Football Notebook

You might expect to find some heavyweight news on the opening page of the official website for the 2002 World Cup.

You pays your money, you takes your choice on this one. Are Tottenham being fairminded or short-sighted in their treatment of their supporters?
Brett Ascott, a Spurs seasonticket holder from Bromley, wrote to chairman Daniel Levy saying that while he understood the club?s desire to ?successfully improve revenues? he was unhappy about the removal of the 10 per cent discount for seasonticket holders at the club?s shop. He suggests the move will alienate supporters, explaining: ?When I can buy THFC videos, replica shirts and other items at other shops, locally and conveniently for me, at identical prices, where is the incentive to arrive earlier at White Hart Lane and force myself through the inevitable scrum??
To his credit, Levy did write back, saying: ?You will appreciate that to continue to provide unique merchandising to our fans we have to buy limited volumes of exclusive lines of merchandise.
As a result of this the Spurs stores are run on very tight margins, making a 10 per cent discount unfeasible in the long term.?
It isn?t all bad news because Tottenham are presently offering the Spurs Chirpy Wastebin at only £2, a special £7 reduction. Perhaps it is more appropriate for Mr Ascott and fellow season-ticket holders to buy ? at only £18, folks ? the Spurs doormat.

Thud. Another George Best autobiography arrives called Blessed (Ebury Press, £17.99), promising the usual rehash of the ?Where did it all go wrong, George?? anecdotes. Am I alone in not wanting to read again about the Miss Worlds and the misfortunes that had George drinking everything bar Scotch tape?
It isn?t as though we haven?t had all the gory details before. Blessed is the latest in a line of Best biograpies that started with Best of Both Worlds, released by Transworld in 1968, when Best was at the height of his powers with Manchester United.
Decline and alcoholism prompted more publishers to dine out on the Ulsterman?s woe and there followed Best: The Inside Story (1969); Anatomy of a Football Star (1970); Best, Giant of Football (1971); Best, Fall of a Superstar (1973); Best: The Intimate Biography by Michael Parkinson (1975); Where Do I Go From Here, Best?s autobiography (1981); The Good, the Bad and the Bubbly (1990); Best of Times: My favourite Football Stories (1994); Bestie: A Portrait of a Legend (1998).
The missing one is a real gem, George Best: Cyfieithiad Cymraeg Gan by Iris Howden, published by Enwogian Press in 1997. It is described as ?a basic literacy text for Welsh language?. You might need a few pints of leek wine to get through that one.

Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink recently flounced past waiting hacks, declaring he would not comment ?for the written press?.
In return for such a marvellously overstated description of the work most football hacks do, Notebook offers the moody Dutchman a reply Groucho Marx gave to reporters outside his home in 1951. The great comedian was asked for his reaction to something in the news.
He stopped for a moment and said: ?Quote me as saying I was mis-quoted.?

Anyone contemplating a 836-mile round trip to see Stirling play Queen?s Park on Saturday, and wondering whether to wear just a kilt and a T-shirt, can check www.itv-weather.co.uk/football, which gives detailed forecasts for all the grounds in Britain. No need to check Middlesbrough, though. It?s always miserable there.

A spat has broken out in the world of gay football. Stonewall won the Gay World Cup ? beating the Germans ? but they included a couple of ringers (an accurate but rather unfortunate description). The use of closet straights enraged Roger Bromiley, captain of the Stonewall 2nd IX, who led a breakaway and formed Lamda FC.
Bromiley says: ?I?ll pick a player who is really awful if I have to, as long as he?s gay. I?d rather have a gay striker with his legs tied together than Michael Owen who is straight.?