The Hoddle of Coffee: Tottenham Hotspur news and links for Thursday, December 26

Hi, Hoddlers!

I got a t-shirt that says rambler on it for Christmas. I’d wear it every time I rambled, but I don’t want to wear the thing five days a week.

Ramble of the Day

Christmas day can be an adventure for many; in my family, it meant first finding out we didn’t have wifi, then making a mess opening presents, followed by tea spilling all over a tablecloth, a nail cutter going missing, the nail cutter being found in the washing machine with the tablecloth, and then later finding a plastic fork and knife in said washing machine. Other people have less chaotic stories, but sagas that oversee a great battle. The following is the beginning of that story.

It’s a tweet thread, with a football/mother and daughter Christmas story that would make for a terrific Christmas film. (Netflix should option the rights.) I’m obviously not going to copy and paste all the tweets, but it’s a lot of fun — there’s a reference to Gareth Bale and a VAR moment; it’s a classic power struggle told through a new lens.

tl;dr: Just read the tweet thread.

Links of the Day

Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta said Granit Xhaka has a future with the club.

A match in Tanzania was halted after a group of bees swarmed the stadium.

Today’s longer read: Tariq Panja on Qatar’s integration of beer during the Club World Cup and an undecided public for The New York Times