Why call him “Amazing”? Well, read on!
He spent 16 years at Spurs — 1982 until 1998 — and was the club captain for 11 years — from 1987 to 1998. His overall number of appearances for Spurs amounted to 477, and though he mostly played in central defence, he scored 27 goals for them, the first at White Hart Lane on his debut, in a 2 – 2 draw with Luton Town.
Before joining Spurs, Gary (a Bristolian), played 131 times for Bristol Rovers, scoring 10 goals for the club. And during his time at Spurs, he was capped 16 times by England.
He won the UEFA Cup with the London club in 1984, and captained them to victory in the 1991 FA Cup Final. But back in 1987 in the Cup Final match against Coventry City he had the unenviable distinction of scoring for both Spurs AND Coventry! He scored Spurs’ second goal, to put them 2 – 1 up, but later, in extra time, he scored an own goal. That gave Coventry a 3 – 2 win. It turned him into a bit of a folk hero at Coventry!
In an aerial challenge with Wimbledon striker John Fashanu in 1993, Gary suffered a fractured skull and eye socket. It necessitated him wearing a protective mask on the playing pitch, even after 3 months out of the game.
As if that wasn’t enough, he sustained a broken leg on the opening day of the 1996-97 season, and he retired from football at the end of the following season. Gary suffers from Type 1 diabetes. It involves daily self-injections of insulin. And in 2013 he had surgery to save his left leg, following a disease brought on by his diabetes. He was awarded the MBE in 1994 for services to football.
See now why I called him “amazing”?
I met him at Spurs Cheshunt training ground on that never-to-be-forgotten day arranged for me by the club’s legendary manager Bill Nicholson. We had a fascinating chat about the practice game that was taking place, and Gary spoke about what the coach was trying to achieve.
We also discussed the upcoming UEFA Cup Final second leg match against Anderlecht — the first leg had ended in a 1 – 1 draw. Spurs of course won that second leg on penalties. Their goalkeeper became a hero by saving two penalties!
I found Gary to be a very easy man to converse with, not at all brusque or impersonal or boastful or self-pitying — in fact inspirational, a credit to humanity.
