(Sorry about the headline!)

Ah, the 2006 FA Cup Final, a great football match, certainly, enjoyable, no.

As a Liverpool fan I don’t think I enjoyed a single minute.

From the clumsy error ridden first twenty minutes, to the even clumsier og on 22 and goalkeeping spill on 28, I was a wreck.

Brief hope in the following few minutes with Crouchinho’s (wrongly) disallowed goal, and Cisse’s excellent volleyed finish from Stevie G’s pass. Relief at being back in the game, yes… enjoyment, no.

The second half continued in the same vein, Liverpool still weren’t convincing (and Pepe made amends for his earlier mistake almost immediately), their passing sloppy, their play unbalanced, Harry Kewell injuring himself in the tunnel! But, almost inspite of that, a mis-worked freekick fell to Stevie to thump home. For the first time in the match a smile was starting to work its way onto my face, surely Liverpool, with their big match experience and superior players could take the game by the scruff of the neck? What d’ya mean NO!

Almost immediately, West Ham picked up their play again, and although I’ll be decrying Konchesky as a lucky son-of-a-female terrier for many a year, I couldn’t argue with the Hammers’ lead. Liverpool took control of the ball, but couldn’t work their way behind a resolute defence. Alonso went off injured on 67, Cisse had been a passenger for a while, but the cramp was getting worse, and oh horror of horrors, Gerrard was visibly struggling too (Mottie an co worrying about the World Cup, my worries were far more pressing). Half-arsed freekick followed sloppy pass and the minutes were ticking away. I had lost all hope when the board came out saying four more minutes, I thought, “**** it ref, put us out of our misery, we’re never going to score!”

Then, just as I’d strung together, what I thought, was one of the most honest appraisals of a Liverpool performance that I’ve ever given, a thunderbolt, from 35 yards, the previously struggling Gerrard once again single handedly rescued a beaten Liverpool. The grin across my face could probably be seen from space, the cries of joy, heard in New Zealand, the stamps of my feet felt in the soul of every football fan.

But, once again, the realisation, Liverpool have about eight fit players, West Ham had been seemingly largely unaffected by the cramp that had decimated my beloved Reds. And so to extra-time, I clearly hadn’t read the West Ham problems that well, Harewood and Reo-Coker joined Cisse, Riise, Gerrard and Sissoko on the ground as the half hour passed by. Liverpool however seemed to be taking the game at last, Riise’s effort passing agonisingly over the cross-bar, Sami Hyypia drove just wide from the edge of the box after a neat turn (now, that would have been a story), and Jan Kromkamp was proving an effective running option down the right-hand side (though his final delivery was generally shocking).

The extra minutes ticked on, but West Ham weren’t for letting this one go easily, the always threatening Israeli, Benayoun, continued to cause beads of sweat on my brow, and then with seconds remaining Harewood sent an effort goalwards, “bugger!” my brain thought out loud. But, as with Istanbul last year, a ‘keeper was to perform late miracles to take the game to penalties.

At last I was confident, and I quote from an article I wrote for this very site back in October:
“Well, I?ve already ruled out the Premiership (let Chelsea have it, then they?ll only be fifteen behind the mighty Reds), so that leaves the Champions League, FA Cup or the thingy sponsored League Cup, and after last May, I?m confident we can beat anybody on penalties!”

The query over who was going to be fit enough to actually take a kick didn’t seem to matter, the heroes who stepped, all eight of them, and the two goalkeepers knew what was at stake. It was all about hitting a ball hard and accurately in a manner which would have phased none of them in training, but they found themselves exhausted and with thirty-odd thousand fans baying for them to miss the target… none of them did. It was down to the ‘keepers. Reina saved brilliantly from Zamora’s well struck penalty; Hislop saved easily from Hyypia’s tame effort; Konchesky went for power down the middle, but didn’t put any height on it and the ball struck Reina’s trailing legs; Anton Ferdinand stepped up, a chorus of boos ringing in his ears, but once again Reina guesses right, and his save brought the celebrations of another penalty shoot-out victory for Liverpool (their eighth in nine attempts), and more importantly the FA Cup back to Anfield for a seventh time.

At last I could relax, smile and enjoy a drink, with the old adage, ?I?d rather be lucky than good? swilling round my stress addled brain!

