Town legend Mauricio Taricco has announced his retirement from English football and has moved home to Argentina. The full-back left Spurs earlier in the season and had a short spell with West Ham before deciding that it was time to return to his homeland.
Taricco revealed the news to MauricioTaricco.com, run by TWTD reader and contributor Simon Fuller. The 31-year-old says he is now keen to spend more time with his family back home: "I've achieved what I wanted to when I left from Argentina and me and my family are now looking forward to living near the others in our family. It's a big decision, but we've made big decisions in the past and really I can't complain about the results so, we are happy with it."
Comfortable on either side of defence, Taricco joined the Blues for £175,000 in September 1994 from Argentinos Juniors at the same time as fellow South American Adrian Paz. The Argentinian made his debut in a 3-0 defeat to Bolton in the League Cup but didn't really make an impression on new manager George Burley until the next season.
But once in the side, he quickly established himself as a regular, winning the Player of the Year award in 1996/97, a season in which he scored in a 2-0 home win against Norwich City.
His heart-on-his-sleeve style endeared him to Town supporters and led to a lengthy spat with Sheffield United and their fans, Taricco telling TWTD in one of a number of interviews: "I don't like them and they don't like me."
With a keen interest in the Internet, Taricco even took part in a webcast run by TWTD in which he answered questions emailed in by supporters. His relationship with fans was most evident after the club controversially agreed to sell him to Spurs for £1.755 million in November 1998. Fans protested at an away game at Huddersfield Town, even though Taricco missed the game through injury, the vast majority holding banners imploring him to remain at Portman Road.
Despite spending six years with Spurs, Taricco still says that Town is his team in his adopted country: "Ipswich was my English club and always will be. They were honest with me and, even though we did not get along at the beginning of my time in England, we both opened our minds and managed to work things out and for that I will be always grateful. My son was born in Ipswich, so what else can I say?"
The former Argentina U23 international says he had good times at Spurs and enjoyed playing with some of football's bigger names but was never as happy with the North Londoners: "It was great to play with David Ginola, Gus Poyet, Tim Sherwood, Les Ferdinand, the list continues. People that really care about winning and that was nice. Spurs gave me the chance to play in the Premier League.
"I can say that I did my best there, however I did not feel appreciated. You can't have everything in life and less in football. In the end though, it was a great experience for me and my family.
"Happy times in football are when you win games, so beating Chelsea 5-1 was a happy time. And obviously beating Norwich and scoring is up there as well."
His spell at Spurs saw negative press coverage after a couple of high profile red cards which has left him with a downbeat view of the British papers: "It's a shame people buy what they sell, but that is the way it works."
The Argentinian's time at Tottenham came to an end earlier in the season when his contract was cancelled by mutual consent. He signed for West Ham but picked up a torn hamstring after 27 minutes of his debut. Facing two months on the sidelines, the Argentinian asked for his contract with West Ham to be torn up so the Hammers could afford to bring in a replacement while he recovered. Rumours of a return to Portman Road have been rife since his departure from Spurs but these came to nothing.
Overall Taricco, who made 170 appearances for the Blues scoring seven goals, says he has been happy with his 10 years in English football: "I would still come and do the same, no regrets at all."
As for his future, he is yet to decide what he will do long-term: "I will be enjoying the weather and the culture for a while, and then maybe keep enjoying it!"
If you want to send your good wishes to Mauricio, email him via questions@mauriciotaricco.co.uk or the Town Topic on TWTD.