A holiday in Norfolk is a chance to spend time away from politics, and for my wife to spend less time alone with me
Monday
When I was a teenager, the FA Cup final was always a red letter day in the football calendar. The TV coverage would start in the morning with loads of chat and clips of the teams leaving their London hotels by bus and I would be watching every minute of it. Even my Dad, who had no interest in football whatsoever, would come inside at 3pm to watch the entire match. Sometimes he even managed to stay awake for the entire 90 minutes. Yet for the past 25 years or so, I’ve never bothered to watch the final on TV. Partly because Spurs have not featured since 1991, but mostly because I’ve just lost interest in the competition. This year was no exception. The weather was nice and a game between Tottenham’s two main rivals – Arsenal and Chelsea – seemed entirely missable. So it was only on the following day that I discovered there had been rather more riding on the match than I had thought. By winning and claiming automatic qualification, Arsenal had condemned Spurs to play at least three extra preliminary matches for the Europa League, a competition I had been rather hoping to avoid even before this new form of hell. Tottenham’s possible opponents hardly read like a roll call of Europe’s finest. In no particular order, they are Kesla FK from Azerbaijan, Torshavn from the Faroe Islands, Neftchi Baku also from Azerbaijan, Kaysar Kyzylorda and Ordabasy Shymkent both from Kazakhstan, Sutjeska Niksic of Montenegro, OFI Heraklion from Crete, and Lithuania’s FK Riteriai. These are all games that both Spurs and I would pay money to avoid, as their only real function is to make sure the players are exhausted by November. I’m just praying that further travel bans have been put in place by September and that Tottenham are forced out of the competition by the Foreign Office.
Continue reading…A holiday in Norfolk is a chance to spend time away from politics, and for my wife to spend less time alone with meMondayWhen I was a teenager, the FA Cup final was always a red letter day in the football calendar. The TV coverage would start in the morning with loads of chat and clips of the teams leaving their London hotels by bus and I would be watching every minute of it. Even my Dad, who had no interest in football whatsoever, would come inside at 3pm to watch the entire match. Sometimes he even managed to stay awake for the entire 90 minutes. Yet for the past 25 years or so, I’ve never bothered to watch the final on TV. Partly because Spurs have not featured since 1991, but mostly because I’ve just lost interest in the competition. This year was no exception. The weather was nice and a game between Tottenham’s two main rivals – Arsenal and Chelsea – seemed entirely missable. So it was only on the following day that I discovered there had been rather more riding on the match than I had thought. By winning and claiming automatic qualification, Arsenal had condemned Spurs to play at least three extra preliminary matches for the Europa League, a competition I had been rather hoping to avoid even before this new form of hell. Tottenham’s possible opponents hardly read like a roll call of Europe’s finest. In no particular order, they are Kesla FK from Azerbaijan, Torshavn from the Faroe Islands, Neftchi Baku also from Azerbaijan, Kaysar Kyzylorda and Ordabasy Shymkent both from Kazakhstan, Sutjeska Niksic of Montenegro, OFI Heraklion from Crete, and Lithuania’s FK Riteriai. These are all games that both Spurs and I would pay money to avoid, as their only real function is to make sure the players are exhausted by November. I’m just praying that further travel bans have been put in place by September and that Tottenham are forced out of the competition by the Foreign Office. Continue reading…