DAD ROB ROARS HOWAY THE LADS
TV TIMES: Live on BBC1 from 7.30pm player is determined to go after he turned down the offer of a massively improved contract.
But the club’s owners have made it clear that any agreement must be on their terms. That means no repeat of last summer when Barca floated huge headline “offers” only to propose a baseline deal which never rose above £82m. Instead, Liverpool will demand a base figure of around £120m, with the additional monies made up of reasonable, achievable payments, dependent on success.
If the Catalan club are prepared to meet Anfield demands for Coutinho (below, seen driving out of training yesterday) and pay a large chunk of the fee up front, it will pave the way for a deal to be completed now, as opposed to an agreement to move next summer.
That means
Barca would need to offer more than the
£130m they will pay
Dortmund in total for
Ousmane Dembele, and be exceeded only by PSG’S
£198m capture of Neymar, and the £166m the same club will eventually pay for Kylian Mbappe. BEFORE first light tomorrow, a coach party will set out from Rob Lee’s house in Hornchurch as hostages to family fortunes.
Newcastle legend Lee never had to worry about parking the bus as part of Kevin Keegan’s buccaneering side of the 1990s, the most flamboyant team never to win the title.
But when he packs the bus, simply by keeping it in the family, for the 600-mile round trip to the Geordie nation, he will find out that blood is thicker than patter.
Lee’s sons Olly and Elliot will be playing for League Two leaders Luton on the ground where they used to run amok as infants in the executive boxes while the old man kept Toon legend Alan Shearer supplied.
Off duty, Lee would invite Shearer and other teammates with young families to his house on Tyneside for five-a-side in his back garden. It was here that midfielder Olly, 26, and 23-year-old striker Elliot cut their milk teeth as players.
And when 7,500 pilgrim Hatters come calling with the Lee supporters club, Newcastle will discover what happens when the straw-boaters come in.
After a quick head-count, he said: “Who’s on the bus? Me, my wife, my daughter, then there’s my mum and dad, my wife’s dad, my two brothers and all their families are coming as well, plus four or five friends. “Pick-up point is my house in Hornchurch, 7am. For our family it’s the best possible tie. It’s where they grew up. They used to watch the games from a box when I played there.
“We had so many requests for tickets that I had to ring Newcastle and call in a few favours, so we’re all going to be in the Platinum Club. If one of the boys scores, I will jump up and probably get attacked by 30,000 Geordies.”
Lee remembers his time with Newcastle with great fondness.
He said: “In those days, Alan Shearer, Gary Speed, Warren Barton and Shay Given used to come round with their families during the season and we played five-a-side in the garden. I don’t think the physio was very happy about it but it’s probably where Olly and Elliot learned their skills.”
Newcastle would do well not to treat Nathan Jones’s free-scoring side as pushovers. It’s only five years since the Hatters, then a non-league club, shocked top-flight Norwich in the Cup.
Elliot warned: “Although I was very young, I do remember going to St James’ Park when dad was playing, although we were in the box causing carnage rather than watching him outside. Now there’s a bus of 30 to 40 people going up – it will be crazy.”
And Olly, whose four goals this season include a spectacular hit from inside his own half against Cambridge, said: “It will be a special moment. Elliot played there for West Ham a couple of years ago and I watched him with pride but also a tinge of jealousy, so I can’t wait – it’s a big chance for Luton to show how good we are.”