The thing is, the board could veto this if they wanted to.

They could look at Andy Gray's previous record and say something along the lines of "Sorry, but we're not prepared to sanction this deal for this price because the player is too old, his track record isn't good enough and this sort of signing doesn't fit in with our vision for the club", or similar.

Given both the quality and the style of the players he's brought in since May, the board really ought to do this. Then Worthington would have no choice but to a) rethink or b) resign. (Joe Royle left Everton, where he'd actually done a fairly good job, because the board wouldn't let him sign Tore Andre Flo and Claus Eftevaag).

But the board won't, because they've either got too much faith in Worthington (or/and are letting their friendships with him cloud their judgement) or don't know about football. Either way, Worthington should not be allowed to make this signing and I'd be very sceptical about giving him any of the Ashton money.

Posted By: Ottosson Foxtrot, Jan 25, 10:59:35