St Totteringham's day History

St Totteringham's Day is the day when Arsenal fans celebrate the fact that Tottenham can no longer catch Arsenal in the League. It is a movable feast, but usually falls in March, April or May. It is the day to collect on bets made by over-optimistic Spurs fans in the close season who think that "this is the year".

This page lists all the St Totteringham's days since the dawn of time. Well since Spurs entered the league anyway.

Before World War 1

Between 1893/4 and 1907/8 Spurs were not in the league and Arsenal were. In 1908/9 Spurs were in Division 2, and Arsenal in the top flight. In 1909/10 Arsenal had a bad year and finished below Spurs. So St T's really begins on 22nd April 1911, when Arsenal beat Blackburn 5-1.

So the summary for this time...

The Interwar Years

This is when Arsenal start to dominate, starting by replacing Spurs in the top flight (obviously on merit!).

A summary of the interwar years:

Postwar and 1950s

A long period without a St Totteringham's day ends in 1953. Unfortunately Spurs win one of their huge haul of two league titles in that time, along with only Arsenal's sixth title in 1947/8.

So a summary looks like...

The 1960s

A dreadful time to be a Gooner. We only manage one St Totteringam's day. Forgive me for not listing the full table.

And updating the summary, Spurs go into the lead (in 1963/4 I think)

The modern Arsenal era begins.

Arsenal return to dominance.

The 1980s

An odd period in which Spurs and Arsenal were roughly level in League finishes.

The summary changes to show the drift back to Arsenal:

The 1990s

Arsenal dominate. Only twice do we fail to beat Spurs in the league.

The 2000s

A St Totteringham's Day every year

The summary is pretty one sided:

The 2010s

The gap narrows?

The summary is still pretty one sided:

The 2020s

Summary:

Analysis

Last updated 9 August 2015

Overall

Arsenal have been above Spurs in the league on 66 Occasions. Spurs have come above Arsenal 30 times. On the times when Spurs and Arsenal are in the same division (which has always been the top flight) Arsenal lead 51 to 28.

Since 1995/6

These stats cover the 18 year run from 1995/6 to 2012/13. I shall update them Real Soon Now!

The recent 18 in a row account for about 38% of all St Totteringham's days.

The (arithmetic) mean number of games after which Spurs have been unable to reach Arsenal is 33.33 (up from 32.75 before 2010/11, and 33.05 after 2011/12), the median is 32.5 (up from 32 in 10/11 and 11/12). The mode is 38 (5 times), with 32 second (3 times). The geometric mean is 33.1 games (up from 32.6 games before 11/12, and 33 in 11/12).

The range is 9 games (from 29 to 38), and the standard deviation is 3.49 games (up from 3.3 before 2011/12, and 3.4 in 11/12).

So we usually beat Spurs with roughly 6 games to go, mostly with 3-9 games, but when they're doing well it goes to the wire before we beat them.

If you split the 18 seasons into two groups 1995/6 to 2002/4 and 2004/5 to 2012/13, then the (arithmetic) mean for the first half is 32.4 games, and for the second half 34.2 games.

Three of the five final day St T's in this run have been in the last four years.

I still have to say: At some point in the summer I must tidy the section above up a bit.

Since 1970/1

There have been 35 St Totteringham's days. This excludes the the day in 1977 when Spurs were relegated, or the start of 1977/78 season, one of which is arguably St T's for 1977/8.

For balance Spurs have finished above Arsenal 8 times in the 42 seasons since our first double, Including back to back seasons in 1981/2 and 1982/3. That puts our 19 seasons in a row in perspective. Well done Spurs.

Double or quits?

A one pound bet in 1995/6 on who'd finish above reinvested at double or quits would have won £131,072 on May 19 2013, and £262,144 on April 28 2014, or £524,288 on May 4 2015 or £1,045,576 on May 15 2016.

In the interests of fairness Spurs run from 1959/60 until 1968/9 would be worth £512 in the same way.

Longest Gap?

