A major European final involving two sides from England. A win for Tottenham after a tight and tension-filled battle. Speculation surrounding the future of one of the two managers.
Last week’s Europa League swansong between Spurs and Manchester United?
Well, maybe. But also, throw it back 53 years, to the first ever UEFA Cup Final, between Tottenham and Wolves.
When, having traversed the continent to take on all-comers in the competition’s inaugural tournament, two familiar foes in the upper reaches of the First Division at the time went toe-to-toe across a two-legged finale.
“When I saw all the publicity surrounding the final, it brought back memories of our game all those years ago,” Wolves legend Kenny Hibbitt recalled this week.
But Hibbitt and fellow Molineux icon John Richards admitted they didn’t even watch the competition’s denouement last week. Richards was, however, pleased to see Spurs win, given his boyhood affiliation of having Jimmy Greaves as his hero. But the game itself? It didn’t really appeal.
And that also perhaps took them back to the May of 1972, when facing another English team in the final took a fair bit of the polish away from such a memorable run through the competition.
Big Phil Parkes, Wolves’ goalkeeper throughout that UEFA Cup run, is currently recovering in hospital after a serious accident.
When talking previously about facing Spurs in the final, he was typically forthright.
“The biggest letdown ever,” Parkes reflected. “To reach the UEFA Cup final and play two legs against another team from England just felt like two normal games.”
The rest of the team, although mindful it was a final, with a lucrative competition to try and win, harboured similar thoughts.
“We probably felt exactly the same as Manchester United feel now,” says Richards.
“Losing a European final against another English team just feels like another domestic fixture. Had we played and lost to AC Milan, who Spurs beat in the semi-final, I think it would have been a bit more positive in defeat.
“We had beaten so many top teams on the way to the final, the likes of Juventus and Ferencvaros, and then we get there, and it was Spurs!
“Even the medal was a bit of an anti-climax.
“It’s a bit like one of those tokens you collect from the petrol station, just with UEFA on it.
“All in all, it was an anti-climax after such an incredible run to play another English team in the final, and took a lot of gloss off it as far as I was concerned.”
What then, of that run? The string of games that took Wolves across Europe and into the final. Variety was certainly the spice of life.
- Express & Star subscribers can read the full feature here – https://www.expressandstar.com/sport/2025/05/29/an-anti-climax-when-wolves-took-their-place-in-the-first-uefa-cup-final-53-years-ago/
