It’s Going To Be A Blue Day
‘IN the hunt for football stories to fill the back pages, the hacks sometimes trip over themselves in the dash to get the scoop.
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| The new Hernan Crespo? |
So today we have the Mail telling its readers that Arsenal have just singed Ajaxs Tunisian right back Hatem Trabelsi for £4m and the Express telling us that Sir Bobby Robson of Newcastle is just about to secure the services of the same player.
This Trabelsi lad is either very talented and remarkably fit or else the papers have got themselves in a muddle.
And this is often the way with football stories you can never know whats really going on until its happened.
For instance, although the Sun leads with LETS GET GERRARD, the news is not that Arsenal are gunning for the Liverpool player but that they might try to sign him if Patrick Vieira moves to Real Madrid.
The only certainty is that Chelsea have put their considerable wealth where their managers considerable mouth is and just signed Didier Drogba for £23.2m, making him the most expensive striker in English football history.
At any other club than the Blues this price tag would place a huge burden on the Ivory Coast man, but at Chelsea hes just another big money player in an ocean of cash.
Even after getting Drogba from Marseilles, Chelsea still have £8m left over to sign midfielder Tiago from Benfica, and in so doing take their spending this summer to £70m more than the rest of the Premiership has spent on players together.
Which should all mean that Chelsea will win the title and much else besides.
But they will also need some luck. Even a team with millions in the bank still needs a slice of good fortune at the right time.
Just look at Todd Hamilton, the new Open golf champion, whos telling the Mirror about his lucky charms.
Yesterday we learnt that Hamiltons success was guaranteed after a chance meeting with a priest called Jason.
Today we hear that, just in case Jasons prayers failed, Hamilton took a few other steps.
For instance, while performing on the less glamorous courses in India and Pakistan, Hamilton ate water buffalo in Calcutta. This, apparently, steeled him for victory at Royal Troon.
But his triumph was also aided by the seven lucky coins he kept in his pocket during the entire Open championship, including a one-dollar poker chip, a one dollar coin, a coin with a picture of the famous claret jug on it and a Japanese coin.
Chelseas players may like to take a leaf out of Hamiltons book and get themselves some lucky coins. Or, failing that, a nice fat cheque every week…’
Posted: 20th, July 2004 | In: Back pages Comment | TrackBack | Permalink
