Paul Merson

In the piece in the mail, he talks about players apparently being furious.

They felt it reflected poorly on them and the club.

And I suppose, crucially, they made those feelings known to Daniel Levy and the hierarchy.

And another strand to this Spurs story that's picked up on in the Sun is,

how the crisis might affect Tottenham's spending in a wider sense.

We hear that Jose Mourinho already knew, perhaps because of the new stadium, when he got the job, spending was going to be limited.

And like for everyone, I suppose, funds now even more restricted by what football's going through.

Things not perfect elsewhere in North London either.

Sam Wallace, one of those in the Telegraph to report of

Arsenal players rejecting a 12.5% pay cut.

And there's a nice bit of detail story from Sam that I suppose I hadn't given perhaps enough mind to.

And this is what I like.

Players only too aware that the transfer market is likely to be slow in the extreme this summer and the value of any future contract in doubt.

And I suppose that thing that I hadn't really given mind to was the fact that

We don't quite know how deep this financial crisis is going to go.

These contracts that players are on right now, this might be the best contract they ever get.

Players are mindful of that, and that's perhaps one reason why negotiations are taking quite some time.

Another aspect to this is the government is obviously running out of contracts.

The Guardian have seized upon that.

They've named a 1-11 out of players.