As a footnote, I?ve heard a lot of complaints about the goalkeepers moving before the penalties were struck. Certainly, I was too wrapped up in the moment to notice any such impropriety, but I have since sought out any videos of the penalties that I can find online. Unfortunately I can only find the winning save by Reina from Ferdinand?s penalty, and whilst Reina moves along the line, it seems he only leaves it and moves forward as the ball is struck, which is legal. I await a closer examination, and certainly in last years Champions [sic] League Final shoot-out, these rules were clearly flouted by both ?keepers.

Steven Gerrard has told the BBC that he will be fit and ready to go to Germany to lead England’s World Cup charge despite fears of an injury problem during the FA Cup Final at Cardiff.

Gerrard went down injured several times as the pace of the match afflicted many players on both sides but Liverpool’s talismanic captain allayed the fans’ fears by saying his problem was merely cramp, much like his teammates, and that he’d be ready and raring to go in a fortnight’s time.

Gerrard’s FA Cup winning performace in Liverpool’s midfield sets him up perfectly now for a great World Cup and with an assist, two cracking goals and a successful penalty in the shoot out at Cardiff, he’s bound to be in the best mental condition possible.

With Wayne Rooney injured there will be added pressure on the rest of the England squad to perform but having came off the back of a Player of the Year award winning season and lifting the FA Cup with his club, Steven Gerrard could well be the man to lift England’s spirits and drive them on towards another Cup Final.

Paraguay defender Delio Cesar Toledo has called David Beckham a “coward” before the two players clash in the World Cup next month and has said that previous meetings between the two players in La Liga have shown him that Beckham doesn’t fancy the physical contact side of the game.

“He is a coward, when a player goes in on him strongly, he jumps,” Toledo told 730 AM Radio. “I had some problems with him in the Spanish league for that reason and now I don’t have problem if I have to raise my leg to him.”

He added: “I know him very well and I know how to mark him. However, I don’t know if I will be in the first team (for Paraguay).

“I want to face him - this time with the national team, not with our league outfits. And I repeat: I would raise my leg again. He does have a very good shot, though.”

David Beckham has yet to comment on Toledo’s claims. Maybe he thinks he’ll leave his talking until he’s on the pitch…

It seems that big wages and winning league titles isn’t everything for some players after all as William Gallas announces his intention to leave Chelsea in the summer.

The French defender seems to have become disillusioned with the challenge of English football at the mega-spending Londoners and is keen to end his five year spell in West London as soon as possible.

Gallas told L’Equipe:

“My decision has been taken and is definitive - I want to leave Chelsea. I want to experience another challenge.

He added: “I’ve been with Chelsea for five years - I want to experience another league.”

Equally at home at centre back or left back, there is sure to be a wealth of top European clubs interested in the classy defender and it will be a large blow to Jose Mourinho’s men to lose one of the more established members of their squad.

Leage Managers’ Association chief John Barnwell has attacked the Premier League for opening the flood gates for clubs to appoint the “butcher, baker and candlestick maker” as Premiership coaches following their decision to allow Glenn Roeder special dispensation to take over as Newcastle boss.

Barnwell has declared himself absolutely furious that the premier League have circumvented the rules to allow Roeder to take up the post despite not holding the UEFA Pro coaching licence usually required for coahces with less than ten years relevant experience to coach in the top flight.

Barnwell said: “Football is full of failed geniuses - full of them. Preparation in football management is vital.

“Go and ask Jose Mourinho. It doesn’t happen overnight.

“The UEFA Pro Licence stops those people who make the appointments from appointing the butcher, the baker and the candlestick maker.

“But prospective managers are now looking at it and thinking, ‘If I want to manage in the top league, I don’t need to bother to get qualifications, do I? What am I bothering for?’.

“The Professional Footballers’ Association have blown their lid as well. All their guys will think they don’t need to bother (with the UEFA course) now. So I’m absolutely furious.

“It’s not about Glenn Roeder. He’s been on a minimum wage as an academy director.

“He’s had three years to get his qualifications and suddenly because of circumstances he’s been jettisoned into the job and quite likes it.

“Results have started coming, as they often do with a caretaker manager, and I suppose it’s very easy to give him a massive contract.

“To go from not a lot of money to a lot of money, good luck to him.

