Stevie P on the Bees

He’s a Spur Forever, but there will always be a place in Steve Perryman’s heart for Brentford.

Steve joined us in 1967, made his debut in 1969 and went on to become our all-time record appearance maker with 854 matches between 1969-86, captain for 11 years and win most honours - League Cup 1971, 1973; FA Cup 1981, 1982; UEFA Cup 1972, 1984.

Every Spurs fan will know of ‘Stevie P’, yet lesser known is that this legendary figure spent his childhood days on the terraces of Brentford’s former home at Griffin Park and QPR with his brothers. Then, later in his career, after the ‘glory, glory days’ at Spurs, he spent his final playing days at Brentford before moving into management for the first time with the Bees in 1986/87.

We meet Brentford for the first time in over 20 years at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium on Tuesday night (7.45pm). Back in 2000, it was another League Cup tie, over two legs in the second round. This time, it's for a place at Wembley as we face the high-flying Championship side in a one-off semi-final for the right to take on either City or United, the Manchester teams face off in the second semi-final on Wednesday evening.

Steve reflected on his early days in his latest The Steve Perryman Podcast this week. “I grew up in west London, not north London, in a place called Northolt. My mother’s family were from Ealing. My father’s family were from Hounslow. Brentford is almost on the line between the two, so both families had an affinity to the Bees.

“I used to hear stories from my mother’s brothers, she had seven, about the famous players from when Brentford were in the top division. At that time, they had lot of international players on their books.

“When me and two older brothers were growing up in Northolt and decided football was for us, we shared our football watching time between Brentford and QPR, both playing in the old Third Division (now League One). We travelled by underground to White City for QPR and by bus or bike to Griffin Park, that was from about seven for me, so my brothers were nine and 11, that’s when we started to be allowed to go. Of course, I wouldn’t be allowed to go on my own at seven, but the fact I had two older brothers meant I was allowed.”

After 17 years in the first team at Spurs, Steve eventually moved to Oxford United, a brief spell, and then Brentford in 1986. He took over from Frank McLintock as player/manager in January, 1987, and, with his friend and former team-mate Phil Holder as his assistant, helped stave off relegation in his first season before building foundations that eventually led to promotion into the old Second Division (now Championship) for first time in 38 years. Steve led the Bees to the quarter-finals of the FA Cup in 1988/89, where they bowed out against Liverpool at Anfield, and to their highest league finish (seventh in the old Third Division) since 1965, but he would resign in 1990, with Phil taking over and eventually leading them to promotion in 1991/92.

Steve explained: “I worked long and hard, put in all my efforts, the first job is eye-opening, a lot of managers fail because of naivety, they think everyone is genuine and make decisions for the right reasons, and just want to improve the team as much as you. I was allowed to make various decisions on signing players, most worked, some didn’t.

“Although it ended on a sour note, I’m delighted I took the job, I cut my teeth there, it gave me the chance to make signings and test myself, and probably the one mistake I made was that I didn’t explain my decision for resigning to the Brentford supporters, who had been through a lot over the years, and deserved better."

That brings us to Tuesday night’s semi-final, and Steve added: “It won’t be easy by any means and we shouldn’t think it will be easy, I’m sure Jose will prepare the team correctly, and let’s hope for another Wembley appearance in this difficult season to give us all a lift.”