Solvency and the City

After stopping the Ten comes the austerity.

Quite simply, Sevco has to sell players.

I detect the dignified hand of DUPman in this reportage.

However, there is a genuine story behind this succulent morsel.

I called a  well-placed source and he informed me that the real figures were more telling.

He told me that the Portuguese outfit was willing to go to €6.5m, rising to €7.5m with add ons.

In a normal transfer deal, the fee is usually paid in three instalments.

The first one is 40% and two additional tranches of 30% each.

As this is “keep the lights on” money, a mainly upfront fee would be more to the liking of the Sevco High Command.

I’m told that the extra €1.5 on the deal depended upon Porto winning the league, Alfredo scoring a number of goals and an appropriate standard of behaviour and discipline from the Colombian.

The chaps in the Blue Room had their dignified hearts set on something closer to €20m.

My guy informed me that Alfredo knows that his international career will not progress if he does not leave Scotland.

Meanwhile, I’m hearing that the Sevco share issue is struggling to get traction in the Square Mile.

Personally, I’m amazed that very few in the City wants to invest in an SME that continually makes a loss, has a racist customer base and a toxic shareholder who was once in the big chair.

Baffling.

The chaps in the Square Mile have made it clear that any investment would be dependent on RIFC getting a NOMAD and being listed on the Alternative Investment Market (AIM) again.

Of course, one of the key objective of the Off Licence Putsch in 2015 was to de-list RIFC and avoid all that pesky regulatory scrutiny.

Moreover, the investment that the Sevco High Command is seeking is merely for operating cash, just like the transfer fee for Alfredo.

Therefore, it would not be transformative like, say, building a new stadium with an increased capacity.

Of course, the Sevco High Command has the assistance of Managed Decline FC across the city.

The men in the Parkeahd boardroom believe in the Old Firm.

My only issue with this is that they do not level with their own fans and tell them that they see Celtic as part of a sporting duopoly.

Word Mines News

On Monday I submitted the manuscript of Native Shore and I’m totally wiped.

Now the editing process begins…

Facebook reminded me yesterday that 22nd June 2018 was the day that The Squad was launched in Dublin.

A three-year gap between debut and sequel is considered fair enough in the publishing world.