Our Spurs debuts | Ossie & Ricky vs Forest | 19.08.78

Before the famous ticker-tape reception for their first game at White Hart Lane, and before the glory of 1981, Ossie Ardiles and Ricky Villa stepped out for their competitive Spurs debuts at Forest's City Ground in the old First Division in August, 1978.

Signings that reverberated through the football world now 45 years ago, Ossie and Ricky had just lifted the World Cup for Argentina when, according to the headline in the Daily Express, 'Spurs scoop the world' - and the pair were on their way to north London having been snapped up by Keith Burkinshaw.

It was a new era not just for the club, but for English football as the impact of Ossie and Ricky proved to be trailblazing - back then, they were two of few 'foreign' players in the England, they certainly opened doors for the players who would follow.

The journey started on that summer's day in Nottingham. What a test, as well. Led by Brian Clough, Forest were reigning champions and on their way to back-to-back European Cup triumphs in 1979 and 1980. They were packed with stars of the day - Peter Shilton in goal, Viv Anderson, Kenny Burns, Larry Lloyd, Frank Clark, Martin O'Neill, John McGovern, Archie Gemmill, John Robertson, Garry Birtles, Tony Woodcock and Terry Francis, Britain's first million-pound player. John Lacy also made his Spurs debut that day.

That first season would prove a struggle, but Ricky made his mark with a fine equaliser, skipping around Shilton before slotting home, as we came away with a 1-1 draw. We went on to finish 11th, Forest were runners-up to Liverpool but would taste European glory in May by beating Malmo in the final.

Now a Club Ambassador, Ossie made 311 appearances for us between 1978-1988, winning the FA Cup in 1981 and UEFA Cup in 1984, and later managed the team, 1993-94. Ricky, whose winner against City in the 1981 FA Cup Final replay was named the best FA Cup Final goal of the 20th century at Wembley, went on to make 179 appearances between 1978-1983. He lives on a ranch in Argentina.

Interviewed together for the Tottenham Hotspur Opus in 2007, Ossie and Ricky recalled those early days at Spurs.

Did you struggle to adapt to the pace and muscle of English football at first?
Ossie: "It was a shock for me. The majority of the teams in England at the time were playing the long-ball game - I think maybe Liverpool were playing football in the right way, on the ground. It was incredible: sometimes we would be very close to our own goal, the ball would go to one of our wingers and he would kick the ball up the pitch. I remember a lot of games where Ricky and I would watch the ball going over our heads. So we had to compromise and become more English in our style of play. We did a lot more running up and down the pitch."
Ricky: "I believed that football should be played on the floor. If the ball is in the air all the time, then there is nothing for anyone on the floor to do. The easy ball, but silly ball, is the long ball. Maybe something happens, but more often than not it doesn’t."

Spurs fans appreciate attractive, attacking football, too...
Ossie: "That was a special thing about Spurs fans: they not only wanted you to win, they wanted you to win with flair. That didn’t happen at first when Ricky and I arrived. We lost 4-1 against Aston Villa at home - that was a catastrophe. After that there was a 7-0 humiliation against Liverpool. Disaster! At the time, the experts were saying we were going to go down straight away. Three teams were promoted the previous year and Spurs were the third-placed team, and only just. It’s very difficult for a team to do well in their first year in the top division. Keith started changing the team, because some of the players who had been good enough in the Second Division were not quite good enough for the First."

How long did it take you to adjust?
Ricky: "Not long. I think Ossie had the natural condition to adapt much faster than me. I needed a lot of touches of the ball. For Ossie it felt more natural to have the ball for a short time and to make the quicker pass."
Ossie: "Ricky sometimes struggled to play the English way. Everybody was complaining that we didn’t run. I mean, we ran, but we didn’t chase back to tackle and do all the things connected with English football. In England you had to win the ball back yourself. You had to work much, much harder to receive the ball. So people had to give us a little bit of understanding at first and then we had to try to play the English way a little bit more."
Ricky: "I was sometimes lazy and would wait for the ball - this is no good in English football. You have to go looking for the ball and fight to win it back. I was sitting and waiting for somebody to give me the ball and then I would try to do some special things. (On the pitch) the players would say, ‘where is Ricky? Okay, now we go the other way!’ Ossie could play between defence and attack: he moved around the pitch. He didn’t really have to change his game a lot in England."