The Ronnie tonight reports that Dougals Hall's chances of signing Rivaldo appear to have run into a roadblock.
BTW, prior to posting this I saved you the bother of needing to check - it isn't April 1.

"Ambitious Newcastle United vice-chairman Douglas Hall looks doomed in his vision of bringing Rivaldo to Tyneside.
Barcelona president Joan Gaspart has insisted that Rivaldo is not leaving the Nou Camp.
Rivaldo has also been linked with a swap move to AC Milan involving Andrei Schevchenko, and Manchester United are reportedly interested as well. Rumours are that the PL Champions have officially asked for a valuation of the striker, whose buy-out clause is $70 million (£49 million).
Gaspart has now admitted that there are offers on the table for his prize asset but he also affirmed that they are all much lower than his buy-out clause. He said: "Nobody leaves if I don't want them to. We do not want to let him go."

Well that's a real pity!:-{|

-- Anonymous, March 21, 2001

Answers

Oh No, I'm devistated.

-- Anonymous, March 21, 2001

If Ronnie ever believed we actually were in for Rivaldo then he's even thicker than I thought. To$$ers. Oops - didn't mean to nick your catch phrase Clarky.

-- Anonymous, March 21, 2001

From BBC thursday 14.52 CET:

Barcelona have insisted Rivaldo is not for sale after reports that Manchester United were interested in the Brazilian midfielder. Barca president Joan Gaspart told Spanish newspaper El Mundo Deportivo: "It's not a problem of money, but of sentiment.

"He's got a buyout clause... but he doesn't want to go and the club doesn't want him to go, therefore he won't go."

Manchester United must be business code for Duggy Hall.

-- Anonymous, March 22, 2001

It's easy to confuse us with MoanU. ;-)

-- Anonymous, March 22, 2001