GET SET FOR A CLASSIC
What’s that? No, Football Daily doesn’t feel like going to school today ... *The Man jabs FD with pointy stick* Ow! Sorry, we were just resting our eyes – preparing an opus on *FD checks fixture list underneath our face* Hibs against Villa in Tin Pot?! Is it still Wednesday? *FD adjusts tie, takes refreshing sip of lukewarm Tin* Yes readers, Wednesday’s “big” game marks the latest chapter of great Anglo-Scottish rivalries in Europe stretching back to 1961 when Rangers defeated Wolves in something called the European Cup Winners’ Cup. Since then we’ve been treated to Celtic v Leeds in Big Cup, Leeds v Rangers and Celtic v Manchester United in New Big Cup, plus Celtic knocking Liverpool out of Big Vase in 2003.
Admittedly, once you take the Old Firm out of the equation then the pick of classic contests is a little thinner – but Hibernian do have some mighty European heritage. The first British team to play in Big Cup, they reached the semi-finals in 1956 and the semi-finals of Big Vase predecessor, the Fairs Cup, in 1961 – where they knocked out Barcelona, drew 5-5 on aggregate with Roma and lost the replay 6-0. Oh Hibees! They have twice played English opposition in Europe before, losing to Liverpool in the 1976 Big Vase and Leeds in the 1974 edition, going out on penalties after two topsy-turvy, breathless legs of football both ended goalless.
Much like the humble Daily, Hibs’ European record has been heading in one direction since then. The embarrassing episodes (an Intertoto Cup defeat to now-defunct Lithuanian outfit Vetra; a 9-0 aggregate Big Vase loss to Malmö) threatened to go up a gear this season, when Lee Johnson’s side lost their first leg 2-1 at Andorra’s Inter Club d’Escaldes – a humiliating reverse that the manager regrettably tried to blame on the altitude. Hibs roared back, though, winning the second leg 6-1 at home and getting past Luzern to set up this play-off.
Aston Villa are themselves Big Cup winners, beating Bayern Munich in the 1982 final, not that their fans like to talk about it. Villa have not played in Europe since twice getting dumped out of the Big Vase play-offs by Rapid Vienna in 2010 and 2011. They’re now managed by Big Vase svengali Unai Emery and play in the same colours as West Ham, though, so we’re sticking what’s left of our pension on Villa bringing home Tin Pot this season.
But first, they have to get through an intense, raucous first leg under the ligh … what’s this? A 5.45pm kick-off?! Ah, what’s the point? At least John McGinn is going to enjoy himself, and he seems like a good bloke. If Hibs do pull off an upset in the first leg, Emery should go for their achilles heel. Moving the return leg to the Hawthorns – England’s highest ground at 551 feet above sea level – should give them the edge over Johnson’s height-averse mob.
QUOTE OF THE DAY
“We have to appear three hours before every game and work commitments don’t allow that” – Shrewsbury Town’s mascot of 30 years, Lenny the Lion, is considering taking his big furry suit through the door marked Do One due to difficulty in juggling jobs. Ron Millar, the man inside the costume, said he only took the gig on for what he thought would be a few games but “30 years later, I’m still doing it.” Maybe not for much longer, sadly.
FOOTBALL DAILY LETTERS
If Graham Coughlan believes the best version of football consists of a little bit of play, accompanied by a whole lot of time-wasting (yesterday’s Time for Change section), I suggest he start paying for the notional entertainment of watching the atrocious stuff served up throughout the lower divisions, rather than watching it for free through his job. I suspect he would soon be as livid as many paying fans are about the levels of ‘game management’. (I don’t want to say cheating, but I can’t write ‘game management’ with a straight face)” — Michael Hann.
Given the amount of ball in play time in League Two in 22-23 was 48 minutes, he could perhaps really double down on his concerns and say that his team have already played nearly an extra match and a half so far in 23-24, compared to 22-23. Or, he could look at the statistics for 23-24 and note that, despite the Orwellian imposition of footballers being asked to actually play football for more than just over 50% of the advertised time, ball in play time in 23-24 in League Two is still just 56 minutes. So, assuming an average level of sh[snip! – Firewall Ed]housery by Newport County, his players have been required to play an extra 32 minutes so far this season” – Patrick Brennan.
Here’s one for the conspiracy theorists: given the growth of both American influence in the Premier League, and the popularity of soccer/football in the USA, as the amount of injury time added in matches inches ever closer to 45 mins per half, is this a devious plan to turn football into a game of four quarters?” – David Koppe.
It’s obvious why Spurs fans aren’t taking Kev McCready’s advice (Football Daily letters passim): we know what our destiny is, and it’s nothing to sing about” – Ron Stack.
I get the worst kind of refrain in my head whenever I watch Stuttgart’s recent centre-back recruit from Borussia Dortmund, Dan-Axel Zagadou. Altogether now: ‘Zag-a-dou dou dou …’ No doubt one of his talents is that he can play the ball out to the left or to the right” –
Ian Plenderleith.
Send your letters to the.boss@theguardian.com. Today’s winner of our prizeless letter o’ the day is … Ron Stack.
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