Let the big dogs roll

It`s a cheery goodbye to Freddy Shepherd`s stooges from the old board and a big 'hello` to some proper business people as Mike Ashley`s takeover finally reached a crescendo. Out went Dogless Hall, no doubt with a million quid in his back pocket as pay off, Shepherd`s brother Bruce, Hall`s sister Allison and Timothy Revill. In came Steve Hayward and Chris Mort from the City. Ashley is also rumoured to have hit the magic 90% number, meaning a compulsory buy out of the remaining 10% of the shares if true. Expect some Stock Exchange movement today.

Moving on, it looks like Mort will be performing the much-vaunted review of the club from top to bottom that Ashley requires before he`ll open that stuffed wallet of his. Speculation abounds this morning that £50million will be the price on the ticket for Big Sam. However once again the transfer targets we`re linked to hardly reflect the enormity of the kitty that will be coming into play. Habib Beye continues to be strongly linked and, whilst he is currently on his hollibobs, he`s expected to sign when he comes back for roughly £2m.

Other than that the trail seems to have gone cold on Diarra and Sagna, whilst the Hyppia saga rumbles on in the background, without getting any sort of approval from the fans. Too old, turning circle of a tank and too slow seem to be cropping up at regular junctures. No left backs have yet been mentioned in connection with the club, which remains the biggest disappointment.

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