As Erling Haaland threatens to damage each goalscoring document that exists, a couple of questions cling within the air. Will he beat the 34-goal document within the Premier League, which used to be set by means of Andy Cole in 1994 and coupled by means of Alan Shearer a yr later? Will he surpass Dixie Dean’s mark of 60 league targets from the 1927–28 season? Is he a robotic?
Surely even Haaland can’t wreck Dean’s document, however it will no longer be a marvel if he exceeds the mark set by means of Clive Allen, who scored 49 targets for Tottenham as they chased a home treble underneath David Pleat within the 1986–87 season. No one has matched Allen’s tally since – which he set with out enjoying in Europe – but it surely used to be a bittersweet marketing campaign for the Spurs striker.
Clive Allen. Would you consider it? John Motson’s phrases at first of the 1987 FA Cup last might be able to were carried out to Allen’s season as an entire. There used to be no doubting his poaching skills, however he had by no means come on the subject of scoring 49 targets in 54 video games. Allen were on a excursion of the London golf equipment earlier than he signed for Spurs in 1984. After two spells at QPR, a stint at Palace and a brief keep at Arsenal (the place he by no means performed a aggressive fit), he adopted within the footsteps of his dad Les, who received the double with Tottenham in 1960–61.
Allen scored two times on his debut for Spurs in August, however his first two years on the membership have been blighted by means of accidents. The arrival of Pleat as supervisor in 1986 coincided with a reversal in Allen’s fortunes. His hat-trick in a three–0 win in opposition to Aston Villa at the opening day of the 1986–97 season used to be an indication of items to come back. “That’s Clive – a goal poacher,” mentioned Spurs goalkeeper Ray Clemence. “When he gets one, his confidence flies and he’s immediately chasing more.”
By the time Allen hit a brace in a 2–1 win at Leicester in overdue September, he had scored seven of Tottenham’s 8 targets of their first seven fits. “I’m pleased to be scoring so many goals and it doesn’t worry me that nobody else is at the moment,” he mentioned. “I know the others will join in sooner or later.”
Tottenham’s reliance on their striker confirmed no indicators of receding as autumn grew to become to wintry weather. A final-minute free-kick from Allen gave Tottenham a three–2 win at Barnsley within the League Cup; two targets in opposition to Everton secured a a very powerful win within the league; Allen hit the winner at Anfield; and two targets in opposition to Birmingham within the League Cup took his overall to fifteen within the first 14 fits.
What used to be the name of the game to his good fortune? “It’s instinct more than anything,” mentioned Allen. “You can’t teach people when and where to go in the penalty area. They are falling for me at the moment and I am tucking them away. Pleat also recognized that an improvement in his fitness made Allen sharper and more confident.
His form in November and December was something else: two goals in a 4–2 win over Oxford; two more in a 3–2 defeat by Nottingham Forest; a goal that resulted in a broken nose in an entertaining 3–3 draw at Old Trafford; two goals at Stamford Bridge; a brace in a 4–0 win over West Ham; two against Coventry in a crazy 4–3 defeat. By the end of 1986 he had scored 28 goals in the season.
Pleat was about to add another piece to the jigsaw. After Steve Hodge arrived in December, Pleat deployed a five-man midfield of Glenn Hoddle, Ossie Ardiles, Chris Waddle, Hodge and Paul Allen (Clive’s cousin) behind the lone striker. As Tottenham chased an unlikely domestic treble, the goals flowed. The team scored in 26 consecutive matches between November and May.
Allen had his only real dry spell at the start of 1987, going four matches without a goal. But a crucial effort at West Ham in the League Cup quarter-final set up a replay at White Hart Lane. Allen’s hat-trick in the return match handed Tottenham the prospect of a north London derby against Arsenal in a two-legged semi-final.
Spurs won the first leg 1-0 at Highbury, with Allen scoring the winner – accompanied by a spine-shattering celebration – but, in a season of personal triumph for Allen, he was about to experience crushing disappointment. He missed a number of glorious opportunities to kill the tie in the second leg and had to watch as Arsenal fought back to win 2-1. Allen scored again as Spurs took the lead in the replay, but they simply could not shake off Arsenal, who won 2–1 at White Hart Lane and thwarted Tottenham’s treble chances.
There was still hope in the league, though. Allen scored his 40th goal of the season in a 1–0 win over QPR three days after the Arsenal disappointment. Tottenham were 14 points behind leaders Liverpool with five games in hand. But eventually the team ran out of fuel and had to be content with finishing third.
Allen experienced more highs and lows in April. He scored his third and final hat-trick of the season in a win over Norwich, before being voted the PFA Player of the Year. “He hasn’t got the pace of Ian Rush or the power in the air of Mick Harford, but I don’t think anyone had cleaner feet when it comes to getting the ball round the goalkeeper,” mentioned Pleat.
Earning an England recall, Allen used to be taking a look to damage his world duck, having failed to attain in his earlier 3 appearances. But a disallowed target within the 0–0 draw in opposition to Turkey left Allen pissed off. His last cap got here in February 1988 in any other goalless attract Israel. Remarkably for a striker so prolific at membership stage, he simplest performed 5 occasions for England and not scored a global target.
At least Allen had the comfort of attaining the FA Cup last. His target within the semi-final in opposition to Watford ensured he broke Jimmy Greaves’ document of 44 targets in a season for Tottenham, set again in 1962–63. Spurs have been favorites in opposition to Coventry however there can be no silver lining come the tip of a vintage last.
Allen headed house his forty ninth of the season in the second one minute, however the 3–2 defeat left Tottenham without a silverware to turn for his or her memorable season. Allen scored 33 league targets, 4 within the FA Cup and 12 within the League Cup, in addition to profitable the PFA and the FWA participant of the yr awards. But staff good fortune proved elusive.
The long term seemed vibrant for Tottenham, however the membership didn’t construct at the foundations of that 1986–87 season. Gough and Hoddle departed; Pleat used to be sacked in October following newspaper allegations about his non-public lifestyles; and Allen moved to Bordeaux halfway thru the next season.
“I’d love to see Tottenham win a trophy rather than my name on the scoresheet,” mentioned Allen all over that exceptional season. You cannot all the time get what you wish to have. Well, perhaps Haaland can. It would no longer be a marvel if Haaland have been to overcome Allen’s 49-goal tally. But it will be a surprise if City completed the season with out silverware.