Man Utd vs Tottenham: Fan lost £10k with gut-wrenching bet in 2001 | OneFootball

Manchester United’s 5-3 win at Tottenham Hotspur in 2001 is the stuff of legend.

There have been some stunning comebacks in the rich and entertaining history of the Premier League, but few of them quite compare to United‘s reaction to going 3-0 down at White Hart Lane.

Spurs were in dreamland after the opening 45 minutes with goals from Dean Richards, Les Ferdinand and Christian Ziege setting them up for what seemed destined to be an emphatic victory over the champions.

Tottenham 3-5 Man Utd (2001)

However, true to United’s never-say-die attitude under Sir Alex Ferguson, the game wasn’t over until it was over with the Red Devils astonishingly scoring five unreturned goals after the break.

Andy Cole jittered Tottenham’s nerves by finding the net in the 46th minute, before strikes from Laurent Blanc and Ruud van Nistelrooy remarkably meant that Tottenham’s three-goal advantage was wiped out.

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Tottenham Marshes Northumberland Park Tottenham Hotspur Stadium White Hart Lane

Then, with less than 15 minutes of regulation time remaining, Juan Sebastián Verón completed the most breath-taking of comebacks, paving the way for David Beckham to rub salt into Spurs’ wounds with a fifth.

All in all, it made for an iconic Premier League turnaround that isn’t exactly remembered fondly by Tottenham fans as they saw their team produce a – how shall we say it? – ‘Spursy’ performance on home turf.

Spurs fan’s gut-wrenching bet

However, it would still be fair to say that the chaotic game at White Hart Lane was easier on some Spurs supporters than others with one fan making headlines for placing a catastrophic bet at half-time.

According to a contemporary report from the Telegraph, one man lost a gut-wrenching £10,000 because Tottenham couldn’t hold onto the 3-0 lead that they established against United on that fateful day.

That’s because the Spurs supporter decided to place a £10,000 bet on the internet backing his beloved side to defeat United when the odds stood at 1/16 during the half-time interval.

It’s remarkable to think that the fan in question was willing to put £10,000 on the line when he only stood to win a further £625 in a world where Spurs managed to protect their three-goal advantage.

The report goes on to quote a bookmaker who responded to the incident by saying: “It’s a mistake to believe you can buy money.”

Alternatively, had the infamous punter put the money on United to win the game at half-time, then his £10,000 would have returned him £250,000 at odds of 25/1.

No more information seems to be readily available about the punter and his painful brush with Premier League history, so we can only hope that he could afford to lose what he put on the line.

Meanwhile, as Spurs prepare to do battle with the Red Devils once again this weekend, fans will be hoping for a performance akin to their first-half in 2001 as opposed to the catastrophic 45 minutes that followed it.

Either way, you always know that they’ll be plenty of twists and turns when Spurs and United lock horns.

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