Fuller Fails

Last updated : 02 July 2005 By Keith Allman
A proposed £1m move to end Ricardo Fuller's Pompey stay has hit the rocks over the sensational revelation that he failed his medical. Apparently Sunderland were all set to tie up a deal for the Jamaican front man when they suddenly realised that actually his knee was a bit dodgy.

Erm, hang on a second.

That's hardly much of a revelation is it?

I mean, it is if you ignore the fact that he had a massive knee operation last year; the fact he's here on a pay-as-you-play contract; the fact that he wears shorter studs to protect his knee; the fact there's a song about him with the line "he's got a dodgy knee, we got him on a free"; the fact that practically everybody in the football world knows about it... but OTHER than that I can understand why Sunderland would suddenly pull out.

Peter Storrie didn't really help Fuller's image to potential buyers with a killer line delivered to "The News";

"His knee might need an operation at some stage, but it could be next week or it could be in the next five years"

"To be fair to the lad" he did play 37 times last season, and a lot of that time as a lone target man getting bullied and thrown about by opposition defenders - and he seems to have survived that alright. With a bit more luck and confidence he could've had a vaguely successful season rather than the somewhat embarrassing one goal against a relegated side which was scuffed from six yards out past a dodgy Argentinian goalkeeper that he DID manage. But we can't have it all.

And as for those other stories;

Norwich have apparently refused all offers for want-away midfield Damien Francis. Manager Nigel Worthington has also exercised the policy of "practice what you preach"; after last week slagging off people at our club for talking about buying Robert Green to the media, he's now been talking to the media about the possibility of buying Linvoy Primus. We still might be dealing with the Canaries however as apparently they're tempted by Ivica Mornar - although "two or three" other clubs are also in the running. Their Anglian rivals, as reported earlier in the week on here, are now definitely out of the running for David Unsworth over his wage demands, although seem keen on Shaka Hislop as a replacement for Kelvin Davis, who moved to Sunderland. And speaking of Sunderland, that brings us back round to Julio Arca; we're still interested and are believed to have had one offer turned down, although how this now fits in without Ricardo Fuller to use as a bargaining chip we can't be sure.