The 1995–96 season was Tottenham Hotspur's 114th season in their history, 18th successive season in the top flight of English football and the 4th season in the FA Premier League. In addition to the domestic league, the club also participated in that season's FA Cup and League Cup.
Season summary The sale of key players Jürgen Klinsmann, Gheorghe Popescu and Nick Barmby weakened Tottenham's resources for 1995–96, and manager Gerry Francis was faced with taunts of "what a waste of money" from shocked supporters when he paid a club record £4.5million for Crystal Palace striker Chris Armstrong.
But Armstrong quickly formed an effective strikeforce with Teddy Sheringham, and an eighth-place finish in the final table was only one place lower than last season's final position - though it was once again not quite enough for a UEFA Cup place.
Perhaps the best moment of the season came on New Year's Day when Spurs triumphed 4–1 at home to Manchester United, dealing a serious blow to the visiting side's title hopes and boosting their own hopes of qualifying for the UEFA Cup as they muscled in on the top five. While Spurs failed to live up to the promise that the game delivered, the losing side lost only one more league game all season and won the league title which had looked an impossible job a few short months earlier.
Early in the season, Tottenham (and London rivals Wimbledon) were informed that they would be banned from European competition by UEFA for the 1996–97 season, for fielding weakened teams in the pre-season UEFA Intertoto Cup. The ban was lifted on appeal.
Final league table
Results Tottenham Hotspur's score comes first
Legend WinDrawLoss
FA Premier League DateOpponentVenueResultAttendanceScorers 19 August 1995 Manchester CityA1–130,827Sheringham 23 August 1995 Aston VillaH0–126,726 26 August 1995 LiverpoolH1–331,254Barnes (own goal) 30 August 1995 West Ham UnitedA1–123,516Rosenthal 9 September 1995 Leeds UnitedH2–130,034Howells, Sheringham 16 September 1995 Sheffield WednesdayA3–126,565Sheringham (2, 1 pen), D Walker (own goal) 25 September 1995 Queens Park RangersA3–215,659Sheringham (2, 1 pen), Dozzell 30 September 1995 WimbledonH3–125,321Sheringham (2), Elkins (own goal) 14 October 1995 Nottingham ForestH0–132,876 22 October 1995 EvertonA1–133,629Armstrong 29 October 1995 Newcastle UnitedH1–132,279Armstrong 4 November 1995 Coventry CityA3–217,545Fox, Sheringham, Howells 18 November 1995 ArsenalH2–132,894Sheringham, Armstrong 21 November 1995 MiddlesbroughA1–029,487Armstrong 25 November 1995 ChelseaA0–031,059 2 December 1995 EvertonH0–032,894 9 December 1995 Queens Park RangersH1–028,851Sheringham 16 December 1995 WimbledonA1–016,193Fox 23 December 1995 Bolton WanderersH2–230,702Sheringham, Armstrong 26 December 1995 SouthamptonA0–015,238 30 December 1995 Blackburn RoversA1–230,004Sheringham 1 January 1996 Manchester UnitedH4–132,852Sheringham, Campbell, Armstrong (2) 13 January 1996 Manchester CityH1–031,438Armstrong 21 January 1996 Aston VillaA1–235,666Fox 3 February 1996 LiverpoolA0–040,628 12 February 1996 West Ham UnitedH0–129,781 24 February 1996 Sheffield WednesdayH1–032,047Armstrong 2 March 1996 SouthamptonH1–026,320Dozzell 16 March 1996 Blackburn RoversH2–332,387Sheringham, Armstrong 20 March 1996 Bolton WanderersA3–217,829Howells, Fox, Armstrong 24 March 1996 Manchester UnitedA0–150,157 30 March 1996 Coventry CityH3–126,808Sheringham, Fox (2) 6 April 1996 Nottingham ForestA1–227,053Armstrong 8 April 1996 MiddlesbroughH1–132,036Armstrong 15 April 1996 ArsenalA0–038,273 27 April 1996 ChelseaH1–132,918Armstrong 2 May 1996 Leeds UnitedA3–130,061Armstrong, Anderton (2) 5 May 1996 Newcastle UnitedA1–136,589Dozzell
