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The scheduling of last month's Spurs versus Man. United match proved rather irksome to senior figures at the London School of Economics, who were due to attend an away weekend in Kent. The previous year, the director of the LSE, Anthony Giddens, cried off sick on the Friday evening.

This year, he lasted until the Saturday morning before climbing into a BMW with the chairman of the governors, Tony Grabiner, and speeding off to White Hart Lane. Fortunately, Sunderland Football Club had no premiership fixtures that weekend, and its chairman, Bryan Sanderson, was able to continue the meeting in his role as vice-chairman of the board of governors.