Maybe one day, we shall be offering Alan Nixon of the Daily Mirror the same sort of “full, free, and absolute pardon” for Gyangate that his part namesake, Richard Milhous Nixon, received 37 years ago over Watergate.
For now, however, he must remain liable to impeachment.
Hot on the heels of his much-denied exclusive from yesterday, claiming an agent close to Sunderland AFC had circulated Asamoah Gyan’s name to other clubs as a player available for transfer, Alan N tells us Stoke City are – stand by for some hardcore footballspeak – “lining up a £10m raid … to test Sunderland’s resolve to keep Gyan”.
Elsewhere on the Mirror website, a report quotes the flat Niall Quinn denial of any SAFC intention to sell Gyan, and any such use of an agent, coyly mentioning “a report” but not admitting this was the Mirror’s own report.
But our Alan is sticking to his guns, claiming:
Stoke have been alerted by an e-mail from a North East agent that big-money Gyan was available and they will make an offer to see how much he will cost.
Leaving aside the lunacy of expecting Sunderland to take seriously a cutprice offer for a man who cost us £13m+ only a year ago and made a decent impression in his first Premier League season, what does this tell us?
That Nixon has top-rate contacts and must be seen as a formidably well-informed football writer who knows an awful lot more about what is going on in the game than Niall Quinn? Or that he is floating absurd tales that have no substance? Take your pick without necessarily excluding the possibility that some spivvish source is feeding him lines designed to unsettle the player.
Nixon states this:
“Quinn tried to distance himself from the e-mail, pointing the finger at the agent involved and claiming that he was working without the club’s permission. MirrorSport has confirmed with several clubs that the e-mail was sent and includes Gyan’s name among a dozen or more others, many of these ‘for sale’ without their knowledge. As one respected official said: ‘Clubs often do this, using agents to test the water. It gives them deniability. But it is very unusual when it comes to us in writing’.”
This, in my view, gets very close to accusing Niall Quinn of, at the very least, being economical with the truth. Possibly not close enough to be actionable, which may be more the pity. At some stage, Nixon is either going to be proved spectacularly right, which would be extremely bad news on more than one level for SAFC supporters, or he is going to have to eat a huge porton of humble pie.
In today’s artiicle, he further asserts that Stoke are “giving boss Tony Pulis cash for a top-class signing and can offer the Ghanaian goalscorer big wages and a crack at European football next season”.
But at least we can relax on one point.
Gyan has shown himself to be a man who gets a little excited when such clubs as Manchester United and Tottenham Hotspur are mentioned.
We can surely rely on him not to be prompted by alleged interested from Stoke City – a club that merits respect but is hardly one to turn players’ heads – to offer a variation of his Spurs quote to run something like this: “I am not aware of any contact from Stoke. I have a contract with Sunderland … but Stoke are a fantastic club and any player would be flattered by their interest, so I am, but there is nothing I can do if Sunderland want to keep me.”
I’d be happy blame Piers Morgan for the injuries which blighted the second half of our season, flatulence, the Miners Strike, and a shortage of decent Indian restaurants in SW Ontario.
Shocked at the decline in standards from The Daily Mirror. Hugh Cudlipp must be turning in his grave. I blame that Piers Morgan!!!
is this the same Alan Nixon who, in his match report of the West Ham game, said that Gyan had scored? A report which was accompanied by a photo of the delightful (not) Ms Brady in a fur coat, with the caption ” fir enough”? How can we take anything seriously when it comes from a source that clearly make up match reports without watching the game in question, and form a paper that cannot even tell the difference between FIR and FUR when attempting a pun?
Good player is Gyan (to say he was the only player to shine for us is a bit harsh, maybe in the second half of the season but lets not forget we were sitting pretty in 6th for the first half of it before the injuries kicked in, in no ways did we have a ‘dismal season’ but I digress), but we signed him for £13m and his value should have only increased so to say he’s going for £10m would be pretty ridiculous.
If he goes, and I wouldn’t be shocked because when these rumours kick up there’s often something to them, then I will be disappointed but not surprised. Players like Gyan will come and go, even homegrown talents like Henderson aren’t going to be ‘one-club men’ so players like Gyan are always going to be on the move. Like I say though, if he (or his agent) do decide it’s time to move, we need to get more than what we paid for him and invest it in more talent. ASAP as well as we don’t want to be weakened for the second game of the season.
True mackem is a mag. He doesn’t know the correct spelling of ha’way. What’s my prize?
The time we need to worry about transfers to Stoke is when they stop taking the ones we want rid of, not when the rumours start about taking our record signing on the cheap.
i know people might not like this but i think shola ameobi looks surplus to requirements at the scum and i think hes a menace infront of goal and could be the replacement for gyan what you guys think? howay the lads!
i think we should buy dj campbell and zigic..i think they would work well…and would only cost around 12 mil
welsiesrevenge said ”
We had a good season which could have been great,dissmiss us at your peril.”
We could say the same about ourselves Potter!
sunderland are going down..gyan needs to move to further his carreer and stoke would be good option..i think we can then bring in ryan noble to lead our attack..sell gyan for around 10 mil and replace him with carlton cole or jermaine beckford at everton..they will do good job..howay the lads !
I am rather surprised that Salut would want to comment on specious journalism such as this twaddle.
We will have to see whether there is any basis for the rumours at all. As Mr Taylor says I really wouldn’t expect Gyan to have his head turned by Stoke City but his comments the other day didn’t suggest that he would refuse an offer of another signing on fee.
We tend to get linked with allsorts of players during the silly season…I have to say I was a bit shocked when I saw us linked with Gyan( who in my book seemed to be your only player to shine in a pretty dismal season for you).
Have heared rumours of Bruce doubting his commitment to the Black Cats.Bruce should learn to keep stwm,afterall he slated Jones publicly stateing in other words that he was a lazy sod.Rated as highly as 15 at one stage with Liverpool mooted as his next club.A season on and hey presto he’s a Potter and despite the odd bad performance I am made up we’ve got him.
Gyan good season courted by Spurs ,high price tag all of a sudden he get’s linked with little old us….sounds familiar ??
Not suggesting he will come to us( at least not now lol) but go he will my bet is Spuds with Crouch comming the other way( new John Stead for you 😉 ) .We had a good season which could have been great,dissmiss us at your peril.
P.s Good luck next season 🙂
There’s more mischief going on at the moment than there would be at the WorlD Mischief Makers AGM.
Is there smoke without fire? Are rumours abounding? Have transfer requests been slammed in? How many cliches can you get in a short post?
Latest news for Villa fans; McCleish signs NcCartney, Nosworthy and Angeleri and appoints Dennis Wise as Chief Scout.
You heard it here first, Villa fans. When do the season tickets go back?
Mark my words (and I’ll come over and mark yours), it may not be to Stoke but Gyan is as good as gone.
Gyan is a player with potential, that kiss of death for many but to make the impact that he did in a team with, more often than not, 7/9 first team players out, bodes well for the future.
Unless we are completely mad we will not sell and if we do the price should start AT £20 MILLION.
Stoke City dreamers dream on.
Stoke City are to us , what we are to Spurs and Man U!
ie: Stoke take our cast offs and we take Man U and Spurs cast offs!