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Lasagne Gate MK2
Tottenham deny food poisoning outbreak but Harry Kane falls ill ahead of Norwich trip.
Tottenham have played down reports of food poisoning in the squad ahead of Sunday's crucial trip to Norwich to decide the top-four race.
Rumours circulated on social media on Friday, aided in part by Match of the Day pundit Gary Lineker, that illness had spread through the squad ahead of the final match of the Premier League season.
The speculation would have set alarms bells off among the Spurs fanbase, triggering memories of 'Lasagne-gate' 16 years ago, when many players were struck down by illness on the eve of a trip to West Ham.
Spurs lost that game in May 2006 as Arsenal beat Wigan to leapfrog their rivals into fourth and deny them a first ever qualification for the Champions League.
Antonio Conte's side need just a point at Carrow Road on Sunday to finish above Arsenal and Standard Sport understands reports of widespread illness are incorrect, though Harry Kane is a doubt.
The striker has been forced to cancel an event on Friday evening in light of feeling unwell, and will be assessed ahead of the trip.
Tottenham have played down reports of food poisoning in the squad ahead of Sunday's crucial trip to Norwich to decide the top-four race.
Rumours circulated on social media on Friday, aided in part by Match of the Day pundit Gary Lineker, that illness had spread through the squad ahead of the final match of the Premier League season.
The speculation would have set alarms bells off among the Spurs fanbase, triggering memories of 'Lasagne-gate' 16 years ago, when many players were struck down by illness on the eve of a trip to West Ham.
Spurs lost that game in May 2006 as Arsenal beat Wigan to leapfrog their rivals into fourth and deny them a first ever qualification for the Champions League.
Antonio Conte's side need just a point at Carrow Road on Sunday to finish above Arsenal and Standard Sport understands reports of widespread illness are incorrect, though Harry Kane is a doubt.
The striker has been forced to cancel an event on Friday evening in light of feeling unwell, and will be assessed ahead of the trip.
Comments
Clutching at Straws, Part 6?
6th year in a row...
Forever in Our Shadow
How many times have Spurs finished above Arsenal?
In the 29 seasons of the Premier League, Tottenham have finished above Arsenal on seven occasions. Arsenal finished above Tottenham for 21 successive league campaigns, stretching from the 1995-96 season, up until the 15-16 season. That streak was broken in the 16-17 season, when Arsenal fell out of the top four, while Tottenham finished in second.
“The great fallacy is that the game is first and last about winning. It’s nothing of the kind. The game is about glory. It is about doing things in style, with a flourish, about going out and beating the other lot, not waiting for them to die of boredom.”
Or Arsenal:-
"1-0 to the Arsenal"
You'll have to forgive me. All those bland Arsenal teams don't resonate. I remember Charlie George. I remember Liam Brady. I remember Thierry Henry. I remember a lot of good Defenders. I remember when you used to have the better team. 6 years ago.
But I don't remember Glory.
The "1-0 to the Arsenal" got the job done at the time, as did Wenger's attacking/entertaining 'Glory Football'.
I know you like a quiz question so who were the first London Club to win the League and F.A Cup double ?
Thank goodness we only need a point-3 would be frightening.
Arsenal surprised me at Newcastle-what a time for a performance like that. Losing is 1 thing, but that was spineless.
I think next season will be important for both clubs-I suspect Conti will find a reason to flounce off, and I think Arsenal can do better than Ickle Mikel. He falls out with too many players.
Fortunately, I think Man Utd are heading for another grim season-their new Manager seems to be after a whole load of players, but not necessarily the right ones. Chelsea are going to be weaker thanks to the turmoils surrounding ownership, but even so may well finish above us both. Meanwhile, various other clubs are spending big.
Most entertaining Arsenal Manager? Seriously, Bertie Mee. Best I have seen? Wenger. By a mile. Your lot treated him nearly as badly as we did Bill Nich.
I assume it is Spurs in 1961?
Who was in North London first: Arsenal or Spurs?
Look, let me start by saying I really don’t mind what the answer to the question is, but I think it’s important in these post-truth times to maintain some historical accuracy.
Many Spurs fans, for obvious reasons, resent Arsenal moving to North London and becoming more successful than them, and in their eyes cheating Spurs out of a place in Division 1 in 1919, on the resumption of football after World War 1. I’m not going to go into that subject here, but obviously the allegations of bribery and corruption against Arsenal and all those associated with club are completely unfounded. If anyone, Spurs fan or otherwise, wants to accuse Arsenal of any offence in 1919 then please provide some form of evidence.
However, Spurs fans have not had a lot going for them in recent decades, so the circumstances of Spurs being relegated while Arsenal were promoted in 1919, then Arsenal becoming the biggest club in the world in the 1930s, and finally the modern Spurs fan having to watch Arsenal’s numerous trophy wins has caused some negative emotions in many Spurs fans – I won’t say all; I’ve met Spurs fans who are perfectly reasonable. But without any trophies to speak of for several decades some of them like to cling to the mantra of “Well at least we were in North London first”. The problem with this argument is that it’s not true, because the boundary of London has changed.
A quick history lesson: London was already a city in medieval times when the Normans organised England and Wales into counties. In the south of England counties were largely existing divisions of the old Kingdom of Wessex, including Middlesex (named after the ‘Middle Saxons’ who settled there a few centuries earlier). Henry I granted control of Middlesex to London, and until the late 19th century London and Middlesex were administered together for most purposes.
