The football that actually came home!

Imagine being at White Hart Lane and celebrating the final whistle sounding to confirm another major European trophy - when the matchball lands at your feet and you manage to grab a prized souvenir without anyone noticing?

Well, believe it or not but that’s exactly what happened to lifelong Spurs fan Jim Harris at the end of the second leg of the 1972 UEFA Cup Final, 50 years ago today!

While the stadium erupted in delight and our supporters celebrated the 3-2 aggregate victory over Wolves, Jim noticed that the ball which Alan Mullery had earlier headed home to give us the lead on the night was suddenly right next to him in the stands.

And, while he managed to sneak it out of the stadium and kept it as a piece of memorabilia for the past 50 years, Jim recently returned it to the club as the football literally came home!

We’ll let Jim pick up the story of his experiences at both legs of that UEFA Cup Final, which started with an away game at Molineux...

“We were a group of lads who always attended Spurs home games standing on the halfway line beneath The Shelf. We were keen to attend the two-legged final with the first game at Molineux on 3 May 1972.  We obtained our tickets from the ticket office, booked a day off work and departed in Peter’s Austin A40.

“It was a superb atmosphere standing under the lights at Molineux. It was an evenly matched game but Martin Chivers was on fire and scored two spectacular goals leaving us with a 2-1 advantage. Unfortunately, as annual leave was only 10 days at the time and we had to go to work the next day, we left early and missed the last goal! However, I have watched it on the internet on many occasions and wished we had stayed.

“Onto the second leg at the Lane, luckily, we were successful in the ballot and were all able to obtain a final ticket for the price of 50p and a programme for 5p.

“Spurs scored first with a brave Alan Mullery headed goal but Wolves kept their positive attitude and David Wagstaffe scored late in the first half. With a good display from Pat Jennings as our last line of defence, Spurs kept their composure and went onto win 3-2 on aggregate.

“However, the night’s excitement didn’t end there. At the final whistle, Spurs defender Phil Beal kicked the ball into the crowd and it landed very close to me. The crowd was cheering and going mad and it was then I saw my opportunity. I grabbed the ball and placed it under my coat and made my way towards the exit.

“Many supporters were staying for the cup presentation so I pushed my way through the crowd and made for the exit. After the game all our family and relatives used to congregate at Auntie Edna’s for tea and a post-match chat. Nobody could believe I had the ball and it was passed around with much excitement!

“Fast forward to September 2021 where I found myself for the first time at the new stadium with the ball and 50p ticket counterfoil. As we are approaching the 50th anniversary of winning the UEFA Cup, I agreed with representatives of the Club that this would be an ideal time to return the ball.

“Meeting up with Peter, Steve and Jeff - who I had hardly seen over the years - was an added bonus and a private tour of the stadium followed by some liquid refreshment made it a very special day.

The ball is now going to be displayed in the Atrium alongside a replica of the UEFA cup and I’m very pleased it has come home after all these years.”