moved on from English football he overtook Wayne Rooney’s 208 PL goals and currently sits second with an eye-watering 213.
Harry Kane managed 278 goals and 64 assists in 430 games for the club and his best campaigns from a personal point of view came in 2017/18 and 2022/23.
The Englishman managed 30 league goals in both of these seasons and yet came up short to Mohamed Salah and Erling Haaland respectively in the golden boot races. His three successes in that field came in 2015/16, 2016/17 and 2020/21.