The Hoddle of Coffee: Tottenham Hotspur news and links for Thursday, September 5

Hi, everyone!

Happy Thursday, or as Jeremy Renner might say, happy Thrennsday!

Ramble of the Day

It started off so innocently. Late in the afternoon yesterday, I saw a tweet sent by someone fooling around on the infamous Jeremy Renner app.

It all just seemed like plain fun, and perhaps it was. There’s a pretty dramatic follow up, though, and that’s truly where this story begins.

In a most horrible twist of events, the Jeremy Renner app has officially died. Renner issued a message from his official account on his own app, saying that people were impersonating him and others on the app. The news is more devastatingly delivered with the use of the Bradley Hand font, increasing the cringe factor in a way only Renner can.

Still, though, this begs the question: Could things really get so dramatically difficult on an app seemingly designed for people who like Jeremy Renner to talk about how much they like Jeremy Renner? Apparently, they can, and they did back in 2017 before the app’s first relaunch.

In a pice for The Ringer two years ago, Kate Knibbs revealed some of the drama. The article itself is worth a read, but to quickly point things out, people had complained that the app had become a space where no negativity could be shared, and that fans were not truly getting recognition for their dedication. Take, for example, the outcome of a contest for a fan to visit Renner on the set of an Avengers movie:

Some fans, however, became furious about the outcome of the contest. They feel that the contest was rigged in the winner’s favor. Some users also took umbrage because the “set visit” ultimately took place at Renner’s home rather than on the set of the film, which they believed was false advertising. What’s more, users grew even angrier when the winner claimed that she hadn’t actually gone to Jeremy Renner’s home, but then Jeremy Renner explained that she had gone to his home.

I don’t know how bad things got for Renner to shut down the app — I am hoping we eventually get a great journalistic piece about it. Still, this most important but totally unexpected update proves that the Jeremy Renner world is more interesting than I’d have guessed.

tl;dr: The Jeremy Renner app is dead, and is also pretty dramatic.

Links of the Day

Hull City’s Angus MacDonald has been diagnosed with bowel cancer.

Former Germany defender Christoph Metzelder is being investigated for spreading child pornography.

The National Health Service is running mental health sessions for Bury fans after the club’s expulsion from the Football League.

Vera Pauw is the new manager of the Ireland women’s national team.

Gustavo Matosas has resigned as the Costa Rica men’s national team manager as he feels “unproductive” in between international breaks.

Today’s longer read: Sid Lowe on Málaga’s inability to sign Shinji Okazaki and the club’s troubling state for The Guardian