Happy birthday to loyal Spurs servant, Phil Beal – his 420 appearances for the club over a 12 year spell, see him ranked as the 9th highest number of appearances for the club (at time of writing)
Phil was the first of the modern youth team to climb through the ranks of the Trainees, Juniors and Reserves to claim a first team place.He made his debut as a defender against Aston Villa in September 1963, and went on to make 16 appearances in that season.
By the start of the following season Danny Blanchflower had retired with Beal taking on the former captain’s right half position. With the team in transition, he only made eight appearances that season.
The versatile player filled a variety of defensive positions and featured in 21 matches in 1965-66, started in 26 games in 1966-67, but injury ruled him out of the 1967 FA Cup Final victory over Chelsea. Phil’s early experiences were at right back but the injury in 1967 allowed Joe Kinnear to establish himself in that position. But when Phil was fit again, he was groomed to play as a sweeper behind Mike England and was very successful in that role. By the late 1960s he had fully established himself in the side and consistently showed his calm, authoritative and composed style. A master maker and perfectly timed tackles, made for one of the best defenders in the club’s history – pretty sure if there hadn’t been a certain Bobby Moore around at the same time, Phil would have featured in the England shirt too.
Phil played in both League Cup Final winning sides against Aston Villa in 1971 and Norwich City in 1973. He also played in both matches against Wolverhampton Wanderers in the 1972 UEFA Cup Final in which he collected another winners’ medal. He also played in both legs of the 1974 UEFA Cup Final against Feyenoord, but unfortunately on this occasion picked up a runners up medal.
Phil finished his career with Spurs in 1975, when he was given a free transfer by Terry Neill during a bit of a clear our of older players. He made 420 appearances including three as substitute in all competitions, and scoring just one goal – No one who witnessed Phil’s only goal for the club against Queen’s Park Rangers in January 1969 will forget it. He broke up a QPR attack on the edge of his own penalty area. He raced upfield, swapped passes with Jimmy Greaves and then cracked the ball into the QPR goal off the crossbar.
Phil was granted a testimonial by the club in 1973
It is alleged he ended up losing money after visiting Bayern Munich insisted on £11,500 fee and Spurs themselves gave a bill to the testimonial committee. The petrol rationing in place at time also argued prevented a larger crowd than the 19,000 that turned up. You would hope the club saw him right.