There was a time when Ossie, real name Osvaldo, was not the most popular person in Britain after the UK went to war with his native country Argentina over the Falkland Islands. He also experienced some negative behaviour when the first Gulf War was on and took the decision to leave the UK for a while.
As a motivational speaker, Ardiles has some brilliant stories to tell from the times when success was his friend. After winning the World Cup with Argentina in 1978, he joined Tottenham Hotspur – the public loved how he pronounced Tottenham in a club promotional song and made 221 appearances, scoring 16 goals and winning the FA Cup in 1981 and the UEFA Cup in 1984. After nearly 10 years, Ossie left Spurs and played for Blackburn Rovers then Queens Park Rangers and Swindon Town, hanging up his playing boots after the 1990-1991 season. For Argentina, Ardiles played 52 times between 1975 and 1982, scoring eight international goals.
The motivational speaker turned to football management in 1989, beginning with Swindon and then going on to manage Newcastle United, West Bromwich Albion and back to Tottenham Hotspur for the 1993-1994 season. Other teams that Ossie has managed include Guadalajara, Croatia Zagreb, Tokyo Verdy, Beitar Jerusalem and Kelantan FA in 2015.
