The Hoddle of Coffee: Tottenham Hotspur news and links for Thursday, October 10

Hey, everyone!

Do you ever think about how it’s difficult to tell how weird the Hoddle might get just by looking at it because I always stick a normal picture at the top?

Ramble of the Day

Very early yesterday, I had a thought: Truly, what would it say about me if I just let Coleen Rooney’s takedown of Rebekah Vardy come and go without a ramble about it while I was in charge of the Hoddle? It was an easy question to answer, considering my known like for a good cultural moment, particularly one based in football but found itself enjoyed by audiences who know little to nothing about its subjects.

See, it would say a bad thing about me not just considering that, but also considering what Rooney actually managed. It would be disrespectful of me to not take a little bit of time out of my day to respect the lengths and efforts she went to. It might be an easy thing to have a suspicion, and may also be to try to prove one person guilty or innocent. It’s the small details (that ended up being large, like faking a gender selection trip to Mexico) that really showed off her skill.

What is perhaps just as good as Rooney showing off that skillset is the almost universal admiration she’s received. After stereotypes of footballers’ spouses became well-established, Rooney has become well-known to the relevant audiences. Of course, she’s asked us for our attention — quick checks on her Wikipedia page and her Instagram profile prove as much. Yet, Rooney’s probably dealt with a bit more stick than she’s earned, and we’ve all probably learned more about her private woes than we should have. For once, she’s making headlines for living in her own unique place, but is an agent in the story being told. It may be her lasting public moment.

Considering her public profile and the general dislike of those in that line of business, it might be easy to discourage the attention paid to this particular story. A few practical notes first, though: Rooney’s accusing Rebekah Vardy of a despicable thing; and the court of public opinion very quickly agreed that we should be paying attention (and that Rooney was excellent in her work). That court of opinion has extended to people fully outside of the footballing audience, and that group of people has proved hard to get in accord in such a quick fashion.

In truth, Rooney created a cultural moment that didn’t just get Twitter buzzing, but earned her not one but two articles from The New York Times. She created the biggest football social media moment since Samir Nasri’s Drip Doctors incident — and that didn’t get coverage Rooney did. Plus, she wrote a very, very good kicker:

tl;dr: Coleen Rooney deserves that universal appreciation she’s getting.

Links of the Day

Fleetwood Town manager Joey Barton has pleased not guilty to assaulting Barnsley manager Daniel Stendel, and will now face trial.

Tigres will ban the fan who groped the Houston Dash’s Sofia Huerta after a friendly over the weekend.

Real Sociedad manager Xabi Alonso has appeared in a Spanish court to face charges of tax fraud.

Chelsea technical director Petr Čech has decided to pursue hockey, joining semiprofessional side Guildford Phoenix.

Today’s longer read: Suzanne Wrack on Phil Neville’s recent run of bad form with England and his difficulty handling criticism for The Guardian