foreign
six Premier League season reached its
final day Arsenal and Tottenham were in
a head-to-head battle for fourth place
and the chance to enter the qualifying
round for the Champions League
Spurs took a one-point lead into that
last game and knew that if they either
bettered or matched Arsenal's result
they would qualify for the top European
competition for the first time since
1962.
what happened next was scarcely
believable
thank you
there was a caveat that might have made
all the drama that would follow
incidental That season Arsenal had
reached the Champions League final
against Barcelona if they won that game
they would re-qualify regardless of
their Premier League finish and with
UEFA still allowing just four qualifying
places from the Premier League they
would do so ahead of Tottenham
as a result when Spurs beat Bolton one
nil in their penultimate game setting up
that dramatic last day dozens of fans at
whiteheart Lane could be seen wearing
Barcelona shirts in the stands a few
chance in support of the catalonians
even broke out at full time Barcelona
would ultimately win that game in Paris
so while nobody knew it at the time
everything came down to the Premier
League's last game
and Tottenham had the harder task
Arsenal would host Wigan Athletic in
their very last match at Highbury a game
that they were expected to win
conversely Spurs would travel to Upton
Park to face West Ham it was and remains
a London derby with a sharp edge and it
was hardly ideal for Spurs manager
Martin Yol and his players but worse was
to follow beginning with tottenham's
decision to stay at the London Marriott
West India Key hotel in Canary Wharf on
the night before the game now this was
standard practice even for games in
London and that night the players ate a
buffet in a private room choosing
between stake pasta chicken and lasagna
by breakfast it was clear that something
was very wrong
hen first team players reported having
spent the night being violently sick in
his 2018 autobiography Carrick who was
the heart of yours Midfield remembered
feeling like a fire was lit in my guts
with petrol poured on it again and again
he also recalled that a pain kept
flaring up and that he curled up in bed
praying for it to pass
now most players had chosen the lasagna
at the buffet the night before and that
quickly became the suspected cause
in response the club moved quickly to
try to delay or even postpone the game
the police were called to investigate a
suspicion of food poisoning while the
Premier League sent their company
secretary and their FA doctor to the
hotel to rule on whether a postponement
could be possible West Ham were happy to
delay the game however with concerns
about fan Behavior the police were not
willing to approve an evening kickoff
and while West Ham were content to
fulfill the fixture at a later date
they're having qualified for the FA Cup
Final to be played a week later
complicated the issue with all last day
games traditionally kicking off
simultaneously the Premier League ruled
that the severity of tottenham's
situation didn't warrant a postponement
and that playing the game after the end
of the season would cause an Integrity
issue so the game was to go ahead but
within an atmosphere of Suspicion
speaking to the athletic in 2020
Tottenham Defender Callum Davenport
remembered conversations on the team bus
being consumed with conspiracy and
hearing things like there was an Arsenal
fan working in the kitchen
Captain Park itself the Spurs dressing
room was in chaos Damien camoli then the
club's director of football recalled
that players were vomiting in the
training room before they went to warm
up and then coming back from the warm-up
vomiting and not being able to stand
Michael Carrick had to run off during
Martin yells team talk to throw up
unsurprisingly Spurs would lose the
usually into fatigable Carrick would be
substituted after an hour and
influential players such as Edgar Davids
Michael Dawson and Aaron Lennon were
noticeably ineffective in falling to a
2-1 defeat but over in North London
there were fewer such problems despite
falling 2-1 behind in the first half
Arsenal would comfortably overwhelm
Wigan signing off from Highbury with a
4-2 win and fourth place assured but the
drama wasn't over off the pitch at least
as their players recovered Daniel Levy
and Damian camoli began to develop a
formal response step one was to
investigate the hotel and to order a
medical examination of the players step
two was to challenge the Premier
League's handling of the situation and
to contest whether Spurs had been
treated fairly now neither of these were
successful in the first instance and
while the episode remains known as
lasagna Gate medical testing by the UK's
Health Protection Agency revealed no
traces of food poisoning in any of of
the samples given by tottenham's players
a case of highly contagious norovirus
was detected however and the hotel was
absolved of any blame the lasagna was
innocent
Levy and Spurs had no joy with the
Premier League either the club's Vice
chairman Paul kemsley was dispatched to
argue tottenham's case with Richard
scudimore but the league insisted that
all protocols were followed and that the
appropriate investigation and support
was offered on the day that the game
took place there would be no replay
all of which left Tottenham outside of
the Champions League it would take them
another four years to reach the
competition qualifying for the first
time under Harry redknapp and yet
lasagna gate as it continues to be known
remains a source of Mirth to this day
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