SUGAR WAS NOT MY CUP OF TEA
PERRYMAN BITTER OVER SPURS OWNER’S REGIME
BADGERS had been turning his immaculate lawn into a lunar landscape and, for a disciple of “pitch culture”, it was driving Steve Perryman mad.
“It’s not Centre Court at Wimbledon or Wembley,” mused the Tottenham legend, “but I like to feel the grass beneath my feet. If I wanted our local nightlife to dig it up, I’d give them a shovel.”
When Perryman, who made a record 854 appearances for Spurs, took his first look at the club’s £1billion new stadium, it took his breath away. But for all the fine fittings, the first thing he wanted to test was the playing surface.
“My first judgment of a club is always the pitch,” said the FA Cup-winning captain of 1981 and 1982. “Why? Because it’s our workplace. If it’s a proper pitch, it’s a proper club.”
Perryman’s other litmus test of standards is a cup of tea. On his arrival as Exeter’s director of football, he was offered a cuppa with powdered milk. “Hang on,” he said. “I’ve driven 200 miles, past fields with 10 million cows and you’re giving me a spoonful of powder, not fresh milk?” The episode was a flashback to economies which accompanied Perryman’s exit from Spurs in 1994. In his memoirs, he recalls when Ossie Ardiles was sacked as manager and his assistant followed after one game in charge as caretaker. His 15 months as No2 to Ardiles tested his love for the club to an extent he never imagined. It is fair to say he was no fan of former chairman Alan Sugar, above, or chief executive Claude Littner.
Perryman said: “It got so bad I didn’t want Spurs to win while he was in charge. In 50 years of football, the only person to have fired me is Alan Sugar. With the later success of The Apprentice, it’s quite a claim to fame.
“Tottenham had a way of doing things right. That was changing. The daily milk delivery was stopped, they stopped providing bottled water on the team coach.” On the game’s current crisis, Perryman, 68, said: “I feel sorry for Liverpool – they have to win the title. As for the rest of it, I can’t see how you can engineer a finish to the season that is credible.”
A Spur Forever! My Lilywhite and Blue Life, by Steve Perryman, is published by Vision Sports Publishing.