Martin Lol

More than one ITK saying that Phil Neville will be a Spurs player this window. £2.5m, maybe 1 or 2 of Niko/JJ/Keane also going to Goodison on loan. Not the first time Neville's name has cropped up but I'd be very surprised if Keane goes there, still think he'll wind up at Wham.

My guess Jol's around 60-ish. 67

Although West Ham say they are happy to have it with a running track. If that is the case then fair do's, they should have it. Provided that they raise their own finance and not get public money from the Council. Admittedly, Arsenal got money from their Council to help build the Emirates but just because a poor decision has been made once, that's no reason why it should be done again, especially in the current financial climate. Yeah I know the club say they're happy, I was thinking more about the fans and the experience of watching football there. AEG have issued a statement saying that the customer experience is of paramount importance. http://www.worldfootballinsider.com/Story.aspx?id=34104 Spurs and AEG Hit Back in Bitter Battle for London Olympic Stadium Tottenham Hotspur's flagging bid to take over the 2012 Olympic Stadium received a boost after AEG Europe outlined its plans to create a viable and sustainable legacy in London’s Olympic Park. Sarah McGuigan, senior executive director of AEG Europe, this afternoon revealed that through the entertainment giant's joint submission with Spurs, it would manage and market a host of stadium and public realm events that, with football, would attract three million visitors to the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park every year. The timing of AEG's announcement was designed to overshadow the results of a BBC poll earlier today that revealed 81% of Londoners opposed Spurs' plans to dismantle the Olympic Stadium and rebuild a bespoke football venue on the site. “Alongside Tottenham Hotspur FC, we have some exciting and innovative plans for the stadium and surrounding area that would ensure an amazing visitor experience all year round," McGuigan. "Crucially, our plans will stand the test of time and require no public subsidy." McGuigan cited the example of London's AEG-operated O2 arena, the busiest sports and entertainment arena in the world. "Just take a look at The O2 [operated by AEG], along with our other venues across the world, and you get a sense of the variety and scale of what we are proposing, from international sports, music and X-Games to Expos, theatre and heritage festivals," she said. "We would bring this excitement to the Olympic Park and help ensure it becomes a vibrant and sustainable place to live and visit, not just for a year or two, but for the long-term." In a thinly-veiled attack on West Ham's plans to retain the athletics track in its bid for the Olympic Stadium, which would put spectators at a distance from the pitch, she said: "For us, the customer experience is of paramount importance. Looking at The O2 and our other leading venues worldwide, they are characterised by a first-class guest experience with focus on sightlines, customer service and proximity to the act." Under Spurs plans, the 80,000-seat Olympic Stadium would be demolished and reconstructed to 60,000 seats, putting fans right on top of the action. "We chose to work with THFC as we believe that, as a partnership, we can have a stadium tailored to reflect its customer’s needs that will be filled week in week out," McGuigan added. "We know the importance of getting this decision right has huge implications not just for the stadium site, but for the long term success and viability of the Olympic park as a whole." McGuigan said that in addition to the development of the stadium site itself, AEG would work with Spurs to explore a series of further mixed-use developments including a major tourist attraction linked to hotels, retail and some residential housing. She insisted the employment opportunities and other benefits that these additional developments offer for the local community were significant. "All in all, the plans we have are very exciting and together with THFC, we know we can deliver something very special, as well as being commercially viable, that the whole country can be immensely proud," she added. West Ham's plans for the Olympic Stadium call for reconstruction work to downsize it to 60,000 seats. It would host football and athletics as well as other major sports, concerts and community events. Last Friday, the Olympic Park Legacy Company postponed its decision on appointing a preferred bidder to seek clarification on plans from both bidders. The OPLC's decision is now expected in the coming two weeks.

The best English #9 I've ever seen. RIP

Why would you sell Pav? For a team still in 3 competitions seems a bit ridiculous to do this in Jan? Still think he's better than Defoe. Well he was dropped from the 16 against you lot without having an injury. His agent says we're in talks with a few clubs so think it's bye bye Pav. I won't miss him much tbh. He's a class finisher, absolutely clinical, but he simply can't play away from home. It's like we're playing with 10 men when he starts away. He gets barged off the ball then hides for the rest of the game. Providing his replacement is good, i'll be happy. Pav wasn't dropped, he refused to travel as he said he had tightness in his calf or hamstring. The medical team couldn't find anything wrong and he's been training since then.

