After the party, the hangover. The fear. The self loathing.
Rangers thought they'd pulled the good looking girl only to see her disappear into the bedroom with
a handsome stranger.
Celtic were ignored most of the night, left to stand in the kitchen nursing a lukewarm can of Skol.
The return of European football. Scotland expects.
The worst, usually.
Dundee United have already shuffled off, cramming a qualifying defeat into the SPL's
blink-and-you'll-miss-it summer holiday.
Three survive. Rangers reward for not winning their Champions League qualifier is a shot at the
Europa League if they can negotiate past Slovenia's NK Maribor in the play off round.
All the talk has finally finished and while the conjecture over who may or may not be joining
Spurs will go on for another couple of weeks, our season finally gets under way at Tynecastle
tonight.
While Spurs may be favourites to win over two legs, former Hearts boss and current Spurs coach Joe
Jordan says the team will not underestimate their Scottish opponents.
With an injury crisis affecting Tottenham's central midfield it seems very likely that Jake
Livermore will be given his chance at Tynecastle tonight as Spurs take on Hearts in the first leg
of this Europa League qualifier.
"We've got one midfield player really and that's Jake Livermore, a young lad who's been out on
loan," Harry said.
With Tottenham heading to the capital of Scotland with more walking wounded than a scene from
Braveheart, one player's ill-fortune is another's chance.
Tottenham have five first team central midfielder's out, with Tom Huddlestone, Wilson Palacios,
Luka Modric and Sandro all falling foul to the rigours of the summer break!
The news of Spurs sudden injury crisis in midfield may have wider implications than mere
selection for tomorrow's tie with Hearts.
Daniel Levy's promised period of streamlining has been slow to say the least but after Robbie
Keane left the club earlier this week, it had been hoped that more would follow.
Stop me if you've heard this one before but it seems that Spurs have defensive problems ahead of
the away leg against Hearts on Thursday night and the start of our premiership season.
William Gallas is struggling with the injury that kept him out of Tottenham's entire pre-season
campaign while club captain Ledley King is approaching what for him is match fitness and has an
outside chance of making it for the game with Manchester United.
The postponement of the Everton match may conceivably force Harry Redknapp to rethink his team
for the Hearts game next week. We've all seen the manager's comments and his thoughts on the Europa
League. He has indicated that he will be looking to blood young players in the tournament.
However, with the Everton game off, Tottenham's squad have no other matches before the tough
fixtures against the Manchester clubs,, so should Harry be looking to use next Thursday's game as
the chance to give the recognised first team some much needed match practice?
With Scotland's capital hosting the world to the delights of the Edinburgh Festival, Tottenham
were treating the people of Tynecastle to a festival of football, not seen in these parts for a
long, long time.
Before the game, Harry Redknapp had said he expected a hostile atmosphere and a tough game.
