Osman’s greatest Escape
FORTY years ago, having just filmed Escape To Victory alongside Sylvester Stallone, Russell Osman should have been well prepared to star in another unlikely sporting story.
That movie, about a group of footballers plotting the escape of a prisoner of war, acquired cult status – and also featured Michael Caine, Bobby Moore and Pele – with Osman in the part of a player called Doug Clure.
But in purely football terms, Ipswich Town winning the UEFA Cup in the May of 1981, just ahead of the film’s release that summer, was an equally inspirational slice of escapism.
Sadly the 40th anniversary this year of one of the Suffolk club’s greatest moments can’t be celebrated through a special dinner or event. But it certainly hasn’t been forgotten.
“Our last game of the season, the second leg of the UEFA Cup Final against AZ Alkmaar, was our 66th,” said Osman who played in them all.
Having won 3-0 in the first leg at Portman Road, with goals from John Wark, Frans Thijssen and Paul Mariner, Bobby Robson’s men found AZ a different proposition in Holland. In the end they were clinging on, landing the trophy 5-4 on aggregate.
“It was hectic,” recalled Osman. “Because we scored to make it 4-0, they had no choice but to throw the kitchen sink at us. And they did that alright, going hell-for-leather.
“It was hard work – the culmination of a 66-match season coming down to the last 20 minutes of a game in which you’re hanging on, making sure you had something to be proud of at the end of a hard, exhausting campaign.”
In addition to Robson working his magic as a manager, Osman believes going Dutch had provided the last pieces of the Ipswich jigsaw.
He said: “The signings of the Holland lads was a masterstroke, and the clever thing was bringing in Frans Thijssen to help Arnold Muhren settle in. They were great together. What they did for Ipswich Town was phenomenal.”
But Osman still reckons Ipswich’s fixture glut cost them their chance of pipping Aston Villa to the League title.
He added: “From January, Villa played just 17 games that season while we played 32, plus all the travelling for the UEFA Cup matches as well.”