Doing the Double

Part one of the double successfully accomplished

By John Sinnott BBC Sport Online

Winning the Double used to be as hard as feeding the five thousand from five loaves and two fish - not for nothing was it once known as the "Impossible Double".

But no longer. On Wednesday against Manchester United, Arsenal won their second Double in four years.

It is the fifth time in 10 years that the Double has been completed.

It's about going out to beat the other lot - it's about dreaming of the glory of the Double

Former Spurs captain Danny Blanchflower

But pre-1994 when Manchester United won the first of their three Doubles in the 1990s, winning the league and the FA Cup in the same season was as elusive as the search for the Holy Grail.

Before this recent spate of Double successes Liverpool had done it in 1986, Arsenal in 1971, Spurs in 1961 and several clubs in the early years of the Football League's existence.

Preston, for example, did the Double in 1889, remaining unbeaten across the 12-game league season.

Prior to Spurs' success in 1961 there were also a few near misses.

Newcastle in 1905, Sunderland in 1913 and Manchester United in 1957 all won the League, but they all stumbled at the final hurdle, losing the FA Cup Final.

Home Nations

Talk to any Spurs fan and most will reel off the 1961 team - Brown, Baker, Henry, Blanchflower, Norman, Mackay, Jones, White, Smith, Allen, Dyson - without a second thought.

Ask any modern Arsenal fan what their starting XI was this season and they will likely scratch their heads.

Arsene Wenger's double predecessor Bertie Mee

And while Bill Nicholson's side comprised the very best of the Home Nations countries, Arsenal's squad is made up of 14 different nationalities, but has no Scottish or Welsh representatives.

Spurs' Celtic influence was best exemplified by Cliff Jones who arrived from Cardiff for £30,000 and Dave Mackay who signed from Hearts for £35,000.

In contrast, Wenger has spent big on overseas players, splashing out £10.5m on Thierry Henry and £6m on Robert Pires.

Crowd pleasers

Big squads and rotation systems therefore go a long way to explaining why Sir Alex Ferguson and Wenger have been able to dominate England's two most prestigious competitions in recent seasons.

Which is why Wenger could afford to leave Dennis Bergkamp and Pires on the bench for the FA Cup quarter-final against Newcastle at St James Park.

It is those types of resources that have allowed Arsenal to be unbeaten on their league travels and to have scored in every game.

  Spurs' 1961 vintage

1: In 42 League matches Spurs scored115 goals - the runners-up Sheffield Wednesday scored 78s

2:Spurs had just one player booked during the season

3: Only a single penalty was awarded against Spurs during the campaign

4: 2.5m people watched Tottenham in their League and Cup games - an average crowd of 51,266

Even so, Spurs also broke their fair share of records in the 1960/1961 season.

Most notably, they set a First Division record, of 11 straight wins, which was finally brought to an end by a draw against Manchester City.

And while Arsenal have been run close by Manchester United and Liverpool this time around, 41 years ago Spurs wiped the floor with their rivals and the title was won with four matches to play.

That left the FA Cup which was comfortably accomplished with a 2-0 win over Leicester City.

Catching sparrows

The Spurs manager Bill Nicholson had played in Arthur Rowe's Spurs championship winning "push-and-run" side of 1952.

Bill Nicholson' Spurs were the first double winners

Like Wenger and also Rowe, Nicholson was a believer in quick football.

"The game has become tense and bound in fears," he once explained as he outlined his footballing philosophy.

"Everyone's trying to catch sparrows. I aim to recreate Mr Rowe's simple gospel: `Make it plain, make it accurate, make it quick - especially quick.'"

The Spurs board were also prepared to back Nicholson's judgment with plenty of money in the transfer market.

In its day the £35,000 paid for Mackay was quite a sum of money.

And following their Double success Spurs also twice broke the British transfer record by bringing Jimmy Greaves and Martin Peters to the club.

Stardust

That Spurs team might have gorged themselves on glory, but they did not reap any significant financial rewards.

Back in 1961 the maximum wage was still in force and the Spurs players wages was pegged at £22 a week.

To commemorate the players' success the club wanted to give the players watches.

But as gifts were also forbidden, Spurs had to write to the Football League and Football Association to ask their permission.

Author Alex Fynn, who has written a number of books about both Spurs and Arsenal and watched Nicholson's trend setters, says both the 1961 team and Wenger's 2002's vintage, have one thing in common.

"They are both," he says, "teams with good players, liberally sprinkled with stardust."