[VILLA] Peter Withe reminisces...

[Paul Muscat]

Here's a GREAT article I found on the Electric New Paper (Singapore Press Holdings Ltd) website... enjoy! ~ TP
(ps> I cut and pasted the article, but if you have trouble reading it, go to the following link...
http://newpaper.asia1.com.sg/sports/story/0,4136,88855,00.html )
 

'My Euro goal'

It's D-Day in the Champions League Final. And there's no better person to share a few stories about Europe's biggest club competition than PETER WITHE, who scored the winning goal in Aston Villa's 1-0 win over Bayern Munich in 1982. WANG MENG MENG chats with the ex-England striker, now coach of Indonesia.

"WE beat Bayern Munich in 1982, against all odds. They were a star-studded team with 13 German internationals. They had household names like Karl-Heinz Rummenigge, Paul Breitner and Klaus Augenthaler. Villa, on the other hand, had only two England internationals - Jimmy Rimmer and I. Gordon Cowans had yet to be capped and Gary Shaw was still only a very young player. We were not given much chance to win the game, which was played at the Feyenoord Stadium in Rotterdam. I'm sure many fans outside of England were thinking: 'Peter Withe...who's that?' The match was seen as merely a formality for Bayern and being the overwhelming underdogs only made us even more determined to prove the doubters wrong. After just 10 minutes, we lost our regular goalkeeper and we had to play the substitute, Nigel Spink, who had only played just once for Villa and that was more than two years ago. To his credit, Spink produced a string of outstanding saves to keep us in the contest. In the 67th minute, we
 launched a rare counter-attack and I arrived at the far post to bang in the only goal of the game. I was absolutely deadly. The remaining 20 minutes or so were the longest period we ever experienced in our lives. The German team bombarded us non-stop and we were all begging the referee to blow the final whistle. But we were motivated. We were still full of running until the end. We played the ball towards  the corners and hung on to it. When the final whistle came, I had never seen a more dejected team than Bayern. They were all sitting down in the centre-circle with the heads hanging low. I went over and shook hands with them and swapped shirts with Augenthaler. One of my big regrets revolved around my Villa European Cup final shirt. All I had to show for that big night was a medal and a Bayern shirt. The club promised to send each of us a replica. Well, I'm still waiting for mine! I received a 2,000 ($6,200) bonus for the victory. My wages then were 600 per week. It's really
 peanuts compared to the modern day Premiership player, who probably earns 600 every minute. If I worried about things like this, it would probably drive me to an early grave. A lot of people don't realise just how big the European Cup is. During the post-match party, my team-mates and I thought that it would be a great idea to fill it up with champagne. After pouring in 26 bottles, we were not even half-way through. And it suddenly dawned upon us that we had to lift it up and drink from it. With all the champagne inside, the Cup weighed a ton. By the time we lifted it up and put our lips on the brim, all the bubbly came flowing out and splashed all over our faces. It was messy, but it was a great laugh. My wife Kathy, who was sitting by the hotel window, wanted to have a sip of champagne. But she nearly fell out of the window and into the canal below when I passed the trophy to her. There I was, hanging on to her and the European Cup by the ledge of a window. One thing I remembered
 was how the feeling of winning the biggest prize in club football still hasn't sunk in the next morning. We were all still on a high. The party just seemed to go on and on. And we left the party straight and boarded the plane bound for Birmingham. The medals we were given were not terribly big. It is about the size of a coin and made of gold. When you look back at what you had just achieved, maybe a bigger-sized medal would have been more appropriate. I have been living in several different cities in the last few years...Bangkok, Perth and, now, Jakarta. I never had the chance to put all my medals on a showcase. My European Cup gong is now locked up in a safe in Australia. I strongly believed in preparing well and focusing on matches and tournament. Alcohol was strictly off-limits for me until we won the trophy. But one thing I always disagreed with managers was the ban on sex. You know, I used to play for this man called Brian Clough, who had sadly passed away last year. He said
 sex was fine from Mondays to Wednesdays. But from Thursdays onwards, it's a no-no. Just to prove my point to him, I would have sex with my wife from Thursdays to Saturday mornings. And if I went out there and got a hat-trick, I would tease him. Of course, I would like to emphasise that sex is okay if it was with one person in a comfortable relationship - not different partners every day!'



