Andrew Ford takes a look back to see how Spurs were doing in a monthly review of …
SEASON 1983-1984
| AUGUST 1983 | |
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Having finished fourth at the end of the 1982-83 season, that elusive League championship seemed that bit closer for Tottenham. The new season kicked off in the last week of August – none of this starting towards the end of the month which is happening nowadays. The opening day brought a visit to Portman Road and saw debuts for the club’s big summer signings – Gary Stevens (culinary specialty Spaghetti Bolognese) and Danny Thomas (engaging personality and keen sense of humour) from Brighton and Coventry respectively. They were bought to plug the notoriously leaky Spurs defence, but things didn’t quite work out with Ipswich running out 3-1 winners, with Eric Gates, allegedly Britain’s ugliest dwarf footballer of the time, scoring twice. Whether the Spurs defence were too scared to approach him is open to conjecture. Two days later, Coventry were the visitors for an evening match on August Bank Holiday Monday. In the Sky Blues side, was Terry Gibson, who, having burst into the Spurs first team as a pint-size skinhead at the start of the 80’s, had failed to win a regular place in the side and had left for the Highfield Road club during the 1983 close-season (the close season was a time when there used to be no football – a frightening prospect, I’m sure you’ll agree. But fear not, those dark days will never return). With Tottenham leading late on through a Glenn Hoddle penalty, Steve Archibald went off with a twisted knee, thus reducing Spurs to ten men – these were also the days of only one substitute and the sub on that day, Mark Falco, had already replaced the injured Alan Brazil. Up popped Graham Withey (not one of Coventry’s most memorable players) with a late equaliser. Final score 1-1. Archibald turned up for training the next day, having recovered from the injury which had forced him off. Tottenham manager, Keith Burkinshaw, came to the conclusion that Archibald hadn’t been so badly injured so as to warrant coming off before the end of the Coventry game and accused him of letting the team down. Archibald and Burkinshaw had a row, which wasn’t kept within the confines of the club, but fought on the sports pages of the tabloids. The Battle of the Wounded Knee had begun. The season of 1983-84 had hardly started ideally for Tottenham. One point from a possible six and a feud which would cost the first team the services of its main striker for the next few games … |
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| SEPTEMBER 1983 | |
September began with the visit of West Ham United to White Hart Lane on the first Saturday of the month. The large travelling support made their way North and included a minority of what can best be described as low-life specimens, who decided that it would be a jolly jape and rather big and clever of them to go into the home area of the ground and cause trouble. The inevitable disturbance which consequently broke out on the Worcester Avenue terrace was soon quelled by those brave boys in blue, who removed the claret and blue flotsam and jetsam, escorting them to the Park Lane end to be re-united with the rest of their East-End barrow-boy mates. The pond-life amongst the Spurs support on the Shelf, from a suitably safe distance, decided to pelt the Hammers fans with coins as they walked along the pitch-side track to their own supporters. It was an idea not without flaws. Some coins went too far and reached the pitch; others hit the perimeter fence (which acted as a protective barrier for the Hammers slime) and rebounded back onto the terraces, hitting only Spurs supporters. The rest of the money fell well short of it’s intended target, again falling on Tottenham territory. With Steve Archibald dropped after his much-publicised row with Keith Burkinshaw, Spurs failed to score and went down 2-0 to the Irons. The season had started with one point out of nine and if this had been 1998 instead of 1983, Keith Burkinshaw may well have been on his way out of the club. Two trips to the Midlands in the space of one week saw Tottenham pick up four points, with a 1-1 draw at West Bromwich Albion, followed by a 3-0 win at Leicester City. It was a good job too, as Spurs continued their sad home form the week after the victory at Filbert Street by losing 2-1 to the Blue Scouse. “Match of the Day” covered Tottenham’s last league match of the month, a 3-2 triumph at Watford, notable for another of Glenn Hoddle’s specials. This one the exquisite chip over Steve Sherwood’s head after a Cruyff turn in the box. When old footage of Hoddle is shown, it is normally this goal or the pile-driver volleys against Man. U or Forest, or if it’s ITV, the youthful Glenda smacking an unstoppable