'A BIT SILLY'
UNSUSPECTING shoppers put down their baskets and pricked up their ears as an oddly familiar voice came over the PA.
The voice said: “This is a staff announcement. Will footballing legend, Ray the Romford Pele Parlour, please make his way to the store entrance to join me, John Barnes, for the Carabao Cup draw at 7pm.”
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This was no ordinary Thursday afternoon in the Colindale branch of Morrisons in North West London - as Salford City hosting Leeds was picked out as the best tie in round one, much to Gary Neville's amusement.
Intrigued and slightly bemused customers headed over to find footballing heroes Barnes and Parlour were indeed in-store.
While they were making their way round the aisles, Neville, who co-owns Salford with Class of 92 team-mates Ryan Giggs, brother Phil, Paul Scholes, Nicky Butt and David Beckham, tweeted: "Welcome back into my life Leeds United. Not seen you for 15 years."
On top of that, there was one unexpected item in the bagging area - the League Cup.
One elderly shopper, picking up her weekly groceries of milk and butter, said: “I was slightly baffled as I came in because the escalators weren’t working.
“The security man told me what was going on.
“I did know who John Barnes was but thought he played for Arsenal!”
You could not blame her, given a supermarket was the last place you would expect to see one of English football’s major pieces of silverware and two of its famous previous winners.
But then the competition’s latest sponsors, Carabao, do seem a bit off their trolley.
The Thai energy-drink company have a habit of picking unlikely locations for many of their Cup draws.
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China, Vietnam and Thailand have all seen the likes of Steven McManaman and outgoing EFL chief executive Shaun Harvey snaffling balls out of a hat.
Though the snaking line of cars on the A5 outside did resemble the miles-long traffic jams in Bangkok, there was no Far East connection this time.
Not unless you count the Bang Bang Oriental Food Hall next door, or the derelict premises across the street next to Utility HQ which claimed to specialise in high-quality Japanese cars.
Carabao’s sponsorship has also become synonymous with live-draw cock-ups after a number of gaffes.
Live streams have failed to work, draws have been conducted at 4am, while Charlton were once pitted against two different opponents.
You would have thought the brains trust behind these events would have decided to play it safe by now.
But there were no mishaps this time and no denying many shoppers were in the mood to celebrate when gifted the chance to chat to and snap selfies with Parlour and Barnes by the store’s party section.
'I WAS COMING TO GET A BOTTLE OF PEPSI'
Choosing the former England pair for the event just a few miles from Wembley made far more sense than the decidedly random selection of Matt Dawson and Phil Tufnell in 2017.
Though with a family pack of Persil on special offer close by, perhaps Parlour’s old team-mate David Seaman would have been a better fit, given his love of clean sheets.
One local Gooner, Tyrell Fearon, could not believe his luck after popping in on his way home from work to pick up a fizzy drink.
The 25-year-old said: “I was coming to get a bottle of Pepsi. It’s not the kind of thing you’d expect in a supermarket, especially in Colindale.
“I said to Ray Parlour I’m a big Arsenal fan but we’re not doing so great at the moment.
“He said to keep the faith and that things will get better.”
Though long-suffering QPR fan Jim Knight, 89, was less impressed.
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He said: “Ray Parlour is yesterday’s man. This is all a bit silly.”
A crowd of more than 100 gathered for the draw and cheers went up when MK Dons were drawn against bitter rivals AFC Wimbledon.
And Leeds’ fruity clash with Salford was greeted with ‘Oohs’ . . . from the shoppers near the apples and pears.
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