Although West Ham say they are happy to have it with a running track. If that is the case then fair do's, they should have it. Provided that they raise their own finance and not get public money from the Council. Admittedly, Arsenal got money from their Council to help build the Emirates but just because a poor decision has been made once, that's no reason why it should be done again, especially in the current financial climate.

Not quite right. They don't want it if there's a running track. Though maybe that means they don't want it ...................

A good article in the Telegraph today which highlights just how badly the whole question of the future use of the Olympic Stadium has been managed. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/othersports/olympics/8282275/London-2012-Olympics-football-was-ruled-out-of-Games-legacy-by-Olympic-board-in-2006.html London 2012 Olympics: football was ruled out of Games legacy by Olympic board in 2006 The seeds of the current uncertainty over the future use of the Olympic Stadium were sown in 2006, when the Olympic authorities ruled out deals with West Ham or Tottenham in favour of legacy that was to prove financially unsustainable. Within 18 months of winning the right to stage the Games the Olympic Board had rejected offers from both clubs, and instead planned to reduce the £500 million stadium to a 25,000-seat mixed-use arena with a permanent track. The desire to find an alternative to top-flight football even led to the Olympic Board, led by Tessa Jowell and Ken Livingstone, explicitly ordering consultants working on the stadium business model to ignore Premier League football. The result, according to documents seen by Telegraph Sport and interviews with sources involved in the process, was that London committed to a stadium legacy that it could not deliver without public subsidy. Only when Livingstone had been replaced in office by London mayor Boris Johnson was the possibility of a Premier League club occupying the stadium reopened, and next month the Olympic Park Legacy Company will, after all, choose between Tottenham and West Ham. The design constraints of the commitment to a 25,000-seat arena mean that neither is an ideal solution. West Ham, bidding jointly with Newham Council, would retain the track, meeting London's bid commitment, but there are doubts as to the viability of football being played in major athletics arenas, and the club's financial position. Tottenham claim to offer a more financially robust solution, but only at the price of ripping up the athletics track, a step too far for many, including Lord Coe. Richard Caborn, sports minister at the time of the negotiations with West Ham, said that the failure to engage with football earlier was a missed opportunity. "I think we dropped the ball," he said. "We went around the world after winning the Games and looked at all the previous Olympic hosts, from Sydney to Barcelona, and they all said the most important thing is to find an anchor tenant. "In my view that was always going to be football, and there was an opportunity missed. We did a lot of work with West Ham, who were willing to take on the stadium but wanted retractable seats built into the design. They would have put money in, kept athletics in without compromising on the football side, and it was a win-win situation." The crucial decisions were taken in the 18 months following the July 2005 victory in Singapore, when the commitment to athletics, the desire to start construction, and pressure from the Treasury to cap the rising budget combined to ensure the 25,000-seat option was favoured. Both Tottenham and West Ham approached the Olympic Board in 2006 to discuss a potential move. Tottenham, who wanted to get rid of the track, were first to be dismissed. Club sources claim they were told they would have to cover the cost of demolishing and rebuilding, plus the redevelopment of Crystal Palace –a central part of their current bid. Former government sources say the bid was rejected primarily because of concerns raised by Sir Ian Blair, then commissioner of the Metropolitan Police, who advised he would not grant Spurs a licence because of the potential for trouble caused by fans crossing into West Ham's territory. Tottenham withdrew their interest in late 2006, but West Ham remained interested. In January 2007 they made a formal offer, a copy of which has been seen by The Daily Telegraph, to take on the stadium if Stade de France-style retractable seats could be built into the initial designs. The offer, sent by West Ham's finance director Nick Igoe to the ODA's stadium project manager, Ian Crockford, states that the club were interested in taking on the arena if the design brief could be amended, and would put up £100 million to buy the stadium and consider a revenue sharing agreement. "Our favoured solution would be a stadium without retractable seating which could cover much of the running track in football mode but be withdrawn when in athletics mode," Igoe wrote. "I can confirm our chairman's [Eggert Magnusson] offer of £100 million as a capital payment in order to acquire the stadium." At a private meeting between club chairman Magnusson, Jowell and Livingstone in January 2007, the bid was rejected. The Olympic board formally dismissed the offer the following month, with Caborn the only observer present arguing for it to be pursued further. Jowell said that West Ham's bid was rejected because it was financially flawed. "The West Ham bid was closed off because we were going to have to put in about £97 million more of public funds to make it work," she said. "West Ham simply did not have a proper plan. We could not get them to commit to finance it, there was no business plan. Nobody took their offer seriously." The rejection of West Ham coincided with the Olympic Board taking receipt of a report from consultants PMP Legacy. Remarkably, PMP was told to ignore Premier League football and look only at other sports including rugby and athletics, and lower league clubs including Leyton Orient. Peter Mann, then executive chairman of PMP, told The Telegraph it received enough interest from clubs, including Wasps and Orient, to make them believe the 25,000-seat option was viable. Unfortunately the board's confidence in the PMP model was misplaced, and did not withstand concrete negotiations with potential tenants, or the economic downturn. The ODA, which commissioned the report, has consistently refused requests to publish the PMP report and rejected a Freedom of Information request, citing commercial confidentiality. Orient chairman Barry Hearne insists he made it clear that he would not countenance playing in the stadium with a permanent track, and rugby clubs including Wasps and Saracens could not be persuaded. Even among Olympic sports there was no demand. The British Olympic Association hoped to create an "Institute of Sport" with the stadium at its heart, but governing bodies were reluctant to relocate to London without guarantees over future costs and access to facilities. With no sign of the 25,000-seat option being viable, the ODA had no choice but to return to football, and West Ham were approached to see if they could be persuaded to take on the stadium at a 60,000 capacity with running track. The Icelandic owners said no. West Ham's new owners, David Gold and David Sullivan, have now returned with essentially the same offer, and Jowell is among those who believe, it will vindicate her approach. "It is a great shame that we have only football clubs at the table but I firmly believe that none of the community and legacy uses built into the West Ham-Newham bid would have been there without the approach we took. If they get the stadium it will be a great result for the project." Additionally AEG have confirmed that they rejected an approach from West Ham to collaborate in the the future usage of the Olympic Stadium but declined as West Ham's plans were not commercially viable. http://www.goal.com/en-gb/news/2896/premier-league/2011/01/26/2323755/tottenhams-olympic-stadium-backers-aeg-west-ham-bid-is-not?

