A tiny faceless supporter stands behind an oversized blank white shirt panel outside a stadium at dusk, offering his chest as empty advertising space.

Paper TalkThe High Road Herald

Supporter Offers Chest As Front-Of-Shirt Space Outside Stadium After AIA Exit Report Warns Of £75m Loss

Philippa Crane · Media Editor13 October · Reading time: one pint

Former Everton chief executive Keith Wyness told Football Insider that Tottenham could lose £75m over five years once AIA leave the front of the shirt, and Sidiz will already have left by the end of October.

A Tottenham man has taken up a position on the forecourt of the stadium and is accepting offers for the front of his chest, following a report that the club could lose as much as £75m in sponsorship revenue.

The Herald understands the report originated at Spurs Web, which was drawing on remarks made by Keith Wyness to Football Insider, in which the former Everton chief executive set out the difference between £50m a season and £35m a season over a five-year period.

The man, who has held a season ticket for some time, has read the figures three times and concluded that the matter is now a question of available space.

If AIA are going to training kit, somebody has to be at the front. I've got a perfectly good front.

The Herald can confirm that AIA have been front-of-shirt sponsor for 12 years and will move to training kit apparel from the 2027-28 season. Sidiz, the South Korean furniture company, will end its own partnership at the close of October, an arrangement the man described as regrettable before asking whether furniture was still an option.

He has fixed a board to his chest, set up a folding table, and made available a clipboard on which enquiries may be recorded. By midday there had been one enquiry, from a man asking for the megastore.

The supporter has set his own figure at the £35m mark, which he said was realistic, and has declined to go lower until after Christmas, by which time he expects the team to be challenging for Europe, as Mr Wyness put it. Fabrizio Romano has reported that the board continues to trust Roberto De Zerbi, a point the man has taken as grounds to hold firm.

He is expected to remain on the forecourt until the flask runs out.

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A man crouches at a narrow gap in a stadium gate, holding an oversized ruler against it on an empty forecourt

TransfersThe High Road Herald

Supporter Measures Stadium Gate At Four Inches After Fichajes Says Porro Keeps Door To Barcelona Ajar

Barry Napier · Transfer Correspondent13 October · Reading time: one pint

Fichajes reports that Pedro Porro is considering a return to Spain with Barcelona keen, despite a contract running until 2031, and that he is returning from around a month out injured.

A Tottenham man spent the early hours of Tuesday outside the stadium establishing precisely how far open a door can be before it is no longer deliberately ajar.

He arrived shortly after seven, having read overnight that Pedro Porro is considering a return to Spain, with Barcelona keen on his services, according to Fichajes. The report adds that Porro signed a contract extension until 2031, and that the door to Spain nonetheless remains deliberately ajar.

The man, who has not been inside the stadium since the spring, took the final phrase as an operational instruction.

It says deliberately. Somebody has to be deliberate about it. It's not going to be the club.

By twenty to eight he had located a service gate on the west side, pulled it to a gap of roughly four inches, and secured it with a wooden wedge borrowed from a neighbour's kitchen. He then measured the gap with a tailor's rule, noted the figure on the back of a parking permit, and measured it again.

The Herald understands the same report describes Barcelona as facing financial constraints, and that the club is unlikely to entertain a sale for anything less than a substantial fee. The man has accordingly kept the gap narrow enough that nothing of substance could get through, and wide enough to be seen from the road.

A passing groundsman asked whether the gate was meant to be left like that. The man replied that it was not a question for the groundsman. He remained at his post throughout the morning, adjusting the wedge by what our correspondent estimated as a sixteenth of an inch whenever the wind changed.

The report states that Porro is fully focused on returning to action after around a month out. The man has noted this, and has moved the wedge back a quarter inch.

At press time the gate was holding at four inches, and a second wedge had been requested.

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