Spurs were battling on four fronts in 1981-82. They went down to Barcelona in the Cup Winners’ Cup Final and lost to Liverpool in the Final of the League Cup, renamed the Milk Cup after its new sponsor. A late equaliser by Ronnie Whelan took tire game into extra time. The Spurs players were visibly deflated. Paisley told his men to look raring to go for another 3 0 minutes. Whelan and Rush scored to make the flnal score 3-1 to the holders.
In goal for Spurs that day was Ray Clemence, who had moved to White Flart Lane the previous summer for ?300,000. His old team had come back to haunt him, and his new club had tasted Wembley defeat for the first time.
Hoddle’s decisive penalty
Spurs finished 4th in the league, 16 points behind champions Liverpool. A possible “quadruple” had been reduced to a single battlefront: the FA Cup. Glenn Hoddle scored the two goals which salvaged Spurs’ season. It was his deflected shot which earned Spurs a 1 -1 draw against Second Division QPR. He then struck a 6th-minute penalty in the replay to bring the Cup back to White Hart Lane for the second year running.
It was a day of mixed emotions for Ardiles and Villa. Since their semi-final victory over Leicester, Britain had gone to war with Argentina over the Falkland Islands. Under the circumstances it would have been impossible for the two to play in the Final. Both were diplomatically moved on, though Ardiles would return to White Hart Lane when hostilities ended.
World History
