Joe Jordan: We want to win Europa League

As first-team coach at White Hart Lane, Jordan is relishing the prospect of confronting the club he managed from 1990 to 1993 for a place in the competition's group stage.

Yesterday's draw in Nyon produced a mouth-watering play-off tie between Tottenham and Hearts, with the first leg at Tynecastle on Thursday week and the return match in London seven days later.

Jordan told the Evening News that the English Premier League giants harbour hopes of winning the Europa League following an exhilarating Champions League campaign last season, when they beat both Inter and AC Milan before succumbing to Jose Mourinho's Real Madrid in the quarter-finals. He admitted being excited at the England-Scotland tie but stressed that Tottenham's foreign contingent are already aiming for the latter stages of another tournament.

"We want to win the trophy. These guys play football to win things," he explained. "If the opposition comes from another country, it doesn't really affect them. They just want to win the game and move on.

"Myself, Alan Hutton, Michael Dawson, Peter Crouch and a few others know about the British side of it but we have a lot of foreign players.

Hearts are well served by foreigners as well. Those guys just want to progress in the tournament. We had a very hard campaign last year in the Champions League and we wanted to compete in our domestic league as well, which we didn't do.

"This time we've made the Europa League. We've worked very hard to achieve a place in this tournament with a lot of competition. I'm sure it's the same for Hearts. We are playing someone from Scotland but we are trying to progress to the group stages. For some people, especially the fans, it's added a little bit of spice. But some players might not take on board what it would mean to the supporters."

Jordan insisted a hostile atmosphere at Tynecastle will not unduly concern the Tottenham players following their exertions in the San Siro and the Bernabeu earlier this year. "We are an experienced team and last year in the Champions League was a big experience for us," he continued. "We had our shaky moments but we got through it and progressed to the quarter-finals. There were times when we were up against it and it was a learning curve. As we moved on in the tournament, through a few hairy moments, our knowledge grew and that will help us this year.

"We went to some terrific places last year and Hearts is a great place to start our European campaign this year. It's very exciting and I'm sure the Hearts players will be looking forward to coming to White Hart Lane. There are a lot of similarities between both stadiums. Ours is an old, traditional stadium like Hearts'. Both grounds will be full on the night and the players will love that.

"I think it's a good draw for both clubs in that there's not much travelling compared with the other possible clubs we could have drawn. I think both clubs will be delighted with the opposition."

Locking horns with Hearts excites the 59-year-old but he does not feel he has a point to prove returning to his former place of work. "It's not a problem for me going back," he continued. "It's a long time since I was involved with Hearts and Scottish football. It's good for me because I've got a lot of friends in Edinburgh and Lanarkshire so I think I'll be fighting Alan Hutton for all our complimentary tickets.

"I'm absolutely delighted to get Hearts. This tie is of extra interest for me because I'm going back to Edinburgh, a city both myself and my family loved living in. We've kept in contact with a lot of people up there. It will be nice to go there and visit them and hopefully we can put on a performance."

Tottenham will dispatch a representative to Fir Park tomorrow to compose a report on Hearts, which will be handed to manager Harry Redknapp. "Someone will be at Motherwell tomorrow, that goes without saying whoever we get drawn against," said Jordan. "It's easy to organise because the travel arrangements won't be difficult. We are organising it right now and it will be sorted out."