Capital One Cup tie between Tottenham Hotspur and Nottingham Forest stirs memories of 1991 FA Cup Final

Wednesday’s Capital One Cup tie between Tottenham Hotspur and Nottingham Forest will no doubt stir memories for supporters of a certain vintage. The teams have played each other numerous times since, but this will always be remembered as a rerun of the 1991 FA Cup Final.

There were two narratives going into the match. Having lit up the Wembley semi-final with a brilliant strike against Arsenal, this was Paul Gascoigne’s chance to once again be the hero for Spurs in the Cup Final itself. Alternatively, could legendary Forest manager Brian Clough finally get his hands on the trophy? As it turned out, the day would not go as either man planned…

Brian Clough

Clough had won just about everything there was to win in an extraordinary career. There had been league titles with both Derby County and Nottingham Forest as well as those back-to-back European Cup wins. He’d even won the League Cup at Wembley in each of the previous two seasons prior to the 1991 FA Cup Final. But this was his first appearance in English football’s showpiece fixture.

Ever the eccentric, he entered the field holding hands with Tottenham manager Terry Venables. His opposite number insists it was at Clough’s instigation. He was in the tunnel saying ‘Look after me won’t you. I don’t want to fall over’,” Venables told Sky Sports. “As I come out he grips my right hand with his left hand and I'm clamped. I'm clamped!”

Paul Gascoigne

If Clough was nervous, Gascoigne was also feeling the occasion intensely. Speaking to Spurs team-mate Paul Walsh about that season, it’s clear that Gascoigne was the focus of attention for supporters, media and colleagues alike. “Without Gazza that season we wouldn’t have got there anyway,” says Walsh. “He was fantastic in most of the rounds but never more so than against Arsenal. It was an unbelievable 30-yard free-kick into the top corner.”

“What people overlook a little bit is that he’d been out with a hernia operation and he hadn’t played for six weeks prior to that. So to put in that sort of performance in the semi-final and drag Tottenham to the final was just fantastic. Without him we wouldn’t have been there. There’s just no getting away from that.

“In the final he was a little bit hyped up because in a way it was all about Gazza in the build-up. The whole thing revolved around him. We stayed in the Royal Lancaster right in the middle of town. There wasn’t a lot to do and Gazza was always a bit uptight and frustrated, wanting to let off a bit of steam. I think that’s why when we went into the game he was a bit like a raging bull.

“He stabbed Garry Parker in the chest early on and Roger Milford could have sent him off purely on that tackle but he didn’t even book him. Unfortunately, that led to Gazza going on and putting in a second ridiculous challenge that knackered his own knee. Stuart Pearce then went and rattled one in the top corner from the free-kick.”

While Spurs were more than a little fortunate to still have 11 players on the pitch, things showed little sign of going their way. Already a goal down, there was the additional blow of seeing Gary Lineker waste the chance to equalise from the spot as his first-half penalty was saved by Mark Crossley. Ten minutes into the second half, Paul Stewart did grab an equaliser and the game went into extra time.

The Winner

“One of my main memories of that day is Brian Clough in extra ti