shot past Shilton at Stoke’s Victoria Ground on his 1976 debut. In the Watford game, Steve Archibald returned as a sub after two games out, coming on to score. Come the end of September, Tottenham were 16th in a 22 team First Division which found West Ham top and Leicester, despite three Gary Lineker goals, bottom. The UEFA Cup provided a welcome distraction from the league and paired Tottenham with Drogheda in a mismatch, as Irish side, playing to the best of their abilities and without letting themselves down, were so outplayed in both legs that Spurs might as well have played Dennis Waterman’s Showbiz XI. After a 6-0 win in the away leg, the proggie for the home tie still sought fit to mention details of the “away goal” rule , although it did mention that it would take a “soccer miracle” for it to be required here. Obviously desperate to see any kind of Spurs home win, nearly 20,000 turned up to see an 8-0 second leg victory for a 14-0 aggregate score. The fourteen goals were shared between Mark Falco (4), Gary Mabbutt, Graham Roberts and Alan Brazil (2 each) with Galvin, Crooks, Hughton and Archibald all grabbing one apiece.
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| OCTOBER 1983 | |
The televised football revolution got underway in October 1983. The Football League made a deal whereby BBC and ITV would each show a small number of live league games. Tottenham’s home match v Notts. Forest was picked as the first requiring that the game be switched to the afternoon of Sunday October 2nd to accommodate the ITV cameras (BBC chose Friday nights for their coverage). The club were concerned that the live showing would affect the attendance at the ground and laid on special entertainment to encourage people to come along to the Lane. There was a girls marching band, a brass band, a parachute jump, the Guinness Book of Records stilt champion and Chas ‘n’ Dave performing Live. I’m not sure how much of this “entertainment” actually deterred fans from attending !! Hosts for the day were “top Radio One personality” Simon Bates and “Game For A Laugh”’s Henry Kelly. Despite all that, 30,596 filed through the turnstiles to match the previous seasons gate. On a fine, sunny afternoon, with commentator Brian Moore in his prime (that’s between the “shouting“ period of the early 70’s and his “getting lots of players names wrong” phase of the mid-to-late 90’s), Spurs came from behind to win 2-1 with Stevens scoring the first and Archibald scoring the winner five minutes from time in a good advertisement for football. Following the razzmatazz of the live game, the second round of the Milk Cup took Spurs to Lincoln City (starring John Fashanu) and it was a tightly fought tie with Spurs progressing thanks to a 4-3 aggregate score, despite losing 2-1 at Sincil Bank in the second leg. Meanwhile, back in the League Tottenham made it two wins on the trot on their travels, winning at Wolves (3-2) and Birmingham (1-0). It must be something about the air in the Midlands !! October closed with Notts. County visiting White Hart Lane, Spurs taking the three points with a Steve Archibald goal, his eleventh in nine appearances since his return to the first team following his enforced exile, courtesy of Burkinshaw. After easy ties in the previous round of the UEFA Cup, Feyenoord provided somewhat stiffer opposition. Johann Cruyff played in the first leg at White Hart Lane and was completely outshone by Glenn Hoddle. Also plying for the Dutch side was a pre-dreadlocked Ruud Gullitt (sporting a Garth Crooks-type microphone cover hairstyle in those days). It was another of the great European nights at the Lane with Spurs romping to a 4-0 lead at half-time – Galvin and Archibald both getting two each. Feyenoord struck back as they looked more menacing going forward and got two late goals for their troubles, leaving the tie in the balance with a tricky trip to Rotterdam facing Tottenham. Off the pitch, Tottenham Hotspur was floated on the Stock Exchange in October 1983 the first football club to do so. A holding company. Tottenham Hotspur plc was formed to acquire the shares of the football club. This company would then be listed on the Stock Exchange and have a subsidiary – Tottenham Hotspur Football Club. The share issue was launched at the televised Nottingham Forest match, with a prospectus giving details wrapped around the match programme. The official launch followed the next day, when the issue got fully underway. The shares, sold at £1 each, were oversubscribed three and a half times and although trading began at £1.08, they closed the day at 90p. It took another three and a half years for the price to rise above £1 ! Tottenham Hotspur FC was now inextricably linked to Tottenham Hotspur plc. It would be an alliance that would suffer a fair amount of conflict of interest over the years.
