"I'd play for Tottenham's reserves and then keep a clean sheet against Platini's France" – Pat Jennings recalls five games that changed his life
The former Tottenham. Arsenal and Northern Ireland custodian on FA Cup glory, denying England and facing Brazil at Mexico 86
Tottenham 2-1 Chelsea (May 20, 1967 FA Cup final)
“I’d watched FA Cup matches in Ireland as a kid, when I was lucky enough to find a television. It was the glamour competition, so my first FA Cup medal meant a lot. I perhaps should have done better for Chelsea’s goal, but when I get a video out, I see I made a couple of brilliant early saves.”
PATRICK KLUIVERT "I was only 18 and had already achieved one of the biggest dreams any footballer can have"
PAUL INCE "If we’d lost against Barca in '91, I don’t think we’d have gone on to win the Premier League two years later"
MICHAEL BALLACK "One of the most important matches of my career was Germany 1 England 5…"
Tottenham 4-2 Leeds (April 28, 1975 First Division)
“This was a huge night: we needed to beat Leeds to stay in the First Division. It was the last match of the season, on a Monday night, at White Hart Lane, and I didn’t want to be part of a team that took the great Tottenham Hotspur into the Second Division. Leeds were playing in the European Cup final a few weeks later, so winning this game gave me as much satisfaction as any of my cup wins.”
Spain 0-1 Northern Ireland (June 25, 1982 World Cup)
“We had some unbelievable nights with Northern Ireland in the early-80s – we beat Germany home and away – and we’d been trying to reach a World Cup for so long. To qualify for Spain 82, then beat the host nation, was fantastic. Gerry Armstrong scored and we kept a clean sheet even though Mal Donaghy was sent off 30 minutes before the end.”
England 0-0 Northern Ireland (November 13, 1985 World Cup qualifier)
“My final match at Wembley – we needed a point to reach the 1986 World Cup, and half of the pitch was frozen. I had to make a flying save from Glenn Hoddle, then keep out a Kerry Dixon header. Alan McDonald was stood behind me on the line, thinking I wasn’t going to get it. I thought he was going to handle it, but I just managed to push the ball over. I was 40 and back at Tottenham, playing for their reserves, but I still kept six clean sheets in a row for Northern Ireland – including one against Michel Platini’s France. I had never kept six clean sheets on the trot when I was 30, never mind 40!”
Northern Ireland 0-3 Brazil (June 12, 1986 World Cup)
“I was two short of 1,100 first-class matches and my last-ever game was against Brazil at the World Cup, on my 41st birthday. I couldn’t have chosen better opposition. I’d played against Mexico at the Azteca in 1966, so to be back in Mexico 20 years later, on my birthday, was a special way to finish.”
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Chris joined FourFourTwo in 2015 and has reported from 20 countries, in places as varied as Jerusalem and the Arctic Circle. He's interviewed Pele, Zlatan and Santa Claus (it's a long story), as well as covering the World Cup, Euro 2020 and the Clasico. He previously spent 10 years as a newspaper journalist, and completed the 92 in 2017.
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