Beef Bagel

Remember this…

…actually, I don’t. Wasn’t there, but I’m sure if I call the number at the end of the trailer the Spurs Store will be glad to furnish The Bagel with a copy to sit on my own shelfside in the company of all manner of other bits of memorabilia including a musical birthday card and a stolen sign that reads “Spurs Store Payment Point”.

Instead, though, I’d rather concentrate on the European adventure in hand and the rematch with Anderlecht 23 years later. This time I will be there thanks to Belgian Ebay, a chap named Nick and fingers crossed the Brussels postal system. Fingers crossed. Unfortunately, it means sitting with home fans who, if rumours are to be believed, are not the friendliest chaps and as non-Flemish speakers, and non-skinheads, myself and my mate Charlie (a Yiddo through and through) could well be spotted as the sore thumbs that we are. And from what I’ve read on the little photos of the tickets in Ebay, we’re standing in the hardcore. Nice. Still, I’m not traveling all that way just for the moules and frite.

Anderlecht is actually not just a random name and is the furthest west municipality of the Brussels where the Sporting Club Anderlechtois was set up in 1908 and still remains today. The stadium has come on a bit since the days of its wooden stands. It’s not the biggest, with a capacity of just over 28,000, but closed up on all four sides and with what has been billed as a European grudge match, it should be one hell of a hotbed for the game tonight.

The achievements of the club itself need little description. They won five European trophies in seven seasons in the late 70s and early 80s an it was against us in 1984 that their success in international club football more or less ground to a halt. I don’t think we’ve made their Christmas card list since. At home, Anderlecht have continued to dominate the Juliper league with the dates of seasons where they lifted the cup looking more like someone attempting to calculate pi to a whole lot of decimal places.

The man to look out for, as warned by former Spur, Nico Claesen, is Argentinian front man, Nicolas Frutos. At 6′4″ the dude makes one hell of a target and there’s no reason to believe that manager Ariel Jacobs will be changing Anderlecht’s long ball tactics just to give our fragile defence a bit of a rest.

The other player to look out for is the defensive midfielder who simply has the most appropriate name in football. Keep you eyes peeled and your titters at the ready for 24-year-old Mark De Man. Oh, and he also doubles as a centre back, I shit you not.
From out point of view, JJ is back in the squad, BALE!BALE!BALE! is out with his foot problem as yet still unclarified and by all reports Younes Richards has been left at home although yesterday’s stories of sending the lad out on loan appear have been rubbished by Ramos. He simply said:

“I don’t know why I would send Kaboul out on loan?”

“He is our player and we are very satisfied and happy he is with us. We have a squad and we have to try and let all of the players play, participate and feel important.”

So, that’s that one.

Right, I’m off. In fact, I’ve already gone by the time you’ve got this far. Enjoy the game. I believe it’s on ITV12 or you can watch it with the other 4,000 travelling Spurs in a Brussels boozer; perhaps 4,002 if Nick the Belgian has stiffed me.

Like, we’re huge in Europe right now. I mean, we’ve got bagels… uh, a big bagel just broke in Belgium.

The Bagel.

This entry was posted on Thursday, December 6th, 2007 at 7:14 am and is filed under Know Your Enemy. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.