 Chivers in 2011 | |||
| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Martin Harcourt Chivers | ||
| Date of birth | (1945-04-27)27 April 1945 (age 80) | ||
| Place of birth | Southampton, England | ||
| Height | 6 ft 1 in (1.85 m)[1] | ||
| Position | Forward | ||
| Youth career | |||
| 1961–1962 | CPC Sports | ||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
| 1962–1968 | Southampton[1] | 175 | (96) |
| 1968–1976 | Tottenham Hotspur | 278 | (118) |
| 1976–1978 | Servette | 66 | (33) |
| 1978–1979 | Norwich City | 11 | (4) |
| 1979–1980 | Brighton & Hove Albion | 5 | (1) |
| 1980 | Dorchester Town | 5 | (3) |
| 1980 | →Frankston City (loan) | 2 | (0) |
| 1981–1982 | Vard Haugesund | 2 | (0) |
| 1982–1983 | Barnet | 10 | (0) |
| Total | 546 | (255) | |
| International career | |||
| 1964–1968 | England U23 | 17 | (7) |
| 1971–1973 | England | 24 | (13) |
| * Club domestic league appearances and goals | |||
Martin Harcourt Chivers (born 27 April 1945) is an English retired professionalfootballer who played as aforward. He began his career with his hometown clubSouthampton, before being sold toTottenham Hotspur, but also had a prolific stint with Swiss clubServette. From 1971 to 1973, he played for theEngland national team, scoring thirteen goals in 24 appearances, but did not represent his country at a major tournament.
Chivers attendedTaunton's Grammar School,Southampton, and wrote to his local club,Southampton for a trial.[2] He spent a brief period in the club's nursery side, CPC Sports, and signed as a professional footballer in September 1962, making his debut againstCharlton Athletic on 8 September 1962 (aged 17).[1] He failed to score on his debut and his first goal came in a 4–1 defeat byNewcastle United on 6 April 1963 (in his third first-team appearance).[3] This goal meant that his name is also in the record books as the firstsubstitute to score for theSaints.[4]
In the 1963–64 season, he became a regular starter and was the club's joint leading goalscorer (withTerry Paine) with 21 goals, as Southampton finished a disappointing fifth in the Second Division.[5] The following season, he was again a virtual ever-present, making 39 appearances with 17 goals as theSaints improved to fourth place.[6]
In the1965–66 season, he played an integral role as the club finally gained promotion to the top flight (as runners-up),[7] scoring 30 goals from 39 games, generally from crosses provided byTerry Paine andJohn Sydenham.[8] All his goals were scored from the first 29 games, and he failed to find the net after the end of February.[9]
Once in the First Division, he played second fiddle to the Welsh striker,Ron Davies, scoring 14 and 13 goals respectively in the next two seasons.[10][11] He became unsettled atThe Dell and was soon being chased by many of the top clubs. Saints' managerTed Bates was prepared to allow Chivers to leave, as he had a more than adequate replacement coming up through the ranks inMick Channon.[1] He scored a total of 106 goals in 190 appearances for the Saints.[1]
In January 1968,Tottenham Hotspur managerBill Nicholson signed Chivers for a club record fee of £125,000, which also made him the country's most expensive player at that time.[1] The deal involved 24-year-oldFrank Saul moving fromWhite Hart Lane to The Dell. Chivers scored on his Spurs debut againstSheffield Wednesday in January 1968,[12] but the initial stages of his White Hart Lane career were relatively unsuccessful, with Spurs legendsJimmy Greaves andAlan Gilzean still preferred as an attacking partnership. He eventually became the most important goalscorer at Tottenham, following the sale of Greaves toWest Ham United in 1970.
Chivers was often seen as a lethargic and lazy player,[13] but his pace and natural strength established "Big Chiv" as a star of the Spurs side throughout the early 1970s.[14] The 1970–71 season was the beginning of Chivers' golden years.[15] He played in all 58 competitive games and scored 34 times, including both goals in theLeague Cup final againstAston Villa, and 21 goals in the First Division as Spurs finished the season in third place.[16][citation needed]
During the1971–72 campaign, Chivers hit the best form of his career, netting 42 times in 62 first team appearances.[17] His seven goals in as many League Cup ties enabled Spurs to reach the semi-finals of the competition where they eventually lost to London neighboursChelsea. The resurgent striker saved his most impressive form for theUEFA Cup, scoring eight times in 11 matches, including a hat-trick in a 9–0 demolition of Icelandic sideKeflavik ÍF,[18] and a superb double againstWolverhampton Wanderers in a memorablefinal.[17][19] In the First Division, he surpassed his tally of the previous campaign, scoring 25 times in 39 appearances.
