Who: Galahad the Gnome (COYS' Goat equivalent)
Where: COYS
When: Jul. 8
Via Prof (COYS Admin):
A collection of recent snippets from the garden pond fisherman.
Nothing to trouble Benny Foz's beard, but some stuff that will be of interest to many of us.
Modric: "Nothing is set in stone, you know what our chairman's like. All depends on whether DL gets what he wants. He's held firm before, he'll do it again if he isn't okay with an offer."
King: "Not a chance that he is leaving Spurs. Would never play anywhere else. We'll look after him, whether that is involving him with coaching or increasing his work in the community, in which he is already very active. Everyone was devastated with what happened last year. He was playing in so much pain because the club needed him to. Should have had surgery then and sat out rest of season but put it off. Knee injury related to training ground collision with a youth team keeper (not Townsend as was reported)."
Adebayor: "It should happen. He likes it here. There really is a great team spirit. It's true that a large slice of his wages go to his charity in Togo to help disabled people find work."
Caulker: "We have high hopes. Class act. Came through late but has got big potential. Quiet but leads by example. Scum came in for him after Youth Cup game couple of seasons back but were rebuffed."
VDV: "We've made lots of efforts to land Sylvie with some TV work over here since arriving, but without success. Feeling here is that he doesn't want to go, but while she was initially ok with the traveling to and fro, we're not sure she is now."
Gomes: "Tony Parkes rates him as the best keeper at the club. Waiting to see what AVB thinks. Club looking at two other keepers, one in UK, one overseas."
AVB: "Lads being called in for double sessions. Training under HR was very old school but a lot of fun. Going to be very different from now on. We'll see what they think of that. Whether he succeeds is mainly a matter of whether our players can buy into his training and tactical ideas. We don't have the massive egos that CFC do which should help."
Bale: "Has physically developed even more. He's a beast, but does have problems with niggling injuries."
Sandro: "Still doesn't speak very good English. He is far and away our fittest player."
Bentley/Jenas: "Exploring the idea of a new deal. We want to get something back from our 16m. Did the same with Jenas and would sell him in a heartbeat for a decent offer."
Gallas: "Popular and well respected, has a year on his deal and we wouldn't be unhappy if he saw it out."
Oscar: "A bid is not the same thing as a completed transfer. Takes three sides - both clubs and the player - to agree to a deal."
Investment: "We always listen to offers for investment, whether that be minority or majority, and evaluate them against the specific parameters that DL/JL have for what they want. If they do agree to a deal it will be one DL believes will leave THFC in a far stronger position than where we are now. Anything less and it's goodbye. There are things being discussed but nothing that can be - or we want to be - announced yet. Rest assured DL desperately wants us to be a successful club on the biggest stage."
Sponsorship: "Under Armour. A very big deal for them and they are using us to launch themselves into football. Much better for us to be in this situation than with a brand like Nike where we'd always be behind the big boys. Shirt material will provide data to help us analyse performance."
Europa League: "If we'd finished sixth we'd agreed to play the home leg of the Qualifying Round in August at Ipswich Town, due to the Olympics."
Transfers: "Lots of clubs interested in lots of our players, including many we'd like shot of. We've baited our rod to try and catch some big fish. Individually none are more than 50/50 but we have some confidence that we can get at least one of them to bite. It's not easy though competing with the financial resources of some other clubs."
Thanks, as ever, to Galahad's sources.