‘It was ridiculous’ – Tottenham clash with Nottingham Forest was abandoned after 15 minutes

Tottenham and Nottingham Forest is a game with plenty of history – but there is one match that didn’t finish that lives long in the memory.

The 1991 FA Cup final win was historic for Spurs but also marked another shift in supremacy between the two sides with the Tricky Trees regularly besting them throughout the 1990s.

It’s like a shifting of the poles, either Tottenham are on top – as they were in the late 1960s, early 1980s, and since Forest’s 1999 relegation – or it’s Forest in control.

But in 1996, an FA Cup match between the pair looked as if it was being played at the North Pole.

With Tottenham looking to get a rare 1990s win over Forest, they travelled to the City Ground on February 19.

But any optimism they had about reaching the quarter-finals was whipped away by the swirling winds that brought a blizzard spiralling in.

The weather began to change an hour before kick off when snow started falling, but forecasts back then weren’t good enough to predict the chaos that was about to unfold.

Just ten minutes into the clash a blizzard hit the City Ground, and five minutes later things became unbearable.

Officials attempted to salvage things by swapping the standard white ball for an orange winter one, but even those efforts were vain.

The pitch’s white lines soon blended into their new background and the only decision left for referee Gary Willard to take was a suspension after minutes.

Speaking at the time, Tottenham manager Gerry Francis said: “It became impossible.

“Everyone on the line would have got pneumonia if they had stayed out any longer. We would have turned into snowmen.

No arguments, it had become ridiculous. I’m disappointed, of course, because we had started well.”

His opposite number at Forest, Frank Clark, was in agreement, saying: “There was nothing else that the referee could do tonight.