Ah, the February of a leap year, when maidens across the land cast their relationships into utter ruin by proposing marriage to their respective beaus, only to be met with a horrified stammering of “uhh…well…gosh, that’s very flattering but…” and a complete inability to make eye contact, whereupon they are faced with the option of calling it a day or pretending the whole episode never happened and waiting for him to ask them in the restaurant on holiday in Falaraki in August, as per normal.
Here in the Focus studio, and following this sprit of matrimonial turnaround, Garth has laid an ootheca containing several hundred eggs, although nobody is quite sure who did the fertilising. (A junior sound engineer reportedly saw John Inverdale furtively brushing what appeared to be butterfly wing dust from his sleeves with a dishcloth, but this could easily have been leftover talcum powder from the World’s Strongest Man preliminary heats in the Lakeside Centre, Frimley Green. In any case, he is widely considered to be more of a moth man.)
February’s other gossips:[ul][]Ted Moult’s Transfer Window shuts today at 5pm. I cannot but think that the window was opened after the horse had bolted (to mix two immiscible metaphors), since the market’s cycle effectively reined in the runaway transfer fees anyway. In this somewhat sluggish but taurine market, who is worth the money paid for them, and indeed is the transfer price even particularly relevant anymore given that it is usually eclipsed within at most a few seasons by the player’s salary?[]99 questions for Fuhrer Ferg: Why is your nose so red? Were you born with happiness? Why are you stealing your son’s mail, you lying cheating ungracious filth?[]African Cup of Show-offs. Even the goalies look like they’re about to do an overhead kick or take on 5 men when they get the ball. Tips for the winners? I’ll go with Senegal. []My heart b’Leeds. Oh God, it’s just unwatchable. They started last season playing the slick, electric passing game which was a joy to watch. The youth team will finish next season near the bottom of the First Division.Straight Dope Fantasy League. garius takes up top spot, but it’s been a low-scoring month so one hat-trick could turn it around.[/ul]Plus the usual assortment of observations on the teams of our own personal allegiances, a kind of David Mellor phone-in without having to talk to a conservative who would benefit from surgery to insert a cleft palate.
Anyone know anything about Dwight Pezzarossi, Bolton’s new Guatemalian striker? God only knows where Big Sam keeps finding them. Hope he’s found another gem but will have to wait and see.
Was that 7 million plus Zamora or 7 million including Zamora?
Anyway, my hat goes off to West Ham - the acquisition of Reo-Coker and the likes and getting this kind of money for someone like Defoe surely means they are moving in the right direction. Can’t wait to see the awesome strikeforce of Postiga and Defoe…
What do you reckon Tottenham are paying Keane, Kanouté, Postiga and Defoe?
£6m with a possible £1m extra based on appearances plus Zamora (at a guess about £1.5m’s worth - that’s what we paid for him).
We now have the strike force that got WHam relegated (and we nearly got Leed’s goalie too - there’s a pattern emerging)
As for wages - Keane £25,000 (but we get some of that from Leeds); Kanoute about £15,000, Postiogia the same, and Zamora about £8,000 but a generous bonus system.
5 Live say it’s definitely £7 mill + Zamora. We did look hard at Reo-Coker several times at the end of last year and decided no.
Not cheap but a very positive move. Robbie Keane reverting back to a attacking midfielder should also make many people happy.
I like the idea of Defoe’s pace as well (although I have a slight doubt about his temperament), as well as what he does to defences (scares them s*itless and forces them to defend deeper).
In principle, it’s a serious upgrade of what we can do in the final third.
Can anyone think of an explaination for this (From THFC’s official site)?
“After reaching an agreement with Leeds United, Paul Robinson successfully completed a medical and agreed personal terms with us. This transaction would have seen Paul join us in the summer.
Premier League rules however, have prevented the conclusion of the transfer at this particular time. Paul is a player we greatly admire and we certainly hope to confirm this deal at the next available opportunity.”
What Premiership rules (is this about Leeds’ financial position - eg about to go into liquidation/Administration?). I can’t fathom this out.
Hee hee… say what you will of Gerard Houllier but he did mastermind the departures of Redders and Fowler… I didn’t even consider Keane as an attacking midfielder, I’ve gotten so used to seeing him up front. I guess Kanouté and Defoe could become a major threat, especially with Keane behind them. Personally I thought Arsenal would buy Defoe, if not for his footballing talent then at least for his oustanding record in card-collecting…
I’ve been trying to work it out as well and I don’t know what rule they’re talking about – all I can think of is that they ran out of time - medical, etc - to notify Soho Sq.
It’s probably not that, but I don’t know what else they mean.
Most curious. I’m sure it’ll come out over the next day or so.
I think the premiership rules referred to in the Robinson transfer are related to paying for a player but letting the selling club hold on to him for the rest of the season, thereby disadvantaging their fellow strugglers in relegation land. Of course, I could be wrong.
I’ve heard two explainations for this and they are both plausible:
Firstly that there is a limit to how many players a club can have on loan from a fellow premiership team - two. Leeds already have two loanees and can’t take another.
Or: That in buying a player and taking deferred delivery we would in effect be lending Leeds money - which against league rules.
The best explanation I’ve heard is, I think, a combination of Owl’s two;
Spurs couldn’t take him on a buy and loan-back (‘til the end of the season) basis because Leeds already have their Prem-to-Prem quota of two.
But Leeds needed to keep Robinson until the end of the season and Spurs wanted his registration. So a deal was struck whereby Spurs would pay £2 mil down now – as a deposit, as it were – and Robinson’s registration docs would pass to Spurs at the end of the season.
That way Leeds have the money (now), Spurs the player (in due course).
But neither side was aware of the Prem small print that disallows money lending between Prem clubs – which is what it amounts to.
Obviously different avenues had been sought because of Leeds unique position, this one just didn’t work out.
Unusually then, there is a ‘Gentleman’s Agreement’ as between Leeds and Spurs that the Robinson deal - as already agreed - will be put in stasis until May and then proceed as if nothing happened in between.
Never mind the apparent lack of fitness in the squad, never mind that the injury to Postiga seemed to be an elementary warming–up issue, never mind that Pleat didn’t think to have a proper forward on the bench, never mind that Dalmat is the worst defensive liability in the Prem, never mind that Poyet hasn’t got 60 minutes in him any more, or that Keane, Davies and Brown were all on their last legs after 70 minutes . . . what the fuck was Pleat thinking in moving the defensive midfielder to left back . . . I’m utterly speechless that he got so much so wrong . . .
Surely Dalmat had to come off and Yeates go on, surely you straight-swap Ziege for Jackson and don’t move Ledley or Davies, surely, with the team exhausted and them down to ten men, you use all your substitutions . . . I’m just shell-shocked and baffled by Pleat’s decisions; the team selection, the choice of subs and the match tactics . . .
The saddest thing I have heard is that pleat will stay on as director of football regardless of who gets signed.
What top class manager is going to work with David freaking Pleat overseeing every move you make and tampering with your squad?
