BREAKING NEWS
Around 350 victims have come forward to report child sexual abuse within football clubs, according to the National Police Chiefs’ Council. “We will listen and treat all reports sensitively and seriously,” said chief constable Simon Bailey. Meanwhile, the former Newcastle United footballer Derek Bell, who was subjected to years of sexual abuse by a boys club coach who subsequently worked at Newcastle, has accused the club of a cover-up for their limited response after Bell raised the alarm in 1998.
KANE’S FABLE
The rumours started in September. “Show me the money!” screamed the Sunday People on the 4th. “Harry Kane is chasing a bumper new contract at Spurs.” Over the next few weeks a string of Tottenham’s best players scrawled their signature upon bumper new contracts, and it seemed but a matter of time. In October, as a trickle of tittle-tattle became a stream of stories, Lahn’s Lahn E’nan Stannah claimed that “Tottenham would like to double Kane’s weekly wage”. As we entered November the rivulet of reports became a deluge of dispatches, one that showed no sign of abating even when, on the 10th day of the month, the Telegraph declared that “Tottenham claim there are currently no contract talks ongoing with Kane”, presumably on the basis that it was quite obviously a fib. A week later Mauricio Pochettino told fans to “be calm and happy” because “Harry Kane is very happy to be here, to commit to the future of the club”, and a couple of days after that the striker himself revealed that “we are in talks and I’m sure we will get something sorted”. Finally on 1 December – this glorious morn, this day of days – they got something sorted.
“Everyone knows how much I love this team and how I feel about this club. I had no hesitation in signing,” gushed Kane, puzzlingly. No hesitation is what the English goal-grabber shows when he sniffs a chance in the opposition penalty area. When contract talks began Kane didn’t so much hesitate as lapse into a full-blown stupor.
It’s a couple of weeks since Kane announced his approach to the negotiations consisted of “not panicking and not demanding anything”. The Fiver would imagine that the road from “Tottenham would like to double Kane’s weekly wage” via “I’m not demanding anything” to “I had no hesitation in signing” would be more penalty run-up than Ironman triathlon. We would certainly like to reassure The Man that, if he harbours a Tottenhamly desire regarding the salary of his star semi-humorous email-scribe, he should go ahead and speak up, safe in the knowledge that our enthusiastic agreement will be genuinely hesitation-free.
Kane’s negotiations were rumoured to have started back in the days when Tottenham were looking forward to discovering Wembley’s morale-boosting properties and the world knew nothing of Sam Allardyce’s predilection for pints of wine and regrettable accompanying chit-chat. Still, the effort was all worthwhile. After scoring twice in a 3-2 victory over West Ham last month Kane announced that “there aren’t many better feelings than being at White Hart Lane and scoring in a London derby”. A newly-secured guarantee of earnings running to at least £32m over the next five-and-a-half years would appear to be one of them. “It’s amazing,” he cheered on Thursday. “To sign another contract is a special feeling.”
Still, the important thing is that the deal is done. What a boon for Spurs, who now have all the key members of the team that wasn’t quite good enough to win a particularly weak league last season signed up on generous long-term deals except for Hugo Lloris. And there’s news on that front too, with Pochettino revealing today that “Hugo is very happy and he wants success here and to stay here at Tottenham”, and adding that “maybe in the next few days you will receive some news”. Watch this space, reader! And then keep watching. And a bit more. Might as well make yourself comfortable, this might take a while.
QUOTE OF THE DAY
“The club might put on a pre-match meal for us. It’s not normally a given because of money so we only have it on big occasions. We had one before Gateshead because we’d travelled a few hours. But normally we take our own packed lunch. The lads cook their own stuff and heat it up - the microwave on the bus gets a lot of action” – Macclesfield defender David Fitzpatrick looks ahead to Friday night’s televised FA Cup second-round match with Oxford United.
RECOMMENDED VIEWING
Just Baroka FC keeper Oscarine Masuluke scoring a 96th-minute equaliser against Orlando Pirates in South Africa’s top flight. With an overhead kick. And then celebrating duly.
FIVER LETTERS
“The ageless Tim Cahill wins the FFA Cup for Melbourne (yesterday’s Bits and Bobs). Surely your report should give it its full title of the flamin’ FFA Cup?” – Ross McEwan [apologies – Fiver Ed].
“Re: Paul Fowler’s comparison of his coffee make to Theo Walcott (yesterday’s Fiver letters). Judging by his letter I can only assume that Paul writes Hollywood films: I was intrigued by the start, kept interested through the build-up, but completely let down by the ending” – Craig Hills.
• Send your letters to the.boss@theguardian.com. And if you’ve nothing better to do you can also tweet The Fiver. Today’s winner of our prizeless letter o’the day is … Rollover.
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RECOMMENDED LISTENING
Join AC Jimbo Max Rushden and co for the latest thrilling instalment of Football Weekly Extra.
BITS AND BOBS
Players, staff and 45,000 supporters of Atlético Nacional paid an emotional tribute to the victims of the Colombian plane crash at a mass wake. Doves were released into the air as fans holding white candles chanted: “Please remember across the continent, we will never forget the champions Chapecoense.”
Manchester United will face Hull in the Milk Cup semi-finals, while Liverpool take on their south-coast feeder club.
Contrite Melbourne City captain Bruno Fornaroli has explained that it was fatigue-knack that caused him to drop a spectacular – and very public – F-bomb after his club’s flamin’ FFA Cup final victory over Sydney FC. “You win, you run a lot … it’s not my fault … this moment I’m very tired ... but I say sorry for what I say,” he sniffed.
Joe Hart reckons his future at Manchester City looks about as rosy as a piece of scorched earth. “I’ve not been sent [to Torino] to see how I do or see if I improve. I’ve been sent out because I wasn’t wanted,” he sobbed.
Barnet manager Martin Allen, whose chairman Tony Kleanthous declared last year that he’s “like a girlfriend you can never get rid of”, has upped and done one down to non-league Eastleigh. “The approach came out of the blue yesterday but it was quite clear that Martin had decided that he wanted to take the opportunity they were offering to him,” sniffed Kleanthous.
And top, top pocket-watch swinger John Milton has been getting his third person on to explain how he helped Tigres’ André-Pierre Gignac recover from a two-month bout of goal-scoring-knack and score a hat-trick against Pumas. “What John Milton does is not magic, they aren’t powers,” he cooed. “It is a psychological treatment, an alternative treatment to traditional clinical therapy. Through hypnotherapy you carry out a mental treatment, trying to access conflicting thoughts. With a professional-level goalscorer of his stature, we forget that he is also a human being who has certain conflicts that don’t allow him to give his best. With therapy, you focus and mentalise to perform as you should.”
STILL WANT MORE?
Inside Italy’s ultras: Tobias Jones investigates the power and reach of some of the country’s most notorious supporters.
Pep Guardiola and Antonio Conte are two men obsessed by tactics, writes Jonathan Wilson – and he should know. It’ll be brooder v extrovert when Manchester City meet Chelsea this weekend in an intriguing contest, he adds.
When free-kick routines go wrong, a Roma rabona and managers going down too easily after being struck by paper planes are among the Classic YouTube clips presented for your enjoyment this week.
The latest chapter of the Wayne Rooney Revival didn’t quite go to script, writes Paul Wilson, what with a yellow card ruling him out of the meeting with former club Everton. D’oh!
Oh, and if it’s your thing … you can follow Big Website on Big Social FaceSpace. AND INSTACHAT, TOO!
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