‘London’ at this time was strictly speaking what we now know as the City of London, also known simply as ‘the City’ or the ‘square mile’, and largely taken over these days by the financial industry. In earlier times people actually lived in the City of London of course, but eventually most migrated to the growing urban sprawl outside the old City walls, leaving the City mostly for business. As time went on ‘London’ gobbled up its surrounding villages and became bigger and bigger, though officially London was still just the old area of the City within its medieval boundary.
In 1886 – coincidentally Arsenal’s founding year – the Conservatives won a general election, but without enough seats for a majority. They allied themselves with the Liberal Unionists, who agreed to support the Tories in exchange for certain policies being implemented, one of which was reorganisation of local government. Accordingly, new county administrations were implemented under the Local Government Act of 1888, including the formation of a new County of London from 21 March 1889.
The County of London was made up of the City itself and a large number of districts surrounding it on both sides of the River Thames. In 1900 the old local districts and parishes and their administrative councils were reorganised into 28 Metropolitan Boroughs, including Chelsea, Fulham, Woolwich (one of the largest in area) and Islington – which of course includes Highbury. So both Arsenal’s home (south of the river) at the time of the formation of the new county and the home they moved to in 1913 were within the official new London. Tottenham remained in Middlesex, where it had been ever since its formation as a small hamlet about 1,000 years ago.
Just to be 100% clear: Woolwich, where Arsenal was formed, was in the County of London. Islington, where Arsenal moved to, was in the County of London. Tottenham was never in the County of London.
Things stayed this way from 1900 to 1965, when London’s increasing size necessitated further reorganisation. Under the London Government Act 1963 a new ‘Greater London’ was formed around the County of London, which then disappeared and became known as ‘Inner London’. Tottenham became part of the new borough of Haringey, and for the first time part of (Greater) London.
The county of Middlesex disappeared, mostly into Greater London, with odd bits going into other surrounding counties. The name Middlesex lives on as a postal district and the name of a county cricket club.
So Tottenham only became part of London in 1965, on the (rather appropriate) date of April 1st. What this means of course is that they’ve never won the League as a London club, and Arsenal were the first London club to do the Double! And also the second and third.
To emphasise that last paragraph, here’s the Wikipedia page for the Municipal Borough of Tottenham that features a map titled “Tottenham within Middlesex in 1961”. I’ve added this as at least one Spurs fan in the comments below seemed to think that when Tottenham became a borough in the 1890s it stopped being part of Middlesex. No such luck for him, as Tottenham could not get out of Middlesex and into the capital with Arsenal for another 70 years.
And Exhibit B, Jimmy Greaves’ contract from when he signed for Spurs in 1961. As you can see it plainly states that Tottenham is in Middlesex.
After I’d written this another Spurs fan materialised to claim that Tottenham has been part of London since 1857! Obviously he is wrong. It is true that the ‘London postal district’, which included everything within about 12 miles of St Paul’s, was instigated in 1857, but that was just for the Post Office. It included Tottenham, but also various places that were and still remain in Surrey and other counties. Nothing whatsoever to do with when any boundaries changed or new administrations were formed. Straw-clutching. If straw-clutching were an Olympic event the Totts would win every time.
For further detail please do a web search for London Government Act 1963, Middlesex, Local Government Act 1888, etc. It’s all out there.
Lots of what is unquestionably London (as well as some with dual identity) was also formerly part of other ceremonial counties as well.
Let's take what was once Essex, as an example. Once upon a time, the boundary between Essex and London used to be the River Lea. 5 of the London Boroughs are technically traditionally Essex-That area comprises the Greater London boroughs of Barking and Dagenham, Havering, Newham, Redbridge, and Waltham Forest.
By your reckoning, West Ham is part of Essex. As is Stratford, where West Ham play now. I would not recommend that you go to Canning Town, or Custom House, and tell them they are not really Londoners.
8 of the 32 London Boroughs used to be part of Middlesex, including Haringey. That was the 2nd tranche to be moved from Middlesex to London-the first, of course, included Highbury and Islington.
The 1919 vote? Quite possibly the most shameful episode in Arsenal's history.
In 1914 the bottom 2 were Chelsea and Spurs. The only reason Chelsea were in the bottom 2 was because Man Utd had bribed 4 Liverpool players to throw the last game of the season.
On 1919, the League was to expand from 20-22 teams. The initial debate was whether to keep Chelsea/Spurs, or to promote 3rd/4th from Division 2-Barnsley and Wolves. For some unfathomable reason, there was a "free vote" as to who was to accompany Chelsea. Arsenal, who had come 6th in Division 2, won the vote.
No-one has ever proved that the then-Chairman (who was also Chairman of Fulham, and a Tory MP) bribed anyone. Just 2 facts suggest that this may have been the case:-
1. How else could this have happened? It wasn't Barnsley, who finished 3rd-it was Arsenal, 6th
2. That same Arsenal Chairman was banned from football for life for making various under-the-counter bribes in 1925.
Which is the origin of-
"Same old Arsenal. Always cheating."
There was a lifelong Spurs fan called Morris Keston. In the 1970s he was friends with many Spurs players, including Terry Venables. Through him, he became friends with the then-Arsenal player, George Graham.
Both Keston and Graham were superstitious and, due to previous Derbies, believed that if the 2 met the day before a Derby, Arsenal would win.
One year, Keston avoided his friend all day. Late that evening, there was a ring on the bell at Keston's home. His unsympathetic wife let George Graham in. He searches the flat, and eventually realised that Keston was hiding in the loo.
Graham stood on a chair, looked through the small window, and announced that he had spotted him, and Arsenal would now win.
And they did.
anyway HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA to all you arsenal fans how ur wickle unsuccesful club doing looks like my spurs own you again Ever since I became a spurs fan (2 minutes ago) all we have ever done is own you pathetic club. hahahahaha.