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| NOVEMBER 1983 | |
Tottenham began their November fixtures by going Dutch with a trip to Rotterdam to face Feyenoord in the return leg of the UEFA Cup. It was the first time that the two clubs had met in Holland since the second leg of the 1974 UEFA Cup final. On that occasion, the Dutch side were 2-0 victors on the night giving them a 4-2 aggregate win and the Spurs supporters had run riot, leading to Tottenham being banned from European football for several years. Ironically, this covered a period when the club failed to qualify for Europe anyway ! Fortunately, the 1983 match saw different results on and off the pitch. The fans were only involved in sporadic outbreaks of violence and goals from Chris Hughton and Tony Galvin helped Spurs to a 2-0 win; a 6-2 aggregate. From Rotterdam to Stoke, as Tottenham returned to League action with a 1-1 draw at the Victoria Ground. Four days later Boring, Boring Arsenal visited the Lane in the third round of the Milk Cup. The Gunners exacted revenge for their 5-0 defeat at Tottenham seven months earlier by winning 2-1. It was bad enough going out of the competition, but doing so to Arsenal made it all the more depressing. Three days after 48,200 had watched the Milk Cup tie, another large crowd – around 45,000 – flocked to White Hart Lane for the Division One match against Liverpool, which finished in a 2-2 draw thanks to goals from Hoddle and Archibald. The final two League games of November both ended in victories for Spurs. The 4-2 win at a muddy Luton was achieved through goals from youngsters Ally Dick and Richard Cooke (on his debut), along with a brace from Steve Archibald taking his season’s total to 14. The result lifted us to fourth in the First Division with 25 points; that was 21 clear of Wolves in bottom place who had yet to win having played fourteen matches ! QPR, with Terry Venables at the helm, were Tottenham’s next opponents as White Hart Lane staged it’s second London derby of the month. Rangers were sponsored by Guinness and the somewhat bizarre team photo showed the the visitors players holding up a pint of the dark liquid with the impressive head (see right). But, Guinness didn’t do the team much good, Spurs triumphant by 3-2 thanks to goals from Archibald and Falco (2).
