Like most, I could barely believe my eyes this morning when I read a story claiming that Alex Song was costing the club a combined total of around £215k a in loan and wages fees.
That was as much to do with the fact that I knew it wasn’t true as being amazed that such figures could find their way into print.
The story emerged at the same time as we had run a question and answer session with David Sullivan in which he said this of the FFP situation:
“We have a wage cap this season for all players, including 124% employers NI of *£56m which includes all win and positional bonuses.. Next year it goes to £60m.
“You can only exceed that figure if you increase NON TV income or make a profit selling players. We are right on the limit.”
So the very idea that we could afford to pay such a ludicrous loan fee and wages (£3 million plus £140k personal terms) really did take silly season speculation to a new high.
However, as a double check we asked the co owner to confirm which he was happy to do and that tells us one very encouraging thing about West Ham and world football.
Slowly but surely top players are ready to join this club without holding us to ransom and that has a lot to do with the Olympic Stadium scenario which they perceive as representing the ambition of the club.
However, make no mistake, the sort of wages mentioned in this morning’s bizarre ‘exclusive are not within the bounds of current FFP figures or indeed the modus operandi of this club’s co owners …as their record shows very clearly!
