Chris Hughton is 67.
It seems barely believable when you meet this legendary Spurs figure who never seems to age.
Yet, he was a relatively older 20-years-old when he signed full-time and made his debut against Manchester United in the League Cup in August, 1979, having opted to finish his apprenticeship as a lift engineer.
The rest is history - FA Cup (twice) and UEFA Cup winner at Spurs, 398 appearances (placing him 15th all-time at the club) until 1990, plus 51 caps for the Republic of Ireland (including Euro 88 and the 1990 World Cup) followed by another 14 years in various coaching/assistant manager roles from 1993 until departing in 2007 – 25 years’ service.
Since then, he’s managed Newcastle, Birmingham, Norwich, Brighton - who he took into the Premier League - and Forest, plus a short stint with Ghana.
More recently, he’s spoken about health issues – he was diagnosed with prostate cancer in April last year – and bringing us right up to date, was one of many legends invited to lunch with the first team and Roberto De Zerbi at Hotspur Way last week – where we caught up with him...
Q1 | You’ve spoken about your health issues so, first thing’s first, how are you?
Chris: “I'm a year, three, four months post-operation, and all's going well. I keep busy. I’ve still got a lot of energy. So, yes, I'm really good, excellent, great to be here.”
Q2 | I bet being at Hotspur Way has you itching to get back out there...
Chris: “I'm only two and a half years, really, since my last role with the Ghana national team. So, I'm not so far away from it. I think there are a few things… one is the feeling of being on the training pitch, especially this time of year, start of the season, the weather's good, the pitches are good, you haven't got the pressure of results and playing on these surfaces – look at them! It's always the best part of the job as a manager, being on the training pitch.”
Q3 | So, talking about managers, I’m assuming as a former Brighton manager yourself, you know plenty about Roberto De Zerbi…
Chris: “Looking at the job he did at Brighton, he was the second manager after me. Graham Potter came in after me. Then, Roberto after him. They speak brilliantly of him there, and if I look at the job that Graham Potter did, not so much change in that first couple of years, but when he went into that third year, then you saw the real development - Roberto took that on another level.”
Q4 | He really got them playing, didn’t he – Brighton fans still speak about the football his team played…
Chris: “Yes, really got them playing. I think there are two things. There's a way of playing and then there’s results. Ultimately, results are always the most important thing, but he was able to do both. You know, build the team the way that he wanted to, in a way of playing, a style of playing, that ultimately got him the results to finish where they finished in the league.”
Q5 | You’re a Spurs man – looking at next season, what vibes are you getting?
Chris: “It feels very, very positive. For me, this is a club saying that what we want to do is we want to get this team in the best way that we can, we want to help this coach in the best way that we can, as early as we can. I think certainly by the time this window finishes, it will be a squad that Roberto is really happy with. It feels like the disappointment over the last couple of seasons – apart from the Europa League – the club has taken it very much to heart. You can see that. There seems a real, real desire, not only to do better, but to do really well, and that means in the Premier League and of course in the cup competitions as well.”