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Steve Perryman: 'I've been through a few things good and bad'
Steve Perryman: 'It probably gives me more of a buzz now to walk out at White Hart Lane'
Steve Perryman admits that it gives him more of a buzz to step out on the White Hart Lane pitch now than it did during his 17 years playing for Tottenham Hotspur.
The right-back, who played 854 times for
Spurs – the club record – and won six trophies during the 1970s and 80s, was the special guest at half-time during the
Lilywhites' 2-0 victory against Manchester City.
"In a way it gives me more of a buzz to be on the pitch now," admitted Perryman, now 64 and the director of football at Exeter City. "When you're on it four or five times a month it becomes run of the mill, you're there and it's what you do, it's your job.
"All of a sudden you're stood on that pitch once a year or even less once every two years. It's a place that I joined as a 15-year-old boy. I stayed and ended up leaving there years later and hopefully with a lot of lessons learned and grown up a bit.
"I've been through a few things for good and bad, mostly good but some bad as well and yeah, you come through the other side of it and look back on it being a great place to have worked and therefore to return to."
Perryman, who will be talking about his 50 years in football at The Windmill Pub in Cheshunt on October 16, also explained what it means to be pretty much a one-club man. He wound down the last couple of years of his career, after leaving
Tottenham at 35, at Oxford United and then Brentford.
"You lose and you gain. Being a one club man you lose because obviously there's not the financial gain, if you move five times you sort of get a payday every time," he said.
"If you don't move, you don't get the payday but where you gain is people respect you. I don't think it makes them think any more of you as a player, but they start to then judge you as a man and as a loyal man as they see me because I have the same desire and wish to stay with their club as they have."
He added: "Of course it's not possible through your whole career because that club doesn't want you for all of your career. You move on and your legs get tired and you go to new pastures and that's the way it works.
"That's why it's always good to reacquaint yourself with the place and the people. Although when you're playing it's just a sea of heads.
"When you come back it's just a sea of heads but you're assuming that some of them are the same sort of people, there are new and old and some died, but basically in a place where you're understood and you understand them and it can't be a bad thing."
Related:
Tottenham Hotspur legend Steve Perryman on who he supports, his appearance record and AC Milan
Perryman gave everyone a scare in 2012 when he collapsed at an Exeter game and needed surgery to fix a torn aorta, which had meant that blood was leaking from one of his main arteries into his body.
Fortunately the care he received at the ground and then at hospital saved his life, and he admitted then that if he was not in such a public place when he collapsed he probably would not be here now.
Today Perryman is back to his old self, loving life with Exeter and still following his old club closely.
The former defender also gave his thoughts on the current Spurs side. While many people see Tottenham's draw at Chelsea last season as the match when Pochettino's men lost their heads and the title, Perryman felt there were positives during the performance and hopes the team will learn from the negatives.
"I always talk about the first half at Chelsea being the best first half performance I've seen for many a year. They were under extreme pressure to win that game and to play and the tackles were flying in and they produced and got two goals," he said.
"They had a crazy five minutes later on so a lot of my friends said 'they're only young Steve and you want them to compete don't you' and all of that. Yes, but in control and you learn about that the more you play.
"I think what I saw against Manchester City at the weekend wasn't two teams having a real nasty aggressive game with each other but it was a physical battle in terms of reactions and ability to press the ball and stuff like that and they more than answered any doubts I may have had on them.
"At some point in the season it's going to come to that slugging out with someone and have they learnt? Please God they have because they've got most of everything else they need."
Perryman will be talking about much, much more on October 16 at The Windmill Pub in Cheshunt. Tickets are £10. The pub's phone number is 01992 309222.
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Steve Perryman: 'I've been through a few things good and bad'
