Yankee doodle deal all dandy?

In a comment on last week's post, Bob asked what had happened to the "American consortium". Well, here's your answer, Bob - they (the Star Foundation, that is) have suddenly reappeared and claim a deal is imminent. Certainly nominal spokesman Geoff Sheard seems very confident: "We will push it forward this week and it will be resolved. It’s all done as far as we are concerned. It’s all down to the solicitors now."

Most bizarrely, Sheard commented: "We are not aware of any other significant interest from elsewhere". Either he's not been reading the papers, he's in denial, he's playing semantic games, he's eager to discredit Barry Moat publicly - or Moat's approach really isn't serious or concrete.

Also in Wednesday's papers, Nicky Butt has endorsed the permanent appointment of Chris Hughton. If this weren't such a high-brow site, the story would have appeared separately, under the headline "Butt plug"...