Tip for the Carling Cup

Luton has a nice airport. Handy for cheap flights to Spain. Other than that it is a boring, horrid, town. Too far away from London to be cool. Too close to benefit from being out of it. It is a dreary suburban netherworld where tossers live. No wonder then that they are hoping for a good run in the Carling Cup. The second most pointless competition in domestic football, after the is.it.still.sponsered.by.autoglass? vase.

Everton's cup form is very dicey too. The attritional style football lends itself well to beleaguering league campaigns but less well to the cut and thrust of cup competition. Added to that Everton are also in the UEFA Also Rans and so a trifront campaign might well be beyond the limits of what is still quite a small squad. Luton are also playing at home. 1-0 to Luton after a dull hardfought borefest is the prediction. I am being a bit harsh on Everton here. Hiding my passion for them behind cynicism. Mcfadden is a flair player, and he is flickering encouragingly. Arteta is positively shining. Tim Cahill is back too.

This prediciton of course covers me emotionally for all eventualities. If Everton win I am happy. If Everton lose I am still happy as I am proved to be right. Peter Cook used to employ a similar logic betting against Spurs everytime they played.

The Carling Cup of course is part of a great tradition in football sponsorship in as much as it is sponsered by a brand that has nothing whatsoever to do with the idea of excercise. Mcdonalds, Playstation, and Coca Cola form the rest of the canon. While associating with the vitality, heroism, and excitement, that is football, these brands want nothing more than than for you to grow fat and old and broke having spent all your money on junk food and wasted your life sat in front of the idiot box. Well, I call that wasting, others of you might call it coping. Others yet might call it enjoying the trappings of modern Britain.

Before you all rush off to William Hills and stump up a proportion of your hard earned salary/unemployment benefits on a Luton win remember two things. Luton are 49 places below Everton in league placings. And the last time the two teams met Everton won 4-0.

HYPOCRISY ALERT: I might be carrying adverts for coco-cola by this time next week ;-)