RETURNING SPURS

In football, there is an old adage saying ‘never go back’ – the belief that things can never be as good as they were the first time around.

For recent arrival Gareth Bale, who returned to north London last Saturday after a seven-year hiatus at Real Madrid, that is a theory he will be aiming to prove wrong as he embarks on his seasonlong loan with us.

In the Welshman’s favour, there is plenty of evidence in our history to suggest that deciding to return to Spurs often proves to be a very shrewd decision, with many players having enjoyed success in their second spell.

So, as we welcome Gareth back to N17, Liam Carson takes a look back at seven Spurs players who just couldn’t resist the lure of returning to north London.

TONY MARCHI

(1949-1957 AND 1959-1965) 260 APPEARANCES | 7 GOALS

A schoolboy with us before making his professional debut at the age of just 17, Tony Marchi was part of our 1960/61 Double and our 1963 European Cup Winners’ Cup winning sides. A left half-back with height and creativity, his commitment and development saw him progress quickly in his early years and by the end of the 1954/55 season, he provided the ideal replacement for the outgoing Ron Burgess.

Dependable and consistent, Tony went on to become our captain over the next two campaigns before departing for a spell in his father’s homeland of Italy. He spent just two years in the north of the Mediterranean nation with stints at Juventus, Vicenza and Torino before he made his return to north London in 1959. Even though his quality would have seen him walk into any other side in the First Division, it proved a struggle for Marchi to get back into our team when he came back to White Hart Lane, with his old position having been taken by Dave Mackay.