A small anonymous fan on a tall stepladder squeegees a gigantic window in front of a stadium, with a bucket of suds at the base.

Match ReportThe High Road Herald

Leeds Away Ticket Update Sends Season Ticket Holder To Stadium Forecourt With Squeegee And Stepladder

Desmond Parry · Chief Football Correspondent16 October · Reading time: one pint

Tottenham have confirmed that season ticket holders with 343 or more ticketing points receive a clear view ticket for the 12:30pm kickoff at Leeds United on Saturday 7 November, from an allocation of 2,960, most of it safe standing.

A Tottenham season ticket holder arrived at the stadium forecourt at 7:40am on Friday carrying a stepladder, a bucket and a long-handled squeegee, following the club's confirmation that the Leeds United away allocation will be distributed by clear view and restricted view bands.

The club confirmed that 343 ticketing points are required for the former, and 316 to 342 for the latter. The Herald understands the man's total sits inside the second band, by a margin he described as "a rounding matter".

They said clear view. I'm not leaving it to chance. I'm going to be ready for the view.

He then began on the lower section of the outer wall, working in overlapping strokes, and stopped only to confirm with a passing delivery driver that the wall was, in his words, "basically glass". It is not glass.

The club has also advised that most of the away section at Elland Road is safe standing, and that any supporter needing a seat must request one by 10am on Monday 19 October. The man has accordingly placed a folding stool beside the ladder, then removed it, then replaced it, and has not yet reached a position.

On the matter of the two ticketing points awarded once Leeds confirm the tickets have been scanned, he approached a closed turnstile at 9:15am and held his phone against it for some time. Leeds, it was pointed out to him, were not present.

The club also states that tickets will arrive digitally in the week of the match, by email link, directly to each season ticket holder. The man has cleared a space on his phone for this and told our correspondent it is "about the size of a pie".

At press time he had completed the lower six feet of wall and was considering the upper section, which the ladder does not reach.

Send this to a mate

Before you go

The Monday Post-Mortem

The match report, in your inbox the morning after every game.

Free. One email per fixture. Unsubscribe whenever you like.

A tiny figure in a black padded jacket stands with their back to us beneath a huge clock showing half past nine, while five growing megaphones point at them.

Paper TalkThe High Road Herald

Five Outlets Report De Zerbi Sunday Press Conference, Each Louder, And It Stays Half Past Nine

Philippa Crane · Media Editor16 October · Reading time: one pint

The Evening Standard reports that Roberto De Zerbi will hold his pre-Coventry press conference at 9:30am on Sunday, after Spurs return from Marbella, with Coventry visiting on Monday night.

The Evening Standard reported on Friday that Roberto De Zerbi will hold his pre-Coventry press conference on Sunday morning, after the Tottenham squad return from their training camp in Marbella.

The Herald has since traced the item through five further websites. It has found that the time, 9:30am, was carried across intact at every stage. Nothing else was.

The first website described the arrangement as unusual timing, a phrase taken directly from the original. The second described it as a departure from the norm. The third said supporters were being made to wait, which is true of every press conference ever held.

By the fourth site the manager was not speaking today, a statement that had been accurate since the dawn of the week and which nobody had previously thought to publish. The fifth called the situation a vacuum.

I'm not saying it's a cover-up. I'm saying it's half past nine on a Sunday, and nobody will tell me why.

The man, who made the remark across a kitchen table over a second round of toast, was reminded that the original piece gave the reason: the squad are in Spain and the match is on Monday. He said he had read that part, and that he preferred the version without it.

The updates on Dejan Kulusevski and Pedro Porro, which the original said would be delayed until Sunday, were by the fifth site awaited with growing anxiety. They are still due on Sunday, as before.

The Herald can confirm that across the six publications there is one press conference, one time and one day, and that between them they have added nothing to any of them.

Send this to a mate

Before you go

The Monday Post-Mortem

The match report, in your inbox the morning after every game.

Free. One email per fixture. Unsubscribe whenever you like.