With just one appearance for Aston Villa—more than two years ago—the 23-year-old goalkeeper had no expectation of playing in the biggest match in the history of the team.
As the players listened to their new gifts and lost themselves in their own thoughts, the 1982 European Cup final bus ride to Rotterdam against Bayern Munich was silent.
“I remember everybody being in their new suits, looking great and listening to music on our new Sony Walkmans,” says Spink. “It was astounding. We each received a Walkman from Sony, the classic cassette-driven model, as a reward for making it to the final.
I used to have a cassette of Billy Connolly because I could not stop laughing—he just makes me laugh.
“I thought psychology was more superficial back then, and it didn’t go very deep.” I wasn’t anxious, so I wasn’t thinking, “Oh yeah, that will relax me.” I didn’t think I would make it to the pitch, so I wasn’t nervous at all.
