Watch Glenn Hoddle’s magnificent goal vs. Watford, 36 years ago today

I don’t often share anniversaries of Tottenham Hotspur goals on the site (with the notable exception of the Dele-versary) but this ended up in my timeline this morning and it’s too good not to share. 36 years ago today in 1983, Tottenham Hotspur were at Vicarage Road to play Watford, with Glenn Hoddle in the team. Hoddle then went on to score what most consider his best-ever goal for Spurs.

This is that goal. It is outrageous.

Not only does Hoddle break the ankles of Watford defender Jan Lohman, he leaves him for dead before audaciously chipping the keeper Steve Sherwood to score. The Guardian match report later said “He did not so much pop out of Lohman’s pocket as take the trousers with him.”

Hoddle himself talked about that goal, saying that he absolutely intended to do it, but he didn’t think it would end up THAT good.

“I hadn’t actually been playing that well up to that moment and I was thinking I had better do something because we were a goal down. The ball came in to me and I flicked it away from the defender with my right foot. I remember thinking that Steve Sherwood was pretty tall, so I would have to get some height on the shot, so I chipped it. It was sort of like a wedge shot. I meant it, but I didn’t think it would come off that well.”

Tottenham went on to win the match 3-2. They’d go on to finish 8th that season.

I know that English Spurs fans are well familiar with this goal, as it was apparently part of the opening montage of Match of the Day for several years. But for newer fans, or those who only came to Spurs after the Premier League began like me, these are moments of magic that still take the breath away. This is a goal whose anniversary is worth celebrating.