Alex Ferguson goes on TV and confirms the rumours that have been bouncing around for a while - that Wayne Rooney has refused to sign a new contract at Manchester United and that he wants to leave the club. It's big and fairly unbelievable news (in that he's always seemed like the sort of player who would stick around at United forever), but I allow myself to briefly fantasise about a player of his undoubted quality moving to Chelsea - if only because he would fit in rather well with Stamford Bridge's collection of assorted love rats and reprehensible scumbags. I won't be ordering the Rooney 10 shirt quite yet though.
Sticking with football, after work I head straight to the World's End to meet Alex and catch the end of the Spartak Moscow v Chelsea game which kicked off early. The pub is rammed with Emirates ticket holders getting boozed up before heading down the road to see Arsenal take on Shakhtar Donetsk, and more impressively there's a healthy contingent of orange-clad Ukrainian away fans making plenty of friendly noise in one corner. Around half an hour before kick-off, though, the pub empties out and Alex and I are able to grab a very comfy sofa in front of the big screen. There's an almost-full bottle of vodka under the table which the away fans have clearly been doing shots from, but we keep clear and stick to the lighter ales.
Arsenal win easily, running out 5-1 winners, and we stick around in the pub to watch the fans stream back in. We get talking to an effervescent Zambian man called Calvin, who insists on buying us a drink and talks loudly about his love of Liverpool FC and filmmaking. He's entertaining, but in that wearying "pub nutter" way where you realise that he's never actually going to go away. Alex and I finally make our excuses and head for the tube station, whereupon he follows us all the way to the platform, finally asking for our phone numbers. I'm a little ashamed to give him a fake number - but it gets rid of him and we're able to take the short journey back to TPL unmolested.
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