“His name is being used and Newcastle are using that as a vehicle and we’re not. People have forgotten the same thing happened with Eddie Gray at Leeds, and Steve Wigley at Southampton and here we are, still in the same position.

“Why have regulations? When the lights are red you shouldn’t go through them.”

“We’ve taken 70-80 people through that programme,” said Barnwell. “What are they going to think now?

“Newcastle go on about Roeder but Roeder signed up to the (UEFA) course and he didn’t do one week. He’s had three years.

“Why didn’t he go on the Pro Licence four months ago?

“Roeder cannot manage in the Premiership by the regulations but they have seen fit to give dispensation because it’s convenient.

“Does that mean every other regulation which is inconvenient we can argue over? I suppose it does.

“To all those people who have bothered to go through the B licence, the A licence and the Pro Licence - because they want to manage at the highest level - and all those people who say we didn’t have a national coach qualified enough, it all flies in the face of that.

“If we are a professional business, you have professional qualifications. The decision just lacks all credibility.

“We have had 400 managers dismissed in the past five years because the majority were badly prepared. You have to prepare to go into football management.

“Why can’t Englishmen get jobs abroad? Because they will not appoint you if you don’t have the proper licence.

“That’s what Sampdoria did with David Platt - they said, ‘No, off you go’.

“There’s no guarantee with qualifications that you’re going to be successful. What it does is give you a better chance.”

Regardless of John Barnwell’s feelings it seems that Roeder will still be named Newcastle boss on Monday and as Barnwell says, the proverbial floodgates will now open.

Once again in Premiership football, it seems that regulations are only to be enforced for some clubs and not others.

Completely evades questions such as why the game could be delayed two hours but not 24 hours and seems to include a little bit of porkies regarding only two players who had played in the last three league games going down with sickness.

I’ll post more when I pick my way through it but it’s not a completely unexpected response from the bunch of crooks at the F.A. Premier League.

Did I ever mention that Richard Scudamore is an Arsenal fan? Must have slipped my mind completely.

The Premier League has issued the following letter in response to Tottenham Hotspur’s open letter, stating the reasons for the course of action taken on Sunday and why a replay of the Barclays Premiership match at West Ham United cannot be sanctioned.
10 May 2006

Mr Daniel Levy

Chairman

Tottenham Hotspur Football & Athletic Co Ltd.

Bill Nicholson Way

748 High Road

London N17 0AP

Dear Daniel

Re: Protest and request for the match between West Ham United and Tottenham Hotspur FC on 7/5/06 to be replayed

The Board of the Premier League has today convened to consider your letter to Dave Richards regarding the above and would respond as follows:

Firstly, the Board and a majority of Premier League Clubs are sympathetic to your situation. To have Tottenham Hotspur Football Club?s (?THFC?) ?momentous day? marred by such unprecedented events is clearly an unsatisfying way for the season to end. However the Board has to take a dispassionate view, independent of Clubs? opinion, in order to protect the overall integrity of the League competition.

The fact that so much may have been riding on one game is not as a consequence of just last Sunday?s results, but is the product of 380 games played throughout an entire nine-month season. Speculation about what may have happened in different circumstances even within our league is inappropriate and, in other competitions, irrelevant.

As always, the Board can only deal with the facts on an individual basis and deal with any situation as and when presented. All those directly involved on the day acted in the utmost good faith and with due care in what were unusual circumstances.

The Board of the Premier League, as you might expect, were spread around all parts of the country on the last day of the season. The time frame during which the defining conversations took place was between 11.00am and 1.15pm. The initial contact between yourself and the Chief Executive took place around 11.45am. As always, the Premier League acknowledged your position and promised it would make a proper assessment but in order to do so, the General Secretary, Mike Foster, would need to be contacted. This area of the Premier League?s role is Mike?s responsibility and his experience in these matters since the League?s inception in 1992 is well known to all Clubs. The Board look to his wisdom and counsel on all such matters. Jane Purdon, the Premier League Company Secretary, volunteered to go to the team hotel. This was deemed sensible as it meant we could assess the facts on a first hand basis and have an established line of communication with your people at the hotel. Similarly the decision to send a doctor was deemed sensible to assist in any way we could and for gathering evidence in the event that further facts needed to be established independently for whatever purpose.

