At the start of the January transfer window, anything seems possible, perhaps a 50 million pound deal could take place or other stupendous transfer deals, the general reshuffle it allows provides a platform for an intriguing second half of the season and for players previously unheralded to make their mark. It was with this in mind that I imagined a strange scenario that has almost come to pass.
The prediction was this; that Connor Wickham would be called back from loan, and with his "18 league goals" would lead Sunderland to safety, and be on the plane to the World Cup. Now if you'll excuse my hyperbole (and if you consider the order of magnitude of his actual goes and my inflated estimate they both are about 10) this has astonishing just about been the case. There was a second part of this 'football fantasy' too though. It was that Harry Kane would be introduced to the Tottenham team, due to their lack of strikers but Tactics Tim Sherwood still preferring 4-4-2, and with his goals lead Tottenham to the Champions League. Of course both of these suggestions were jokes. They were made to a friend, we chuckled in the knowledge that this would not possibly happen. After all, the pair had a combined Premier League goal tally of 1. They had been loaned out on numerous occasions to varying degrees of success. But something strange started to happen towards the end of the season. Wickham was recalled early from Leeds, and Poyet placed his trust in him (understandable when your main striker is Wayne Brady's cousin, Jozy Altidore). Wickham took a few games to warm up, but then, boy, did he start to fire. A brace against Man City made everyone sit up and take notice. It's not every day that a striker triples his goal tally their 38th game. Concurrently to this, Harry Kane began to start for Tottenham, he too started scoring goals. I was flabbergasted. "WICKANE! It's happening! They're going to the World Cup!", I thought. This was never the outcome I had really expected for England's two most under-performing U-21 players. The poor man's Welbeck and Sturridge from a few years ago. But it proved to me that even the most unlikely football predictions can have a grain of truth in them. In the wake of this, The Vobley waits in anticipation for Anichebe to be rightfully deployed at left back.
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Andrew Howe-Ely
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