Oh, dear.
This is a day of high political drama in the Westminster village.
As I was writing this, more of the Cabinet have resigned.
Five of them in one go!
It’s got that bad that there have been more resignations today from the British government than players who have been linked with Sevco in the last week.
The shameful truth is that Johnson would never have been British Prime Minister without the assistance of the London media.
It is sadly similar to the situation on Planet Fitba.
So on this day of political blood letting in London, there are also dramatic events on a footie planet far away.
A beleaguered credulous tribe need some hope.
My consistent reporting here has stated that the current Director of Fantasy at Sevco is under the same orders for this window as he was in January.
That is, sell players and bring in loan deals or players for nominal fees.
Quite simply, there aren’t substantial funds for Giovanni van Bronckhorst to spend.
Of course, this fundamental reality must be kept from the fragile souls in the Ibrox klanbase.
Past events tell us that those poor dears need a steady supply of comforting falsehoods to convince themselves that they are indeed The People.
Joe Aribo was in the last year of his contract.
Therefore, Southampton knew that they could lowball an offer.
This was not what Sevco’s clientele had been led to believe.
Ah, bless…
The reality has hit some of them quite hard.
The £6m deal is unacceptable, so it must be re-imagined into something better.
Consequently, the figure of £10m for Aribo has now assumed magically restorative qualities for the Ibrox klanbase.
Rather like the toilet water in Seville.
So, who do I believe on this one?
Mr McFarlane or Fabrizio Romano?
Tough call.
As well as the Aribo story, the fact that the Sevco High Command were involved in haggling with PAOK over a £1.8m deal should be a red flag.
A nominal fee, dear reader, nominal fee.
To compare and contrast, Celtic did not haggle over the asking price for Matt O’Riley when MK Dons asked for £1.5m.
It was the equivalent of a petty cash voucher for such a seriously talented player.
Indeed, it would have been baffling to the Celtic support if the people at Parkhead would have baulked at such a relatively small fee.
That was the asking price, and it was a done deal.
You know the rest…
Of course, there does come a point, like as with the case with the Rt Hon Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson MP, when someone has to have a word.
Snarling at the world when you don’t like the facts on the ground might temporarily play well to a bigoted base.
In the end, though, the facts do not care about anyone’s feelings.
Sevco displays all the signs of a club that does not have substantial funds to spend in this transfer window.
That’s fair enough until you remember that they have to pretend otherwise to their delightful klanbase.
That is why the chaps in the Blue Room need all the help they can get from the Stenography Corps.
Just like Nadine, the succulent suspects on the sports desks will be loyal to the end.
No amount of lies will make them Do Walking Away.
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I don’t really see the point in inflating the prices of players like aribo. If they put it out there that they sold him for £10m when they really only got £6m, their fans will be demanding that they spend £10m.
They are already questioning where the £16m for Patterson has went 🙄
Like the new term package to make it a more respectable fee.
On a different matter, Phil, I note that Cameron Norrie, the tennis player, is being described as Scottish, and this is being accepted in fair Caledonia. He was born in South Africa and brought up in New Zealand. He then spent the rest of his life in the USA and London. True, he does have a Scottish father, whose accent he describes as “ugly Scottish”, and a Welsh mother. On the other hand, Aidan McGeady, who was born and raised in an Irish community in Scotland, and who spent every summer in Ireland receives abuse for claiming Irish nationality.