Happy US Independence day. BTW, did you know that if it wasn’t for the fact that the proper British Army was otherwise engaged in Europe, the United States would still be under British rule?
Right, football. Today’s tabloids were full of it, saying that a mass exodus from WFC was on the cards, players being mentioned were: JFK to Man Shitty for £1.6m, Maggie Thatcher to Liverpool for £4m, and Sully to [insert name of team here] for £4m also. JFK going would sadden, but not surprise me – he and Ceri Hughes were the only ones from March 3rd onwards who looked remotely like Premiership players.
As for Ben Thatcher going, forget it : Drillo has already said he’s not for sale, and it turns out that Dominic Matteo is the Liverpool LB for next year. Additionally, Liverpool are more interested in a right back – expect a link with KC anytime now – and a midfielder, so the last person Houllier would want is Maggie. Still to be resolved is Sully, and there’s a growing gut feeling that Sully may well be a WFC player at least for Watford. Unless he goes continental I can’t see any club in Scotland or England that would a) want him and b) genuinely improve his prospects. Put all this down to lazy journo talk – thank fuck there ain’t a war on
Confusion mounts : according to Norge reports, plus the Evening Substandard, plus the People (I think), and the player himself, we have signed Norge CB and former Blackburn/Oldham player Tore Pedersen from Eintract Frankfurt for nowt. However, teletext and the OS says nowt, so maybe he’s undergoing a medical. It seems as though Frankfurt wanted to keep him, but under the Bosman he was able to move to us, and he seems really keen on coming, which makes a change.
Also, a couple of unsubstanciated reports say we’ve signed another CB, this time Chris Wilmot from Luton, though even less meedja outlets report on this. Obviously he can speak Norwegian. At least we’re making defence moves for once – a back up for both LB and RB would be nice. One newspaper reports that Duncan Jupp is on his way out. My dead grandad could play better than he can.
One set of players who we won’t be signing are any more strikers. John Carew is reportedly too expensive, and bearing in mind we have JH, Euell, Cort, Gayle, Leaburn, and – if pushed – Effin, the last thing we need is yet another CF. Makes you even more glad JK isn’t manager any more – he’ll be after Carew like the taxman after a Man United director, and probably thinks a defender is some druid-like creature.
All right, I admit it – I’ve got my train tickets for the pre-seasons against Swindon and the Sunday at Cardiff (can’t make Saturday, I do have to work). Sad, and that’s half my money gone already, but I feel much better now that Drillo’s in charge. I don’t think I could hack another season with the grubby paws of Kinnear/Kemp/Harford fucking things up