For April 25th I'm going back 37 years to 1984 and Tottenham's UEFA Cup Semi-Final 2nd Leg against Hajduk Split.
I have to say that I continue to hate the truly awful graphics used on the cover of the programmes that season. Indeed I never liked the reworked club badge either and used to long for the return of the simple cockerel badge which was used until the club woke up to the need to copyright the badge to thwart pirate souvenir sellers. Sadly, in creating the new badge, the club decided to colour the rampant lions red and every Tottenham fan knows that red shouldn't appear on the shirt (unless it's blood!). A few years later I have no idea what the club was thinking in allowing the sponsors logo of Thomson to similarly be coloured red. At least the current badge represents a return to a return to form.
At the time this match was played, Hajduk Split came from Yugoslavia. All you scholars of the break up of the iron curtain countries will know that Yugoslavia effectively came to an end in 1992 and that Split can now be found in present day Croatia as Hajduk Split's full and proper name of Croatian Football Club Hajduk Split conveys.
But what is a Hajduk? Apparently Hajduks were local bandits who fought the rule of the Ottoman Turks and who exhibited the characteristics of bravery, humanity, friendship, love of freedom, defiance to power and protection of the weak (think: Robin Hood and his merry men). I doubt that the Hajduks managed to have a day off with all those issues to deal with!
This game was my first and so far only European club Semi-Final and Tottenham went into the game trailing from the first leg despite having taken the lead in Split through Mark Falco following a botched penalty attempt. Split scored twice in the second half of that game to lead 2-1 going into the second leg. An infamous incident preceded kick off in that first leg when a Hajduk fan ran onto the pitch carrying a live cockerel which he proceeded to execute in the centre circle. As a result of this tasteless incident, the club were fined 3,000 Swiss Francs and ordered to play their next European home tie at least 300km from Split. I'm not sure which one of the characteristics of the Hajduks that that fan was celebrating but it certainly wasn't humanity or friendship!
Prior to the Second Leg the news came out that the Spurs manager Keith Burkinshaw had decided to leave the club at the end of the season, apparently due to a disagreement with the board. The news seemed to act as a cause célèbre and rallying call for the Spurs players and supporters who wanted to see popular boss Burkinshaw leave the club having won the UEFA Cup.
In the end, Spurs won through to the UEFA Cup Final on the away goals rule. To the delight of the majority of the 43,969 supporters present, Micky Hazard scored from a free kick on the edge of the penalty area following an apparently needless Hajduk handball. In fact both Tottenham goals across the two legs came from unnecessary Hajduk handling of the ball. It must be another Hajduk characteristic that they forgot to tell us about. Hazard's goal made the aggregate score 2-2 but because Spurs had scored once in Split their away goal counted double in the event of a draw. Spurs were to meet Anderlecht in May's two-legged UEFA Cup Final aiming to give Burkinshaw the send off that he deserved.
CRB Match No. 310
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