On This Day – 26th February
It was on this day in 1983 when Pat Jennings made his 1,000th first team career appearance.
Jennings kept a clean sheet in the game, a 0-0 draw at The Hawthorns for Arsenal against West Bromwich Albion. A meagre 13,923 fans were there for the landmark game.
He started his career in Northern Ireland for Newry Town before Watford, then of the Third Division, signed him in May 1963.
Jennings played in every one of Watford’s league games in the 1963/64 season and won his first two Northern Ireland caps.
Tottenham came in and offered Watford £27,000 for Jennings’ services and he moved to North London, spending thirteen years at the club.
Three years after joining Spurs, he played in and won the 1967 FA Cup Final. A few months later, he famously scored a goal in the 1967 Charity Shield against Manchester United at Old Trafford. A video of this goal can be found at the bottom of this article.
As well as the FA Cup and Charity Shield in 1967, he won the League Cup in 1971 and 1973. In between the League Cup winning seasons, he won the 1972 UEFA Cup Final.
In 1977, Tottenham manager Keith Burkinshaw thought that Jennings may have been past his best and sold him to arch-rivals Arsenal.
Tottenham’s loss was Arsenal’s gain and he would go on to spend eight years at Highbury, winning the 1979 FA Cup and appearing in two more finals. Jennings was also in goal in the 1980 European Cup Winners Cup but couldn’t prevent Arsenal from losing on penalties to a Mario Kempes inspired Valencia side. In all, he made 327 appearances for The Gunners.
Jennings won 119 caps for Northern Ireland over the course of his career, playing in two World Cups. His first cap came in 1964 when he was only 18 and his last was against Brazil in the 1986 World Cup on his 41st birthday.
Jennings was probably the only player to play for both Arsenal and Tottenham Hotspur and have neither set of fans have a bad word to say of him! How Sol Campbell would love to be able to say the same!
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