Tuesday, May 09, 2006

Tottenham, Tottenham. Food can Stop 'em

I'm sorry to bore you, as this will be a football post, but bear with me, as it's an interesting one.

This season, the only battle that's gone down to the wire has been the battle for 4th spot in the English Premiership. The coveted 4th position means that the team who finishes 4th can qualify for the Champions League. There is one exception, which means that should the winner of the Champions League finish outside the top 4, they play in the Champions League instead of 4th position. The Champions League is a Europewide competition, with masses amount of sponsorship and prize money. Playing in the Champions League can net a club upto £12million, so it's well worth going for.

This year, Chelsea, Manchester United and Liverpool guarenteed Champions League football with weeks to spare, but the final game decided 4th position. Whether it will go to Tottenham in 4th, with 1 point lead over 5th place (and local rivals) Arsenal.

Tottenham were favourites to hold on. What with the point advantage and the (statistically) easier game. However, the night before the game, after a buffet lunch, 9 of the first team squad fell ill with a bout of food poisioning. The games went on as planned. West Ham beat Tottenham, whilst Arsenal beat Wigan. As such, Arsenal took fourth place in front of Tottenham.

Of course, the less reputable papers are having a field day with this, shouting "conspiracy!" and things like that, but I don't believe it is. Food poisoning is very easy to catch, and it's over just as soon as it's started.

I think people want to believe things. The ideal story would be Thierry Henry sneaking into the hotel and poisioning Edgar Davids and co, as everybody loves a good conspiracy theory. Why do you think the Daily Express reports still reports about Diana? Because we like a conspiracy theory, and also some people cannot seem to accept that she died in a car crash.

I don't know when I am going with it, it was a nice twist to the end of a fairly dull season (Chelsea's dominance is getting a bit boring now), and hopefully some justice will come from this. Tottenham have taken some tests on the food, and - seeing there's no foul play - they will probably launch some action against the FA (for loss of revenue, as The FA didn't cancel the game like they should of. More bumbling from the FA eh?). That being said, the UEFA Cup could be a blessing in disguise for Tottenham, with such a strong team, I wager a guess they will do awesomely in it.

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