HODDLE CRUYFF
Hoddle's performance throughout the 90 minutes wowing the
White Hart Lane faithful and the watching media. "Determined
that the word 'greatness' should be stamped as permanently as
a silver mark, Hoddle grabbed hold of this game and never let
go," commented Clive White in his match report for The Times.
Hoddle fed a pass into the path of Chris Hughton, who in turn
crossed for Steve Archibald to give us the lead after just eight
minutes of the encounter. Ten minutes later, he crossed for Tony
Galvin to head home our second. Our England midfielder also had
a hand in our third and fourth goals - supplying a through ball for
Mark Falco, whose parried shot was struck home by Gary Mabbutt
after 23 minutes. Six minutes before the break, he flighted a 40-
yard pass to Tony Galvin, who was able to make it four.
Cruyff grabbed a consolation for Feyenoord in the second half
while Ivan Nielsengotanothergoal ina4-2defeatforthe Rotterdam
outfit. But the night belonged to Spurs and, specifically, Hoddle.
"It had to happen one day, I suppose: Johan Cruyff placed in the
wings by an opposing number 10," wrote White. "But who better
to take over the mantle from the great but aging champion than
our own darling, Glenn Hoddle."
Afterthe match, Cruyff presented Hoddle with his Feyenoord
shirt and told journalists:
"I wanted to test myself against the young star of the present
(Hoddle). I knew I could play. I wanted to see what level I was at.
Glenn Hoddle was a great player in my book. He played football
the way that I wanted to see it played. He could make great
passes and was the best player for Tottenham. It was a bad error
of judgement. I thought that I could mark him and keep him quiet.
The result shows that I could not. He was a player that I had liked
but it was only on the pitch that I realised how good he really was.
I was a shadow without any presence!'
Goals from Hughton and Galvin saw us secure a 2-0 win in
Rotterdam in the second leg to progress to the third round of
the competition with a 6-2 aggregate victory. Hoddle and Cruyff
faced each other again that night, with a mutual respect between
the pair having long since been established.
Glenn has since revealed how he spent hours as a 16-year-old
trying to replicate the famous 'Cruyff turn' in his back garden - a
move brought to global attention when the winger sold Sweden's
Jan Olsson the ultimate dummy in a World Cup clash in 1974.
"When you saw what he had done, by pretending to cross and
then dragging the ball back with one foot behind the defender as
he spun round to run on to it a eureka moment," said Hoddle."I
remember thinking, 'Why hasn't anyone thought of that before?'
"As soon as the final whistle went, I was straight out in the back
garden trying to work out how to do it. I only had my memory of
the slow-motion replay to go on no YouTube on a smartphone,
not even a video recording."
Hoddle's memorable strike for us against Watford on 24
September, 1983 showed his practice as a youngster had paid
off. Our former number 10 later revealed that the start of the
move that led to his chipped goal in our 3-2 win began with "a bit
of skill, a sort of half Johan Cruyff turn."
Following Cruyff's death on 24 March, 2016 at the age of 68,
Hoddle paid tribute to the Dutch master, who scored 33 goals in
48 appearances for his country between 1966 and 1977. "Johan was
a truly world-class player who I think would be on most people's
top five list of'the best player ever'.certainly mine," said Glenn.
"His creation and change of pace were rarely seen in the game.
How fitting that he has a skill-the Cruyff turn - named after him"
The apprentice and the master, as
young Glenn Hoddle gets away fror
the great Johan Cruyff at the Lane
OFFICIAL MATCHDAY PROGRAMME
