Danny Blanchflower interview in 1962

A link to a BBC Face To Face interview by the forensic John Freeman with Danny, who made 68 appearances for us between 1949-51 and must surely be one of our greatest players of all time, randomly appeared on my Facebook feed this morning. I watched and was so impressed by Blanchflower's outstanding eloquence. He expressed views on a range of topics and, when asked how much he earned at Spurs, whom he had just captained to the League and FA Cup double, he said it depended on results, but between £3k and £4k per annum. Best estimates are that that would equate to somewhere between £60k and £100k per annum in 2023. Blanchflower was voted by The Times in 2009 as Spurs' greatest player ever, and he was paid annually the equivalent of what many Premier League players would regard as utterly inadequate for one week. I particularly like Danny's following comment on football, which I didn't hear on the snippet I saw: "The great fallacy is that the game is first and last about winning. It is nothing of the kind. The game is about glory, about doing things in style and with a flourish, about going out and beating the lot, not waiting for them to die of boredom". Perhaps Neill Collins should take note.

 

If anyone is interested, the interview apparently appears on YouTube. John Freeman Face To Face with DB. It was uploaded onto BBC Archive on 22nd May 2023.

 

Parse the hot milk please!

 

Here you go mate

 

This was broadcast in 1982. Worth a watch about his time with us. Also features Skinner Normanton.

 

Tottenham legend.

 

That’s brilliant. We should get a sign writer to paint that up on the dressing room wall.

"The great fallacy is that the game is first and last about winning. It is nothing of the kind. The game is about glory, about doing things in style and with a flourish, about going out and beating the lot, not waiting for them to die of boredom"

Danny Blanchflower, BFC 1949-51.

Or we could go for the alternative ‘mission statement’

"The great fallacy is that the game is first and last about winning. It is nothing of the kind. The game is about money, about the buying and selling of players to make a profit, about going out and sticking to a plan even if the crowd dies of boredom."

Pacific Media Group

 

I remember that line from the ITV Shredded Wheat advert featuring Danny, along with: "Shredded Wheat. It's a real treat!"

 

I'm too young to have seen Blanchflower play for us, but I did see him with my brother among over 60,000 at Hillsborough in 1960, supporting Spurs, I must add(!), when Spurs arrived, having won 15 and drawn 1 of their first 16 games. Unfortunately, Wednesday ended Spurs' run, by beating them 2-1. Wednesday were second in the table at the time.

 

Thanks very much for that. Just watched it. Very interesting!

 

Thanks very much. I've just watched it again. Slight error in my original post. Danny said he was earning £4k-£5k at Spurs, rather than £3k-£4k. Still a minute fraction, in "real terms", of what a similarly successful player gets paid today.