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Since taking over Chelsea, Todd Boehly and Behdad Eghbali have spent so much money trying to emulate a certain Premier League club on the south coast that it’s a wonder they didn’t just buy Brighton in the first place. They hired Brighton’s manager and his team of five backroom staff, just two of whom – a goalkeeping coach and data analyst – are still at the club just over a year on. They bought Marc Cucurella, followed more recently by Robert Sánchez and Moisés Caicedo from Brighton, as well as poaching the Seagulls’ head of player recruitment. In all, Chelsea have contributed more than £220m to the Brighton war chest in the past 13 months – the cost of more than two Amex Stadiums, 84 Kaoru Mitomas or 44,000,000 consecutive goes on “the speed demon of Brighton Palace Pier” that is the Turbo Coaster (minimum height: 1m 03cm).
Having had a modicum of success in the last few decades of letter-writing to this publication, achieving a couple of prizeless letters o’ the day, I’ve found it more difficult to remain competitive in recent years after the money-men got involved, changed the name of the competition and introduced untold riches upon the winners. I used to be sad about my lack of success in the new era, but I guess even I have to admit the changes have raised the bar for us all to now enjoy. You can change the format, but the stars above my badge burn just as brightly as those worn by the young punks who now grace the letter pages. In my heart I know I helped to plough the field from which they now reap the rewards. Just a shame that I’ll never get the chance to lay my hands on one of those Football Weekly Books” – Ian Potter.
Mention of Gerd Müller (yesterday’s Football Daily letters) always reminds me of him unexpectedly turning up on Superstars in 1981. Bemused, bearded and rather reserved from the start, he rapidly decided that since there was no ‘unexpectedly turning up out of nowhere and spawning points off your shin’ event, it was a game of soldiers he could do without, clearly packed it in and finished last. Mind you, unless Harry Kane can overcome Ellis Genge, Lewis Hamilton and whoever the heck does skiing these days, in a tournament of squat-thrusts, riding bicycles around parked cars, shooting BB guns and playing basketball on someone’s patio, Gerd will always have that too” – Jon Millard.
My memories of Oktoberfest (yesterday’s Football Daily, full email edition) involve sitting on a crate each day in a circle at 12 noon at the campsite and drinking a shot of alcohol every minute up to 100. Disqualification for moving off the crate for any reason whatsoever. It was carnage. I would pay good money to watch Harry Kane do this version of the experience” – George Paterson.
While it was sad to see Ajax fans trashing their home stadium (yesterday’s Quote of the Day), the sight of all that broken glass creates a rare opportunity to resolve two crises at the same time. After all, the Amsterdam club needs to get the glaziers in, and Manchester United supporters want to get … well, you know the rest” – Marc McFadden.
This is an extract from our daily football email … Football Daily. To get the full version, just visit this page and follow the instructions.
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