Virgil’s suitors

Aye, sure, Dick Advocaat would like to sign Virgil van Dijk for Sunderland.  Of course he would, but Virgil is very unlikely to go to Sunderland for a host of reasons.  Many clubs have made inquiries about Virgil but the player has an understanding with the club.

For a start, he’s going nowhere until after the Champions League qualifiers are over with, and even then, player and club have agreed that only approaches from tier-one clubs will be considered.  No disrespect intended for Sunderland, but a haul of one cup in 79 years leaves them well off the pace.

The prospect of Celtic being interested in Steven Fletcher, as reported in The Herald this morning, is unlikely to make any difference.  If Fletcher is wanted it will be for the qualifiers, there will be no quid pro quo.

Virgil has two years left on his contract and there’s little prospect of him extending his stay in Scotland, so if Celtic decide to listen to offers in late August it’ll do no harm having as many English clubs as possible bidding portions of their TV bounty for the player.  So let Sunderland bid away.

You and I have been working on the whole Mary’s Meals project for a couple of years now.  It’s not a big part of any of our lives, but what we’ve done is a big part in the lives of thousands of kids we’ll never know.

Reaching the 1 million kids fed each day figure last month has reinvigorated the charity.  It’s a worldwide phenomenon but incredibly started here in Scotland.

At midnight tonight a couple of guys will start to walk the West Highland Way, 96 miles, a 17 thousand feet ascent.  They hope to complete the journey within 24 hours.

You and I know that not every journey is completed on time, some, sadly, will never be completed……… but these two are close to hitting their £6k target figure for Mary’s Meals before they set off.  Go and give them a a couple of pounds, help drive them on to complete the task.  Every £1 you give will feed a child for a month.  A month!  Tell me you’re going to do something better today and I’ll not believe you.