Not really meaning to stir the pot here, but the talk of the pot washers (whilst smoking a cheeky tab just after half time) was that the catering manager has sensationally quit as it looks like his favourite tea-boy has got a deal elsewhere, in the far-away exotic east.

Due to the lack of a proper macaroon icer since the start of the year, this tea-boy has been employed as a pot washer, tea maker, Coffee grinder and (stand-in) macaroon icer while at Odsal, despite only being a tea-boy really, (but hasn't made a bad job of it.)

However this has broken the Catering managers heart, and instead of making his own tea he has decided to leave instead.

Well without his favourite Tea-C'Addy I suppose it was a foregone conclusion...

He was best mates with that security guard who never let anyone get to the counter though, and since he went over there it was probably inevitable at some point.

It would appear that Salford are in more trouble following the RFL's announcement that it is to hold a teabunal into the goings on at their refreshment stand. Many people have been remarking on the fine standard of the tea and wondering how it could possibly be done for the price. It now appears that during the week the tealady was splitting teabags open and redistributing the leaves into other bags and then resealed. It seems that this could lead to a pints deduction.

I have heard that Earl Grey is to head the teabunal

Get more sense from the PG Tips Chimpanzee!

I don't think Mr Duffy is available that day.

But can he ride tandem?

He looks like a double bagger.

(and who am I to judge, I'm drinking from a mug with two bags in it right now - such is the largesse in this household)

"Any more tips for the city Mrs Cravat?"

"Well Lee G's worth a packet!"

I have just found out that Tealady's last name is Smith!!!

Apparently her mother was the tea lady back in 1997

Seems the search for a leader in the tea department is getting more serious, with enquiries being made in the antipodes.

I've made a few discreet enquiries about the tea situation at Aussie grounds and, apparently, they don't drink from 'cups' in Australia and everything is served in something called 'leagues', so, if an Aussie tea lady is appointed, one wonders exactly how the tea will be served and if this new way of drinking is really going to take off in the UK. On the bright side, we've already got used to watching rugby with no scrum-half so drinking tea without cups shouldn't really be too much of an imposition.

Yeh, nah, yeh mate. They'll be drinking tea from a tinnie mate. With a polystyrene foam tea cosey thing around it to keep it hot mate. Yeh, nah, yeh mate.

What! If it's going to be tinnies, we might even finish up with a bottle-o on the hill.

The tealady has been instructed not to purchase the teabags that are always getting drunk. They pack too much of a punch and once broke somebody's jaw.

Were those the teabags that were hardly used, despite being very expensive? I heard that despite lots of people saying that they were very good tea-bags, that without proper use they could curdle the milk.

Of course some foul-mouthed catering managers said that would not happen, and tried to dry the teabags out away from the tealadys stash of (already very good) teabags. Well, that didn't work did it?

Well it seems the new tea lady comes from a strong tea making family background and has studied under everyone from Earl Grey downwards - and not only that, is also familiar with how tea was done here years ago and may even have partaken of the odd cup! I think we can forget low-brow tea bags and look forward to proper leaf tea and silver teapots from now on. Clearly this will have to be done inside set budgets but I have full confidence this can be achieved.

Maybe some promotion will be needed to achieve the necessary budget and convince the punters. Hopefully, with the help of that special No. 7 blend that we keep hearing about but which has yet to arrive in the tea cabinet? It will be like the catering of old...

It has been rumoured that during the interview the Tea Lady said her favourite brew was Green Tea and that went down well

If there's any silver spoons to go with those tea pots in the Coral then Bullseye might make a return.

It would seem that whilst we have been worrying about our own tea lady the tea lady at a nearby up market tea shoppe (sic) has also been going through a terrible time. It seems that although they lost the talisman brew master and also sous chef at the end of last year they were not replaced. Added to that someone has lost the kettle that they used for make tea at training sessions. This has resulted led to a severe down turn in the standard of catering at a place that only last year swept all before it winning the coveted silver Tetley Tea Strainer. During the week the catering manager a Mr Harry Getherington issued a email stating there was no crisis at the Tea Shoppe.
N.B. Steve Ferres and Gary Hetherington are not related.

Are you sure? as they are never seen in the same room at the same time!

It WOULD explain a few things

Apparently, even worse was to follow when someone locked up one evening and left the tap dripping ,which resulted in the whole kitchen training area being flooded. It seems that all the choreography required to allow staff to move around dodging each other in the serving process has now, pardon the pun, gone to pot. You really couldn't make this up..

Is anyone else meeting the tea lady at Odsal on Tuesday evening?