Over the course of the following hour, the Board gathered its facts and gave the matter due consideration. It concluded the following:

1) It was satisfied that the following significant facts pertained:

? 6 players had been confirmed as having suffered from either sickness and/or diarrhoea (S & D) that morning

? 2 other players had felt unwell but had not suffered from S & D

(These facts were established by Jane Purdon in consultation with the THFC Doctor)

? 17 players had been at the team hotel overnight

? 3 other registered players had been contacted by THFC and were able to make themselves available

? The match was due to take place at West Ham United (?WHU?) ? geographically close enough to Tottenham and its vicinity so as not to prevent other players being called upon.

? An informed estimate that THFC had a minimum of 30 registered players.

2) Following a full discussion between all members of the Premier League Board and Mike Foster, we decided that the game should not be postponed. To do so would be inappropriate given past application of Premier League Rules and would lead to future problems for the Premier League if Clubs deemed these circumstances or similar to be worthy of postponement.

3) The appropriate course of action, having given due consideration to the facts, was to not postpone the game and to inform THFC that it would be their decision as to whether or not they fulfilled the fixture.

As you say, this decision was relayed to you by me whilst travelling towards London. You asked what the consequences would be if THFC failed to fulfil the fixture. I said that I could not pre-judge or advise. An independent commission would be convened to consider the facts and clearly THFC could plead mitigating circumstances. However this was one of the most serious of offences and John Alexander could advise on what has happened in the past, though, of course, all cases were different and based on their own facts.

On the basis of this, THFC obviously undertook your own assessment of the facts and reached your own decision.

THFC then asked the Premier League what our attitude would be to a delayed kick off. The Premier League Board reacted with empathy but needed to consider all the facts. WHU were contacted and made every effort to accommodate. However, understandably, the risk to public order of over 35,000 fans potentially converging on Upton Park for a four to five hour wait was deemed by the Police to be too great. A two-hour delay to kick off was considered to be of no material benefit to your players by your own medical people and therefore was rejected by THFC and the game proceeded at 3pm as scheduled. The Premier League response to your request in this matter bears no relevance to your request for a replay.

Clearly the Premier League Board, as THFC have done, reflected on Monday and re-assessed certain facts:

The Premier League appointed doctor we sent to the hotel arrived after the team bus left for Upton Park. However Jane Purdon, our representative at the hotel, had already relayed to the Board in detail the medical opinion of the THFC Doctor, Charlotte Cowie. The Board accepted her professional opinion and had no reason to dispute it. The Premier League-appointed Doctor?s opinion therefore was not needed.

We had made an informed estimate as to how many registered players THFC had. On checking records it turns out to be as follows:

- Registered players (full contracts) 48

- Out on loan (-6)

- In on loan +1

- Scholars +9

- Total eligible to play 52

- 33 players used in the first team this season

Of the six players confirmed with S & D, only two were in the starting eleven for your last three Premier League matches.

With respect to other matters that you do not fully understand, I set off to travel to Highbury for a pre-arranged end-of-season interview with Sky Sports. I arrived at 2.00pm having travelled 111 miles from the West Country. The earliest I could have arrived at your team hotel was 2.00pm, even if I had travelled directly there on approaching west London. I had already confirmed with John Alexander that the team bus was leaving at 1.15pm and so it would have been pointless to go there.

The Premier League made two official statements via its press office to PA concerning the situation. I only referred to the contents of those statements as part of a pre-planned review of the season on Sky Sports. This was not the chosen method of conveying the decision. For your information, the Sky Sports interview took place 40 minutes after your own Press Office had confirmed you were playing the game as scheduled at 3.00pm.

In summary, the Board having considered the contents of your letter carefully, finds no grounds for acceding to your request for a replay. Indeed, this power only exists under certain circumstances as specified in Rule E. 16 and E. 39, neither of which apply in this case. THFC did have the option of not fulfilling the fixture and will have made its own assessment of the risks associated with that decision. It would have been for an independent commission to have decided the merits of your case; rule on any sanction and/or the appropriateness of a replay.

The Board does not wish to jeopardise the respect and excellent relationship that exists between us and THFC. We remain very sympathetic to the unenviable position you found yourselves in and hope that neither THFC or any other Club will suffer the same fate again. However we believe we expedited our responsibilities effectively and with due care and consideration based on the facts available to us. We of course realise that for THFC a feeling of unfairness at the ill fated events of last Sunday will linger but trust that you will put this behind you and concentrate on domestic and UEFA Cup success next season.

