A look at the trusty Topspurs.com site shows that 23 years ago this week Spurs were playing Anderlecht in the UEFA cup final. In what was Tony Parks' finest hour, Spurs were winners of what was then a massive and properly valued competition - not the ugly sister of the Champions League that its latest incarnation represents.
23 years is a long time in any walk of life - but in footballing terms its an eternity. Players who were playing for the club at the time include Hoddle, Clemence, Mabbutt, Perryman and Roberts. All five were talismen for Tottenham - steeped in the club's playing tradition and folklore. Perryman's record of 655 league appearances bears witness to a time when loyalty to a club was more important to a player than the pay packet, a time when Spurs conjured images of flowing attacking football, of uncompromising defenders, of heroic goalkeepers, and a team that harked back to the great team of the sixties - pass and move personified.
Why the comparisons then? Why dredge the history books to compound the frustration of a generation of teams since that have failed to reach the same heights?
Easy.
The cup win in 1984 was 23 years after the great team of 1961. Now 23 years on from that great day against Anderlecht, there are rumblings from White Hart Lane that Spurs are on the verge of creating a special team again.
Try this - for Clemence read Robinson, Perryman read King, Mabbutt read Dawson. For Hoddle read Berbatov. Chrissie Hughton played left back for us on that thrilling night - we can but hope that we can one day look back on Gareth Bale with the same respect.
Footballs not the same game as it was 23 years ago - so further comparisons hold little value. What cannot be denied however is that since the creation of the premiership, there has never been a stronger Tottenham. On and off the pitch. A few seasons from now I fully expect to see the team, clad in that historic all white kit, walking out onto the award winning turf at the 55000 capacity Lane, with our award winning Stewards holding council, as they do so telling Ben from FTL to sit down or face losing his season ticket. The occasion - A Champions League Semi final - 2nd Leg. 50000 Spurs fans will be roaring the roof down, presenting one of the most intimidating atmospheres in European Football. Forget the Bernabeu or the San Siro, the prawn cocktail brigade of Old Trafford and the Christmas Carol that is a Silent Night at the Emirates. Spurs will be revered, feared, respected and admired.
The wheels are already in motion - we have a top class backroom staff, a clear transfer policy which is starting to pay dividends, the financial clout to contend with the "new money" of the Abramovics and Glazers of this world. Most of all in Dimitar Berbatov we have a talisman - someone who in years to come fans of all clubs will look back on in the same way as Eric Cantona, Gianfranco Zola, Jimmy Greaves, and yes - Glenn Hoddle.
I'd love for this not to be a dream but a reality - and for the first time in 23 years of following Tottenham Hotspur, I'm confident that it will be.
COYS!