What happened when I travelled to De Kuip with two of Aston Villa's 1982 European Cup legends

"Having a chat with Spinksy and Kenny Swain" wasn't the message Dad was expecting shortly after I landed in Amsterdam on Wednesday afternoon. These are two of his heroes, as they still are for the thousands who also witnessed Aston Villa's finest night over 43 years ago.

He quickly replied with his Rotterdam relics - a laminated Travellers Club card, a match ticket, and a David Dryer Travel Ltd pass. To his pictures, I raised the stakes with a snap of Swain holding up Dieter Hoeneß's iconic Bayern München No. 9 jersey.

We're not far from reaching Rotterdam and Villa's former right-back has started digging around his suitcase, searching for items that are invaluable to Villa supporters.

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A Dutchman, now joined by the five of us at the back of the train carriage, sits to my right and Nigel Spink. I can tell he's becoming more intrigued by our conversation - ears alert, then eyes fixed on the Bayern jersey.

'I've kissed the shirt!' exclaims Tim, the Villa fan with us, in sheer delight. It's not every day you meet your heroes - especially on the way to the very place where they were immortalised.

Just a few hours earlier, we'd been stuck on the tarmac at BHX for three-quarters of an hour.

'Spinksy and Birchy!' A few Villa fans shouted as the legendary goalkeeper walked past the fifth row on the plane heading for Amsterdam. I had just met the pair, having spotted Hannah Storey, who does fantastic work with the Villa Former Players Club.

The duo were so humble and grounded, they would happily stop and chat with any fan who was thrilled to recognise them and snap a couple of photos.

I felt undeserving of retracing their journey to De Kuip with them, for the first time since they left in May 1982. Their excitement was palpable as we reached Amsterdam.

"Please win," the immigration officer said when I told him I'd come from Birmingham for Thursday's match against Feyenoord. He must've been an Ajax supporter.

Schiphol feels like a small village, but thanks to Tim's navigation skills, we managed to save some time. He got us onto the 12:42 train to Rotterdam Centraal - just 24 minutes from Amsterdam's airport.

We're now speeding past the outskirts of Zoetermeer, heading towards Rotterdam. "Will you get goosebumps later, Kenny?" I ask, before turning to Spink to inquire about his feelings - both now and back then.

"It was very different for me because Ken knew he was playing," he responds, as Swain adds: "I knew I was playing every game.

"He was mentally tuned into it and game-hardened for whatever was going to happen in the final," Spink continues. "Having said that, you can't really prepare for it. At the end of the day, it's the final. You don't know how you'll feel.

"For me, the year before I probably saw the first-team play less than half a dozen times because the reserves used to play on Saturday afternoons. If Ken was up in Anfield with the first-team, we'd be playing Liverpool reserves at Villa Park.

"When we went to Europe, there were four or five of us who were added onto the squad. I only played one game in five years - I joined six months before Jimmy Rimmer. That was at Forest in 1979 - Jimmy played every game. I didn't have a clue. No inclination at all that I would be playing.

"Myself and the other four subs got changed as quickly as we possibly could just to get out on the pitch to embrace the time we had. Substitutions weren't made, generally, for tactical reasons. More so for injuries.

"Then, what happened, happened. All the experience I had to go on was the many reserve games I had played before.

"He was more than competent to step in," Swain adds. "You can't have so many games under your belt with the reserves and not be a decent 'keeper."

Villa faced an uphill battle from the start in the 1982 final as massive outsiders, but their challenge became even steeper when regular shot-stopper Jimmy Rimmer suffered a neck problem that forced him off after just nine minutes. Spink, who at 23 had only featured for the reserves that season, rescued Villa on numerous occasions, consistently thwarting Bayern's attempts to find the net.

The Villa squad remained unfazed. Bayern - despite boasting stars like Karl-Heinz Rummenigge and Paul Breitner, plus a European pedigree matching their status as continental giants - still weren't a side Villa dreaded facing.

"When we had a look around on the centre circle before kick-off, we were given cameras," Swain remembers, before Spink jumps in: "Sony Walkmans! I think on the way from Amsterdam to Rotterdam, I'm sure we had a Billy Connolly video going to the ground. I'm sure we were p****** ourselves!".

"We were taking pictures of our families - it was like a day out. 'Lovely weather tonight'," Swain jokes, waving as he did before the biggest game in the club's history. "'I'll wave to you, I'll wave to them'.

"Brian Moore spoke about how relaxed we looked in commentary in the game, and Brian Clough, on co-commentary, said, 'I couldn't believe how calm they were, they were taking pictures of each other and family members on the pitch'," Spink recalls.

"As a manager, he knew psychologically what's in a player's mind.

"My expectation was that if you want to beat us, best of luck," Swain interjects. "We had a great record of clean sheets, home and away, earlier in the competition. Bayern were on a remarkable run.

"Five years ago I went to the Allianz to retrieve my shirt," Rimmer continues, as Swain begins to pack his pair of shirts back in the suitcase.

"The historians and museum people looked after us and reminded us. They said that at their own detriment they thought they'd be fine.

"Their group, and I mean the Villa first-team, had resilience and confidence about them. If you compare psychological aspects, there was just a calmness about them. They just got on with the job."

Having rummaged around again, Swain pulls out a signed picture of the 1982 squad, framed for Feyenoord to hang at De Kuip.

From left to right, Peter Withe appears first - the striker who, of course, was on hand to apply the finishing touch to a sweeping move that will forever be immortalised in Villa history.

As the train comes to a halt, Tim recalls the time Withe made the journey to his house in Wilmcote, just outside Stratford-upon-Avon, to present him with gifts as a boy who had been told he had only weeks to live.

"I was told someone from Villa was going to see me," Tim remembers. "Peter Withe came to visit me as I was only given a number of weeks to live having been diagnosed with leukaemia in 1981.

"My parents and friends believe that he flicked the switch on for me. It's why I'm here today, travelling to watch Villa around Europe.

"I just couldn't stop smiling. All the kids in the village turned up and I was amazed. He presented me with a shirt, which I've got framed with all the signatures. Everything from that day, the photos, scarfs, football."

Now it's the final stretch of our adventure - heading to De Kuip. I'm still struggling to believe it's real. The very least I can manage is booking the Uber to the stadium, so we cram into a Tesla. Swain seizes control of the Spotify, lining up some George Strait tracks.

"Did you see much of Rotterdam?" Hannah enquires. Swain gives a casual shrug. "Did the job. Went home."

It’s now 2 pm, and Robin van Persie’s press conference is waiting for me, while Villa fans start to wander around the stadium, taking the two legends aside for photos and conversations.

This wasn’t just a trip to a stadium - it feels like stepping into history, now alongside a couple of the Villa heroes who made it over four decades ago.

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