The Hoddle of Coffee: Tottenham Hotspur news and links for Wednesday, July 15

Hi, all!

Above is defender Lucia Leon, who joined the club in 2018.

Ramble of the Day

Did you hear? Monday was a good day for football, but don’t let me tell you. It should be Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola, because a victim was delivered justice.

Our victim, Manchester City, deserves not just a favorable court ruling, but multiple apologies. You see, the club has the right to defend itsel from a claim that was so evident it would have been hard to eliminate the stain of it, which I will not question. Guardiola believes that when three judges said the statute of limitations expired, it meant its conduct was correct, as if the first equals the second. It was a good day for football, he says, because three judges did not actually rule on whether or not City broke the rules, which at best leaves us in the same place we were before but more realistically suggests that City is the type of club to get away with such a thing. Guardiola equates City’s conduct to that of its counterparts in the game, which I think is a rich claim.

Guardiola thinks England’s other big clubs aren’t comfortable with City being at the top, even though they’ve been there for a decade and have also been beaten at various things at multiple points, suggesting at least a few clubs have risen to the occasion. Guardiola says that City earned it on the pitch, which isn’t inherently untrue; of course, he’s forgetting about the entire context of having rich owners who skirt the rules, but why wouldn’t he?

Finally, our victim really makes it outrageously clear quietly reveling in this shocking victory so people could possibly just forget it was not an option for him. Maybe Javier Tebas shouldn’t have spoken so pointedly; maybe Guardiola has a right to be angry; maybe I just find it purely wild that Guardiola would decide to gloat in such a blatant manner. I can’t figure out how to express my shock and displeasure at his lack of self-awareness, truth be told.

It is pretty obvious that Guardiola has morphed into a wonderful company man. Media have very little access to anyone at City who ranks higher than the manager, and that means he is occasionally unfairly assigned the role of someone with a little more seniority. It is his willingness to play the role, though, that I am shocked by; so willing he’s saying things that made me laugh at first, and still have me laughing.

tl;dr: Pep Guardiola is a company man for a company with no moral high ground, and makes some really funny comments as a result.

Stay informed, watch this: broadcaster and former cricketer Michael Holding on how we learn history, and the educational work we must do to eliminate racial injustice

Links of the Day

One person tested positive for COVID-19 in the first round of testing for the FA WSL and Championship.

Saudi Arabia banned beIN Sports, meaning no one in Saudi Arabia can legally watch the Premier League.

The CAS rejected former Afghanistan FA president Keramuudin Karim’s appeal against his lifetime ban after he sexually abused members of the women’s national team.

Transfer roundup: Everton signed Nicoline Sørensen from Brøndby; Glasgow City signed Janine van Wyk from Hjørring

David Squires remembers Jack Charlton in his latest cartoon.

A longer read: Cotton Codinha interviews the USWNT’s Ashlyn Harris and Ali Krieger on their relationship as teammates and spouses and their desire to change the culture for Allure’s August cover story