Spurs' Unsung Hero, of the Glory, Glory Years: My Autobiography: Terry Dyson

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He wrote biographies of George Balanchine, Louis Armstrong and Duke Ellington and libretti for three staged operas by Paul Moravec.

Dyson was spotted playing football for the British Army during National Service [1] After being demobbed in 1955 he joined Tottenham Hotspur from non-league Scarborough. Dyson played his first match for Tottenham against Sheffield United in March 1955. [3] He played for the North London club until 1965. He was a regular member of the Double-winning side of 1960–61, scoring in the FA Cup Final against Leicester. Dyson was also a member of the team that won the 1962–63 European Cup Winners' Cup, scoring twice in the final against Atlético Madrid. He made a total of 209 appearances and scored 55 goals for Tottenham. Harry could do it I suppose, providing he stays clear of injury and hopefully he does. You don't want him injured," Dyson added. In 1962-63 Tottenham became the first British club to win a European trophy with their success in the European Cup Winners’ Cup. The previous season, Spurs had just failed to reach the Final of the European Cup competition but had qualified for the Cup Winners’ Cup by retaining the FA Cup with a victory over Burnley at Wembley. Tottenham’s 1962-63 success gave Spurs another first to add to their collection. While Greaves and Kane will forever remain great strikers for the club, Dyson has something both have not achieved.Dyson was a part of the legendary Tottenham team that won the double in the 1960-61 season, becoming the first team in the 20th century to win both the League Championship and the FA Cup in the same season. Dyson played a crucial role in this achievement, scoring 12 goals in 42 appearances that season. I’m okay. We all have our problems, and I don’t think I’ve much chance now of playing again at 88! We still go out for walks every day, for an hour, we have a huge family, and that’s great."

Brown emigrated to Canada. (Spurs Odyssey heard of the death of Bill Brown on 1st December, 2004. Thus Bill became the third player to join the great double team in the sky (preceded by John White and Danny Blanchflower) , joining their much loved and much missed manager, Bill Nicholson.) Tottenham Hotspur (Spurs) Football Club is located in North London. The club is also known as Spurs. Tottenham's home ground is White Hart Lane. The club motto is Audere est Facere (To dare is to do). No team had won the ‘Double’ in the 20th Century and it was regarded as an impossible task among commentators of that time. The achievement had not been completed since the early days of the competitions – by Preston North End in 1889 and Aston Villa eight years later. In those early days teams played a greatly reduced number of matches to achieve their goal – Preston had to play a total of twenty seven games while Villa had an additional eight League games.Standing at just 5’4″, Dyson was not the most physically imposing player on the pitch, but he more than made up for it with his speed, agility, and technical skills. He was a versatile player who could operate both as a winger and a forward, and his ability to score crucial goals made him a valuable asset for the team. While plying his trade along the wing is way behind him - much like the defenders he regularly left trailing in his wake - Dyson is still a vibrant student of football, though today's game does not always fill him with admiration.

Terry's younger brother John, who lives in York's Huntington, was on the books of Middlesbrough before playing for York City and Scarborough, while his son, and Terry's nephew, is Simon Dyson, one of Europe's leading professional golfers.

In the '61 Cup final I missed a sitter when I nodded over the bar from six yards when it was nil-nil," says Terry, 66 and still pained by a memory perfectly captured by ace photographer of the day, Monte Fresco. Tottenham Hotspur in 1960 with Danny Blanchflower (captain) and both goalkeepers, Bill Brown and John Hollowbread, in the team with Cecil Poynton as trainer and Bill Nicholson as manager. Terry Dyson sitting far right in the front row. Tottenham had been disappointed not to have achieved the ultimate prize of lifting the previous season’s European Cup and were rightly aggrieved at the nature of the semi-final dismissal by Benfica. The FA Cup victory over Burnley, however, assured them of another European campaign and another chance of Cup glory. The journey to the Final in Rotterdam took in four countries – Scotland and the former countries of Czechoslavakia and Yugoslavia. Jimmy: "Well it was the worst game of football I’ve ever played in. I felt terrible afterwards, and so did Bill. Winning the European Cup was Bill’s goal. It was his dream and his desire and sadly it never happened for him. Benfica were a good side, though, they weren’t mugs. They were the holders of the trophy and in the final that year they beat Real Madrid, who were admittedly a little bit over the hill – I think we would have beaten them, too." I’m doing okay, as much as an 88-year-old man can do! Sometimes I have to breathe a bit deeper, sometimes I just have to sit down and take a rest, but apart from that, I can’t see what else I can be doing!"