Yours sincerely,

RICHARD SCUDAMORE

With today’s news that Newcastle United have received a special dispensation to allow them to appoint Glenn Roeder as their new manager despite his lack of a FIFA Pro coaching licence, the race to identify just who will be taking the reins at St. James’ Park appears to over.

With Newcastle having performed so well under Roeder’s stewardship it would have been a disaster for the club to not have been able to consider him for the role full-time and although the ruling hasn’t received the backing of the League Managers’ Association, it will surely have the full backing of the Toon Army.

Freddy Shepherd has hit back hard at the LMA for their comments about Newcastle trying to bend the rules to appoint Roeder and makes a very definite case for why his club have fought so hard to ensure that Glenn Roeder is able to take up their manager’s post.

“I am very unhappy at some of the comments coming from the LMA in recent weeks surrounding our efforts to find the right man for the vacant managerial position at Newcastle United,” he told the club’s official website, www.nufc.co.uk.

“Glenn himself was a member of the LMA while at West Ham, and is about to begin the Pro Licence course again, so I find it both disappointing and surprising that they should take such a stance.

“There is only one vacancy at Newcastle and we can only appoint one person.

“Whoever we decide is the right person to become the next manager at St James’ Park, we would fully hope and expect him to receive the complete backing of the LMA and his fellow managers.”

Roeder is now expected to be unveiled at a press conference at St. James’ Park on Monday.

The following is the letter sent by the Tottenham Hotspur board to the FA Premier League regarding Sunday’s events and our request for a replay of the West Ham game.

As a Spurs fan I have to say Daniel Levy and co. have pulled out all of the stops in this and whether the Premier League relents or not they’ve shown dignity, class and determination in their efforts for justice. We don’t want a walkover or the three points given to us. All we want is a chance to compete for them fair and square and win, lose or draw, we’ll at least know that there hasn’t been any collusion to keep us out.

Letter to FA Premier League

The Club has sent the following open letter to Dave Richards, Chairman of the FA Premier League.

Mr Dave Richards
Chairman
The FA Premier League,
30 Gloucester Place
London
W1U 8PL

9 May 2006

Dear Dave

Re: Protest and request for the match between West Ham United and Tottenham Hotspur FC on 7/5/06 to be replayed

As you are aware, Sunday could have been a momentous day for our Club and our fans. It was the first time since the inception of the UEFA Champions League that we were in a position to qualify for European club football?s most prestigious competition. After such a successful League campaign, the excitement and expectation of our fans was simply enormous. Our match at West Ham was effectively a Cup Final.

However, we believe that our chances of success were significantly reduced by the exceptional circumstances brought about by the sudden illness of the majority of players in our First Team squad in the early hours of Sunday morning. In being given no viable option to postpone the match other than a 2-hour delay to kick-off, our players were denied the possible opportunity of competing in the Champions League, while our fans have been left with a sense of suspicion and injustice at the way subsequent events unfolded.

We contacted the FAPL early on Sunday morning and, after a series of conversations, the FAPL called for the England Team Doctor and the FAPL Company Secretary to attend our Team Hotel to assess the situation. We believed that the FAPL were examining the situation in good faith and were seeking to obtain all relevant information before coming to a decision. Indeed, in those early conversations the FAPL?s Chief Executive had given us every reason to believe the match could be postponed to allow our players some extra time to recover from a lack of sleep, vomiting, diarrhoea and dehydration.

At this time, myself, Board members and other key decision makers joined the players at their hotel. Whilst waiting for the opinion of the England Team Doctor, who was yet to arrive at our Team Hotel, I was contacted from a distance by the FAPL and told that we had to play the game that day or suffer the consequences. This, by implication, may have meant a significant loss of points and the denial of participation in any European competition ? a situation I could not sanction. This threat was made by the FAPL despite the fact that West Ham United, acting honourably and fairly as would be expected from that club, had consented to the postponement of the match provided that any re-match did not interfere with their FA Cup Final preparations.

