Leeds are going to Derby County in the 3rd round of the FA Cup, after TNT sport and the FA were shown to be lagging way behind FIFA when it comes to staging a pompus, shamlessly self-promoting and needlessly drawn out draw for a major competition.
First of all they shunned the option of hiring a 2,000 seater conference hall to conduct the draw, apparently satisfied with a modest club house in deepest Northamptonshire. And as soon as the ceremony began, it was clear that the blokey banter of McCoist, Cole and Crouch wouldn’t get anywhere close to the embarrassment levels of the walking cringe-fest that is Gianni Infantino.
There was no peace prize to be awarded, a missed opportunity to recognise the efforts of Virgil van Dijk to end the war in Liverpool by trying to mediate between Arnie Slot and Mo Salah. And where was the music? Surely they could have dredged up a Village People tribute act from somewhere within a local bus ride of Brackley.
With this complete lack of unnecessary distractions, they didn’t have a hope of matching the 87 minutes that FIFA got through before their draw even began, and in fact they managed less than a quarter of an hour before they got round to the main business of the evening. They didn’t even get close to the point when the TV audience would have forgotten why they bothered to switch on the set in the first place.
So the Leeds fans would soon find out which glamorous destination they would grace with their presence on a once-in-a-lifetime trip. Would they be moaning about ticket prices beneath the palm trees on the golden sands of Weston-Super-Mare? Or trying to spot the stars of the silver screen outside the film studios of Boreham Wood?
Instead of that we are to be consigned to the drabness of Pride Park once again, only a little over 12 months after we last had to go there. Cue the predictable TV references to Brian Clough and endless replays of Hunter v Lee in 1975.
And there will be concerns about the match being played in extreme temperatures, which can reach as high as nought degrees in the Derbyshire wastelands in the daytime at the start of January.
However, at least in one respect, it seems that the FA can compete with the best, as the day after the draw, we still won’t know which day or time our match will kick off. That will have to wait until the TV companies have got their talons into the FA Cup schedule, chewed up the bits they want, and spat out the rest.
There must be a good chance of our tie being selected for TV coverage, and as soon as we find out what on earth is going on we’ll let you know.