The Hoddle of Coffee: Tottenham Hotspur news and links for Monday, January 18

Hello, all!

Let’s start the day with wholesome Tottenham content.

Ramble of the Day

I naturally don’t watch the UK’s version of The Masked Singer, but given the nature of the show, a footballer was bound to be on it one of these days. Turns out, Saturday was that day. There was absolutely no chance this person wouldn’t end up in the Hoddle.

That previous sentence was your great big hint, because Grandfather Clock was this feature’s very namesake, Glenn Hoddle! (That’s for those of you who did not want to watch the video.) I stumbled across this video on Saturday and had to look up if Hoddle was any good. Over the course of his short time on The Masked Singer, Hoddle sang “Rock Around the Clock” and “Can’t Smile Without You” (a massive hint, if you knew what to look for), but I think his perfomance of “You Make Me Feel So Young” was his best.

There’s a very funny moment (in retrospect, of course) in the above video where Davina McCall says, “It can’t be a footballer. That voice is amazing,” because Hoddle is pretty good! Based on his song selection, I understand why he got out as early as he did (not considering a contractually obligated early elimination, of course) because his song selection game was not designed to win this contest. The talent, though, is there. He can always claim he made it further than two singers in Sophie Ellis-Bextor and Mel B, though (again, not considering contractually obligated early eliminations).

At some point, I wondered if Hoddle was the first footballer on the UK’s The Masked Singer, and is not. It also turns out that he isn’t even the first Tottenham player.

If the title of the video didn’t give it away, Teddy Sheringham beat Hoddle to The Masked Singer, but like him was the fourth one eliminated. The way the video plays out, it looks like Ken Jeong has no idea who Sheringham is, but he seems to know who Peter Shilton is so maybe he does have some knowledge of English football. (It is useful knowledge for a panelist on the UK version of The Masked Singer.) While on The Masked Singer, Sheringham sang “It Must Be Love” and “Lovely Day” (which was not his greatest performance), and “Evergreen,” an appropriate song title for someone in a tree costume.

It’s safe to say Sheringham is not nearly as good as Hoddle, but he could be worse. He’s not horribly off-key and doesn’t embarrass himself for the most part. It’s a respectable showing for someone who isn’t a professional, and as someone who can’t sing and is pretty terrified of the idea of singing in front of people, I have to congratulate him (a year later) on a job well done.

tl;dr: Glenn Hoddle was on The Masked Singer, and apparently so was Teddy Sheringham last year. (Hoddle’s much better than Sheringham.)

Stay informed, read this: Robert Daniels recommends seven films worth watching to commemorate Martin Luther King, Jr. Day for The New York Times

Links of the Day

Former Arsenal goalkeeper Geoff Barnett died aged 74 from complications from COVID-19.

Former England international Wayne Rooney retired after an 18 year career, and is now the full-time head coach of Derby.

Manchester City signed Abby Dahlkemper from the North Carolina Courage.

A longer read: Dan Kilpatrick interviews Norwich’s Oliver Skipp on making the jump to first team football and being a Tottenham supporter for the Evening Standard