The FAPL?s Chief Executive then said he would consider the match being delayed to later on Sunday evening, but unfortunately the Police would not sanction a kick off time beyond 5pm. Our medical staff advised that a delay of at least 3 hours would be necessary to have any impact on the players and therefore it was Martin Jol?s view that, in the absence of a postponement or a much later kick-off, we had no choice whatsoever but to proceed to play at 3pm. What puzzles us is why the FAPL were prepared to sanction a 4 hour delay but not a 24 hour delay. If the integrity of all matches kicking off at the same time was your primary concern, why sanction a delay of any kind?

Our next issue was team selection. Martin Jol and his staff, having originally selected their squad of 17 players for the match, were then left in the invidious position of choosing between starting the match with their original 17 players, 10 of whom were feeling very unwell, or drafting in Reserve Team players, the majority of whom have not played for the First Team this season or are untried and untested at First Team level. In any case, having ended their season, our Reserve Team players were scattered across various parts of London and the South East, would not have been prepared to play in a Premier League (or any other) match at such short notice and would rarely, if ever, have played together.

This was an impossible position for our coaching staff to find themselves in on the morning of what was our most important match for many years. Playing a make-shift, inexperienced and ill-prepared team in such a high profile game could have turned the match into a farce, resulting in an embarrassment for the players, the coaches, the Club, our fans and the Premier League competition as a whole.

To add insult to injury, the FAPL?s announcement that our game would not be postponed was made live on Sky TV from the pitch side at Highbury. In light of the obvious sensitivities and the competition for 4th place between Arsenal and Spurs this was, to say the least, an unfortunate choice.

We simply do not understand why the FAPL failed to appraise itself of all of the facts before turning down our request that the fixture be postponed under rule E 13.4. We were surprised that the FAPL?s Chief Executive did not make the short journey from Highbury to the Team Hotel at Canary Wharf to assess such a serious issue first hand. We also fail to understand why the England Team Doctor, having been sent to the Team Hotel, was not even consulted before an announcement was made (in fact, he did not even arrive at our hotel before the decision was made or even before our players had to leave the Team Hotel to travel to Upton Park for the match). As a result we played the game with players who were unwell but who were desperate not to let their fans and colleagues down. Clearly, our governing body put us in an impossible situation and gave a significant advantage to Arsenal in competing for that 4th position.

With this in mind we contacted those Premier League Chairmen and Chief Executives we were able to locate to establish what fellow members feel is an appropriate way forward given the unorthodox decision made by the FAPL prior to receiving objective information on the situation. We now have confirmation from a majority of Premier League clubs that they would support a replay and in similar circumstances would expect the game to have been postponed. This is a gesture made by fellow clubs which supports the Charter?s aims of running a professional league in a manner in which all of its member Clubs are treated equally and in a professional, fair and objective way. Additionally, from comments made by Sepp Blatter in the media in the past 24 hours, even FIFA would support the idea of a postponement provided the match was played on or before 15 May 2006.

We therefore formally request that you order that the game be replayed.

It is regrettable that we have been put in this position, but we feel let down by the FAPL?s abdication of its responsibility to consider the request for a postponement fairly and after due consideration of all relevant factors. Where such significant commercial and competitive interests are jeopardised it is only reasonable that our governing body ensures we play on a level playing field and supports us by making decisions based on the facts of the situation which has to include all relevant information. We feel sure that the FAPL, along with most reasonable minded people, would not have wanted such a controversial outcome to the final day of the Premier League season. Furthermore, the FAPL was inconsistent in its approach in being prepared to consider the kick-off to be delayed but not allowing the match to be played on a different day.

Finally, whilst our primary concern here is for our own Club, the situation we find ourselves in highlights what could have been an even bigger issue for a Club facing relegation from the FAPL. Similarly, it is hard to believe that, faced with an identical issue on the morning of a Champions League Final, a club would not seek a postponement (with the opposing team consenting) and that, given the importance of such an occasion, such a request would not be granted by UEFA in the interests of fairness and good sporting practice. In our view, and regardless of the outcome of our case, the FAPL?s decision making process and lines of communication in such a situation need thorough and urgent review in order to ensure that no other club is similarly disadvantaged in the future.

Yours sincerely

DANIEL LEVY
Chairman of Tottenham Hotspur

The World Cup Injury Watch that has taken hold over the world of football has also landed in Italy, where some believe the left fibula of Francisco Totti is the key to the Azzuri’s hopes in Germany. The Roma striker broke his leg on February 19 and has not played in the Serie A since.

