On This Day – 14th April
Former Tottenham Hotspur goalkeeper Milija Aleksic was born on this day back in 1951. He was born to a Yugoslavian father but was born in England.
Aleksic began his career at Port Vale, making his first-team debut at the tender age of 17. He featured in two FA Cup games against Shrewsbury Town in 1968/69, acting as emergency cover for the Vale first-choice keeper Stuart Sharratt.
His appearances in the FA Cup were to be his only first-team action at Vale Park as he was released at the end of the season.
Aleksic joined non-league Eastwood before moving to Stafford Rangers, where he won the 1972 FA Trophy. Rangers comfortably beat Barnet 3-0 in the Trophy Final at Wembley.
A year later, Aleksic had another chance to prove himself in the Football League, joining Plymouth Argyle of the old Third Division.
In his three years at Home Park, he made 32 appearances for Plymouth’s first team. He went out on loan twice, playing twice in the LEague Cup for Oxford United and also had a spell at Ipswich Town.
In 1976, Aleksic moved to Luton Town and in a spell lasting three years, he played 77 times for the club.
Tottenham Hotspur came calling in December 1978 and Aleksic joined the First Division club for £100,000.
In the 1979/80 season, his first full season at Spurs, Manchester United’s Joe Jordon broke Aleksic’s jaw in an FA Cup tie. The two had tussled several times in the box when Manchester United had corners.
Spurs didn’t have a substitute goalkeeper and Glenn Hoddle had to take over in goal for the remainder of the game!
The following season brought Aleksic some much better times in the FA Cup, as well as the only silverware of his career.
Tottenham went on to win the FA Cup the following season. They beat Manchester City 3-2 in a replay and Aleksic played in both Finals.
after winning the FA Cup in 1981
Ray Clemence moved to Tottenham from Liverpool in the summer of 1981, limiting Aleksic to only two league appearances at home to Liverpool and Swansea City in the 1981/82 season. He left White Hart Lane later in 1982, initially on loan to Luton Town (the club who had sold him to Spurs in the first place!) before a surprise move to non-league Barnet.
It was quite a drop from winning the FA Cup in front of 100,000 fans at Wembley to join Barnet. He stayed there for a year before emigrating to South Africa, where he played for Wits University and Durban City before retiring from the game in 1987.
Milija Aleksic died suddenly in 2012 at the age of 61, whilst living in Johannesburg, South Africa.
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