Warm welcome to Blackpool’s poor, plucky donkeys

PUblished: 19 August, 2010
THE CROW

ARSENAL
IF you look at the Premiership table, Arsenal are above Tottenham AS-PER-USUAL, but they are below Blackpool. I like that.

It’s not as if I want Blackpool to win the league or anything. No, no, they must not under any circumstances actually finish the season above Arsenal. 

Put me down instead as a member of the patronising media clique offering simpering congratulatory pats on backs to the Premiership new boys while knowing their “footballing adventure” will probably end in tears.

So, for the moment it’s well done Blackpool, little Blackpool, little tiny penniless Blackpool. 

In a couple of years they will be like Hull City, back in the lower leagues and getting thrashed by Millwall, their tussles with the big teams all but forgotten. For now, however, it’s a fairy tale we’re ­happy to embrace as long – and this is the very important bit – as they don’t beat Arsenal. 

We’re happy for Blackpool to be everybody’s second team and to lord it all over Tottenham, who are officially in the bottom half of the table. But there will be no more kind words if the Tangerines were somehow to win at the Emirates on Saturday. Heck, even if they draw, it will be because they are long-ball, over-physical, disrespecting bullies. Only one scoreline is acceptable.
RICHARD OSLEY 

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TOTTENHAM HOTSPUR
ALL over the country fans descend like wildlife fresh from a three-month hibernation, in watering holes that have been as empty as the stadiums they surround.

They are laden with new songs, renewed hope, a costly new kit and the harsh realisation that over the next nine months, household chores will not be done! The Premier League is back. 

Now, when I heard £200,000 a week, I wondered if a nurse had discovered a cure for cancer. But no. Yaya Toure had just signed for Manchester City! 

I ask you, is this really progress or are we just ­saving ourselves for more trauma and heartache as the game we love implodes on itself? 

The old adage “don’t hate the player hate the game” comes to mind, but we can’t do that because it’s our game. The very fabric is being pulled from under us by mercenaries who have as much ­loyalty as a temp does for a new office! 

l Most important game for decades and Spurs pull their usual trick of taking supporters through an emotional minefield. Ecstatic 

Arsenal fans (with free texts) thought Christmas had come early when we were losing 3-0 against Young Boys in our Champions League qualifier. Thankfully Harry made changes and earned his wages. Let’s see what happens on a proper pitch on Wednesday. 
TONY DALLAS