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. Pos. Nation Player 1 GK  ENG Paul Robinson 2 DF  MAR Noureddine Naybet 3 DF  IRL Stephen Kelly 5 MF  NED Edgar Davids 6 MF  FIN Teemu Tainio 7 DF  CAN Paul Stalteri 8 MF  ENG Danny Murphy 9 FW  POL Grzegorz Rasiak 10 FW  IRL Robbie Keane 12 GK  CZE Radek Černý (on loan from Slavia Prague) 15 FW  EGY Mido (on loan from Roma) 16 DF  KOR Lee Young-Pyo

No. Pos. Nation Player 18 FW  ENG Jermain Defoe 19 MF  IRL Andy Reid 20 DF  ENG Michael Dawson 22 MF  ENG Tom Huddlestone 23 MF  ENG Michael Carrick 25 MF  ENG Aaron Lennon 26 DF  ENG Ledley King (captain) 27 DF  ENG Calum Davenport 28 MF  ENG Jermaine Jenas 30 DF  ENG Anthony Gardner 32 MF  ENG Johnnie Jackson 37 FW  ENG 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. Pos. Nation Player 4 MF  ENG Sean Davis (to Portsmouth) 8 MF  POR Pedro Mendes (to Portsmouth) 9 FW  MLI Frédéric Kanouté (to Sevilla) 11 MF  ENG Michael Brown (to Fulham) 13 GK  HUN Márton Fülöp (on loan to Coventry City) 14 DF  SWE Erik Edman (to Rennes) 16 DF   SUI Reto Ziegler (on loan to Wigan Athletic)

No. Pos. Nation Player 17 DF  FRA Noé Pamarot (to Portsmouth) 21 MF  ENG Wayne Routledge (on loan to Portsmouth) 29 DF  ENG Philip Ifil (on loan to Millwall) 36 FW  MAR Mounir El Hamdaoui (on loan to Derby County) — MF  ISL Emil Hallfreðsson (on loan to Malmö) — DF  BRA Rodrigo Defendi (on loan to Udinese)

Reserve squad

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

No. Pos. Nation Player 14 MF  EGY Hossam Ghaly 24 DF  SCG Goran Bunjevčević 31 MF  ENG Dean Marney 35 GK  ENG Robert Burch — FW  ENG Andy Barcham — DF  ENG Charlie Daniels — FW  ENG Simon Dawkins

No. Pos. Nation Player — MF  ENG Charlie Lee — MF  ENG Stuart Lewis — MF  COD Jacques Maghoma — DF  ENG Marcel McKie — DF  ENG Leigh Mills — MF  ENG Jamie O'Hara