Colleague Forced To Watch Supporter Redraw Spurs Web Eleven On The Back Of The Rota
Edith Marlowe · Letters Editor · Reading time: one pint
The rota, which also records who is responsible for the milk, now has a goalkeeper written beside Wednesday.
Sir,
I sit opposite a Tottenham supporter, and have done since March, and I wish to place on record what I witnessed between nine o'clock and ten past eleven this morning.
He arrived with a printout of an article on Spurs Web concerning the eleven it is desperate to see against Manchester United. He read it aloud. It names Kinsky in goal, Gray at right-back, and a midfield three he described as "not even a debate". I had not asked.
He then drew the eleven on the back of the stationery cupboard rota, in the shape of a back four, three in midfield and three up front. By my count he did this fourteen times, each time with a different pen, each time remarking that Spurs are bottom of the table after a winless start, as though the information were new to both of us.
It isn't a prediction. It's what we're desperate to see. There's a difference.
I said I could see the difference. He said I couldn't, and drew it again.
He also referred to the fixture as El Sackiko, a name he attributed to some in the media. I asked which media. He said "some", and moved on to Udogie at left-back.
I was then asked for my own eleven. I said I was not aware I had one. He looked at me for a while and wrote one for me.
Just look at the midfield. Just look at it.
He has asked whether Roberto De Zerbi might see the rota. I said I thought it unlikely. He said he wouldn't be surprised.
Yours, from the opposite chair.
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