Chivers continued his prolific form in the1972–73 season, finding the net 33 times in 61 appearances. His acclaimed goalscoring ability again guided Tottenham to League Cup success with two quarter-final strikes againstLiverpool, and a crucial goal atMolineux where the Londoners drew 2–2 to reach thefinal.[20][21] His European form was equally impressive, producing eight goals in ten matches, as Spurs reached the UEFA Cup semi-finals before losing to Liverpool on theaway goals rule.[22]
Spurs again reached thefinal of the UEFA Cup in 1974 with Chivers scoring six goals, including in a 2–0 home victory against East German sideLokomotive Leipzig.[23] The two-legged final was to end in disappointment with Dutch giantsFeyenoord winning 4–2 on aggregate as Spurs lost a major final for the first time.[24] By the beginning of the 1974–75 season, Chivers was considered to be the senior forward at Tottenham, playing alongsideChris Jones,Chris McGrath and ScotsmanJohn Duncan. In early September, he played his last game for the legendary Bill Nicholson, asMiddlesbrough crushed Spurs 4–0 in the 2nd round of the League Cup.[25] Injuries restricted Chivers to just 28 league appearances in which he scored 10 goals, including important strikes against West Ham United,Leeds United and local rivalsArsenal.[26]
The 1975–76 season was Chivers' last at White Hart Lane as he struggled to find the net in a relatively poor Spurs team. He made 37 appearances in all competitions, scoring nine times, before joining Swiss clubServette for an £80,000 fee.[27][28] In his8+1⁄2-year Spurs career, Chivers scored a total of 174 goals in 367 first-team appearances and remained the leading Tottenham goalscorer in European competition for 39 years until he was overtaken byJermain Defoe on 7 November 2013.[29]
At the age of 31 in July 1976, the prolific striker moved toServette in Switzerland, before returning to English league football with spells atNorwich City (1978–79) andBrighton (1979–80), where he finished his professional career. In the early 1980s, he continued his career in non-league football withDorchester Town andBarnet, and played abroad for Australian clubFrankston City and for Norwegian clubVard Haugesund.[30]
On 8 April 1964, Chivers made his debut for theEngland under-23 team againstFrance, coming on as a substitute and scoring a goal. He remained a fixture of the under-23 squad for the next four years and scored seven goals in 17 appearances.[31]
On 3 February 1971, Chivers made his debut forEngland againstMalta. On 21 April, he scored his first goal in his second cap, in a 3–0 win overGreece.[32]
In October 1973, Chivers won the last of his full England caps againstPoland in an infamous World Cup qualifier.[33] Despite scoring six international goals in the calendar year, the Spurs striker was a casualty of his country's failure to qualify for the tournament and would later be ignored by caretaker managerJoe Mercer and future bossDon Revie. He was capped 24 times for England, scoring 13 goals.[34]
After retiring from professional football, he managed clubs in England and Norway and owned a hotel and restaurant inHertfordshire.[28] Chivers has commentated forBBC Radio and remains a popular matchday host at White Hart Lane.[35][36]
In April 2007, he was inducted into the Tottenham Hotspur Hall of Fame.[37] In May 2008, he was appointed the National Development Manager tothe Football Association.[36] Chivers' autobiography,Big Chiv - My Goals in Life, was released in October 2009.[38]
| National team | Year | Apps | Goals |
|---|---|---|---|
| England | |||
| 1971 | 8 | 7 | |
| 1972 | 5 | 0 | |
| 1973 | 11 | 6 | |
| Total | 24 | 13 | |
| No. | Date | Venue | Opponent | Score | Result | Competition |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 21 April 1971 | Wembley Stadium,London, England |  Greece | 1–0 | 3–0 | UEFA Euro 1972 qualification |
| 2 | 12 May 1971 | Wembley Stadium, London, England |  Malta | 1–0 | 5–0 | UEFA Euro 1972 qualification |
| 3 | 4–0 | |||||
| 4 | 22 May 1971 | Wembley Stadium, London, England |  Scotland | 2–1 | 3–1 | British Home Championship |
| 5 | 3–1 | |||||
| 6 | 13 October 1971 | St. Jakob-Park,Basel, Switzerland |  Switzerland | 1–0 | 3–2 | UEFA Euro 1972 qualification |
| 7 | 1 December 1971 | Karaiskakis Stadium,Piraeus, Greece | Greece | 2–0 | 2–0 | UEFA Euro 1972 qualification |
| 8 | 14 February 1973 | Hampden Park,Glasgow, Scotland | Scotland | 4–0 | 5–0 | British Home Championship |
| 9 | 12 May 1973 | Windsor Park,Belfast, Northern Ireland |  Northern Ireland | 1–0 | 2–1 | British Home Championship |
| 10 | 2–1 | |||||
| 11 | 15 May 1973 | Wembley Stadium, London, England |  Wales | 1–0 | 3–0 | British Home Championship |
| 12 | 10 June 1973 | Central Lenin Stadium,Moscow, Russia |  Soviet Union | 1–0 | 2–1 | Friendly match |
| 13 | 26 September 1973 | Wembley Stadium, London, England |  Austria | 5–0 | 7–0 | Friendly match |
Southampton
Tottenham Hotspur
Servette
Individual
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |