Guten Abend und herzlich willkommen auf dieser, die Champions-League-Sonderausgabe von Harry Hotspur!
Hitler… there was a painter! He could paint an entire apartment in ONE afternoon! TWO coats!
There are two excellent reasons why Bayern Munich should win the Champions League final. Firstly on a superficial level it will facilitate us and we get to play in the competition ourselves. The ripple of pride that went through our ranks upon qualifying last time was nothing shy of a complete delight.
But also, there is the story of a man called Landuaer.
This bloke Kurt Landauer was a Jew. Sure he was Jew, but he was also man who wanted his football club to play in a manner that was both stylish and entertaining as well as productive.
This direction was not only inspired but it generated tangible success and between the wars his Bayern Munich amassed a playing staff of genuine note and their (Jewish) manager Richard Dombi led them in in ’32 to their very first Championship.
During the reign of the Nazi’s the club’s Jewish members, players and anyone Jewish remotely associated with the club were forced to leave. The club refused to appoint a Nazi sympathetic president or embrace the insane doctrines.
Bayern however kept Kurt running the club behind the scenes. However, he was arrested in 1938 for being Jewish and held for a time at Dachau; but as one of the few lucky ones he re-emerged and took back the presidency of Bayern in ’47.
The ‘Father of Bayern’ is now honoured by Bayern fans and I love the quote from German football historian Dietrich Schulze-Marmeling who said of Karl Heinz Rummenigge who has welcomed the club acknowledging it’s roots…
“You get the impression it has become a personal thing for him.”
I’ll be cheering for Bayern tomorrow. For what they will do for us and also for the kernel from which that club was grown.
…You promised me a thing that was hard for you,
a ship of gold under a silver mast;
twelve towns with a market in all of them,
and a fine white court by the side of the sea.
You promised me a thing that is not possible,
that you would give me gloves of the skin of a fish;
that you would give me shoes of the skin of a bird;
and a suit of the dearest silk in Ireland…
Tottenham Hotspur, you are a cruel master who has beguiled me these many years. And, though you now leave me clutching but straw, you will beguile me again, because my eyes are glamoured.
In the words of the song sorrow all I ever got from you is sorrow
Its almost biblical what has happened.Virtually in the same weeks 100 years ago as when the Titanic went down (there has to be a joke there somewhere about the Hindenberg)Captain Harry was too busy sending twitches (that is a type of morse code) to the England brass than to actually navigate around sinking teams and allow us to get across only across the channel to Europe (never mind the Atlantic).
Long after the court case we had to rely our our German friends to bail us out of a problem that should never have happened. We were 12 or 12 points ahead and going down was unsinkable. Having Bayern save us was also unsinkable.
Our rotation players have all the potential in the world,that is,until they hit the field.Then they become like everyone else.
So its that seed stage when they are sitting on the bench sitting in the shade waiting for their opportunity,a mere 81 minutes from the start of the game that shpuld be ready to show what they can do. Its these patient heroes that will possibly take the field to show their mettle but only if anyone dies of a heart attack,groin disease or a broken leg.
They must never move or tweet until their time comes.
Do not pass Arsenal,Do not collect Pension.Do not Tweet.