But AC Milan midfielder Gennaro Gattuso made an important point recently when he told a Columbian newspaper that others should worry about the Italians as a whole and not believe that the Italians are a one-man team.

In fact, the Azzuri could be the most balanced of the 32 World Cup teams. Where Brazil are shaky in defense, Italy are still very strong with the always dependable Fabio Cannavaro and Allessandro Nesta. Where the Dutch are extremely talented, but very young, the Italians seem to have the perfect mix of youth and experience with coach Marcello Lippi making a point of introducing newer players into the squad and not being afraid to replace veterans like Alessandro Del Piero and Christian Vieri. And while England is looking to substitute Wayne Rooney with a 17 year old who has never played in the Premiership, the Italians have Luca Toni in case Totti is not fully fit. This past weekend, Toni became the first player in 47 years to score 30 goals in the top Italian League.

So does Italy have any weaknesses?

Only themselves. Despite their strength and experience, they did not make it out of the group stages in Euro 2004 and were beaten by South Korea (and some questionable refereeing) in the Round of 16 in the 2002 World Cup. But even in the group stages in Korea, Italy did little to impress, drawing with Mexico and losing to Croatia.

The Italians can only hope that Lippi can do a better job than previous coach Giovanni Trappatoni at getting his team to live up to their expectations.

It was another of “those” days. I’d been a bundle of nerves for the past week (past month if I’m honest) and as yesterday unfolded the knot in my stomach got continually tighter and tighter.

First the anticipation, then the disbelief as word started to filter through about players having food poisoning and the match might be called off then, initially, relief when I heard the game was going ahead. I really believed that if the game wasn’t being postponed then our ten players and staff who had been struck down mustn’t have been too bad. When the team news was read out and we were fielding the very side we expected a few days ago then things began to look a litttle rosier. How wrong could I be?

From the first whistle we all looked half a yard at least off the pace. When Teddy Sheringham was outpacing some of our players then I knew that something was wrong, terribly wrong, and when Carl Fletcher hit the back of the Spurs net on ten minutes it went even more pearshaped.

With the Bingo Club (copyright J. Duggan - Topspurs) fans singing about the Goons as if their own side wasn’t playing it was turning into a surreal day all round. So many of Spurs players were obviously struggling it started to become a competition to pick out which ones hadn’t been poisoned rather than the ones who had.

When Jermain Defoe scored to silence the Upton Park boo boys and Wigan made it 2-2 against the Goons it suddenly brightened but we should have known it wouldn’t last.

The effects on so many players of a night and day of vomiting and diarrhoea and the energy sapping loss of food and fluids meant that as the game went on and Spurs became more desperate we were in even more of a no-win situation. West Ham’s winner could have been predicted a mile away, Spurs players just had nothing left in the tank but they battled on and the performances from those players will go down in Spurs folklore as a shining example of the lengths today’s much maligned professional footballers will go to for the sake of professional pride.

Edgar Davids drove them on until the final whistle having been due to come off on the hour until Michael Carrick felt unable to carry on and Davids chased every ball and every lost cause until the final whistle. Michael Dawson, looking even paler than usual, was a shining beacon at the back and made countless timely interventions despite having collapsed on the pitch in the warm up.

There are eye witness tales of Spurs players vomiting in the tunnel before kick off and at half time and of two being taken to hospital after the game with severe dehydration. These players wore their hearts on their sleeves, putting their own health at risk to try and finish what they’d started all season and keep that 4th place in the Premiership but due to circumstances beyond their control they were foiled.

Tottenham Hotspur finished the 2005/2006 season under a cloud but they recorded their highest league finish since the Premiership began and are now looking at a UEFA Cup European tour next season as reward. It’s the very least those brave players and staff deserve after yesterday. The fans were exemplary as always. There will be questions asked about the poisoning, the Premier League and Richard Scudamore have questions to answer regarding their decision to force Spurs to play when they requested a 24 hour postponement and were turned down and the real questions about the level of fair play in our game will be asked and so they should. Just how far would people with ?30m riding on a fourth place finish go to nobble their rivals and stop them from breaking up the old boys club among the G14 and the Champion’s League?

I’ve got many questions and it’ll be a long summer for some people while I keep asking them.

Audere Est Facere
Come On You Spurs