The longest gap is from 22 March 1935 until 6 April 1953. At 18 years, 15 days this is a long time. During this time Spurs spent eight years in Division 2, and we had seven seasons lost to WW2, Spurs finished above Arsenal twice. Oh and Arsenal won two league titles.

A similar issue happens around the First World War: 27 April 1912 is the last St Ts until 5 May 1923. In that time Arsenal were in Division 2 for two years, as were Spurs for one. Spurs actually finished above Arsenal in the same league 3 times in that run.

The longest run of Spurs actually finishing above Arsenal was the 1959/60 until 1968/9 run of ten years. Ouch. Those ten seasons account for just under 36% of Spurs' finishes above Arsenal in the same division.

Update 22-Apr-2023: The gap from 15th May 2016 to 22nd April 2023 covered six seasons.

Earliest St Ts day?

The earliest St Totteringham was 9 March 2008. There have been 8 St Ts in March, six since 1998. I wonder if this increase is a change caused by 3 points per win stretching the table, as the season used to end in April and now ends in May so you'd expect St Ts to be later.

In terms of games, in a 38 match season 28 is the record (2004) and for 42 matches 34 is the best (1935). The one season with 40 matches (1987/8) we needed 33 games. The lowest percentage is the 2004 season.

Last Day St Totteringham's

Last day St Ts are quite rare. There have been 10. (Strictly these are last match which might not be the same!)

• 1911/12 (27 April)
• 1922/3 (5 May)
• 1926/7 (7 May) (Arsenal beating Spurs 4-0)
• 1973/4 (11 May)
• 1983/4 (12 May)
• 1995/6 (5 May)
• 2005/6 (7 May)
• 2009/10 (9 May)
• 2011/12 (13 May)
• 2012/13 (19 May)
• 2015/16 (15 May)

For balance I will point out 1992/3 where they beat our reserves at Highbury to finish above us in the league. We won the Cup Final against Sheffield Weds the following week. I'll also point out 1951/2. Look it up in the table. More dull is 1989/90.

Latest dates for St Totteringham's day

I noticed that 2011/12 was the latest St T's has ever been and still happened. There have been eleven St Totteringham's in May:

The increase in these is partly caused by the season ending later than in the past, and partly by Arsenal finishing above Spurs so often recently.

St Totteringham's versus Spurs

Only three times has an Arsenal Spurs game been the match that caused St Totteringham's. Two were wins, and one was a draw. They are...

1. Spurs 0 - 4 Arsenal, 7th May 1927
2. Arsenal 1 - 0 Spurs, 26 April 1975
3. Spurs 2 - 2 Arsenal, 21 April 2007

It has happened at least twice in reverse (1992/3 and 2016/7, see above), but I haven't done the calculations on every season where Spurs beat us.

Useful links and Acknowledgements

In 2023 I checked the links below and many are either out of date or no longer working. However the thanks stands!

First off the idea of St Totteringham I stole shamelessly from Arseweb who got it from Julian Shulman. Thanks to Julian! See ArseWeb's Arsenal vs Spurs resources page for more details.

Thanks to Helge Olsen (1980s) and Andrew McKinnon (back to 70/71) for adding some extra years. Any errors are, of course, my own. Apologies for taking so many years to do the remaining bit! Happy to credit any corrections, so if you spot a mistake do let me know!

Thanks to SoccerWay for their archive of previous seasons back to the dawn of the league.

The Cann Table is useful for watching the widening gap between Arsenal and Spurs. I no longer keep a version here.

Any (polite) comments and corrections can be emailed to me at mikepitt@chiark.greenend.org.uk.

St Totteringham's is also occasionally called St Totteridge according to the 2008 Arsenal v Villa programme. It has also been referred to on Twitter as St Hotspurs. Add apostrophes as desired...

This page last updated on 05-March-2023: Updated detail on last couple of seasons, and added a space for this year in a fit of mindless optimism.

All original material © Mike Pitt 2004, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2023