Wednesday 22 June 2011

Twitter ye not

I love Twitter.
In fact, in recent weeks and months, I have become addicted to it, and it has replaced the former love of my life, Facebook, at the top of my daily and evening entertainment schedule.
On Twitter, I can keep up with the latest  football news, cricket scores, tennis scores at Wimbledon and snooker updates - all my great interests in one.
But today it's greatest interest has been held by rumours.
We love them at this time of the year don't we?
Every so often, a post will flash up, X player set to sign/linked with/turns down deal from/ X club.
Most of them pass me by as they don't involve Cheltenham, yet today, at about 1pm, probably the most bizarre tweeted rumour I have ever seen flashed up before my eyes.
It said: 'Lokomotiv Sofia forward Jemal Johnson has failed to settle in Bulgaria, and is set to sign for Cheltenham Town.'
It took me a couple of reads for it to sink in.
Left field (and no, I don't mean the musician who teamed up with John Lydon for the single 'Open Up').
I remember Jemal Johnson terrorising us for MK Dons and the help of Uncle Wikipedia told me the American-born 26-year-old former Wolves and Blackburn man is indeed playing in Bulgaria.
So is there any truth in it? Who knows - the club's media officer, James Brown has adopted a Boycott-style forward defensive pose to Twitter requests for clarification.
Maybe there is something in it, simply because it is so random.
I mean, if you are going to make up a rumour about a player, let's face it Cheltenham is not the first club you are going to think to link them to.
Wishful thinking maybe on my part, as Johnson would bring pace and trickery to our squad if we did land him.- stop it now, don't get carried away Mark, can't see it happening.
Just as I was digesting that one, along came rumour number two - linking us to Charisma Agbonlahor, the brother of Villa's Gabby.
A quick question to my Midlands football expert at work said he played for Castle Vale, then Alvechurch and ended the season at Redditch.
Very quick, like his brother, and a Google search tells me he has interested Kettering and York, and has indeed got League clubs on the trail.
Whether we are one of them is again open to conjecture, as is whether the interest in Charisma (what a headline-writers dream...) is down to his ability or who his brother is.
The final bit of Twittering today which caught my eye was from Damian Spencer (@damo_7 if you want to follow him), telling us he won't be coming back to the club, following today's Echo story.
That is a good thing in my opinion, as Damian is not what he need right now, someone who will be an impact sub, and would probably not get more than five goals in a season.
Twitter comments today have said it would be 'fun' to have him back and he tries hard - but that is not going to keep us out of the bottom two next season.
Mark Yates wants 18-19 players to challenge for the first team - not 18 players and one bloke who will come on for the last 10 minutes and hold the ball in the corner to protect a 1-0 win. May as well get Julian Alsop back if that's what we are looking for.
We need to get away from calls for former players to return, and if our budget is that low then we should be looking for a teenager or striker in their early 20s from a Premier or Championship side on a season-long loan, someone like Ashley Grimes, who came from Millwall and got 17 goals in Lincoln's relegation side.
They must be out there somewhere.
Meanwhile, if you want a laugh, have a look on here - http://www.football-rumours.co.uk/CheltenhamTown.php - some cracking rumours!

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