The Alli shuffle: Not every young talent ends up as a punchline
If you subtracted all the wistfulness, sentimentality and nostalgia at White Hart Lane yesterday- the last ever afternoon at the lane was just a dead rubber end of season game. Spurs coasting to a finish at the end of a campaign that gave hope but no silver cups. Manchester United, oddly for a club of their history and hubris, having abdicated from the league and staked their entire prestige on winning the Europa Cup.
Yesterday was a time for both looking back and looking forward. During the week a You Tube video (https://youtu.be/5jYTLfukNUg) popped up bringing us back to the glory days at the Lane. One afternoon back in October 1965, Manchester United the league champions and a fine team came to White Hart Lane and got turned over 5-1. It’s worth watching for several reasons. The football doesn’t have today’s pace but technically it is excellent. All these years of academies haven’t produced better ballplayers. Then there is a goal for the ages from Jimmy Greaves and a little moment of tika-taka where Spurs’ one-touch passing sets a young George Best chasing after the ball like a game puppy being teased. Oh and there’s a pretty fine Bobby Charlton goal.
