A man in a coat sits at a small table on an empty stadium forecourt, flanked by two empty folding chairs, each with a cup of tea in front of it

TransfersThe High Road Herald

Supporter Sits Between Two Chairs Outside Stadium As Shakhtar Seek Manor Solomon Compensation Talks With Spurs

Barry Napier · Transfer Correspondent12 October · Reading time: one pint

Shakhtar Donetsk chief executive Sergei Palkin says the club will approach Tottenham officially over a share of any Manor Solomon sale, with intermediaries named as the fallback should talks stall.

A Tottenham season ticket holder has taken up a position outside the stadium on a day with no fixture, having read that Shakhtar Donetsk will turn to intermediaries if talks over Manor Solomon do not go well.

Shakhtar chief executive Sergei Palkin told BBC Sport, as relayed by White Heart Lane, that the clubs agreed verbally on a share of any sale, and that his club will now come to Tottenham with its proposals. Solomon moved to West Ham last summer.

The man arrived at 9:40am with two folding chairs, a flask and a small table, and seated himself at the exact midpoint between them. He understands an intermediary to be a position, and the position to be vacant.

They said intermediaries. They didn't say qualified. Somebody's got to sit in the middle and I live nearby.

The Herald understands the talks themselves have not yet begun. Mr Palkin has said Shakhtar will come to Tottenham officially, a word the man has taken to mean in person and during opening hours.

He has poured a cup of tea for each side. Both cups remain full. Neither side has attended, though a man in a hi-vis jacket did approach to ask him to move off the delivery bay, which the man treated as a preliminary position.

Shakhtar have said they hope to avoid tribunals and dispute chambers. The man is understood to share that hope, and has noted it in the margin of a bus timetable.

The second chair has not yet been occupied.

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A small fan in a white shirt sits on a stool from behind outside a stadium turnstile, dwarfed by a giant card-shaped slab.

Match ReportThe High Road Herald

Supporter Begins Own Three-Match Suspension Outside Stadium After Reading What Games Bentancur Will Miss

Desmond Parry · Chief Football Correspondent12 October · Reading time: one pint

Football.london reports that Rodrigo Bentancur must serve a three-match Premier League ban after his red card for violent conduct against Manchester United, which essentially sidelines him until November.

A Tottenham man has begun serving a three-match suspension outside the stadium, in sympathy with Rodrigo Bentancur and without having been asked to.

The Herald understands he arrived at 7am on Monday, shortly after reading that the midfielder would miss three Premier League games following his dismissal for violent conduct at Old Trafford on Saturday night.

He has set up a folding stool at the main gate. A flask, a tin of shortbread and a printed list of the fixtures he will not be attending are within reach.

If he's out, I'm out. That's how it works. It's a team.

Passers-by were informed that the ban runs, in his words, essentially until November, and that he has cleared his diary accordingly. He has not told his employer, who believes he is at a dental appointment of unusual length.

Our correspondent noted that the three games are all away or in the league, and that the Carabao Cup tie with Crystal Palace is not covered by the suspension. The man said he had taken a view on this and would be staying outside for that one too, on the grounds that it would be "disrespectful" not to.

A steward confirmed the man is not in breach of any rule, there being none for this situation. He has been offered a cup of tea, and has accepted, after a brief discussion about whether that counts as a mitigating factor.

At press time he was appealing his own ban.

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