Truth is stranger than friction

Get this - Shaka isn't injured. It's all a big farce. Honest. At first he was refusing to play as a one man protest against the way Harry Redknapp was being treated, apparently. This is the same Shaka Hislop who is a clever gentleman with a degree in Rocket Science, the same Shaka Hislop who knows we have three perfectly able back-up keepers, and the same Shaka Hislop who would no doubt know his absence would be plentifully covered for. Still, ignore that for now.

Do you remember when Harry went to Southampton, and the players were asked if they'd dare to follow the boss? De Zeeuw came out and said, purely as a bit of banter, that the players were running bets on who would be the first to move - Shaka was their favourite at 3/1, due to the fact Judas bought him at both West Ham and now at Fratton. BUT IT'S NO JOKE! THEY WERE DEADLY SERIOUS! THEY KNEW MORE THAN THEIR SMILES LET ON! Or so the rumour mongers say.

Add the fact that Niemi is apparently (seem to be saying that an awful lot) a target of the bigger clubs, it all fits in to place. The recent racial abuse that two supporters also hurled at Shaka may also have gone some way to making up his mind, as some have claimed he is "in a dispute with the board" over it - the board who banned both supporters from Fratton Park for life and ensured that the "fans" were prosecuted to the full extent of the law, but never the less, a board dispute. No really.

But I guess at a club like this and with the season we've had, it's not at all possible that someone can be injured and their replacement play well enough to deserve a spell in the first team!