One of Spurs’ finest ever players, Cliff Jones was born in Swansea on 7th Feb 1935.
The winger started his career with his hometown club aged 17 and during the next few years his talents did not go unnoticed.
Just after his 23rd birthday, Spurs signed Cliff, for a then record £35,000 as one of the final pieces in the squad that Bill Nicholson then took to the top.
He made his debut a few days later in a 4-4 against Arsenal at Highbury. The team would grow under Bill Nick’s management and as the club moved into the 1960’s Cliff won the first of his 7 major honours with the club, scoring 19 goals in the 1960/61 Double Season. He followed this up with a FA Cup winners medal after the 2-0 victory over Leicester to complete the Double.
Cliff thought he’d scored the opener in the 1961 Cup Final, only for his effort to be ruled out for offside.
A Charity Shield winners medal would follow in August 1961 and he helped the club retain the FA Cup in 1962. European Cup success was within touching distance, but fell at the penultimate hurdle losing to eventual winners Benfica in the semi final.
Another Charity Shield winners medal followed in August 1962 as Spurs thrashed League Champions, Ipswich, 5-1 at Portman Road.
More history would be made in 1963 as Cliff helped the club become the first British team to win a major European trophy, when we beat Atletico Madrid 5-1 to lift the European Cup Winners Cup.
A few trophy-less season passed until Cliff picked up a winners medal as a non-playing sub in the 1967 FA Cup Final.
Cliff moved onto a short spell with Fulham, but not before he signed off in style with a goal in his last match for Spurs against Man Utd at Old Trafford.
Cliff played 378 times for Tottenham, scoring 159 goals – which at time of writing, makes him the 5th highest all time goalscorer for the club. He also gained 59 caps for Wales, scoring 16 international goals for them too – reaching the 1958 World Cup Finals, where he played in all 5 of Wales matches en-route to the Quarter Finals.
HONOURS
League Champion: 1960/61
FA Cup Winner: 1961, 1962, 1967
European Cup Winners Cup Winner: 1963
Charity Shield Winner: 1961, 1962