The Monday News

Last updated : 20 February 2006 By Jim Bonner
A few pieces of news for you following a quiet weekend.

We'll start off with one of those famous football stories in which a girl or group of girls accuses a rich footballer or footballers of rape and/or assault. Today three Portsmouth players have been questioned by police about a "serious sexual assault" that had allegedly taken place in a Portsmouth hotel over the weekend. Let's get the facts straight now. They have only been brought in for questioning and they have not been arrested and they volunteered to make these statements. There's absolutely no point in speculation about who the players are or what happened that night. No doubt the public and media can blow this story well out of proportion but remember the Christiano Ronaldo story? The amount of abuse he got was astounding but he was found innocent after it all. No doubt more will be revealed when the police have finished their investigations but I will reserve all judgement until more information is revealed.

Back to the football now and there's been some tidbits of news coming out recently:

Toddy has apologised for walking out on the team after being left out last Saturday against United. He claims it's nothing to do with sour grapes about missing out on playing but a case of watching matches is "doing his head in" and I can understand his frustration having been out injured a long time and wanting to play however what if one of our subs got injured in the warm up and we needed an emergency replacement? It's a bit like the whole Laurent Robert incident at Sunderland, though Todorov won't get anywhere near the amount of abuse Robert got despite that Robert possibly had a legitimate reason for pulling out.

Lomana Lua Lua has asked for a new contract to keep playing here about a few weeks after supposedly admitting he wanted to play for Spurs next season. What's going on here then? Is it journalists trying to stir something? Has Lua Lua had a change of heart? Is it just a ploy so Pompey will rush to offer him an improved deal? Who knows? One thing that's "for sure" is that Harry has said he won't be offering any new contracts until the season is up. He also says that Spurs haven't even enquired about the services of Matthew Taylor and it's all just paper talk.

Collins Mbesuma. Remember him? He could be leaving Portsmouth but only on a loan basis as he.... wait for it..... tries to regain fitness! Hasn't he been trying to do that all season!? I think a loan move would be good for him though as if he starts scoring in a less competitive league he might get some confidence as well as fitness because it's obvious he won't see the first team again this season.

That's it for today. Obviously the main headline is going to be the whole assault incident story but I honestly can't see too much in it. Wise words indeed for a web journo!

What will happen in the eventful world of PFC tommorow I wonder?