Elite London cup Competition (but not for all London teams)

 

Elite London cup Competition (but not for all London teams)

The club have announced a pre-season London tournament with two rivals but excludes the likes of the Spammers, Charlton, Brentford etc. Even though this is a charity game, it is still billed as a London Cup competition, but not for all London Clubs. A bit like the Superleague, you can only be in it if you are a rich club and part of the elite.

Yes, we have confirmed that we have arranged pre-season friendlies with both Arsenal and Chelsea at the start of August, but not with any other London club. We have signed, along with the other two, for a three-team tournament, with the funds raised from the series set to be split between Mind and the clubs' respective foundations.

We will face Chelsea at Stamford Bridge on Wednesday, August 4 (7.45 pm) and then host Arsenal at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium on August 8 (2 pm). Then seven days later, we will face Manchester City on August 15 for our first game of the season. Who our manager will be, or which side Harry Kane is on, is a moot question (at this moment in time), but I have no doubt it will be sorted by the start of the season (well, I bloody hope so!).

The other match in the tournament will see Chelsea and Arsenal facing each other at the Emirates Stadium on August 1 (3 pm).

Where the money will go

Five pounds from each ticket sold will support charitable projects, with Mind receiving 25 per cent of proceeds from each of the three matches in the series. On top of that, each club's foundation will receive 75 per cent of profits from that club's respective home match. That is profits; I bet there will be some very creative book keepings going on (just saying!).

Thoughts

When I heard about this competition, my first thoughts were, will I be allowed to go to away matches (I will obviously go to the home ones)? As this has been classified as a London Cup Competition (official or unofficial), I would have expected the other London clubs to have participated as well.

I also imagine that the clubs will have a weak squad and will use the time to try out youngsters. So even if Kane is still playing for us, I doubt he will be in the team for those games.

This must be the most shambolic start to any season we've had for a long time. The last time I can remember when things were so chaotic was when we built a new stand, and the ground wasn't ready for the start of the season. It was against Coventry, and I had travelled up to London in the morning for the game, then it was suddenly cancelled (which annoyed many fans who had travelled). The only good thing that came out of it was that I managed to buy three cancelled programmes for that match. If I remember correctly, Tottenham got fined. I am pretty sure it was in the 80s. Oh, I also remember the 1987 Cup final (against, funnily enough, Coventry); when the team came out of the tunnel, half the Spurs kit didn't have the sponsored names on it. There were plenty of jokes in the paper and such (we were sponsored by Holstein at the time). I believe the kit manager got the sack (well, they had to sack somebody).

God knows what this season will bring us! But we are Spurs and will cheer the team on (unless it goes horribly wrong on the field, and then the boos will start to take over).

Be safe and take care, Glenn

COYS!