The Hoddle of Coffee: Tottenham Hotspur news and links for Wednesday, May 6

Hi, everyone!

Today at the top is former Tottenham midfielder Ossie Ardiles. Now, here’s Phil Foden’s kid.

Ramble of the Day

Back in the beginning of inside time, I went down a rabbit hole of videos that I am ashamed to admit I have so far failed to return to: Architectural Digest’s Open Door series on YouTube, where they visit celebrity homes. It began after my younger sister showed me the video with Dakota Johnson’s lovely home, but the two of watched a ton and stopped either for New York-based homes or people we thought might be interesting.

I watched a number, but didn’t get very far. I saw Maria Sharapova’s home, which I felt didn’t quite mesh well. Kerry Washington’s home was nice, but not her permanent dwelling (she was in New York during a Broadway run) so it didn’t truly fit the task. Michael Kors’s New York penthouse is not nearly as interesting as Kors himself, who is both pretentious and hilarious while going through his sunglasses collection while wearing sunglasses indoors. Of the ones I watched, though, Maggie Gyllenhaal and Peter Sarsgaard’s Brooklyn place sticks out the most.

All of these videos achieve a similar vibe of light and relaxing, with the famous people only changing it slightly because of their personalities (but only so much, at least in the videos I’ve watched). In a rare move (please consider yesterday’s Hoddle about “Summer Girls”), I’m talking about something that is not off the wall ridiculous. I think they stand out because they have the most normal (for rich and famous people) home of the videos I watched.

It wasn’t something they built from the ground up, and there’s a random aesthetic that is just cohesive enough (in both cases, unlike Sharapova’s home). The customization is very clearly on the inside, which tends to be the case for most of us, and then that’s where Gyllenhaal and Sarsgaard’s evident money shows up: they have a projector in the roof of their living room, a wall partially of craft paper, and four fireplaces. Their kitchen is randomly in their basement, and is definitely unique as a result. They remind you every now and again of the normal parts of living — their house isn’t messy or cluttered, but they clearly have stuff and neither of their bathrooms are particularly large. (This tends to be the one thing I look for in the homes of the rich and/or famous.) In fact, the other rooms are only relatively large, not opulent (which makes sense for a New York home, but even then, it’s slightly unglamorous).

I think I just found their very tame version of celebrity quite fascinating. I wouldn’t go as far to say they themselves might be inherently normal, but mostly because I don’t know them well enough for that. Perhaps I find it refreshing, too, which is why I think I’m eager to go watch some more one of these days.

tl;dr: I watched some Architectural Digest videos some time ago and was very struck by the relatively normal Brooklyn home of Maggie Gyllenhaal and Peter Sarsgaard.

Links of the Day

Coronavirus:

• Erzgebirge Aue put its entire squad in quarantine after a staff member tested positive for COVID-19.
• Eibar players issued a statement about concerns over resuming training and restarting the La Liga season.
• EFL chairman Rick Parry said he has not seen evidence of the bailout promised by Premier League clubs.
• England men donated to the NHS through the Players Together movement.

Women’s rights group in Haiti called for the Haitian Ministry of Justice to investigate claims that football federation head Yves Jean-Bart sexually assaulted youth players.

David Squires covers the Premier League’s Project Restart in his latest cartoon.

Today’s longer read: Jonathan Liew on the frenzy surrounding John Terry’s alleged affair with Wayne Bridge’s ex, and what it revealed about English media and its audience for The Guardian