The striker had not been playing professional football for more than two years, as his early forays into the game at East Stirling and Clyde found little success. It was at Pittodrie that he came alive and when he made his move to Tottenham, you could see why he was such a success.
It was the apparent disinterest Steve showed in the game which threw defenders. Seemingly not paying attention to what was going on around him, he was quietly deciding where he should be when the ball dropped invitingly in the area for him to smash it home. His control was exquisite and his finishing instinctive even though it may not have been the prettiest. A toe poke here, a jabbed effort before the keeper could set himself there; they all counted in Archie's book.
The pairing of Garth Crooks with the Scot was a masterstroke by Keith Burkinshaw. Crooks was the more livewire, mobile forward, while Archibald the more predatory in the box. They blended well from the start of their partnership and made goals for each other as well as scoring them. With Crooks short and firmly built and Steve long and wiry, they could not have been more dissimilar, but they were on the same wavelength when it came to goal-scoring.
The crowd chorused "We'll Take More Care of You, Archibald, Archibald" (to the tune of the British Airways advertisement of the time) as he celebrated every goal with his distinctive arm in the air, cuff gripped in hand a la Denis Law. It was a common sound across football grounds of England during his tenure at Tottenham.
Both were well supplied by the talented midfield of Ardiles, Hoddle, Villa and Galvin, who provided the ammo for the bullets Archibald would fire. He was not on the target when Spurs won the FA Cup later that season, but his involvement was key, both in being on the spot when the corner fell to him, only to be beaten to it by Garth when he scored the equaliser in the replay and also pulling players away from Ricky Villa, who scored the winner.
With European experience in the European Cup-Winners' Cup, he won a place in the Scotland team and stayed there for the 1982 World Cup. This came off the back of a season of great promise for Tottenham, as they fought on four fronts to win trophies, but ended up with just the one - the FA Cup once more, won against QPR after a replay. His first Wembley goal was against Liverpool in the 1981 League Cup Final, which gave Spurs an early lead, but the Merseyside came back to win the trophy in extra time and the European adventure was ended by the savagery dished out by Barcelona at White Hart Lane.
His European success was only delayed for two seasons, when Tottenham overcame Anderlecht in the UEFA Cup Final of 1984 on penalties. The season had seen Steve notch 28 goals and with the medal in his hand, he, and Burkinshaw, said goodbye to the Tottenham crowd on a high. An exotic move to Barcelona (ironically) followed, but now the Catalan club was managed by Terry Venables.
Following his time in Spain, Archie was equally nomadic, playing for Blackburn Rovers on loan, HIbs, Espanyol, St. Mirren, Clyde, Fulham, East Stirling and Home Farm in Ireland.
On leaving football, Steve became a players agent specialising in the Spanish market and made his first venture into management with East Fife in 1994, staying for two years. He was appointed an executive director at Benfica in Portugal in 1998 and led a takeover to rescue Airdrie in Scotland in 2000, before managing the club.
Steve was a regular Scottish international and played 27 times, but his scoring rate was not as high as with his club. He went to Spain 1982 World Cup having been joint top-scorer in the First Division in 1980-81 to represent Scotland with two successive FA Cup winners medals and a goal in a losing League Cup final in 1982.
Archibald was a 62nd minute substitute for Alan Brazil (later to be a Spurs forward) in the Scots 5-2 win over New Zealand, but two quick goals by the Kiwis put the team under pressure, although they pulled away to grab the points with Archibald scoring the fifth with ten minutes left.
He got a place in the team for the next game, playing the whole of the match against Brazil, which Scotland lost 1-4. Joe Jordan gave Scotland the lead alongside Archibald in attack in the final group game against Russia, but the opponents went on to gain a 2-2 draw, which was enough to take them through and knock the Scots out.