The correct decision based on the OPLC own rules for assessment in accordance with the bid should be for the Olympic Stadium to be scaled back to 25000 capacity as originally proposed with a running track and invite Leyton Orient to adopt it as their new home. That's what should happen. Whether it will is an entirely different question.

Basically what I said about 5 posts above, Levy and Spurs need a bigger stadium and Levy isn't especially bothered where in London it's built. There is more to it than that though. The NPD project building the new stadium adjacent to the old WHL is feasible and can be funded, what makes it impractical to proceed is the additional costs that are being foisted on to Spurs, £30m+ for buses and trains from TFL, £10/15m from English Heritage, assist with the cost of building council property in addition to the 500 or so affordable housing that Spurs are already doing, the list just goes on and on. That's the reason why Levy is looking elsewhere. If Haringey/TFL/English Heritage rein in their demands than I think it is still possible for the NPD project to still go ahead, if they don't Levy won't hesitate to find an alternative site iyam. How would I feel about moving out of Tottenham? I wouldn't be happy but if there's no other option but to move to get the larger new stadium I'd support the move. I'm far more unhappy about the council and the other leeches wanting Spurs to fund the regeneration of Tottenham and Lammy (the MP) not doing anything to keep Spurs in Tottenham. Lammy sat on his hands thinking Spurs would never move away and he's now up in arms now that he's realised Levy's threats to move away were not just Levy bluffing.

Liverpool have enquired regarding availability of Bassong and Kaboul and confirmed their interest in Kranjcar. Only Kranjcar available at the right price.

On Twitter, it's been said that Inter have commenced talks with Ajax regarding Suarez. Don't know if Inter are more likely to stump up around £25m+ any more than Liverpool or Spurs.

Definitely would be if Wham are in the Championship and they're at home to a team like say Coventry City. 15000 if you're lucky. The decision to postpone the decision to consider the bids more isn't really surprising, the whole thing is a shambles. The Olympic stadium was built with absolutely no thought for its possible usage after the Olympics, Wham fans sitting at least 45m from the pitch watching Championship football, Spurs contemplating moving to East London due to the absurd demands of Haringey Coucil, English Heritage and TFL (Transport for London). With a bit of luck the Olympic Park Legacy Company will realise that this has been a folly of massive proportions and revert to the original idea of scaling it down to a 25000 seater athletics stadium. The Athletics Federation wanted a National Athletics stadium, let them have it. And let them pay for the upkeep of it. Sounds like sense. From what they are saying it just doesn't really suit West Ham or Spurs. West Ham seem to be adopting a 'we'll make do with it as it is' policy while Spurs will build their new stadium on the Olympic Stadium site because all the obstacles that have been thrown up has now jacked the cost up by around £200m. Levy wants the new stadium, just not too bothered where in London it gets built.

