Down Memory Lane - December 1983

In round three of the UEFA Cup, Tottenham were paired with the club that had knocked them out of the previous season’s Cup Winners Cup - Bayern Munich. On a bitterly cold night in the Olympia Stadion, the Germans won the first leg 1-0 with Michael Rummenigge’s 85th minute goal settling it. At the time, Bayern, whose side also included Karl-Heinz Rummenigge (Michael’s older brother), Belgian international keeper Jean Marie Pfaff and Dieter Hoeness, thought that the one goal would be enough to see them safely into the quarter finals. However, the second leg saw Tottenham win for the only time in December, Mark Falco scoring four minutes from time with a shot that went in off the post for a 2-0 margin, after Archie had earlier wiped out Bayern’s lead, giving Tottenham a 2-1 aggregate win.

The European win aside, December was a miserable month for Spurs. In six League matches two were drawn 0-0 and the others all ended in defeat, with a total of 14 goals conceded. They let in four goals on three separate occasions and two of those were against London rivals. It was the month which ended any hopes that Tottenham would make a title challenge as they went into free-fall down the First Division. A 2-1 defeat at Norwich City was followed by the first of the goal-less games, a lacklustre affair against Southampton at White Hart Lane. The best performance of the afternoon came from Page Three girl Linda Lusardi, throwing Big Ted Sunday Mirror teddy bears into the crowd before the start.

The visit to Manchester United on Friday 16th December was televised live on BBC1. Tottenham had shirt sponsors for the first time and it was the start of a long association with Holsten. A crowd of only 33,000 (well, united weren’t winning titles in those days) watched the home side run out 4-2 winners with Alan Brazil and Mark Falco (notching his 12th of the season) on target for Spurs. Christmas 1983 was ruined for Spurs fans on Boxing Day. Not only did Arsenal return to win at the Lane for the second time in less than two months, but they scored four times in the process. “Champagne” Charlie Nicholas struck twice (he’d also scored in the Milk Cup tie and seemed to specialise in getting goals against us) and Raphael Meade scored the others. Tottenham’s consolations came via Graham Roberts and Steve Archibald as we went down 4-2 (again).

A 0-0 draw was the outcome of the following day’s trip to Aston Villa, before Tottenham ended 1983 on a low note with defeat in another local derby, this time at Upton Park. A crowd of over 30,000 squeezed into West Ham’s Boleyn Ground to see a 4-1 home win, with three of the Hammers’ goals coming in a four minute spell in the second half. Gary Stevens goal was all the Spurs fans had to cheer about. November had seen Tottenham knocked out of the Milk Cup, whilst December’s form had destroyed any hopes of the League title, leaving only the UEFA and FA Cups to go for as the club entered 1984.