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| DECEMBER 1983 | |
In round three of the UEFA Cup, Tottenham were paired with the club that had knocked them out of the previous season’s Cup Winners Cup – Bayern Munich. On a bitterly cold night in the Olympia Stadion, the Germans won the first leg 1-0 with Michael Rummenigge’s 85th minute goal settling it. At the time, Bayern, whose side also included Karl-Heinz Rummenigge (Michael’s older brother), Belgian international keeper Jean Marie Pfaff and Dieter Hoeness, thought that the one goal would be enough to see them safely into the quarter finals. However, the second leg saw Tottenham win for the only time in December, Mark Falco scoring four minutes from time with a shot that went in off the post for a 2-0 margin, after Archie had earlier wiped out Bayern’s lead, giving Tottenham a 2-1 aggregate win.The European win aside, December was a miserable month for Spurs. In six League matches two were drawn 0-0 and the others all ended in defeat, with a total of 14 goals conceded. They let in four goals on three separate occasions and two of those were against London rivals. It was the month which ended any hopes that Tottenham would make a title challenge as they went into free-fall down the First Division. A 2-1 defeat at Norwich City was followed by the first of the goal-less games, a lacklustre affair against Southampton at White Hart Lane. The best performance of the afternoon came from Page Three girl Linda Lusardi, throwing Big Ted Sunday Mirror teddy bears into the crowd before the start. The visit to Manchester United on Friday 16th December was televised live on BBC1. Tottenham had shirt sponsors for the first time and it was the start of a long association with Holsten. A crowd of only 33,000 (well, united weren’t winning titles in those days) watched the home side run out 4-2 winners with Alan Brazil and Mark Falco (notching his 12th of the season) on target for Spurs. Christmas 1983 was ruined for Spurs fans on Boxing Day. Not only did Arsenal return to win at the Lane for the second time in less than two months, but they scored four times in the process. “Champagne” Charlie Nicholas struck twice (he’d also scored in the Milk Cup tie and seemed to specialise in getting goals against us) and Raphael Meade scored the others. Tottenham’s consolations came via Graham Roberts and Steve Archibald as we went down 4-2 (again). A 0-0 draw was the outcome of the following day’s trip to Aston Villa, before Tottenham ended 1983 on a low note with defeat in another local derby, this time at Upton Park. A crowd of over 30,000 squeezed into West Ham’s Boleyn Ground to see a 4-1 home win, with three of the Hammers’ goals coming in a four minute spell in the second half. Gary Stevens goal was all the Spurs fans had to cheer about. November had seen Tottenham knocked out of the Milk Cup, whilst December’s form had destroyed any hopes of the League title, leaving only the UEFA and FA Cups to go for as the club entered 1984.
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| JANUARY 1984 | |
The New Year began on a sad note for Tottenham with the news in the programme for the Watford home game on Monday 2nd January that reserve team defender Peter Southey had died following a long battle against illness. Southey had made his only first team appearance for the club, whilst still an apprentice, in the Division One game against Brighton at White Hart Lane in September 1979. Promoted from the reserves and making his debut for Spurs against Watford on a very wet and windy afternoon was Allan Cockram, who later said, “I really wanted to play in that game because of team mate Peter Southey passing away. I knew there would be a minute’s silence in his memory before the game and I wanted to be out there in honour of him. I was playing for Peter as much as myself.” The silence was well observed by both sets of supporters. On such occasions, the result of a mere football match becomes somewhat insignificant. For the record, Spurs lost 3-2 that afternoon, having struggled to cope with the playing conditions and Watford’s long-ball game.The first Saturday of the New Year was FA Cup Third Round day, with Spurs travelling to Craven Cottage to take on Malcolm Macdonald’s Second Division Fulham. Having started the match with an unfamiliar looking back four, which included Mark Bowen and Gary O’Reilly, both making rare first team appearances, our defence then lost Graham Roberts with half an hour to go as he took over in goal from the injured Ray Clemence. Our England international goalkeeper had suffered a shoulder injury early on but had battled on well into the second half before being unable to continue. A fine performance between the sticks by Roberts helped keep Spurs in the competition as the game ended 0-0. In those days replays were usually scheduled for the week following the first game, not 10-11 days after as is the norm nowadays, so four days later Fulham travelled to White Hart Lane. Despite his heroics between the sticks in the first game, Roberts was no doubt pleased to be back in his usual defensive role. Tony Parks took over in goal, making his first appearance of the season and he kept a clean sheet as we won 2-0, Roberts again making himself unpopular with Fulham by scoring. Steve Archibald got the other goal as Spurs ended a run of seven games without a victory. Roberts was again on the score-sheet three days later, together with Mark Falco, as we returned to league action with a 2-0 home win over Ipswich Town at The Lane. Hopes of a third successive victory were dashed the following week at struggling Everton, where Spurs succumbed to a late Adrian Heath goal. The crowd at Goodison Park for this meeting of two of the “Big Five” was only 18,003. The result meant that Everton had done the double over Spurs and left us in twelfth position in the Division One table. The draw for the Fourth Round of the FA Cup gave Tottenham a tough home draw against Norwich City. The Canaries stood two places above Spurs in the Division One table and we were unable to break down the visitors defence. A tight game ended in a goalless draw. The replay took place the following Wednesday and for Spurs fans it was a case of déjà vu as we slipped to our second 2-1 defeat at Carrow Road in less than two months, Mark Falco notching our solitary goal. Tottenham recovered from the Cup knock-out with an excellent 2-2 draw at second placed Nottingham Forest three days later, which was the start of a four-match unbeaten run in the League.
