DOWN MEMORY LANE
Hoddle, Ardiles and Villa on the end of a Spurs era
THEY meet like old friends who have been through a good deal in a younger life. The embraces are warm and memories are easily stirred. Yet as they talk, all around them a significant landmark which binds their past is being dismantled.
Ricky Villa, Ossie Ardiles and Glenn Hoddle, perhaps the three most iconic Tottenham players of the last 45 years, were at White Hart Lane last week as they took out some of the peripheral items: unnecessary signage, spare chairs. Tomorrow they begin the demolition proper of 118 years of history and Tottenham will not be the same again.
And the trio will all be here again today, part of a cavalcade of Tottenham stars saying farewell to White Hart Lane. ‘There are going to be a few tears,’ says Ardiles. ‘Some people will cry. We’ll be thinking, “So that’s it. That’s the last time”.’ ‘It’s a difficult moment,’ adds Villa. Hoddle has just been posing for photos with a lady approaching her 80s who has been coming here since 1950. ‘Look at that lady, Ossie, 67 years she’s been coming, bless her. She’s going to feel it, like a lot of fans that come here.’
Ardiles agrees. ‘It’s like a knife, it’ll start to sink a little bit, day by day, because we don’t want to think the day will come. But when you start to sink a little bit, it goes deeper and deeper.’ But memories are not so easily demolished.
For tens of thousands of people, this somewhat bedraggled corner of north London holds core memories which have informed their life.
For Hoddle, White Hart Lane had close to spiritual status as a boy, a Spurs fan growing up in Harlow. ‘The first match was a reserve game, a night game, under floodlights. I went with my friend Andy Jessie and his dad, Malcolm. It would have been about 1968. And that was it: I was a Spurs fan.
‘And then my dad would take me to numerous games. I remember one FA Cup game against Liverpool with 60,000 or 65,000 in the stadium. I was sat on one of the crash barriers with his hands around me to keep me safe from the crowd swaying. His hands must have been black and blue by the end. It was another night game and one hell of an atmosphere.
‘By then I’d become a schoolboy trainee, so I was coming down here on the train on a Tuesday from when I was 12 until I was an apprentice. The tickets we had on a match day were for the little benches that were right on the pitch-side, in front of t he stands and t he advertising hoardings. So you could almost trip the linesman up.
‘You could smell the oil on the players’ legs and hear the clashes. It was an unbelievable education. But the game was so physical. Peter Osgood and Mike England, kicking the c*** out of each other, elbowing each other. You could hear the boom and then Osgood would go and do him. And as a kid, I’m like, “Oh my God!” I thought it was all technical. Football was going be like this? I knew you had to toughen up.’
For Ardiles and Villa, the memories start in 1978, after what can be genuinely described as an epoch-defining transfer. When Arsenal tried to sign an Austrian goalkeeper in 1930, the FA quickly introduced a two-year residency rule which effectively ruled out imports. Foreigners who did play here, such as Bert Trautmann, had already settled in the country or had Commonwealth connections, such as Clyde Best. The rule was lifted by an EEC directive in 1978 and Tottenham were the first to take advantage.
‘Everybody in Argentina wanted to play in Europe because it’s really professional but we never believed England would put the offer on the table,’ says Villa.
‘It was Spain, Italy, France in this order,’ says Ardiles. ‘England never.’
They were a genuine sensation and their first game, away at Nottingham Forest, a huge occasion. ‘There were thousands of fans outside, Tottenham supporters that couldn’t get in,’ says Ardiles. ‘ The welcome was brilliant, Nottingham Forest, wherever we went, brilliant, brilliant, “Ossie, Ricky, welcome to England, blah blah blah”. And then, after 3 o’clock in the afternoon on a Saturday, then we were the effing Argentinian b*******!’
And, hard to imagine now in the digital era, Ardiles and Villa had little idea of the team they were joining, which had just scraped promotion, finishing third in the old second division. ‘I had never ever seen them play,’ says Ardiles.
‘He wouldn’t have signed if he…’ adds Hoddle, as Ardiles interjects: ‘I would never, ever have signed!’
Keith Burkinshaw, the Tottenham manager back then, initiated the move for Ardiles after his friend Harry Haslam, the Sheffield United manager, had been told by his assistant, Oscar Arce, an Argentine emigre to England, that some of the World Cup-winning team would be open to a move.
Ardiles takes up the story. ‘There was talk of the possibility of bringing some other players. I said, what position? And Keith said in midfield…’
‘They needed a very intelligent player…’ interrupts Villa.
Ardiles continues. ‘Well, Ricky comes to mind. He was my room-mate in the World Cup as well. I said to Ricky, “Come on, we’re going to England”. He said, “What? P*** off! I’m very happy here”.’
Villa, who had grown up on the ranch he has now bought and lives at in Cordoba, was eventually persuaded. And initially made the most impact, scoring against Forest. ‘The players were, “Wow, this guy is a champion”,’ says Ardiles.
‘I was thinking, “It’s easy, football in England”,’ says Villa.
‘At the end of the game we were saying, “We love playing football here. Pass me the cigarettes!”,’ adds Ardiles.
They were swiftly brought down to earth. The first game at White Hart Lane was a 4-1 defeat by Aston Villa. Taking their cue from Argentine fans at the World Cup, who had greeted their team with an avalanche of ticker tape for their game, Tottenham fans did the same.
‘I was annoyed because there was all the ticker tape all over the pitch,’ says Hoddle. ‘I spent the first five minutes trying to clear it off. I couldn’t play! It was really putting me off. It was horrible. And we lost heavily.’
