Maddison Makes Things Tick Says Former Coventry Coach, So Supporter Sets Eleven Egg Timers Outside Stadium

A Tottenham man has taken the view that a Coventry academy coach was speaking literally, and has acted on it before the shops closed.

Richard Stevens, who worked with James Maddison during his formative years at the Sky Blues, said ahead of Tottenham's meeting with Coventry that the midfielder "makes things tick", according to ESPN. The remark has since been repeated by several Spurs websites, none of which has added a second source.

The man, who was not at the interview, read it at 7:40am and was outside the stadium by ten. He was carrying eleven kitchen egg timers, a ball of string and a flask.

He said ticking. You can't tick without something to tick. I've done the ticking so he doesn't have to.

Mr Stevens also said Maddison could "connect everything together", which the man has interpreted as an instruction. By noon the timers had been joined along the forecourt wall with string, in a manner he described as the link-up. A twelfth timer, set apart on a bin lid, has been designated the substitute.

The source notes that Maddison has been restricted to substitute appearances as he works back from injury, and that Stevens highlighted his ability to influence a match in a short spell. The man has accordingly set every timer to twenty minutes and will, he says, wind them only once.

A steward who passed twice said the stadium was closed, that there was no match until the Coventry fixture, and that the string was on a fire door. The man thanked him for the context and moved the string six inches.

At time of going to press the timers were ticking in broadly the same rhythm, and one had gone off.