talkSPORT presenter opens up on 50-yard Premier League ‘clearance-goal’ after being forced out of Chelsea

JASON CUNDY turns the clock back to 1992 and the first month of the all-new Premier League.

The 55-year-old former defender, who now works for talkSPORT co-presenting the Sports Bar with Jamie O’Hara, reflects on his freak ‘clearance’ goal from 50 yards to give Tottenham the lead at Ipswich.

I would love to tell you I looked up, spotted Ipswich keeper Craig Forrest off his line, measured my shot from 50 yards and the ball flew in just as I had planned.

But here’s the TRUTH of what really happened 33 years ago.

I was just inside Ipswich’s half and the ball was played into a space which I thought was going to end up being a 50-50 challenge between myself and Jason Dozzell.

My thought process was that I wanted to make sure I got to the ball as quick as possible to avoid there being any sort of contact between the two of us.

What played out was Jason didn’t make the expected challenge by which time I was fully committed.

My proposed tackle ended up being a completely freakish clearance  that ballooned in the wind and sailed over the top of a flailing Forrest in the Ipswich goal.

As a defender, I didn’t score that many goals in my career — in fact this was my only one for Tottenham.

But because it’s completely niche, this one resurfaces whenever a collection of madcap Premier League goals are replayed.

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It’s also odd how 30 or more years can blur certain moments . . . and facts too.

It wasn’t until I looked back at this game to see that Tottenham were bottom of the table going into this game in the all-new Premier League.

And that this draw took us off the foot of the league.

It took me by complete surprise because I had no recollection that we had started so slowly.

I had joined Tottenham in March, 1992 back in the days when the ‘transfer window’ went on until March.

The move came completely out of nowhere.

Manager Ian Porterfield called me in and told me Chelsea had accepted an offer from Tottenham. 

I wasn’t happy with the way it was  a ‘done deal’ and no one had even talked to me.

But back then, if I had decided to turn it down I could have quite literally been thrown into the reserves and never played in the first  team again.

I heard again from Porterfield shortly after that a meeting had been set up with Tottenham’s Terry Venables. And that was it.

It was odd because Peter Shreeves was manager when I joined Tottenham with Terry taking training.

Then we started 1992-93  with Doug Livermore and Ray Clemence in charge.

Sadly, despite spending four years at White Hart Lane — with a couple of loan spells at Crystal Palace and Bristol City — my time at the club was blighted with injuries.

By pure coincidence I ended up switching from Spurs to Ipswich in 1996 and so was back at the ground of this bizarre goal moment.

It also meant that one of my new team-mates was Forrest — the unfortunate keeper who conceded my crazy goal.

I have to say even before we became good friends I had so much sympathy for him for having to watch those endless repeats of the goal.

It’s crazy to think that he played for 17 years, made 56 appearances for his country —  yet most people only remember him for either my strike or conceding nine at Manchester United in the Premier League!