EAR AND LOATHING
Thursday marked the 54th celebration of St Totteringham’s Day, that date on the Premier League calendar when it becomes mathematically impossible for Spurs to overtake bitter rivals Arsenal in the table. It was the third time in history this moveable feast was celebrated on 3 April, although given the ridiculous length of time it took VAR officials to re-referee various incidents during Chelsea v Tottenham at Stamford Bridge, Arsenal fans could have been forgiven for thinking they’d have to wait until the early hours of the morning to celebrate what is likely to be their only triumph of note this season.
Marking the occasion in fine style, Ange Postecoglou further incurred the already considerable wrath of mutinous Spurs fans by cupping an ear in their direction after Pape Sarr, whose introduction in place of Lucas Bergvall they had loudly questioned through the medium of song, scored. Sarr’s effort was subsequently disallowed following a VAR intervention that took longer than a rail replacement bus journey from London to Edinburgh. Despite having made a provocative gesture of defiance that is not even remotely open to any kind of other interpretation, Ange used his post-match press conference to seemingly gaslight reporters by trying to convince them that, actually, he had not been having a go at his team’s travelling fans, mate, but trying to encourage them to make more noise. A word of advice, Ange: if you really must use excuses from The Big Dominic Cummings Playbook of Implausible Explanations, at least tell the press pack you were trying to test your hearing.
Rather than row back on his nonsensical excuse this morning, Ange reiterated that he had been trying to “celebrate and get the fans to make some noise” before embarking on a diatribe against VAR that could scarcely have been more impassioned if it had been uttered by a Spurs fan railing against Tottenham chief suit Daniel Levy’s parsimony in the transfer market. “I made a mistake, I celebrated a goal,” he said. “Since VAR came in, I’ve made a conscious effort to not really celebrate goals any more because you have to wait for everything to get checked off. As human beings, we are just so accepting of everything. We accepted mobile phones into our lives and now we are trying to reel them back because of the damage they cause. It’s too late – the horse has bolted – and it is the same with VAR in football, but we just let it roll on.” The Spurs manager went on to say that such is his disillusionment with the curtain-twitchers in Stockley Park that he probably won’t watch much football when he retires and will instead find “a new hobby”.
Having potentially done irreparable harm to his brittle relationship with Tottenham fans, one suspects that if Spurs add to their season tally of 16 Premier League defeats against Southampton on Sunday and then fail to beat Eintracht Frankfurt in Bigger Vase, he may find himself with plenty of time for stamp collecting, building model airplanes or taking dancing lessons sooner than he’d hoped.
LIVE ON BIG WEBSITE
Join Luke McLaughlin from 8pm (BST) for Women’s Nations League updates on England 0-0 Belgium.
QUOTE OF THE DAY
These will be my final months as a Manchester City player. Nothing about this is easy to write, but as football players, we all know this day eventually comes. That day is here. Football led me to all of you – and to this city. Chasing my dream, not knowing this period would change my life. This City. This club. These people … gave me EVERYTHING. I had no choice but to give EVERYTHING back! And guess what – we won everything. Whether we like it or not, it’s time to say goodbye” – Kevin De Bruyne is heading for the Etihad exit door after a glittering decade in east Manchester in which he won EVERYTHING, just in case you weren’t already sure.
FOOTBALL DAILY LETTERS
Re: US tailgating. May I be one of however many to point out that if you were to steam your wurst (yesterday’s Football Daily letters) you would in fact be consuming a Brühwurst (such as a Frankfurter or Wiener). A BMW pickup would likely be engineered to prepare Weißwurst, a concoction beloved by supporters of Bayern Münich. A Bratwurst is only for frying or grilling, and of course gained further international notoriety in last year’s brat summer” – Ian Graham.
Re: yesterday’s last line (full email edition. Can I be the first of 1,057 readers to point out that the likelihood of getting Sad Ken more than once in a sweepstake is low due to him " target="_blank" class="link"> being shot after the 3.30 at Chepstow? He finished last despite being tipped by Tight Mouth Larry” – Jacob Shell (and no others).
Send letters to [email protected]. Today’s prizeless letter o’ the day winner is … Ian Graham. Terms and conditions for our competitions, when we have them, can be viewed here.
SET-PIECE CORNER
If you’re fan of cheeky free kicks from the Swedish third tier then you’re going to love this one. It involves an insouciant swipe of the left boot from Jönköpings Södra’s Linus Lyck, who catches the Lunds BK goalkeeper and defensive wall napping with a nonchalant curler to put his side 1-0 up in their season opener. It was reminiscent of a cracking goal scored against Chelsea by Liverpool’s Fábio Aurélio in 2009’s Big Cup. Given we have been caught asleep on the job embarrassingly often ourselves, Football Daily’s sympathy is fully with the keeper here.
RECOMMENDED SHOPPING
Big Website’s bookshop has a host of great tomes waiting to be added to your basket. There’s David Squires’s latest brilliant collection of cartoons, Chaos in the Box, and Panini Legends by Greg Lansdowne. Get shopping!
NEWS, BITS AND BOBS
Everton have condemned threats aimed at James Tarkowski in the aftermath of the Merseyside derby and pledged to work with social media abominations and police on any investigations into online abuse.
Wembley and Manchester United’s potential new mega-tent could be crown jewels in the 2035 Women’s World Cup after chief suit Gianni Infantino announced the UK had a clear run at hosting the tournament.
England captain Leah Williamson reckons Alessia Russo is in the kind of form that could lead to a painful Nations League night for Belgium in Bristol. “We know what a talent she is,” cheered England’s captain. “When she is scoring goals, she is getting confidence and is giving back to the team.”
Mikel Arteta is hopeful he could put out a functioning Arsenal defence at Everton. “In the last week or so we lost four players, and that’s obviously a big task, but let’s see how Ben [White] and Jurriën [Timber] are,” he soothed. “There is a chance [they might be available]. We’re going to have to decide this evening.”
Uefa chief suit Aleksander Ceferin, who knows a thing or two about expansion, has hit out at a proposal to beef up the 2030 men’s World Cup to 64 teams, calling the concept a “bad idea”.
And Fenerbahce have jumped to the defence of José Mourinho, who appeared to grab the nose of the Galatasaray boss Okan Buruk amid wild scenes we love to see at the end of Fener’s 2-1 Turkish Cup defeat. “This was a planned provocation [by Buruk] and as part of this plan the individual acted as if he had been ‘shot’ and fell to the ground in a professional manner,” parped Fenerbahce in a statement. “The absurdity of someone who is touched on the nose immediately throwing himself to the ground and writhing for seconds is clear to the public. It is evident that this individual’s tendency to fall to the ground, seen during his playing days, continues in his coaching career, showing that this behaviour is a characteristic attitude.”
STILL WANT MORE?
Tottenham fans’ bond with Ange Postecoglou has finally been broken after his ear-cupping antics, reckons Jacob Steinberg.
Will Unwin has the tea on how Dejphon Chansiri’s ownership of Sheffield Wednesday went sour.
The success of the US and UK in their bids for the Women’s World Cup does little for the global game, argues Tom Garry.
And, as ever, here are 10 things to look out for in the Premier League this weekend.
MEMORY LANE
Wembley wasn’t looking its best in September 2002, when England’s national stadium was still awaiting demolition. Weeds were growing on the steps up to the old turnstiles two years after the final match had been played there, and it was only on 25 September 2002 that the FA announced its plans for a new 90,000-seater stadium to replace the old one.
