Born locally in Walthamstow, Terry progressed through the youth system to make his Spurs debut against Stoke City in the old First Division, a 1-0 win on 29 December, 1979 - aged just 17 years, three days. He remains one of our youngest-ever league debutants.
The striker made 18 appearances for us over the next four years with his seven goals covering all competitions - four in the league, one each in the FA Cup, League Cup and the European Cup Winners Cup.
As well as Wimbledon, Terry also had spells at Coventry City, Swindon, Peterborough United and Barnet before calling time on his playing career in 1995. He later had coaching spells at Barnet, Fulham, Northern Ireland and is a Pro Licence holder.
He’s now best known as a Spanish football expert with years of experience as a pundit on Sky Sports and La Liga TV...
Q1 | What did you think of Pedro Porro’s performances for Spain?
Terry: “It was a real competition between him and Marcos Llorente to start at right-back. I think they swapped over earlier in the tournament, and it was clear that Luis de la Fuente (Spain manager) wasn't sure which one to pick and then Porro made the position his own, did brilliantly. Do you know what? I had no idea what their back four was going to be, and I was critical of the defenders that de la Fuente picked and the ones he left out. I was looking and thinking that could be a weakness - Cubarsi hadn't played much for Spain, he's still young. Laporte is older, he's been okay since he's come back from Saudi to play for Athletic Club again, but he certainly wasn't massively impressive. Robin Le Normand of Atletico Madrid, was left out, he played in the last European Championship final. So, I thought, this is interesting, who's going to be right back? Cucurella and Grimaldo were the left-backs. I always thought Cucurella would be selected at left-back, but between Porro and Marcus Llorente, it was a toss-up, to be honest. Yet the back four and goalkeeper, it's just been incredible. Eleven shots against them throughout the tournament! Eleven saves the goalkeeper had to make in eight matches!”
Q2 | That’s interesting - for all the football they play, Spain’s biggest strength in the World Cup was their defence...
Terry: “They win the ball back quickly - and cleanly - most of the time. So, they steal possession back and then just keep it for the next five minutes. At times, it can be a hard watch, but if they pass the ball quickly, which they did against France, not so much on Sunday, but the France game in the semi-final (2-0 win, Pedro on target) was their best performance. They really moved the ball quickly, fizzed it around, and you've got no chance. They leave you for dead. Pep Guardiola said when he was at Barcelona years ago, his way of defending a lead would be to keep the ball, don't give the ball to the opposition. If you keep losing the ball quickly because Spain win it back so quickly and then keep it for four or five minutes, it's tough going when you're playing against a team like that.”
Q3 | Then there’s the patience, Terry, they seem to be happy to just keep playing and playing and wait for that one opportunity – they don’t mind just winning 1-0, do they?
Terry: “The final was touch and go. They had a couple of chances. Nico Williams had a header. Mikel Merino missed a header where you'd probably expect him to score. The goal that was disallowed, which was a harsh one, but they just plug away. They've got room for improvement, that's the scary thing. If they can find a goalscorer… at the moment, in this team, Ferran Torres is a winger, Mikel Oyarzabal is a winger, Dani Olmo is a number 10. So, they haven't really found another David Villa, for instance, or Fernando Torres. If they find that, then... it's frightening, isn't it? A Harry Kane, for instance. I think there's room for them to get better. They're very young. None of that team, apart from Laporte, none of them are going to be under pressure in two years' time to be at the European Championships. They're all early 20s, two teenagers playing regularly. So, the rest have still got room to grow. There's other players that didn't get picked in this one that can come through. The Spain manager is so lucky. He can go and watch a game every week and there'll be 20 Spanish players playing. So, the young ones at the smaller clubs get picked off by the bigger clubs. Pedri was at Las Palmas, for instance, Barcelona bought him as a youngster and put him straight in the team. Barcelona have helped by producing so many good young players as well. You can just rely on them to produce the likes of Pedri and Gavi and Lamine Yamal and Cubarsi, Eric Garcia also came on. There's another wonderful centre-midfield player called Marc Bernal. He's the double of Rodri, and he didn't get picked for the squad, so that's another one to come in. There are other youngsters that will be there in two years' time as well.”
Q4 | You were at Spurs in the late 1970s, made your debut in 1979, we had two World Cup winners in Ossie Ardiles and Ricky Villa. What’s it like to have World Cup winners in the squad?
Terry: “It's changed now in the fact that we get to watch not just the World Cup, but all European football, whereas Ossie and Ricky, when they turned up, it was almost like two aliens turned up! We'd never seen them play in their leagues. We'd seen the games in the World Cup and the whole thing was so surreal that these two players had won the World Cup in Argentina, where games were in the middle of the night – now they were at White Hart Lane! I still speak to Ossie about his World Cup win now. I still speak to him about the players he played with and has he still got the medal and what's he done with the medal and stuff like that. I probably get on his nerves! So, even my age, in my 60s, I'm still in awe of someone who won the World Cup. When they turn up at your club… when Pedro Porro comes back, his team-mates are going to be delighted for him and they'll want to ask him what it feels like. I was watching the final, I’m 30-odd years retired, and I'm thinking what must it be like to be on that pitch, to be playing in that game, to be Ferran Torres, for instance. Now he's the player, along with Iniesta, who has scored the winning goal in a World Cup final. You wake up every morning, and you’ve scored the winning goal in the World Cup final. Then you get on with your day. Wow. You work so hard to become a professional, then play for your country, then score the winning goal in the World Cup final. It’s the stuff dreams are made of.”
Q5 | Last one on Spurs – what have you made of the summer so far, and the new arrivals?
Terry: “Last season kind of feels surreal now, doesn't it? There were times where I'd be working in Spain on Spanish football with my phone on, looking at the Spurs, and I often worked with an English guy who's a Spurs fan as well, and we're both doing exactly the same, stuck in a dark commentary booth in Madrid, keeping an eye on a Spurs game. I'm delighted the club is buying established Premier League players, good characters as well, good personalities. Andy Robertson is a good personality to have about the place. That winning mentality. For me, we should be aiming for the Champions League again. And why not challenge for the title? You know, we spent too long accepting there's going to be, back in the old days, Liverpool every season, and then Man United every season, Man City and, you know, out of the blue, Leicester won it. So, why can't Tottenham Hotspur win it?”
