The Ghost of White Hart Lane

Something a wee bit different.

The 1960's was a special time for Scottish football and arguably it was our golden generation. From 1960 - 1970 we had five different winners of the top flight including Hearts, Dundee, Kilmarnock and of course Rangers and Celtic. Celtic became the first British team to win the European Cup, in fact the first from Northern Europe. Amazingly it was won with 11 Scottish players all born within a short distance of Glasgow. Dundee reached the semi finals of the European Cup, losing to the eventual winners AC MIlan. Rangers likewise reached the semi final as well and in that period Scottish teams reached a total of twelve (yes TWELVE) semi finals in European competition.

There were a number of special players from Scotland in that period but today I want to draw your attention to one of those incredible players, John White also known as the Ghost of White Hart Lane.

I have to confess I didn't know that much about Mr White but having heard the interview with Harry Redknapp conducted by Graham Hunter in his big interview series where he spoke glowingly about John White I was determined to find out more. I wanted to share that with the ja606 audience.

John White started his career at Alloa before signing for Falkirk and then moving to Tottenham in 1959 for the sum of £20,000. White impressed for both sides but a number of English clubs were reluctant to splash the cash for him due to his frail build and diminutive nature. Bill Nicholson though was persuaded to purchase him on the basis of a recommendation that he got from White's international colleague Dave MacKay and a discovery that apparently White was a celebrated cross country runner in his army service.

At Tottenham he flourished and was an integral part of what was the greatest Spurs side ever. He combined not only the graft that Nicholson demanded of his players but an unbelievable level of skill, perception and all round football knowledge. As an inside right he was the fulcrum of that team, linked the defence and attack like nobody else had previously and it was said, impossible to man mark as he was always on the move and making runs into the box that defenders were not expecting. Harry Redknapp in his interview with Graham Hunter talks about how White was rolled out to entertain the youth players with his close control and keepy up skills.

That is what contributed to his nickname, The Ghost. His pale, white appearance combined with his ghost like runs meant that he was christened with the moniker that would sadly become an ironic nickname.

In 183 League games he scored 40 league goals, one goal in 17 FA Cup games and 6 goals in 17 European ties. These number though don't highlight how crucial he was to that Spurs team.

He played every game of the Double winning season scoring 18 goals. He scored in the European Cup Winners Cup final of 1962/63 when Spurs became the first British side to win a European trophy. Tottenham never finished worse than fourth with White as a player. The most startling fact I found though is that in 15 games he did not play for Spurs they only won once.

He has 22 caps for Scotland in an era when we were blessed with great World Class players.

All of his contemporaries speak so highly of him. I again return to the interview with Redknapp and there is a warm affection in his voice when he speaks of White and a wistfulness for the talent he clearly was and Jimmy Greaves is quoted as saying he would have been one of the greatest footballers ever.

The reason that talent was not fully realised, on this date 52 years ago at the age of 27 John White was killed by lightning whilst out playing a round of golf. His loss to Spurs was devastating. He had been told that the next generation Tottenham team was going to be built round him and with his peak years ahead of him it is not just speculative to state that he could have went on to be one of the all time greats in the English game. Although Spurs did go on to win the FA Cup in 1966/67 and the league cup in 1970 they did not match the achievements of the early 1960's. It is to simplistic to say that was all because of the loss of one man but having seen the impact it had on the team when he was not playing it is not to much of a stretch to say that the death of White devastated the club.

John White was the sort of player that Scotland used to produce and in the 1960's we had an abundance of them. Death at an early age always makes it easier to place people on a pedestal but from I have read about John White that is not the case. This is a young man who was super talented and consistently delivered at the top level over a number of seasons.

John White, a legend and a player who should not be forgotten by all football fans.