In Search of Alan Gilzean

Overview

Alan Gilzean was a truly great footballer, winning theleague with Dundee and four trophies with TottenhamHotspur. In his prime, the Leeds United managerDon Revie described him as the best touch player inEurope; even after his death in July 2018 the spine-tingling refrain of the Spurs fans whoidolised him continues to echo down the generations:Gilzean, Gilzean, Born is the King of White Hart Lane.After a fan on a Spurs internet forum claimed thatGilzean was living as a down-and-out, James Morgan, asports journalist and lifelong Tottenham fan, set outto separate fact from fiction and restore the legacy ofan iconic footballer. Why was Gilzean not in the ScottishFootball Hall of Fame? How had his name becomeforgotten in his hometown? And what had stoppedhim from returning to his throne at White Hart Lane?

Author Biography

James Morgan is a sports journalist with the Herald. He has been a Tottenham Hotspur supporter since waking one Christmas morning to discover a hair shirt of an Admiral kit waiting for him on the living-room settee. Thirty-two years on, he is still waiting for Spurs to repeat the feats that his late father, Jim, was so enamored by.