Langer Dan
09-05-2006, 01:58 PM
THE LATEST FROM THE LANE
If the national papers are to be believed, Tottenham Hotspur are just a few days away from calling on Red Adair, the United Nations and the Thunderbirds to come up with some way of getting them into the Champions League.
Having apparently realised that a legal challenge to the Premier League was the most ridiculous idea since employing Gerry Francis, Spurs' latest tactic, according to The Daily Telegraph, is to petition other Premier League chairmen to back them when they demand that the game is replayed.
The Telegraph reports that 'Levy is understood to have begun contacting fellow chairmen to put pressure on the League's chief executive Richard Scudamore to get a replay.'
The White Hart Lane club are also becoming more concerned with the possibility of deliberate sabotage after apparently realising that not all of the ten players affected ate the same meal on Saturday night.
'The idea of an Arsenal supporter penetrating the hotel's kitchens in an effort to derail their north London rivals in their quest for Champions League football is considered fanciful in the extreme,' says the Telegraph. 'But if it is eventually proved that the players were poisoned then the level of sophistication required to carry off such a crime would lead many to point the finger at a betting scam.'
The sums of money riding on the game will have been enormous in the Far East, and the infamous incident of floodlight tampering in 1999's game between Charlton and Liverpool will mean the FA are vigilant about the possibility of such a scandal.
A 'club insider' apparently told the Telegraph: "We had 25-30 people dine there and the only people affected were the players. That is too much of a coincidence. People are thinking in terms of sabotage."
A Premier League spokesman said: "If someone has done something like that and there is hard and fast evidence, not internet chat rooms, then clearly it's something that not just ourselves but everyone in the game should be concerned about."
Spurs are also considering the possibility that the players were suffering from a virus rather than food poisoning. Results of tests will let them know either way later in the week.
Id say their chances of a replay are up there with getting struck by a meteorite riding donkey.
If the national papers are to be believed, Tottenham Hotspur are just a few days away from calling on Red Adair, the United Nations and the Thunderbirds to come up with some way of getting them into the Champions League.
Having apparently realised that a legal challenge to the Premier League was the most ridiculous idea since employing Gerry Francis, Spurs' latest tactic, according to The Daily Telegraph, is to petition other Premier League chairmen to back them when they demand that the game is replayed.
The Telegraph reports that 'Levy is understood to have begun contacting fellow chairmen to put pressure on the League's chief executive Richard Scudamore to get a replay.'
The White Hart Lane club are also becoming more concerned with the possibility of deliberate sabotage after apparently realising that not all of the ten players affected ate the same meal on Saturday night.
'The idea of an Arsenal supporter penetrating the hotel's kitchens in an effort to derail their north London rivals in their quest for Champions League football is considered fanciful in the extreme,' says the Telegraph. 'But if it is eventually proved that the players were poisoned then the level of sophistication required to carry off such a crime would lead many to point the finger at a betting scam.'
The sums of money riding on the game will have been enormous in the Far East, and the infamous incident of floodlight tampering in 1999's game between Charlton and Liverpool will mean the FA are vigilant about the possibility of such a scandal.
A 'club insider' apparently told the Telegraph: "We had 25-30 people dine there and the only people affected were the players. That is too much of a coincidence. People are thinking in terms of sabotage."
A Premier League spokesman said: "If someone has done something like that and there is hard and fast evidence, not internet chat rooms, then clearly it's something that not just ourselves but everyone in the game should be concerned about."
Spurs are also considering the possibility that the players were suffering from a virus rather than food poisoning. Results of tests will let them know either way later in the week.
Id say their chances of a replay are up there with getting struck by a meteorite riding donkey.