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| FEBRUARY 1984 | |
With the club out of the Milk Cup, FA Cup and in mid-table mediocrity in the League, the crowds at White Hart Lane began to dip. The Sunderland home match, which had been originally scheduled for FA Cup Fourth Round day, was re-arranged for Wednesday 8th February and only 19,327 bothered to turn up on what was admittedly a bitterly cold evening. Those that did make the effort were rewarded with a rare Steve Perryman goal and the biggest home league win of the season.Our other two goals in a 3-0 victory were scored by Steve Archibald, taking his tally to fifteen for the season. The visit of Leicester City on the following Saturday saw a better attendance of just under 25,000. The crowd enjoyed a second successive three goal-haul and victory. However, on this occasion the winning margin was only 3-2, our winner from Archibald arriving only six minutes from time. The visit to struggling Notts. County seven days later didn’t capture the imagination of the local public as only 7,943 turned up. Those that stayed away probably had the right idea as the game ended 0-0. Tony Parks, still deputising for the injured Ray Clemence, kept his fifth clean sheet in ten games. The run of games against clubs in the lower regions of Division One continued with Birmingham’s visit to White Hart Lane on the last Saturday of February. An awful Spurs performance resulted in a 1-0 defeat, Mick Harford scoring the Blues winner. The crowd was only 23,564. Spurs ended the month ninth in the table. Liverpool, Manchester United and Nottingham Forest were at the top of the First Division . Wolves were the bottom side, with Notts County and Stoke City immediately above them. Out of the running in the domestic competitions, Tottenham were still in with a chance of winning the UEFA Cup, which was due to restart again, following the winter break, at the beginning of March, with Spurs drawn against Austria Memphis at the Quarter Final stage.
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| MARCH 1984 | |
After a break of nearly three months, the UEFA Cup resumed early in March.The competition had reached the Fourth Round stage where Spurs had been paired against FK Austria Memphis. The first leg took place at White Hart Lane and goals from Steve Archibald and Alan Brazil gave us a 2-0 victory. Fortunately we played a lot better than we had done in the home league game against lowly Stoke City four days earlier when a Mark Falco penalty had given us a slender 1-0 victory. The Stoke game was, according to the programme for the following home match, “not a performance over which we could enthuse”. The UEFA Cup represented Tottenham’s only chance of a trophy and that was reflected in the huge difference in the crowds for the Stoke and Austria Memphis games. Only 18,271 bothered to turn up for the league match, whilst the UEFA Cup game attracted a crowd of 34,069. Two more league games were played before the second leg of the UEFA Cup tie. First up was the customary defeat at Liverpool, 3-1 on this occasion and now 72 years since a Tottenham victory at Anfield. Gary Stevens scored our goal, putting us 1-0 up after only 90 seconds. The following Saturday, West Bromwich Albion, fifth from bottom in Division One, took advantage of another poor Spurs display with a 1-0 victory, courtesy of a Cyrille Regis goal. The return UEFA Cup game in Vienna saw Spurs draw 2-2 for a comfortable 4-2 aggregate victory, Alan Brazil scoring early on to give us a 3-0 lead and leaving the home side needing to score at least four times to put us out. Ossie Ardiles netted our second goal. Three days later we travelled to Coventry and, in view of recent league form, pulled off a somewhat surprising 4-2 victory, Brazil scoring twice, with the others from Graham Roberts and Mike Hazard. Brazil also missed a penalty ! The following Saturday another White Hart Lane crowd of less than 20,000 witnessed a 1-0 victory over Wolves, the fourth home league game on the trot to feature only one goal.