FA Cup
+RoundDateOpponentVenueResultAttendanceGoalscorersR36 January 1996 Hereford UnitedA1–18,806RosenthalR3R17 January 1996 Hereford UnitedH5–131,534Sheringham (3), Armstrong (2)R427 January 1996 Wolverhampton WanderersH1–132,812WilsonR4R7 February 1996 Wolverhampton WanderersA2–027,846Rosenthal, SheringhamR528 February 1996 Nottingham ForestA2–218,600Armstrong (2)R5R9 March 1996 Nottingham ForestH1–1 (lost 1–3 on pens)31,055Sheringham
League Cup
+RoundDateOpponentVenueResultAttendanceGoalscorersR2 1st Leg 20 September 1995 Chester CityH4–017,645Armstrong (2), Rosenthal, SheringhamR2 2nd Leg 4 October 1995 Chester CityA3–1 (won 7–1 on agg)5,372Sheringham (2), HowellsR325 October 1995 Coventry CityA2–318,227Busst (own goal), Armstrong
UEFA Intertoto Cup
+RoundDateOpponentVenueResultAttendanceGoalscorersGroup 2 25 June 1995 LuzernH0–22,4971 July 1995 Rudar VelenjeA2–12,000Sampson, Hendry15 July 1995 ÖsterH1–22,143McMahon22 July 1995KölnA0–86,100 Note: Home games in the UEFA Intertoto Cup were played at the Goldstone Ground due to unavailability of White Hart Lane
Squad Squad at end of season
Left club during season
UEFA Intertoto Cup squad Tottenham used a squad of loan players and reserve team players while competing in the UEFA Intertoto Cup.
Reserve squad
Transfers
In DatePosNameFromFee12 June 1995DF Clive Wilson QPRFree transfer30 June 1995FW Chris Armstrong Crystal Palace£4,500,0006 October 1995MF Ruel Fox Newcastle United£4,200,00023 January 1996MF Andy Sinton Sheffield Wednesday£1,500,000
Out DatePosNameToFee22 May 1995MF Gheorghe Popescu Barcelona£2,800,0001 July 1995F Jürgen Klinsmann FC Bayern Munich€1,400,00011 July 1995FW John Hendry Motherwell£200,0008 August 1995MF Nick Barmby Middlesbrough£5,250,00028 February 1996MF Darren Caskey Reading£700,0009 March 1996FW Ilie Dumitrescu West Ham United£1,500,00027 March 1996DF Owen Coll BournemouthSigned
Transfers in: £10,200,000 Transfers out: £11,647,000Based on 0.8553 EUR/GBP for July 1995 https://www.poundsterlinglive.com/bank-of-england-spot/historical-spot-exchange-rates/eur/EUR-to-GBP-1995 Total spending: £1,447,420
Statistics Appearances and goals
! colspan=14 style=background:#dcdcdc; text-align:center| Goalkeepers
! colspan=14 style=background:#dcdcdc; text-align:center| Defenders
! colspan=14 style=background:#dcdcdc; text-align:center| Midfielders
! colspan=14 style=background:#dcdcdc; text-align:center| Forwards
! colspan=14 style=background:#dcdcdc; text-align:center| Players transferred out during the season
Goal scorers
The list is sorted by shirt number when total goals are equal. Player FA Premier League FA Cup League Cup Total1 FW 10 Teddy Sheringham 16 5 3 242 FW 11 Chris Armstrong 15 4 3 223 FW 7 Ruel Fox 6 0 0 64 MF 4 David Howells 3 0 1 4 FW 16 Ronny Rosenthal 1 2 1 46 MF 12 Jason Dozzell 3 0 0 37 MF 9 Darren Anderton 2 0 0 28 DF 15 Clive Wilson 0 1 0 1 DF 23 Sol Campbell 1 0 0 1TOTALS4712867
Clean sheets
PlayerFA Premier LeagueFA CupLeague CupTotal1 1 Ian Walker 11 1 1 13TOTALS111113
References