The Hoddle of Coffee: Tottenham Hotspur news and links for Tuesday, April 2

Hi, Hoddlers!

I’d like to apologize to Queens Park Rangers fans in advance, but I am very excited by this development:

Ramble of the Day

On Instagram the other day, I got a recommended follow: Lewis Holtby. Now, Instagram has been throwing suggestions at me for a long time in a game of sorts: they recommend a footballer or team, I press the “x” next to the name because I don’t want to follow, and then they come back with someone else. I suppose they finally got around to finding Holtby’s name and sticking it somewhere I could see, but it was no matter. I pressed “x” again.

I ended up telling my sisters about how Instagram gave me this recommendation, and my older sister quickly asked me what Holtby was up to. “I don’t know,” I told her. “I ignored the suggestion.” She was slightly disappointed, so I made it a point to check on Holtby after that conversation.

His Instagram isn’t particularly noteworthy; he’s a normal person with normal interests, like his job, his family, his girlfriend, and travel. There was a link in his bio, so I clicked on it. Turns out the former Tottenham player recorded a song with Hamburg based group Elvis & Pape called “Hurrikan.” It is not about Harry Kane.

This isn’t an effort based solely in Holtby’s interest in a different line of work; the money spent to buy the song would be donated to the Sternenbrücke Children’s Hospice in Hamburg. The music video showcases some of the work they do at the hospice, and also shows Holtby very slowly writing and signing a large check for the hospice. I couldn’t find the full lyrics, but the song takes the inspirational tone one would expect, per a profile of Holtby by Kai Schiller for the Hamburger Abendblatt.

If you’re trying to figure out which voice is Holtby’s and/or if he’s got singing chops, the music video won’t be much help unless you’re familiar with Elvis and Pape. The video doesn’t take the traditional format of music videos that at least partly feature the singer(s) singing (lip-syncing) the songs, which is fine for this particular video. But you’re curious, anyway. I don’t blame you. This should answer your question:

Holtby gets a small section in this song, but he’s not so bad, is he? I’m probably not the greatest judge, but I’m not offended by what I heard. Good for you, Lewis; you put yourself out there and didn’t embarrass yourself. In fact, you ended up with a crowd of screaming people upon your arrival on a stage, which is definitely some sort of accomplishment.

Perhaps most importantly, though, Holtby used his platform to garner some attention for an organization that’s deserving of it.

tl;dr: Lewis Holtby sings a little, and for good reason.

Links of the Day

Bolton Wanderers players are refusing to train for 48 hours after the club’s other staff were not paid timely for the second month in a row.

Phil Neville thinks clubs in England should allow their women’s teams to play in the larger stadiums their men’s teams usually do.

Former Queens Park Rangers manager Ian Holloway said “what goes around comes around” after the club fired Steve McClaren on Monday.

Today’s longer read: Alex Isaboke on a day in the life of Victor Wanyama for Capital FM Kenya