2005–06 Tottenham Hotspur F.C. season

During the 2005–06 English football season, Tottenham Hotspur participated in the English Premier League. The club had a mixed, short season, securing what was their highest place finish in the Premier league at the time, but exiting both cup competitions at the earliest possible stage against lower league opposition, therefore playing just 40 games.

In September Tottenham faced Grimsby Town in the League Cup, losing 1–0 at Blundell Park.[1] Their FA cup draw pitted the team against Leicester City, but the side let a two-goal lead slip, and an injury time goal saw them defeated 3–2 at Walkers Stadium.[2]

In the league Tottenham had occupied the crucial fourth place in the table for much of the latter half of the season.[3] Their win in their penultimate game of the season against Bolton Wanderers on 30 April meant they were seven points ahead of their nearest rivals Arsenal in the race for possible Champions League qualification.[4] Despite Arsenal winning their two games in hand, Tottenham only had to match their result in the final game of the season in order to secure fourth spot.

On the morning of the decisive match against West Ham United a number of Tottenham players were taken ill with suspected food poisoning, the players having stayed the night at the Marriott Hotel in Canary Wharf and eaten lasagne. The club appealed for the Premier League to delay the kick off, but the police would not allow a kick off any later than 5pm, due to crowd control concerns, so the club decided to play at the scheduled time.[5] Despite the scoreline being 1–1 for much of the game, Tottenham looked set to clinch fourth spot due to Arsenal trailing 2–1 at Highbury against Wigan Athletic. But Arsenal went on to win their fixture 4–2, with a Thierry Henry hat-trick, meaning Tottenham also required a win. Their fate was sealed when Yossi Benayoun scored a winner for West Ham, meaning Tottenham fell to fifth place and therefore would only play in the following season's UEFA Cup.[6]

Tottenham appealed to the Premier League to have the match against West Ham replayed, but this was rejected as no grounds were found for accepting the request.[7] Club chairman Daniel Levy called in the police to investigate the Marriott Hotel and threatened to sue the hotel chain and Premier League over the incident, having wrongly suspected foul play.[8][9] Tests by the Health Protection Agency on the food at the hotel soon proved to be negative for sources of food poisoning and instead players were identified as having norovirus.[10]

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Position Player 1 GK Paul Robinson 2 DF Noureddine Naybet 3 DF Stephen Kelly 5 MF Edgar Davids 6 MF Teemu Tainio 7 DF Paul Stalteri 8 MF Danny Murphy 9 FW Grzegorz Rasiak 10 FW Robbie Keane 12 GK Radek Černý (on loan from Slavia Prague) 15 FW Mido (on loan from Roma) 16 DF Lee Young-Pyo

No. Position Player 18 FW Jermain Defoe 19 MF Andy Reid 20 DF Michael Dawson 22 MF Tom Huddlestone 23 MF Michael Carrick 25 MF Aaron Lennon 26 DF Ledley King (captain) 27 DF Calum Davenport 28 MF Jermaine Jenas 30 DF Anthony Gardner 32 MF Johnnie Jackson 37 FW Lee Barnard

Left club during season

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Position Player 4 MF Sean Davis (to Portsmouth) 8 MF Pedro Mendes (to Portsmouth) 9 FW Frédéric Kanouté (to Sevilla) 11 MF Michael Brown (to Fulham) 13 GK Márton Fülöp (on loan to Coventry City) 14 DF Erik Edman (to Rennes) 16 DF Reto Ziegler (on loan to Wigan Athletic)

No. Position Player 17 DF Noé Pamarot (to Portsmouth) 21 MF Wayne Routledge (on loan to Portsmouth) 29 DF Philip Ifil (on loan to Millwall) 36 FW Mounir El Hamdaoui (on loan to Derby County) MF Emil Hallfreðsson (on loan to Malmö) DF Rodrigo Defendi (on loan to Udinese)

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Position Player 14 MF Hossam Ghaly 24 DF Goran Bunjevčević 31 MF Dean Marney 35 GK Robert Burch FW Andy Barcham DF Charlie Daniels FW Simon Dawkins

No. Position Player MF Charlie Lee MF Stuart Lewis MF Jacques Maghoma DF Marcel McKie DF Leigh Mills MF Jamie O'Hara 45 FW Nehedemhi Mukanda