A couple of weeks ago I wrote what I thought was the definitive guide on how to sign off an e-mail and was confident that I had laid the matter to rest. Yet I’ve just received an e-mail that has given me pause. It was signed off “Audere est facere” – which is the motto of the Tottenham Hotspur football club and means “to dare is to do”.

I don’t like football. I don’t like men who go on about their football teams. I don’t like cheesy exhortations. I don’t understand Latin. But there is something about this that appeals to me.

In fact, I find myself strangely drawn to other football mottos. I like Bury’s motto: Vincit Omnia Industria (Hard Work Overcomes Everything) and I like Blackburn Rovers’ Arte et Labore (By Skill and Hard Work) even more.