Whatever the result tonight we stay in eighth place and if I had only had a bet on my prediction, I'd have had a good weekend, but I didn't. But will going into the match knowing we are eighth, whatever the result be a good thing or a bad thing?
If it were a relegation dog fight and we needed the points, I'd give us a good chance but Spurs need the points to go back into the top four - if they win tonight they move above Chelsea and if they win their other game in hand they move above Newcastle into third. Incentive enough?
Football comes down to ninety minutes
The thing with football is it comes down to the match. Your previous result or standing in the table doesn't actually matter. Yes, they play a factor and if you put us up against The Clowns for twenty matches and put your money on us to win every time the chances are you will win more than you lose - in a one off match like tonight, anything is possible.
I do feel desperate writing that. Everything points to a Spurs win and if they win, I'd not be surprised. The only result that would surprise me is if we won.
I don't even think a draw is the likely result tonight, but it wouldn't surprise me, especially because we haven't won away from home yet this season and we've only lost once. Yes, that means, four draws so far. Someone should comment below how we have to win eventually and 'why not tonight'.
Odds, team news and banter
So, kick off in twelve hours. I'll be back and we will have team news as and when we get it and throughout the match we will update this page and there will also be activity on Twitter. You are welcome to join in. Odds below and the post doesn't finish yet.
Randy Lerner interview
I had a bit of thing with Matt Dickinson on Twitter last week about the interview Lerner gave. My opening was that he wont speak to the fans, my second message was something along the lines that the questions were not going to be what supporters would ask. After paying my £1 to view the article - I wasn't wrong.
It was a PR moment picked out perfectly by Lerner and just like I knew the answers to the questions, Lerner probably knew what was coming - easy to prepare for and nothing to sweat over.
For a moment last week, even though I admitted at the time it was wild speculation, I had hoped that something might happen, but deep down I knew it wasn't going to, but even today, I still hold out hope.
Football is a about winning and how you win these days is different to how you used to win in the early part of the 1900's. Today it is mostly about what you spend, followed (holding my hands up, this is a very close second) the manager. I'm not going into these things now, but I am going to go into the FA's old Rule 34.
I'm going into this because apparently Lerner talked 'almost wistfully about' it when talking to Dickinson and this is why Lerner should have been pushed. The rule, and I'm summarising now, was to protect clubs. It meant that clubs could form companies but meant that company directors couldn't be paid or take dividends.
It basically meant that a club director or owner was a form of public service and that they should be 'custodians', to support and look after the club. I love some of those words above - we read them a lot these days. But why, if this is the case does Lerner take management fees if this is how he thinks, isn't interest enough?
But I'm not going into it. I'm just ending on another quote from Lerner. Today is about football and the possibility of three points and rest assured, I'm told Lerner will be at the match - it is near his UK home.
How do I balance the proper disciplines with business with, ‘Here, have another £40 million’? To me English football is not philanthropy.