ANR reader David O'Connor asks what I thought of Barry Silkman's comments on Friday's Newsnight.
I missed the programme but a friend had told me about it and I saw Barry talking to Kirsty Wark online. The previous evening's Newsnight is available on the BBC website.
It was an item about Lord Stevens's long-awaited bungs report which named five clubs, 15 agents and 17 transfer deals.
Like the "report", this Newsnight story was hilarious.
The interview started like this :
Kirsty : "Have you ever taken a bung, or given a bung, in during a transfer deal?"
Barry : " No, I've never been asked about one."
Kirsty : "Does it go on?"
Barry : "I've never known it to go on and Lord Stevens hasn't found any evidence whatsoever that it does go on. And this enquiry is supposed to be about bungs.And there isn't any."
Kirsty : "Inevitably, there's a lot of secrecy around deals.You're about to do a very big deal for Arsenal Football Club. What's the model ?"
Barry : "There isn't one. There just isn't one. If you're the manager of Chelsea and I represent a player like Wayne Rooney and I come to you and I say I can give you him on a free, what is it worth??
Kirsty : "You name your price depending on the deal?"
Barry : "Depending on the deal, depending on the players, depending on how much work you do. It's no different to any other job, really."
What a great line !
No different to any other job !
Lord Stevens?
"He doesn't understand football, he's been a policeman all his life and I'm sure if you take a layman off the street, or a footballer, or a football manager, and you put him in the CID for a week, they also wouldn't understand what's going on."
Pini Zahavi?
"I've been family friends with Pini for 27 years…….he's the most honest guy I've ever done football business with."
Kirsty : "When are you going to clinch the Arsenal deal?"
Barry :"Hopefully, on Tuesday."
Kirsty : "Watch this space."
Who is the new Arsenal player? No idea. If I find out before Tuesday, I'll put it on ANR.
I can't figure out the link, but you can probably still see and hear the interview if you Google :BBC Newsnight latest programme
ENGLAND play Serbia Under-21s tonight and the Serbs have already qualified by winning their first two games.
Stuart Pearce and his team have little chance of winning this tournament.
And if the so-called "golden generation" of Rio Ferdinand-Frank Lampard-Joe Cole-John Terry-Stevie Gerrard can't get England past the quarter finals of a tournament, heaven help us when this lot graduate to the senior team, of any of them do.
The lack of talent is as frightening as the dearth of good coaches.And,clearly, the less ability you have, the better the coaching needs to be.
Yes, Pearce's young men battered Italy for half an hour and missed two chances and then went 2-0 up.A humid night in Arnhem with the roof of the stadium closed against a storm threat, Italy got a goal back, dominated the second half and equalised. It was one-way traffic for 45 minutes and we were hanging on, expecting to concede every time Italy attacked.
Nugent, keeper Carson, left winger Ashley Young and centrebacks Taylor and Onuaha did OK. The rest looked bang average.
Lita has pace and little else, Justin Hoyte can't cross a ball. I like left back Baines so far and he could be one to watch
Nugent is a thoughtful kind of striker who already makes the right decisions. He might train on and win 20 senior caps. We shall see.
Everton's James Vaughan is a fantastic prospect, in my view, but he hasn't played much football this season and he has only made one sub appearance so far in this tournament. Vaughan will be a player, if he avoids serious injuries.
England have drawn their first two games but we might beat Serbia tonight because they will play a weakened team.
However, let's face it, we are an in-between football nation. Never wholly bad, never really good. Too inept to win but too determined to lose. Three draws would suit us, actually.
Holland and Belgium drew 2-2 after the Belgians had scored first and the Dutch led 2-1. The third and fourth goals were goalkeeping errors but it was quite an exciting game. Ryan Babel made the first goal with a terrific break into the box, putting the equaliser on a plate for Rigters.
When it didn't matter, Portugal thrashed Israel 4-0 with goals by Manuel Fernandes, Vaz Te, Veloso and Nani.
Serbia v Belgium is one semi-final.
Holland will face England or Italy.
Still, it's been an entertaining tournament with some good play and excellent goals. And England were typically English.: they battered Italy for half an hour, missed two, scored two, and didn't win. That is where we are. Having said that, Scott Carson is the best goalkeeper and that could be important. But it's the same old England. We don't teach our footballers how to play. We teach them how to win and they always come unstuck when they play anybody good.
DAVID BECKHAM could win his first trophy for Real Madrid in his last match.
They are at home to Mallorca.
Last week the Big Three all drew, leaving Real on 73, Barcelona on 73 and Seville on 71.
President Calderon again showed that he doesn't have a clue by celebrating on the pitch after last week's 2-2 draw at Real Zaragoza.
Fabio Capello worried me last week.
When right back Torres was injured in the warm-up, he explicably moved Ramos to right back, ignoring Cicinho, and put in veteran Helguera, who handled AND clattered Aimar to concede the crucial first goal. If the rules allowed for two penalties, two penalties would have been given for Helguera's abysmal defending. Diego Milito slotted the penalty. Van Nistleroy equalised with a clever, hard downward header after half-time. Then Aimar made a killer dribble, beating Roberto Carlos and Diarra, before passing wide to Milito, who cut inside a lunge by Carlos and slotted under Casillas for 2-1.
Reyes should have come on sooner for Robinho because he can find van Nistelrooy earlier. Reyes is much more direct and dynamic than Robinho. Diarra missed a header from six yards, Beckham twisted his left ankle but stayed on to whip over a free-kick to Ramos, whose header flew inches wide. Then Roberto Carlos cut the ball back to Higuain, whose sidefoot was parried and Van Nistelrooy stabbed in to take the title race to the last day with three teams still able to win it. RVN has scored 25 league goals and I'm expecting more tonight,
Myself, I reckon Real Madrid need a new president, a new director of football and a new team. Robinho is not a goalscorer, Diarra is a third division Desailles, and they have nothing in midfield. Emerson has been a disaster and Raul would have been sold years ago if he wasn't a local legend. With Carlos and Beckham long past their prime, and leaving the club, Madrid only have three players : Casillas, Ramos and Van Nistelrooy .
Clearly, President Calderon should stop wittering on about wanting Kaka. If he wasn't a complete muppet, Calderon would know that Kaka is the only player in the world who is not for sale.
So there you have it. Real Madrid are still rich, arrogant, greedy and annoying. They have 11 wins on the road but the 12th eluded them in Zaragoza last Saturday.
Still, I hope Beckham gets his La Liga medal. Even with that ugly tattoo on his neck, he's a better role-model for young footballers than 90% of his generation.
Whatever happens tonight, I know that Beckham will not be punching the ball into the net, as Messi did last week for Barcelona.
Despite the chaos and disappointments of the last four years, David Beckham will be sad to say adios to Madrid, and the club will regret losing a marketing icon who made millions and a technician with tons of heart.
Becks is a good guy and a great pro, even if he is the most-hyped and most-overrated footballer on this planet.