Definitely would be if Wham are in the Championship and they're at home to a team like say Coventry City. 15000 if you're lucky. The decision to postpone the decision to consider the bids more isn't really surprising, the whole thing is a shambles. The Olympic stadium was built with absolutely no thought for its possible usage after the Olympics, Wham fans sitting at least 45m from the pitch watching Championship football, Spurs contemplating moving to East London due to the absurd demands of Haringey Coucil, English Heritage and TFL (Transport for London). With a bit of luck the Olympic Park Legacy Company will realise that this has been a folly of massive proportions and revert to the original idea of scaling it down to a 25000 seater athletics stadium. The Athletics Federation wanted a National Athletics stadium, let them have it. And let them pay for the upkeep of it.

Spurs have been told that Liverpool have upped their bid for Suarez to around £24m including add-ons. Levy's not interested in improving on that bid so seems like Suarez to Anfield. Think Woy would have liked the chance to spend that sort of money..................

According to his agent Fabien Piveteau, Inter Milan's Ghanaian midfielder Suleiman "Sulley" Muntari (26) will join Sunderland before January 30.

Guillaume Smitsmans I don't do Facebook or Twitter so I'm really none the wiser but one ITK has said not bollox but a little bit more to sort out yet. He studies at same uni as I did. Looking up his grades he seems a bit of a lazyarse. Other than that, never heard of him. I'm assuming that's him and his Porsche so his grades don't seem to have held him back........... Could come down to what Gio's reputation in Holland is, maybe the Dutch league would be better for him. Superb in the WC, there was a lot of hope that he had matured. Back in London, another girl, another nightclub ............. (sigh)

Suarez

Guillaume Smitsmans I don't do Facebook or Twitter so I'm really none the wiser but one ITK has said not bollox but a little bit more to sort out yet.

Being widely reported as being the case, but no one is saying where to..................assuming of course he is going. Also a fair amount of excitement about what's being said on Twitter by some Dutch fella based in Barcelona ................ Spurs have offered Ajax €16m +Gio. No reason to think it's anything but gossip until you see that on Twitter he's followed by Jonathon dos Santos, some Barca kid Rafinha, Thiago Alcantara and Ryan Babel, exchanges tweets with Iniesta and on Facebook his friends include Thiago, Jeffren and Jonathon Dos Santos. Can't imagine anyone making up stuff about Gio on Twitter when they're followed by Gio's brother.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2011/jan/21/harry-redknapp-robbed-madrid?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+theguardian%2Ffootball%2Frss+%28Football%29&utm_content=Twitter why do you get the feeling that the money and credit cards weren't his to start with ? It's not true, Redknapp wasn't mugged. He thought he was but it was only the Inland Revenue

Reyes would never be accepted by Spurs fans, he said too much in his time at Arsenal. I don't think Levy would sanction a move for a player with no resale value. If he was on a free or minimal fee he could be an option but Levy wouldn't pay £8/10m for a player who's nearly 32 (imo).

At least Spurs have the financial resources to meet the cost of their project without having to borrow £100m+ from the local council. If, as expected, West Ham do get relegated, it might be easier said than done to make repayments to Newham Council. I think it is totally wrong to use public money in this way when councils are having to make cuts. What I find strange is that the vast majority of both sets of fans are hoping to lose the bid, Spurs for moving to the East End, Wham for viewing, lack of atmosphere etc Your using a site that is built on public funds. The Emirates was built with the aid of grants. If those grants were available to Spurs with the Northumberland Park Development there wouldn't be any reason to bid for the Olympic Stadium. There were grants paid to Arsenal for their training ground at London Colney that were refused for Spurs' new complex in Enfield, but that's another story.

So do I, the very idea is ridiculous. The fact remains though that Levy and Redknapp went to Madrid the day before the important Olympic Stadium presentation, they must have gone for a reason other than a boys night out. Could Lass be available this window??

ITK's are saying that Redknapp wants Benzema on loan with an option to buy. I would have thought Higuain's injury would put paid to that, letting Benzema go by signing RvN seems totally off the wall.