Ah, the Capital One Cup. Or Carling Cup, or Worthington Cup, or Coca Cola Cup, or whatever you want to call it. The League Cup, the FA Cup's often derided little brother. Seemingly always dismissed by the game’s elite as an unwelcome distraction. Small fry, in comparison to the League and European exploits of our biggest clubs.
It has been 8 days since the issue of racism within football was thrust firmly into the public eye when England Under-21’s Danny Rose was the target of monkey chants and missiles thrown from the crowd. But this wasn’t the end of the nation’s interest in this issue; press coverage has only intensified in the last week.
Picture the scene. A hushed silence descends upon the courtroom, as the judge begins to speak in his measured, formal tone. In the dock, the bespectacled accused sits perfectly still, with only his darting eyes betraying a sense of anxiety, perhaps more aware than we might think about the fate that surely awaits him. He sports a loose-fitting SFA tracksuit top, and a greying stubble lines his chin.
Dear UEFA,
It was in December of last year when I first began writing for this website. My first article documented the problems that our game still faces from racists. Since then 10 months have passed and, if last night’s Under-21 game between Serbia and England is anything to go by, zero progress has been made.
What more could we want out of a football match? A huge fixture between two local rivals, contested between two extremely evenly matched teams with similar ambitions. Something to savour for supporters and neutrals alike. This Friday’s World Cup Qualification clash between Wales and Scotland in Group A ticks all of these boxes.