Chelsea have rivalries with most clubs in London and it is fair to say they also aren’t overly keen on Liverpool, Leeds or Manchester United! Regarding Chelsea’s rivalries with other teams from the capital, however, the antipathy between the Blues and Spurs is probably the fiercest. That means that when a player moves between Chelsea and Spurs (either way), there is a decent chance the transfer will create at least a little controversy.
For the most part moves between the Blues and Spurs have not been mega deals. There have been few, if any, instances of either club losing one of their real stars directly to the other. For this reason, none of the transfers we will look at have truly attracted huge amounts of controversy. Nonetheless, such deals are noteworthy, whilst in this article we will also look at the wider picture and detail some of the players who have played for both London giants at some point in their careers, even if they did not move directly from one to the other.
Jimmy Greaves
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Perhaps the best player to have played football for Chelsea and Tottenham is a man who had a brief spell in Milan between the two. Jimmy Greaves was a world-class striker, an incredibly natural finisher. He possessed incredible pace and was also a fine dribbler of the ball. He began his career with the Blues as a youth and played 169 times for Chelsea, netting 132 goals. He then got nine in 10 Serie A matches for Milan before Spurs’ legendary manager Bill Nicholson paid £99,999 to bring him to north London in 1961.
The fee meant Greaves could avoid the pressure of being England’s first £100,000 player, although in truth, Graves was such a relaxed character we doubt it would have affected him. He certainly enjoyed a stellar career with Spurs though, helping them win two FA Cups and the European Cup Winners’ Cup. He scored 268 goals for Tottenham in 381 games and, of course, won the World Cup with England in 1966. He scored 44 goals for his country from just 57 games and in 1963 came third in the Ballon d’Or.
Gustavo Poyet
Uruguayan attacking midfielder Gus Poyet won the Copa America with his nation, as well as various honours with the Blues, whilst he also appeared in the 2002 League Cup final with Spurs. In the summer of 1997, Chelsea acquired him on a free transfer and he would enjoy four seasons with the club, playing 145 times and netting an impressive 49 goals from his midfield role.
The fiery former Zaragoza player moved to Spurs directly from Chelsea for around £2.2m in May 2001. He had three seasons with Tottenham, managing to score 23 times despite suffering several injuries during this time.
William Gallas
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Gallas was the first player to make a senior appearance for all three of London’s biggest clubs. His longest affiliation was with Chelsea, who signed the powerful French defender from Marseille in 2001 for more than £6m. Gallas, capped 84 times by France, made 225 appearances in the blue of Chelsea before leaving to join Arsenal in 2006, with Ashley Cole making the switch the other way as part of the deal.
In August 2010 the centre back then made the even more controversial transfer from the Gunners to Spurs. He would represent Tottenham 78 times over three seasons before finishing his playing days in Australia with Perth. The only major honours Gallas won in the English game all came with Chelsea, the PL in 2005 and 2006, plus the League Cup in 2005.
Clive Allen
In terms of London clubs, striker Clive Allen outdid Gallas and was on the books of Arsenal (although he never played a game for them), Chelsea and Spurs, as well as Crystal Palace, QPR, West Ham and Millwall! The Stepney boy obviously didn’t like to move too far from home, although he did have short spells in Bordeaux and, err, Carlisle.
Allen was a superb finisher and played five times for England. In 1987 he did the double of winning the PFA Players Player of the Year and Football Writers’ Association Footballer of the Year awards. That came due to his 49 goals in 54 games for Spurs and in total he scored 112 for them in just 173 games. He played just 16 times for Chelsea, late in his career, but still netted seven times in his 16 outings in blue.
Scott Parker
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Scott Parker is another player with links to several London clubs, having played for Charlton first, then Chelsea, as well as West Ham, Spurs and Fulham. Now a manager, he was also in the dugout at Fulham. Parker was a superb midfielder, capped 18 times by England and named PFA Young Player of the Year for 2003/04.
His career never quite hit the heights many had predicted. Even so, over the years clubs paid around £40m in transfer fees for him, the highest of those being the £10m+ the Blues paid Charlton for his services in January 2004. He played just 28 times for the club though, and only 63 for Spurs, who bought him from West Ham for around £5.5m in 2011.
Other Players to Have Played for the Blues and Spurs
There are many other players who have played for both Chelsea and Tottenham over the years. Here are some of the more notable – and recent – ones.
- Carlo Cudicini – Italian stopper, Cudicini, spent 10 years at the Bridge and moved to Spurs from Chelsea.
- Jason Cundy – English centre back, Cundy, was a Chelsea youth and made 41 league appearances for the Blues before a loan and then a permanent move to Spurs.
- Gordon Durie – Scottish striker, Durie, netted 51 league goals for the Blues before a move to Spurs in 1991 for £2.2m.
- Glenn Hoddle – Hoddle was a Spurs legend but finished his playing career with the Blues before managing them (and also returning to manage Tottenham).