The tea lady, once a fixture at British soccer clubs, endures mostly as a mythical image from a simpler time. Only a few remain, and not all are ladies.
For Brian Clough, it was milk, one sugar. Kenny Dalglish liked his white. Jürgen Klopp and Ruud Gullit? They would have a coffee. So would Bobby Robson, though he liked his a little sweeter than most.
For the tea ladies and tea boys of British soccer, those are the orders that stick in the mind, like unstirred sugar at the bottom of a mug. For decades, their job meant not only memorizing the brew choices of famous managers, but also brewing cuppas for directors and scouts, equipment men and coaches, journalists and photographers.