Hello. Muggy weather today. Muggy headlines too. The one that has probably caught your attention is the rather dramatic headlines suggesting Spurs might be docked points for shady transfer dealings. Daily Mirror and The Sun are amongst several covering the story.
The Saint Sky Andrew, the paragon of truth personified in the form of a football agent, has won a high court ruling in his favour to cite phone records for evidence to establish whether several key people (Levy, Storrie, Redknapp) were contacted at any stage in the midst of the transfer that took Defoe to Portsmouth.
For those who don’t know, Jermain had sacked Andrews and was without an agent. Mitchell Thomas (unlicensed) acted as an adviser with Stuart Peters (rep from Spurs) helping the transfer on.
Ok, someone’s going to have to explain a few things to me here because I’m a little confused. What does this have to do with Spurs potentially having points deducted?
Andrews is upset that he was cut out of the deal. Wrongly cut out. Surely this is an issue between Defoe and his former agent. If payments by either Spurs of Pompey were made to anyone (legally) then the most probable reason Andrew didn’t get a penny was because Defoe sacked him before the deal happened. Am I missing something here?
I can’t say I understand the logistics of these types of dealings between clubs, with player + ‘representatives’ in the middle. If the underlining argument here is that Thomas is unlicensed and played a bigger part than he’s legally allowed – I still don’t get why Spurs are liable. The player was leaving Spurs and signing for Portsmouth. He played for them and not us after the deal was concluded. Sorry, pointing out the obvious there, but it seems to have been ignored by the press coverage.
Only two words come to mind. Sour grapes. Andrew was cut out and thus missed out on a cut. What's wrong Sky? You spunked all the millions you made from the deal that took Campbell across to the cesspit?
If anyone understands the complexities, please share.
Elsewhere...
Blackburn have been linked to Ruud van Nistlerooy. Gone a bit quiet hasn’t it, our raid on Madrid? Our interest in Ruud has cooled, and I heard whispers a day or so ago that Klass-Jan Huntelaar is being looked at by United. At least we can now all rest easy with the news that Cisse is on his way to Panathinaikos. That alone is worthy of cracking open the champagne and hiring out an escort girl for at the very least, two hours. The news that Daniel Levy wants at least £18M for Darren Bent will spoil the party and have you rolling up your sleeve and tapping a vein.
Now I know that the transfer market has turned into a complete joke in recent times and we are just as guilty as one or two other clubs for paying out over inflated fees. We did it with Bent in the first place bringing him to the Lane for £16M. Then again, maybe we shouldn’t panic too much. Anything you read anywhere should be taken with a pinch of salt. I guess if Sunderland want £20M for Jones then Bent’s value is more near the £25M mark. In reality, £10M – £12M for Bent is more likely (he’ll score a bundle for a club that will accommodate him). Jones isn’t worth more than £6M and I pray Harry keeps well clear.
The alleged Huddlestone bids have been rejected, allegedly. I’m so glad we have clarity on that. Spurs are refusing to sell him. Using the ITK formula to create insight, this means either we are playing hard-ball and want more for him than the £8M offered or we rate him and simply won’t sell. Thank me later for setting that one straight.
Changed your mind on the yellow-flashed home shirt yet?
Over 2000 people have signed the petition. Club don’t care, and I guess neither do I as long as we do well on the pitch. But the point being made (by myself and the 2000) is that we dislike the yellow streaks. Its feedback being offered to the club, much like when they send us surveys by e-mail about what we might think about the idea of having Tarquin seats installed at the club. We are simply having a say.
Finally, we are in pole position for Bassong. He’s the ‘player to join Spurs’ player of the week. It's the second time he's been on the rotation. Tinged with irony this one. Mainly because he is yet another ‘player of the moment’ type of signing that we do so very very well with being linked with. And £15M is the bog-standard Levy approved offer that works like magic when we desperately want someone (Bentley the key example).
Only exception to the rule has been Palacios who has looked every bit a £14M player. Modric too. And Bassong did look tasty last season, but then again, so would I at the heart of Newcastle’s defence when surrounded by so many hopeless teammates.