The Trophy Years Part 4

We Won The UEFA Cup For The Second Time Here At White Hart Lane At The Conclusion Of A Pulsating European Campaign In 1983-84. John Fennelly Looks Back

 

It would be one of the great nights at White Hart Lane – and we had seen a few!

The ingredients were all there. Top European opposition under lights in front of a packed house and with all to play for.

Mix in the fact that popular manager Keith Burkinshaw had announced that this would be his last game. And influential skipper Steve Perryman was suspended having been booked in the first leg.

There was a real dressing room sense of ‘let’s do it for Keith and Steve.’

Defender Paul Miller’s crucial goal in Brussels had left the tie on a knife’s edge as the big kick-off approached at the Lane where 46,258 fans assembled.

We were already in trouble domestically with the home authorities upset by Burkinshaw sending a weakened side to Southampton two days before that away tie. In our defence we pointed to the fact that the only debutant in that one was Robert Brace but the fact that we lost 5-0 clearly indicated that our eyes were more on events to come at the Constant Vanden Stock Stadium.

The one shame about the Dell encounter was that Perryman had been an ever-present in league and all three cups up until then. So that ruined an otherwise consistent season for him while his booking in Brussels left him on the sidelines for the dramatic second leg of the final.

The ever-positive Burkinshaw won’t admit it but he sensibly took the attitude of putting the emphasis on containing Anderlecht in their own backyard while seeing what we could achieve with the speed of our attacks. We were still missing the massive joint influence of the injured Glenn Hoddle and Ossie Ardiles in midfield so we logically adapted to play to the strengths of the rest of our squad.