A League Cup match at the old Vetch Field against Swansea City followed a week later. ‘Tommy Smith’s playing for
Swanseacareer,’bit of Englishsays and Hoddle. ‘Ossie had a littlehe’sby now, so we’re saying, near the end of his “Ossie! Ossie! Tommy Smith. No 4. Bad man, problem. tackle”. Hard And Ossie was, “Ah, no men in Argentina. Daniel Passarella”. I remember him saying that. And we’re all going “Yeah, but this is different”.’ Ardiles interjects. ‘I wish I had been better at English at the time so I could understand... ’ Hoddle adds: ‘So 20 minutes into the game, Ossie’s going past
As an apprentice we sat right by the pitch. It was an incredible education. You could see Peter Osgood and Mike England kicking the c*** out of each other! GLENN HODDLE on his introduction to football at Tottenham’s old stadium (right)
me on a stretcher and I remember Johnny Pratt shouting, “Ossie! Tommy Smith! Yeah? Bad man”.’
Ardiles pulls a face. ‘ I was l i ke, “Welcome to England! Ha, ha, ha”.’
A 7- 0 defeat at Liverpool followed. Frankly, it did not look good. ‘I had a big problem to play in English football,’ says Villa. ‘Keith said, “You can play up front because you have a good control of the ball”. But I never touched the ball. The second option was left-side midfield. And I didn’t touch the ball. The English game is up and down, 80 yards. Every minute. And I can’t defend. I can attack!
‘I saw John Gorman [Tottenham teammate] the other day and he remembered in one game he said to me, “Ricky, help me defend”. And he said that I had said, “I didn’t come here to defend”. But it’s not true, because I didn’t speak English! But it was physical. Long ball and support that ball and fight it, like rugby.’ Ardiles was aghast. ‘They make up the rules of the games. Basically it was a licence to kill.’
But it would get better. ‘In the third year, when Steve Archibald and Garth Crooks arrived, t hat was when it changed,’ says Ardiles. In an age when the FA Cup was cherished as much as the league championship, Tottenham won the Cup in 1981 and 1982 as well as the UEFA Cup in 1984. They were finishing in the top four and were runners-up to Liverpool in the 1982 League Cup.
Of course, the 1981 FA Cup final would provide Villa and English football with one of its most memorable moments, the sight of a dribbling Argentine turning one way, then the next, to score one of the great goals Wembley has seen to win the Cup. But in terms of White Hart Lane memories, it is another game in February 1982 which stands out.
Fittingly, given the occasion today, it was the opening of the new West Stand, at the time a trailblazer in English football, with its double-decker layer of corporate boxes. Spurs won 6-1 and Villa got a hat-trick. ‘I still have the ball in my ranch,’ he says. ‘You both signed it and everybody wrote dedications. And what did Ossie put? “Lucky b******”.’ For Ardiles it was occasions on which he was badly injured but which turned into unforgettable evenings. ‘It’s very difficult to just choose one,’ he says.
‘ I always l i ked t o play against Manchester United. Then you have the European nights. Then the UEFA Cup final, because of winning the trophy. Other than that I would like to mention when it was my testimonial in 1986 that was absolutely brilliant. Diego Maradona was here playing for Spurs and it was a great night.’
The UEFA Cup final against Anderlecht in 1984 was also marred by injury. ‘We played the first leg over there and we had a 1-1 draw. But I was nowhere near going to play the second leg. It was impossible.
‘But Steve Perryman was suspended and more players injured. So Keith had to make a decision: Gary Mabbutt or me. And the decision was more or less who could move a little bit better? Seriously. Gary at least could move a bit more.
‘But the game was running away from us and I remember [assistant manager] Peter Shreeves said to Keith, “Put Ossie in”. And I remember he said, “He cannot move”. But Peter said, “Put him on”. And this is why I came on. And I couldn’t move! It was difficult.’ Tottenham were six minutes away from losing the game when Ardiles hit the bar, the ball was turned back in and Graham Roberts equalised. They won on penalties.
For Hoddle there is a UEFA Cup game, the clash with Feyenoord in 1983, notable for the appearance of Johan Cruyff. Cruyff had bragged about how he would outplay Hoddle before the game. By halftime, Spurs were 4-0 up, Hoddle having created all the goals. ‘That was probably my best game at White Hart Lane and European nights were always special,’ he recalls. ‘And what he said riled me up!’
The memories will survive even if the ground itself will not. Yet the future looms large. The new stadium rising up, overshadowing the old one, means this move should be less traumatic than West Ham’s or Arsenal’s.
‘I like the fact that even Arsenal had to go down the road whereas this is going to be attached to the old White Hart Lane,’ says Hoddle. ‘That’s important. You have an attachment. There’s no attachment to your new stadium yet but you have an emotional attachment to here, this place.’ Villa agrees. ‘It’s a good point,’ he says. ‘ But the new stadium will not be the same.’
‘Oh no,’ says Hoddle. ‘It will never be the same.’
It falls to Ardiles to find the required words. ‘It’s going to be different,’ he says. ‘It doesn’t mean it’s going to be better or worse. But the necessity is that this is the only way the club can carry on. We had to move. It’s like leaving your old car — but the car you really love. This is wonderful but you know that somehow you need something better. You need to move on to the future.’
I had a big problem to play in English football. Up front I never touched the ball! It was up and down, 80 yards. Every minute. And I can’t defend. I can attack! RICKY VILLA on facing a baptism of fire following his move to Tottenham in 1978