Sunday 21 June 2015 09:39, UK
With this summer’s European Under-21 Championship underway, Adam Bate talks to Gary Stevens, a member of the last England team to win the tournament back in 1984…
Gareth Southgate’s England Under-21 team travelled to the Czech Republic in confident mood this summer. However, it’s been more than 30 years since England last lifted the trophy at the European Under-21 Championship. Those players couldn’t have imagined the wait would go on so long.
After all, England were the defending champions back in 1984. And while the draw was not kind, they saw off France, Italy and Spain in emphatic fashion to win the trophy once more. For former Tottenham player Gary Stevens, it provided one of the highlights of a career than would take him to the World Cup in Mexico two years later.
Stevens was already a full England international but had no qualms about finding himself involved in an Under-21 campaign. “It was terrific and I’d play for my country at any level,” Stevens told Sky Sports. “It helped me to get that knowledge and experience under my belt. It meant I’d been there and done it – admittedly only at Under-21 level – and it can only stand you in good stead.”
After playing in the first leg of Tottenham’s UEFA Cup final against Anderlecht, a 1-1 draw, Stevens was allowed to fly out to Seville with the Under-21s less than a week prior to the return leg at White Hart Lane. In fact, the second legs of both finals were just 24 hours apart. “I played in the first leg of the European Under-21 Championship final against Spain out in Spain,” remembers Stevens.
“Then obviously I played in the second leg of the UEFA Cup final for Spurs back at White Hart Lane, the day before the second leg of the Under-21 final that was up in Sheffield. So I said that I could play in both games – I could play for Spurs and then go up to play for the Under-21s. But obviously that wasn’t really feasible. My club took priority but I got to be part of both victories.”
It was the right decision. Stevens scored from the spot for Spurs in a penalty shoot-out victory over the Belgian side before watching on as Mark Hateley and Howard Gayle built on England’s 1-0 lead from the first game in Spain to score the goals at Bramall Lane that sealed a 3-0 aggregate win and a second successive tournament triumph for Dave Sexton’s team.
We certainly gelled as a team and that was key. The sum total was greater than that of the individuals.
“Dave was ahead of his time,” added Stevens. “Decades and decades ago he was talking about playing on the front foot and tempo. A lot of the stuff that is very topical today, to be honest.” But according to Steve Hodge, another who went on to play at the 1986 World Cup, it wasn’t just Sexton. The team’s efforts in Seville had been partially inspired by a surprise visitor prior to kick-off.
“We got into the canteen about 5.30 and there was Bobby, waiting for us,” Hodge told The Telegraph. “We had a quick chat about the future, he told us it was a big final and to take the opportunity because the World Cup in Mexico was only two years away. He said, ‘I’m watching you boys’, so for a young player like me that obviously was a massive inspiration.”
Despite the success of Hateley, Hodge and Stevens in going on to feature at the next World Cup, none of the other players who played in Seville went on to make more than a dozen appearances for the senior side. For Stevens it highlights the point that this was a victory for team spirit. “We certainly gelled as a team and that was key. The sum total was greater than that of the individuals.”
If there was a star it was undoubtedly Hateley. As well as his goal in the final he had scored five in two games against France in the quarter-final and was subsequently named as the tournament’s best player – an award that later went to the likes of World Cup winners Laurent Blanc, Fabio Cannavaro, Andrea Pirlo and Juan Mata. It also earned him a move to AC Milan that summer.
“He scored the goals,” said Stevens. “He was a big striker who played a big part for us. All of our opponents had real difficulty handling him because of his size and his ability in the air. Technically he was good with his feet at holding the ball up as well.” As good as his word, Robson awarded Hateley an England debut just eight days after starring in Sheffield.
Eight days after that he added to John Barnes’ wonder goal to double England’s lead in a 2-0 win over Brazil in the Maracana. Perhaps that’s why there was never time for that Under-21 win to settle in. “At the time I don’t think I really acknowledged how big an achievement it was,” Hateley has admitted since. More than 30 years on and the scale of their achievement continues to grow.
