| 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. 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
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