BILLY BUNTER

Weblog: The football punter

I'll be feline fine if we get some more animal action

DID you see him scampering around on the edge of the Anfield penalty area, tail swishing in the wind, wondering where the hell he was?

But enough about Andy Carroll. He didn't play that badly against Spurs.

I'm talking about football's new celebrity – the Anfield Cat.

It shows how dismal the game was that all people could talk about was
someone's mog entering the field of play and, in a breach of police
practice when all we are craving for is some sort of consistency,
managing to avoid arrest.

It caused a nostalgic twinge, admittedly.

The sight of animals on the pitch used to be commonplace and I'm not talking about hooligans dressed in butcher's coats with scarves round their wrists armed with cut-throat razors.

A dog running on was as much a component of amatch to remember as a linesman falling over and a good punch-up.

That really was the golden age of association football.

So I'm hoping that this particular feline has set the standard.

I'll be taking in the Hearts v Celtic game tonight to see if we could
perhaps have a tiger treading the turf at Tynecastle.

My money, though, would be on a fox making an appearance.

There seems to have been a huge increase in these fellows since
chasing them through the squire's field and ripping them to shreds
with a pack of hounds became so frowned upon.

Now, they sit outside my garden all night, screaming at each other as
they fight over mates, territory or a spilt pint.

Edinburgh must be suffering with swarms of these animals too.

And if one doesn't turn up tonight, in a game Celtic will probably win
by a couple of goals, I for one will not feel I've got my money's
worth.

Come on Foxy. Your time has come.