Ardiles and Villa Home Debut for Tottenham on 23rd August, 1978 Know Your Tottenham History
By Logan Holmes
The great day arrived and White Hart Lane was at fever pitch for the home debut of the two Argentine World Cup winners, Ossie Ardiles and Ricky Villa. The atmosphere was electric and there had been a buzz of anticipation around the club since the two players signed in early July. The team, newly promoted to the 1st Division after only one season away from top flight football, had excelled at the City Ground, holding Champions, Forest to a 1 – 1 draw on the opening day of the season with Villa scoring the equaliser. Expectations were high!
Villa Spoil the Party
Tottenham Hotspur 1 Aston Villa 4
Scorer: Hoddle (pen)
The players took to the pitch to a Buenos Aires style ticker-tape welcome from the fans to welcome Ardiles and Villa by replicating the scenes experienced by the players during the World Cup in Argentina in the summer. 47, 892 spectators were present, not the highest attendance of the season, but over 5,000 more than attended the north London derby before Christmas. It was also the home debut of centre back, John Lacy, signed from Fulham, but that is always forgotten.
Villa were the better team and they deflated the party mood inside White Hart Lane with a goal in the first half. Any chance of a second half comeback were hastily extinguished when they added a second shortly after the interval. Villa scored a further two goals and Tottenham’s lone response was a Glen Hoddle penalty following a foul on Ardiles.
Ardiles and Villa had learned a lesson about life in English football and there were to be a few more before the season was out for the Argentines and the Tottenham team. It was centre forward, Ian Moores, last match for Spurs – he moved on to Orient the following October.
Team: Daines; McAllister, Gorman; Hoddle, Lacy, Perryman; Villa, Ardilkes, Armstrong, Moores, Taylor.
#knowyourtottenhamhistory 21st August, 1981