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Withe: Legend behind the rise of 'tom yam football' 


PETER Withe is perhaps most famous for scoring in Aston Villa's 1-0 win over Bayern Munich in the 1982 European Cup Final. A powerful centre-forward, he made a name for himself in the Midlands, scoring regularly for Wolves and Birmingham before moving on to Nottingham Forest, winning the Division One title in 1978. Further success beckoned at Villa, where he won the league again in 1981 and the big one - the European Cup. Withe tried his hand at management in 1991 with Wimbledon but after just one win in four months, he was removed from the hot seat. Returning to Villa as their chief scout, the former England international ventured into the unknown by agreeing to coach Thailand in 1998. He was an immediate success, inspiring the Thais to a semi-final place in the 1998 Asian Games. Thailand also made it into the final rounds of the 2000 Asian Cup. His popularity is cemented after he took 'tom yam football' to the top of South-east Asia with consecutive wins in the 2000 and 2002 Tiger
 Cups, making him the most successful foreign coach in the region. Withe resigned in 2003 after a clash of opinions with the Thai FA but he soon found employment with rivals Indonesia. With very little time to prepare, he led Indonesia to the 2004 Tiger Cup Final, where they lost to Singapore 5-2 on aggregate.



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Faith in the Reds 


LIVERPOOL definitely have a good chance against AC Milan.

'After watching the semi-finals, I thought that PSV Eindhoven would have given the Reds a harder game in the Final. The Dutch side were extremely unlucky to go out on the away-goals rule after winning the second leg 3-1. They deserve better after putting three goals past one of the best sides in Europe. Now that Liverpool have made it to Turkey, it is important that they bring lots of supporters over to Istanbul. It is even more important that they get the locals to support the team in order to turn the crowd against Milan. Based on what we've seen from Liverpool so far, I'm hoping that the final will not be a defensive game from both sides. It would be nice to see some goals in an open affair. Hopefully, an early goal would set in motion an entertaining match, just like what the Reds did against Juventus and Chelsea in the earlier games. Rafael Benitez has not been helped by his long injury list this season. He lost Djibril Cisse with a broken leg. On top of that, he's lost Michael
 Owen to Real Madrid. He had to rely on Milan Baros most of the time and, honestly, I thought the Czech had done well and he should start the Final on merit. One thing I've noticed about Liverpool these days is that they don't create as many chances as they used to. They defend very well after taking the lead. That system has worked well in Europe but it has not done the business for them in the Premiership. They are simply too inconsistent to ground out results over 38 matches in England. Whereas they were once invincible at Anfield, they have lost regularly at home this season. If you're a Liverpool fan, you have to hope that they can reproduce their outstanding European form against Milan. When I was playing for Forest and Villa, Anfield was an absolute fortress. Players feared going there because of they knew they were playing against one of the best teams and the Kop would be extremely intimidating, although I could honestly say I felt no fear at all. That's because I'm a local
 lad. I was born and bred in Liverpool. I knew right from the start that playing there would always be tough and I was mentally ready. Besides, I'm an Evertonian. That's all the motivation I needed.'


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'LIVERPOOL WILL WIN, IT'S IN THE SIGNS' 

If you're the type who believes in superstition, Liverpool will beat Milan judging from the signs, says Peter Withe.

'In 1981, Liverpool beat Real Madrid in the European Cup Final, Prince Charles married Lady Diana, the characters Ken and Deidre from the UK television show 'Coronation Street' got married, and we had a new actor to portray Dr Who in the well-known sci-fi series. In 1978, when Liverpool beat Bruges, the world had a new Pope and Wales won the rugby Grand Slam. This year, Prince Charles got married again, Ken and Deidre got re-married, we have a new Dr Who, we have a new pope and Wales won the Grand Slam. If you believe in the writing in the stars, Liverpool will rule Europe once more.'