Stevie P: "What have I taken from 51 years? The need to do it right"

All-time great Steve Perryman calls time after 51 years in football at Wembley Stadium on Monday.

Almost 51 years after walking through the famous old ‘Bill Nicholson’ gates at White Hart Lane and approaching 50 years since his debut for Spurs, the Club’s record appearance maker on 854, captain for 11 years, FA Cup (2), UEFA Cup (2) and League Cup (2) winner then 17 years in management including a year here and a successful spell in Japan and now 15 years as Director of Football at Exeter City, Steve will retire after Exeter’s League Two play-off against Coventry City.

How apt that Steve, now 66, waves goodbye to the game at Wembley, home of our back-to-back FA Cup wins in 1981 and 1982, when Steve lifted the trophy. He told us earlier this year how the famous 1981 final, Ossie’s dream, Ricky’s goal, put the Club back on the map.

Steve announced his retirement in January and speaking to us this week, explained his decision to finally let go.

“I love the football part, love it, but I’m spending too much time on coach rides against the time I’m spending on the football, which is what I enjoy.

“There’s an over-balance, seven, eight hours to get to Lincoln, the game lasts 90 minutes. I know it’s more than the game but the travelling...I also had a blood clot in my lung at Christmas, and it just said to me ‘hold on, be sensible’.

“Not that I have! I’ve done my job, followed the team around, but perhaps I need to go to games without that pressure. It was 3-1 (against Lincoln in the play-off semi-final) the other night and I’m still there on the touchline as if I’m playing. You can’t ever relax.”

So how do you sum-up 51 years in the game and all that time at Spurs?

His managers (Club greats like Bill Nicholson and Keith Burkinshaw) and team-mates (from Jennings, Mullery, Peters and Chivers to Hoddle, Ardiles, Villa, Roberts and Waddle), the cup wins and the glory nights, like his two goals against AC Milan in the UEFA Cup semi-final in 1972?

What will Steve take with him after all that time? Here’s what he had to say…

“I grew up at Tottenham and that’s where I learned everything that has carried me through the rest of my career be it in Japan, Norway or Exeter.

“Bill Nick, Eddie Baily (Bill's assistant), Keith Burkinshaw, Peter Shreeves, I live off their words and I was lucky enough to be able to take their words and carry them out and see the benefit of them.

“It’s a belief you just need to do it right. My life was football. It’s as easy to try and do it right as to know you are doing it wrong. That doesn’t mean to say you win every game but Bill Nick and Eddie Baily had this old-fashioned way, you had to climb a mountain to get a ‘well done’ from them, but you still kept trying to climb that mountain.

“You have to be true to yourself. That was Eddie Baily’s thing, ‘be true to yourself, son’. You know if you’ve covered enough ground, you know if you put your foot into that tackle or not, you know if you jumped out of the way of the ball aimed at your goal, or put your body in the way.

“They could give you the biggest criticism but when you walked away 10 yards, Eddie Baily would say to you ‘son, first name on the team sheet for me’ and you’d go through it all again, and love it!

“I always say I joined Tottenham because of Bill Nick’s honesty and genuine way of doing things. I hope and I believe that’s how I’ve gone through 51 years. I was always trusted and always gave an honesty in performance. That honesty...I’ve not kidded players, I’ve not kidded parents when we’ve wanted to sign their son and I’ve not kidded agents - just say it like it is.

“At Tottenham, I was given a football integrity that I’ve carried with me wherever I’ve gone. People who taught me how to play, not how not to play. That’s what I’ve taken with me.”