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| APRIL 1984 | |
Following a 1-1 draw against Sunderland at Roker Park with Falco on the score-sheet again, Spurs returned to UEFA Cup action. The Semi-Final draw had given us Hajduk Split as opponents, with the first leg in rainy Yugoslavia. Mark Falco gave Tottenham the lead and a vital away goal following a penalty awarded for handball after eighteen minutes. Although Falco’s spot-kick was saved, as indeed was his follow-up, Tony Galvin picked up the loose ball and crossed it into the crowded goalmouth where a grateful Falco steered the ball into the back of the net. Two Hajduk Split goals in the second half gave the home side a narrow first leg advantage.For the first time in eight years Spurs were going to have to appoint a new manager, with Keith Burkinshaw announcing his resignation from the job, to take effect from the end of the season. Spurs played three league matches before the return leg against Hajduk Split. Two successive fixtures at White Hart Lane both ended in 2-1 home victories, goals from Graham Roberts and Mark Falco giving us the points against Luton Town (whose consolation was scored by 17-year old Garry Parker). Roberts was on target again in our victory over Aston Villa, Gary Mabbutt scoring our other goal. On Easter Saturday Arsenal achieved their third victory of the season against us with a 3-2 win at Highbury. Stewart Robson put the home side in front before Charlie Nicholas scored (which he did with annoying regularity against Spurs) to put Arsenal 2-0 up. In between two Steve Archibald strikes (his 17th and 18th league goals of the season), Tony Woodcock scored what proved to be Arsenal’s winner. The second leg of the Hajduk Split tie turned out to be one of the many memorable European nights at White Hart Lane. A crowd of 43,969 saw Mike Hazard put us 1-0 up on the night and level at 2-2 on aggregate with a sweetly-struck free kick after only seven minutes. Mid-celebration, Hazard suddenly ran off the pitch and headed for the dressing rooms. All was later explained, with Hazard having gone off to put a contact lens back in, after it had been dislodged from his eye during the post-goal shenanigans with his team-mates. The rest of the match was an extremely tense affair. It was vital that Tottenham prevented the Yugoslavs from scoring. Somehow we managed to keep the visitors at bay for the remaining 83 minutes. Hajduk Split were an excellent side and it took an outstanding Spurs performance to safeguard the slim advantage. Hazard’s goal proved to be the only one of the night and Spurs went through on the away goals rule, with the aggregate score 2-2, Mark Falco’s goal in Yugoslavia proving crucial. The winners of the other Semi – Final were the Belgium side Anderlecht, who beat Notts. Forest. The two-legged Final was to take place on 9 and 23 May, with the first leg in Belgium. We ended the month by returning to league action with a visit to Queens Park Rangers and a game on the Loftus Road’s plastic pitch. An excellent game played on a very warm afternoon in front of a large crowd of nearly 25,000 (including a huge contingent of visiting fans crammed into the School End) ended 2-1 to Rangers. Wayne Fereday and John Gregory netted for the home side, with Steve Archibald reducing the deficit with a goal eighteen minutes from time.
