A tiny supporter in a white shirt stands alone before a gigantic turnstile and an oversized blank calendar page in an empty stadium concourse.

Match ReportThe High Road Herald

Spurs Black History Month Tribute Sends Supporter To Stadium For Coventry Day, Four Days Early

Desmond Parry · Chief Football Correspondent15 October · Reading time: one pint

Tottenham opened a Black History Month exhibition with Show Racism the Red Card on Thursday, with icons to be introduced on the pitch before Coventry City on Monday, October 19, and a supporter has been at the gates since breakfast.

A Tottenham man arrived at the stadium gates at ten past eight on Thursday morning to attend a pitchside tribute that is scheduled for Monday.

The tribute forms part of the club's Black History Month programme, run with Show Racism the Red Card, which honours the first eleven Black players in the men's team alongside early women's pioneers. The exhibition opens on Thursday, October 15, and can be viewed on official stadium tours. Chris Hughton and Garth Crooks are among the names honoured. The pitchside introductions come before Coventry City on October 19.

The man has read all of this. He has, by his own account, read it twice, and has formed the view that the safest course is to be present for the whole of it.

It says Thursday, and it says icons on the pitch. I'm not being the bloke who turned up for the Monday and missed the lead-in.

The Herald asked whether the tribute might be expected to begin nearer Monday. He said the Monday is the climax, and that no one is suggesting the days between are not also part of the build.

The stadium is closed to the public until the first tour, and the forecourt was otherwise occupied on Thursday by a pigeon, a man with a hose, and a thermos of one litre. The man confirmed he had made provision for the weekend, and that Sunday's soup is in the car.

He has since moved from the gate to the tour desk, where he has booked a place on Thursday's tour, a place on Friday's tour, and, as a precaution, a place on Monday's.

He has asked whether the stool counts as a seat.

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A tiny supporter at a stadium gate hands out tickets from an enormous unspooling ticket roll, with a double-decker bus waiting nearby at night.

TransfersThe High Road Herald

Rudiger Free Transfer Link Sends Supporter To Stadium Gates To Hand Out Bus Transfers

Barry Napier · Transfer Correspondent15 October · Reading time: one pint

Spurs Web reports, citing Football Insider, that Tottenham are keeping tabs on the Real Madrid defender ahead of a possible free transfer next summer, though Saudi Arabia is thought likelier.

A Tottenham man has spent the morning outside the stadium handing out free transfers, having read that the club are considering one.

The Herald understands the man took the phrase free transfer at its word. By 8am he had a stack of paper bus transfers, a folding stool and a flask, and was positioned beside the main gate.

The trigger was a Spurs Web article, itself based on a report by Football Insider, which says Tottenham are keeping tabs on Real Madrid defender Antonio Rudiger. His contract expires at the end of the season. The report adds that Spurs explored a move in the summer and opted against firming it up.

It says free. I've got free. Nobody can say I haven't got free.

He has so far issued eleven transfers, nine of them to a man waiting for the 73 who had not asked for one. The other two went to a passing postman, who accepted them out of politeness.

The same report states that Rudiger's age is a concern for some at the club, and that a Saudi Pro League move is understood to be the most likely outcome. The man has acknowledged this and said it makes the free transfers more urgent.

Rudiger scored a late winner for Real Madrid against Roma on Wednesday night, making it 4-3 after trailing 3-1. The man has watched the goal four times and says it confirms everything.

At press time he was explaining to the postman how the connections work.

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