A man in a black cap and dark coat, seen from behind, leans on a pale blue ledge in front of closed window blinds and holds a glowing phone.

TransfersThe High Road Herald

Supporters' Group Chat Convenes Emergency Sitting On Rashford Wages And Adjourns To Argue About Parking

Barry Napier · Transfer Correspondent2 October

The motion was carried by six votes to two, with one abstention from a member who said he was driving.

A WhatsApp group of nine Tottenham supporters has reached a formal position on reports that the club is prepared to meet Marcus Rashford's wage demands, following a sitting held entirely on the top deck of a London bus.

The matter before the chat was a report by Samuel Luckhurst that Tottenham would match the forward's wages, which are set to rise to £325,000 a week at Manchester United next month. The Herald understands the report also noted a release clause of £40 million.

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The chair, who opened proceedings at 8:14am with a single message reading "right", then read aloud the forward's record of 14 goals and 14 assists at Barcelona last season. Members received the figures in silence, which in the chat is recorded as a series of people typing and then stopping.

We've noted it. We've noted it formally. That's where we are.

A procedural objection was raised by one member, who pointed out that the report suggests the move would come later in the window, after Mateus Fernandes and Sandro Tonali. The chair ruled that this was already understood and thanked him for repeating it.

The group then recorded the arrivals of Marcos Senesi, Jan Paul van Hecke, Andy Robertson and Martin Dubravka as "done", and declined to revisit them. Richarlison's expected departure was described by a second member as "the whole thing really", and the minutes were amended to say so.

Forty million is fine. It's the other number I keep coming back to.

The chat adjourned at the next stop, after which business moved to a separate dispute over where one member parks on match days. That matter has been before the group since 2019 and is not expected to conclude.

The chat is expected to reconvene when somebody else posts a link.

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Scottish Newspaper Ratings Reach Tottenham Breakfast Table Via Website And Arrive As Grounds For Alarm

The three marks, four, three and four out of ten, were each supplied by the original outlets and were not revised in transit.

Three sets of player ratings published in Scotland after Scotland's 3-0 defeat to Brazil at the World Cup reached a Tottenham breakfast table on Thursday as a matter of concern, having gained no additional information on the way.

The Scotsman gave Andy Robertson four out of ten. The Daily Record gave him three. TalkSPORT gave him four. All three noted that the Scotland captain had been substituted at half-time, which is a fact, and which was already known to everyone with a television.

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By the time the figures reached a football website, the Scottish media had "slammed" the performance, one rating had become "brutal", and the headline advised that Tottenham should be "so worried". The Herald can confirm that the marks themselves had not moved.

The Herald has traced the escalation within a single article. A defender who "struggled" became one who "seriously struggled", then one who had a "torrid time", then a "questionable signing". At no stage was a new fact introduced to justify the next adjective.

One of the quoted lines, from the Scotsman, describes him as "one of the better defenders" on the night. It appears in the piece under the heading about concern.

It's on three sites now. That's basically confirmed.

Our correspondent observed the man read the same information on his phone three times between the kettle boiling and the toast, each time with visibly greater seriousness. He then forwarded it to a group chat of six, adding the words "not great".

It is understood that the concern is considerable, and that it is sourced to the earlier concern.

He has put the phone down and picked it up again.

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