The Hoddle of Coffee: Tottenham Hotspur news and links for Friday, December 4

Hello, all!

It’s a strange sport that we all care so deeply for.

Ramble of the Day

Today marks my third Hoddle-versary, and I’ve made a habit at this point of looking up the traditional anniversary gifts on Wikipedia. Turns out, year three is traditionally leather and in modern times glass or crystal. It’s probably worth mentioning that while procrastinating on this Hoddle, I am looking at leather goods from a website that sells stationary and office supplies. Why? I’ve always liked stationary and these things, but I’m not going to buy any of it. I don’t need anything. I’m just looking.

What I really wanted to talk about is glass, because its inclusion on this list almost instantly made me think of Harry Kane. The parallel is probably obvious. Like glass, he is fairly valuable and over the last few years, he has been just as fragile. Like a gift, he has been in wonderful condition this season. I really hope I did not just jinx it. It seems pretty clear José Mourinho was fibbing when discussing Kane’s fitness for yesterday’s game, but if he wasn’t, then I couldn’t have jinxed it because I didn’t think glass until after the game.

I really need Kane to make it through Sunday’s game in one piece now, don’t I? Though I could get away with this possible jinx if no one reads this; after all, no one reads the articles, right?

Whether you do or you don’t, I’d just like to thank you all for checking in as often as you do. I enjoy the work the Hoddle takes, but what I love is that the Hoddle is a meeting ground for our group of Tottenham supporters. Here’s to another year of our virtual meetings, and hopefully a team that doesn’t give us too much grief as conversation topics.

tl;dr: It’s my third anniversary writing the Hoddle, and that happens to be the glass anniversary, and that reminded me of Harry Kane. (Plus, a thank you for coming to the Hoddle as often as you do!)

Stay informed, watch this: CBS’ Kate Abdo on Stéphanie Frappart being the first woman to referee a men’s Champions League game and the importance of women breaking into male-dominated industries

Links of the Day

EFL clubs will have access to a £250m loan fund during the coronavirus pandemic, which they will have to repay by June 2024.

England’s National Football Museum committed to having equal representation of the men’s and women’s games by 2022.

The Premier League adopted the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s definition of anti-Semitism.

A longer read: Suzanne Wrack interviews Kelly Simmons, the FA’s director of the women’s professional game, on being banned from the game as a child and growing the game in England for The Guardian