Foggy Thinking

Tuesday 19th December was a foggy day on Merseyside. Foggy enough to cause the plane carrying the Arsenal squad and officials to Liverpool for their Carling Cup tie to be diverted to Blackpool. Foggy enough to warrant an inspection by referee Martin Atkinson, accompanied by Mr Bean (aka Mike Riley). And after they had traipsed all over the pitch, they examined the stands as well for good measure and then announced decisively that as they hadn’t decided, they were planning an encore.

Unfortunately one encore was more than enough and they called the whole thing off, despite the fact that visibility had improved and both managers were prepared to play – even if the game had subsequently to be abandoned.

As far as Raffa Benitez and Arsene Wenger were concerned it was worth a try – but what do they know about football? And what do they care about the safety of players and spectators? Best leave it to a couple of real experts like Atkinson and Riley. Even if a sizeable number of Arsenal fans have to trudge back to London disappointed. Even if both teams are condemned to fixture congestion so severe it could ruin their prospects of success, both domestically and in the Champions League.

Because with experts like Atkinson and Riley around, it’s not the fog on the pitch but the fog in the brain that you have to worry about.