| Osvaldo Ardiles |
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A competitive and skilled midfielder, he became a cult hero in England , along with Glenn Hoddle and compatriot Ricardo Villa , as a player for Tottenham Hotspur . He was notably sent home to Argentina (along with Villa) as a result of the outbreak of the Falklands War in 1982, thus missing most of the 1982-83 season. As manager of Tottenham in the mid-90s, famously he played several matches utilizing a formation that had an amazing five forwards, a formation that hadn't been used in English football since the 1950s, which "Ossie" mainly used because of Tottenham's perceived defensive weakness. MANAGEMENT CAREER In July 1989, Osvaldo Ardiles moved into football management with Second Division Swindon Town when Lou Macari resigned to join West Ham in July 1989. Like Macari, the Swindon job was Ardiles' first managerial position, and he proved to be up to the task. To the amazement of the Town fans, he transformed the team from playing the long ball style which had been so successful, to a new "Samba style", which saw the Town playing attractive attacking football. Part of this change was the new "diamond formation" which Ardiles implemented - a 4-4-2 style with left-sided, right-sided, attacking and defensive midfielders. Just ten months after he had joined, Ardiles led the Town to their highest ever league position - finishing fourth in Division Two. After the Town beat Blackburn in the first leg of the Play-Off semi-final, the fans paid tribute to Ardiles' success in the second leg with a tickertape reception - recreating the atmosphere of the 1978 World Cup, in which Ardiles had starred. Swindon went on to win promotion to the top flight for the first time in their history - beating Sunderland in the Play-Off Final - only to have the promotion cruelly taken from them ten days later, when the Football League demoted them for irregular payments to players. The following season, Ardiles was told to sell to keep the club alive - and Wembley hero Alan McLoughlin was the first big-money departure. With Swindon obviously rocked by their pre-season nightmare, their form deserted them, and opposition clubs seemed to come to terms with the Town's style of play. By the end of February, relegation threatened, and when Newcastle offered Ardiles the chance to become their new boss, he accepted. Ardiles was not out of work for long. In June 1992 he replaced ban, £600,000 fine and 12 league points deducted. The punishment was later amended to a £1.5million fine and 6 points deducted but the FA Cup ban and points deduction were later quashed. From 2003 to 2005 Ardiles coached Japanese Tokyo Verdy 1969 , with whom he won the 2004 Emperor's Cup. But in July 2005 he was fired due to the poor performance of the team, who finished penultimate. CAREER CHRONOLOGY
HONOURS
His cousin, First Lieutenant José Ardiles, died during the Falklands War when his Argentine Air Force IAI Dagger fighter was downed by British forces. 1st. Lt. Ardiles was posthumously promoted to the rank of Captain.
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