Dodgy Tackle: The Conclusion

A few months later, Andy had settled back into anonymity, glad that his fifteen minutes of fame were well and truly over. He gave little thought to the fact one evening when he met a friend at a pub less than half a mile from White Hart Lane. He and his friend spent several hours in relaxed conversation, downing four pints each over the time. Therefore, he never clocked the five lads sitting in the corner looking over and pointing at him. It was also the reason why he didn’t notice those same men follow him out when he left the pub.

Having gone a few hundred metres and in sight of the tube station, five men caught up to and surrounded him. Seeing he was severely outnumbered, Andy quickly pleaded, “Look, I don’t want any trouble.”

The shortest of the five, who was a good seven inches shorter than Andy, retorted, “Oh you got trouble, mate! We know you’re the guy who fouled Felipe Fonsecca.”

“We told you we’d get you,” another one affirmed. “We’re the White Hart Lane Firm.”

Thinking quickly, Andy offered up, “Look, I apologised to Fonsecca and besides, I’ve retired from football.”

“That’s not good enough,” the short one snapped. “You thought you’d be a hero to all the birds because they didn’t want him playing after he shagged some slapper who then cried rape.”

Andy realised that whatever he said would not make any difference to this mob. So, he did the only thing possible; he attacked. Picking out the largest of the five, he landed a right cross on the target’s jaw, knocking him back and temporarily stunning him. Unfortunately that would be his only offensive move because unbeknown to him, one of the other four had secretly readied a lead pipe which he viciously clubbed Andy on the back with sending him forward and giving the others time to surround him and unleash a barrage of punched and kicks. After a few minutes and their victim sufficiently weakened, four of the mob grabbed Andy and held him still so the man with the pipe could smash his kneecap. When that was accomplished, the mob left their prey in a heap on the ground, barely conscious.

He was in hospital for three days before the local police came to interview him about the attack. Andy did his best to tell what happened and confessed that the attack was because of his foul on Fonsecca. One officer seemed sympathetic but his partner commented, “I thought you should have been charged for that tackle.” Andy also mentioned the threats he got from the White Hart Lane Firm. The two officers took everything down and informed him that they would be in touch.

Durning his five week stay in hospital, the police only returned twice. The first time, they brought their file of known members of the White Hart Lane Firm, which Andy identified the short guy. The second time was to inform him that the short guy had an alibi. He also learned that the police blocked the redramatisation of his attack on “Crimewatch” on the grounds that Andy’s notoriety may do more harm than good. That meant that when Andy finally did leave the hospital, there seemed little chance of his attackers ever being brought to justice. He now realised that while he never should have fouled Fonsecca the way he did but he didn’t deserve any of this.