TROY DEENEY’S “I USED TO PAY TO PLAY” & 21 OTHER THINGS WE LOVE
Our monthly rundown of what made us smile, including silly antics at Spurs’ new stadium
Troy Deeney’s impassioned speech after Watford beat Wolves to reach the FA Cup final. Anyone who says the cup doesn’t matter any more should be forced to watch that.
The Maradona documentary from the people who made Senna and Amy. Such is the film industry’s paranoia, they’ve made us sign a legally-binding document saying we mustn’t tell you how good it is. Needless to say, go and see it when it comes out in mid-june. It’s fantastic.
When you’re hammering the opposition 6-2 in a seven-a-side game and the organisers decide to swap players after 10 minutes to even up the sides, but inexplicably make your team even better. Result.
Preston police force’s football crowd-related tweets. Very droll.
The new white Brazil kit (above), celebrating 100 years since they first hosted the Copa America and won it, obviously.
The earthquake noise level that Spurs fans can attain after scoring. Good for the team, bad for our mates who live nearby and work nights.
Idles live, all across the country.
The placement of a Nottingham Forest scarf above the sleeping son of DI Kate Fleming in Line of Duty (above). Nicely done, Vicky Mcclure.
Eric Maxim Choupo-moting’s surreal glory-hunting attempt at a greedy tap-in turning out to be an effective goal-line clearance against Strasbourg, preventing Paris Saint-germain from winning the league title there and then. Luckily, they were still 20 points clear at the time.
Decent chippy in London ALERT! Micky’s in Norfolk Place, Paddington.
Harry Maguire’s fiancée, Fern Hawkins, giving birth to a baby daughter exactly nine months to the day after England’s penalty shootout victory over Colombia at the World Cup. Surprised he had the energy, to be honest.
“To say Football is to watch twenty-two hirelings kick a ball is merely to say that a violin is wood and catgut, that Hamlet is so much paper and ink, it is Conflict and Art.” Nottingham Forest fan JB Priestley, The Good Companions, 1929 (From Steve Darby, Vietnam) Jolly Ranchers (above), the exotic American cousin of Fox’s Glacier Mints.
BBC Two having us on the Premier League Show alongside United We Stand, Mundial and The Gaffer, talking about the returning interest in football magazines. We know you guys have been with us all along.
Getting to exchange shit jokes with Nemanja Matic at Chris Smalling’s commendable Football Beyond Borders event at Harvey Nichols in Manchester.
Pele seeming to be genuinely delighted when we gave him a copy of FFT, with him on the front cover. See our Instagram for a video of this epic moment. Well, we enjoyed it.
The huge satisfaction to be had from a well-timed and effective shot block.
Brewdog opening in Paddington, just around the corner from FFT HQ.
If we could change one thing about football kits, it would be to have sleeves made of Mint Aero. You could eat and play at the same time.
Spurs fans firing hundreds of elastic bands (that’d been left on their seats) at Ederson in their Champions League quarter-final first leg against Man City. Childish, but hard not to join in.
The space burger that landed at Colchester United (page 23). Surprisingly, it was welcomed – it must have had some connections. Normally when someone throws a burger on the pitch, stewards and players get a right cob on.
Game of Thrones actor Nikolaj Coster-waldau (a Danish Leeds fan) getting the audience on the Jimmy Kimmel Show to chant ‘In Bielsa We Trust’, tricking them into thinking it was a new character in the dragon-heavy drama series.