In the gold trunks, with a record of ten fights (all against relegation) and no knockouts… It’s Hull City!
In the red trunks, with a record five fights (mainly against Simon Jordan) and three knockouts… It’s Charlton Athletic!
Seconds out, round one.
At last night’s game it was a split decision, with an almighty brawl leading to one red card a piece. ‘Doesn’t sound that bad’, I hear you say. Well, it did involve players, subs, coaching staff and Alan ‘Arsene Killer’ Pardew. While it lit up a rather dull evening at the KC (Charlton predictably won 2-1), Pardew took time to point out he didn’t want to cause any trouble:
“I went on to the pitch just to get in between Dean Windass and Jon Fortune because I could see them squaring up.”
Sure you did Alan, just like you went over to Wenger to offer him a piece of your Mars Bar. The FA will decide on those motives when they file some sort of humourless report on it in about 6 months when we’ve all forgotten about it.