Specualtion (sic) is damaging

So say's the (mis-spelt) headline in this week's edition of the Western Gazette. The pressure's getting to Skivo. That's the only conclusion I can come to after reading the article, where Mr Yeovil has criticised supporters for speculating about future signings, and then reporting sightings of possible future signings in ASDA.

It's a weird article, ostensibly about the signing of Arron Davies. I say it's weird because there's no mention of the eventual cancellation of Davies's contract after it was realised that he wasn't able to play in a competitive match for the rest of the season. It's as if that never happened and that Arron's signing was a genuine coup instead of the fiasco it eventually became.

Skivo is quoted as saying: "I had been trying to do a deal with Arron Davies but with all this stuff on the internet, all they are doing is alerting other clubs to the players I am after. When that happens the players are getting phone calls from every other club who can offer money. We were lucky that Arron wanted to come to Yeovil because he was another player people said on the internet, before anything happened, we were talking to." So let that be a lesson to us all then. No more speculation, no more guesswork, no nothing. That way all those opposition managers apparently glued to every word written on the green room, unofficial websites like Ciderspace and blogs like this one will have no clues as to who the club is chasing. We were obviously extremely lucky to get Arron back and no thanks to those pesky internet hoodies that we did. Can't wait to see him play now, after all that.... Oh!

The gaffer goes on to say: "We have not got the finances to compete with other teams but there are people who think they are being clever saying 'I saw this person in ASDA' for example and they are not helping the club whatsoever". So, that's us told then. Keep your ASDA sightings to yourself in future, we don't want to be alerting our rivals to the fact that all our potential new signings can be found there. I'm not sure whether they're kept on the shelves or in what department of the store, but presumably they're in there somewhere. It begs the question of what to do should a new signing be seen in Tesco's or Morrison's for example, but perhaps those stores just don't attract the same class of player. Or fan, come to that.

Skivo also went on to defend media manager Adrian Hopper against accusations of incompetence, calling the Man Utd supporter 'professional', amongst other things. Thank heavens for that, Skivo was taking the piss all along. As you were everyone.