Views on Tottenham and England – Alan’s Summer Diary

Summer Diary 21

It’s the big kick of this weekend, so I guess this is my last summer diary. I hope you have enjoyed reading them as much as I have enjoyed writing them. I was delighted to see HotspurHQ got over 100,000 hits in July, so we must be doing something right. I thought I might struggle to find much to write about in the close season but what with all the transfer drama and the major events in cricket, tennis, formula 1, golf, women’s football it’s been a second successive great sporting summer.

Mon 12 August.

The last time I looked at about 6.15pm, Australia were about 100 behind with 6 wickets down. I thought “this could go either way in the morning” and I spent the rest of the evening watching non-sports TV with the wife.  Very pleased then, just before retiring for the night to see that Broad skittled out the rest of them before close of play and England have won the series. Great!

One Soldado does not make a summer (ouch!) but by the time you add in a Fryers, a Chadli, a Paulinho, a Capoue and perhaps a couple of others, it bodes well for next spring. On Sky Sports transfer news, Tom Ince is back in our sights too. [Alan’s thoughts on Ince from last January] Come on Daniel, you know you want to…

Wed 14 August 2013.

Getting a bit concerned. A stadium access card showed up in the post yesterday but it’s in respect of the bronze membership I renewed a couple of months ago, not the season ticket I purchased a couple of weeks ago. I hope that is going to come through a bit quicker.

It is the England Scotland “friendly” tonight. Yeah right. I just hope no-one gets injured, spectators or players. This is where you get to see the Scotland supporters in their true colours.

Scotland fans at Trafalgar Square [Photo: Alan Hill]
Let’s hope that this time they leave the new Wembley in the same state they found it, i.e. with goalposts intact and seats where they found them. And whilst we are on the subject, none of those bloody smoking flares thank you very much. Here’s a picture from early afternoon in Trafalgar Square. If you ever wondered why England would never vote in Gordon Brown as our Prime Minister, apart from what he did to the economy, look no further. I bet they wouldn’t do this in Red Square. If you are an Englishman, you’ll feel insulted and annoyed by this but the best of us will rise above it. I’m not the best of us, so look out for a snap of me reciprocating with similar behaviour if I can ever be bothered to travel beyond Hadrian’s Wall. In fact, it’s the only reason I can think of that would make the trip worthwhile. We all know there’s certainly no football up there worth bothering with. Don’t get your sporrans in a twist. Only joking, as the gentlemen in the fountain would say. Just boisterous behaviour. “We are the best behaved fans wherever” (else) “we go in the world”.

The under 21s beat them 6-0 last night. More of the same tonight, please lads. Otherwise this lot will probably run riot just like their Dad’s and uncles. Oh and Gordon, if a policeman invites you to run onto the pitch again tonight, show some common decency this time and gingerly decline the offer. I’d give poor Wayne the night off Roy. He could do without the added stress and I am sure Lambert will do just fine. (Typed at 5pm).

Steven Howard’s column on England and Scotland is well worth a read in the Sun today. He points out that a few months ago Scotland had dropped to 72nd in the world rankings and they are likely to have only one Scotland based player in their ranks and two of their forwards were born in England. England have dropped from 6th to 14th on Roy’s watch, not that it’s his fault. Howard is brutally honest about England’s performance at major competitions in recent years, saying they “stunk the place out” in South Africa. In his view, unless we cut down on the number of foreign imports, England will end up the new Scotland. Couldn’t have put it better myself. So I didn’t.

6pm. Sky says Tom Huddlestone has signed for Hull. Sorry to see him go but despite all his skill he never quite made that breakthrough to superstardom. He’s not going to do it at Hull but he will light the place up if he hits a bit of form. It’s a shame to think that the next one of his overdue thunderbolts could be hitting the back of our net. At least he’ll be able to get his hair cut. Thanks for the memories Tom and good luck. Jake Livermore has also gone to Hull on loan. Fulham and Q.P.R. are said to be scrapping over Scott Parker and Harry says he wants Jermaine Defoe with him again.

Lookey-Likey

Fabio Capello [Photo: Alan Hill]

Paul Michael Glaser [Photo: Alan Hill] Down to the wife this one. She passed me Saturday’s Daily Express and showed me a picture of Paul Michael Glaser of Starsky and Hutch fame (no kids, not the recent film, the ‘70s TV series). She said, “it’s bugging me, he reminds me of someone, who is it?” After some consideration, we decided it wasn’t Gryff Rhys Jones, it wasn’t my mate Richard – but yes, it’s Fabio Capello, back in the news today. As Russia coach he has said he wouldn’t replace an injured player for tonight’s World Cup qualifier because they are “only” playing Northern Ireland. Fair enough, they’ve had no wins in 13 games before tonight. Is that right that he’s applying to be an ambassador in his next job? I wouldn’t break out the Ferrero Rocher just yet. That’s Capello on the right or is it?

Lambert replaces Rooney for England. [Photo: Alan Hill]10pm– back to England vs. Scotland.  Well, that was a lively, entertaining game. Better than expected. 5hrs ago I said that I thought Ricky Lambert would do OK and it feels so good to be right about that. He scored with his first touch 2 minutes into his debut at the age of 31 after he came on as a sub for Wayne Rooney. Very nearly got a hat trick and probably ensured Wembley stayed in one piece. Scotland had no trouble giving us a real run for our money and led twice. England looked every bit Scotland’s equal and deservedly edged the game, proving stronger over the last 20 minutes. Let me just emphasise again, that was Scotland, 50th in the World rankings, up in the last 6 months from 72nd, so let’s not get carried away.

…And finally, N. Ireland beat Russia 1-0 at Windsor Park. Bet you wished you kept your mouth shut now Fabio!

Crystal Palace here we come…