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- We learned a lot, we’ll continue to develop our players, and the future looks bright
By Tony Attwood
There is an interesting headline in the Telegraph today that reads “Tottenham stars and Erling Haaland poke fun at Arsenal after Champions League final defeat”.
Interesting because generally speaking, it is considered somewhat ill-mannered for a “professional” (although I use the word lightly here) to make fun of another professional when he has suffered ill-fortune. Although, of course, different rules apply to different clubs.
And I suppose that doesn’t really apply to Tottenham because, well, ill-fortune is pretty much what they have. Or at least the excuse that they make. It is hard to know what success is like if you don’t get any.
Tottenham have, for example, finished 17th in the league in the last two seasons. Arsenal have also finished 17th in the top division, although not for 50 years. The time before that, when they finished in the lower part of the league, was 1924/5. Which I think was over 100 years ago, according to my calculator.
Still, I suppose when a club is in a position as bad as Tottenham, then laughing at the opposition 50 and 101 years before is more or less all one can do. Tottenham have won the league twice, of course, and they must be congratulated for that, although it is interesting that Arsenal have won the league 14 times, which I think is 700% more often. They have also won the FA Cup 14 times (Tottenham have had it eight times, which once again seems to be some way behind).
Mind you, I am not too sure if winning these Euro titles is that worthwhile as we see the headlines today, such as this from the BBC
Hundreds arrested and dozens of police injured after Champions League riots in France
which comes along with the news that
“A total of 219 people have been injured in clashes between football fans and police across France after Paris Saint-Germain (PSG) won the Champions League final against Arsenal.
“Eight were in a serious condition, Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez said. Thousands of officers were deployed to curb unrest that disrupted bus, train and rail services in the capital, Paris. Fifty-seven of them were injured.
“Nuñez said 780 people had been arrested over the violence, with more than 450 in custody. A person was found dead after an accident on Paris’s ring road, which rioters tried to block overnight.”
Of course, this sort of event does put a bit of a strain on local resources and causes the taxpayers to pay up quite a bit more cash. Reports suggest that around 6,000 police officers were “mobilised” for Sunday’s victory parade, which was apparently being held around the Eiffel Tower.
Obviously, this is no fault of Uefa and Fifa because they have told everyone that no matter what any football fans get up to anywhere at any time, it is not their issue to deal with and they cannot be held responsible. So there. Of course, not being held responsible is an issue that has yet to be tested in a French court. Everyone knew there would be a riot if the French team won, so maybe there was some responsibility somewhere.
The interior minister said, “We allow freedom of assembly, but not excesses,” and it may be time for the authorities in Paris to call it a day, since they had a lot of trouble last year when PSG won the trophy.
One of the problems comes with flares being set off, and electric bikes being set on fire, with shop fronts also being smashed in. So far, it seems the police have made 500 arrests. It seems that some of these French people can be awfully naughty at times. Still, I am sure they know what they are doing.
The rioting is being fully reported on the Telegraph website, but we can also see thatv the paper will never let go of its absolute dislike of Arsenal, as it now runs headlines such as
I am not quite sure how that headline fits in with the events of Sunday afternoon but I am sure the Telegraph writers have everything under control and fully balanced.