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| MAY 1984 | |
The visit of Norwich City to White Hart Lane on the first Saturday of May attracted a crowd of only 18,874. Spurs won by two goals to nil, thanks to strikes from Archibald and Falco, that sent the Canaries back to their nest pointless. The first leg of the UEFA Cup Final, away to Anderlecht was set for the following Wednesday, but before then, Spurs had to fulfill a Bank Holiday Monday fixture at Southampton. The Football League decided not to help Tottenham’s chances in Europe, insisting that the game at the Dell go ahead as scheduled. Thus, Spurs were due to play on the Saturday, the following Monday and then in Brussels two days later. It was a punishing run of games and Spurs took the option of resting most of the first team in the match against Southampton. Only Paul Miller and Richard Cooke were in the starting line-up for both the Norwich and Southampton matches. Spurs Reserves were over-run by an impressive Saints team, who ended up sticking five past our stiffs with no reply. The first leg of the UEFA Cup final against the crack Belgian side Anderlecht at the ended in a 1-1 draw, with defender Paul Miller heading home in the 58th minute to give Spurs a lead that was cancelled out by Danish sweeper, Morten Olsen’s equaliser just six minutes from time. Prior to the game, a Spurs fan had been shot dead by a bar-keeper in the city after a disturbance, but it was only after the game that the real trouble started involving fighting with rival fans and police and cars being set alight. Tottenham brought their League season to a close the following Saturday with a 1-1 draw against Manchester United in front of a near 40,000 crowd. Spurs finished eighth in the old Division One with a points total of 61, gained from 17 wins and 10 draws. Steve Archibald’s goal against United was his 21st of the season, making him top scorer in the League, followed by Mark Falco (13) and Graham Roberts, whose six strikes were not a bad return for a defender. Liverpool took the League title with runners-up Southampton only three points behind. At the other end of the table, Birmingham, Notts. County and Wolves were relegated to the Second Division. The home leg of the UEFA Cup final took place eleven days after the end of the League season. The game was not made all-ticket and attracted a capacity 48,000 crowd. Anderlecht took the lead after an hour with a goal that was greeted by almost total silence at White Hart Lane. With time running out, Keith Burkinshaw, in his last game as Tottenham manager, took off Paul Miller and Gary Mabbutt, replacing them with Ossie Ardiles and Ally Dick. The little Argentinian soon missed a glorious opportunity to equalise when he hit the bar from close range. The ball was then cleared, but immediately hoisted back into the crowded penalty area. Graham Roberts, captain on the night for the suspended Steve Perryman, chested the ball down and forced it home. The ground erupted, more in relief than anything else. As in the first leg in Belgium, the home side had brought the scores level with six minutes remaining. A nervy period of extra time followed as a further goal for Anderlecht would have left us needing to score twice as the away goals rule would have favoured the Belgian side. However, both sides failed to score and the UEFA Cup final progressed to a penalty shoot-out to decide the winners. The Paxton Road end was chosen to stage the contest and Roberts fired home to give Spurs a 1-0 lead. Enter 21 year old Tottenham goalkeeper, Tony Parks for his Warholesque fifteen minutes of fame. Up stepped Morten Olsen for his penalty. It was the end of an era. Not only was Burkinshaw leaving, but Steve Archibald was also on his way out of the club, enticed by a tempting offer from Barcelona.Tottenham’s priorities as the 1984 close season began were to find worthy replacements for both men.
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| Andrew Ford | |
Parks dived to his left, apparently having seen from Olsen’s eyes which way the kick was going to go. Parks guessed right and saved the kick. The next six penalties were all scored; Mark Falco, Gary Stevens and Steve Archibald notching for Spurs. With Tottenham 4-3 up there was one spot kick left for each team. Danny Thomas would win the UEFA Cup for Tottenham if he scored. Sadly for Danny and all the Spurs fans, his shot was saved. The crowd sang his name as he walked disconsolately back to the centre-circle. If Arnor Gudjohnson scored, the penalty shoot-out would go to sudden death. Tony Parks, having dived left for the previous five penalties, decided to go right and palmed the penalty kick away. He leapt straight up and off on a glory run, hotly pursued by his team-mates. Tottenham had won the UEFA Cup for the second time and minutes later, Graham Roberts was lifting the trophy aloft before an ecstatic White Hart Lane – a fitting way for Keith Burkinshaw’s reign as Spurs manager to finish.