Adam Virgo's return to the Withdean has been rumoured for a number of weeks, although he stated this week that the primary factor for returning to the Albion was Micky Adams, his manager at three different clubs.

His transfer to Celtic in 2005 caught many by surprise, me included. And, given Albion's ongoing cash constraints, it could be argued that the Scottish giants' money gave the Seagulls a vital shot in the arm.

I have spoken to a number of Celtic supporters on the subject and listened to the theories. And Mark McGhee and Celtic manager Gordon Strachan certainly go back a long way and would have thought long and hard before £1½million changed hands.

It was a gamble, and given that Virgo was doing very well in the Championship — a league arguably on a par, or better than the Scottish top flight — it was certainly worth a try. For various reasons it didn't work out, almost the Peter Marinello story at Arsenal on a smaller scale, but that, for me, makes it all the more exciting for the Albion.

In some people's eyes, Adam Virgo has been a flop. Not a mega-expensive one, but a £1½m one.

Now, in a perverse way, that is exactly what the Albion need: he will want to prove to everyone, and most of all himself, that he is not a duffer.

And I firmly believe that he will — and that the Seagulls will reap the benefit, and potentially at both ends of the field as he is proven at this level in both defence and attack.


It's very rare that one of my tips comes in. The last time my horse was leading the Derby it ran over a suffragette.

But congratulations to Spain, world football's eternal bridesmaids, who were crowned the European Champions on Sunday evening — as predicted in these jottings at the start of the competition.


What's the difference between Sussex County Cricket Club and Dick Turpin?

Turpin wore a mask.

I have always been very positive about what has gone on at the County Ground over the last few years. Like many others, I have been pleased to see Sussex rewarded with a high level of success. But last Friday they blotted their copy book, in my opinion.

The final Twenty/20 group game against Kent was a dead rubber. Sussex's performance in the competition had made Andy Abraham's recent Eurovision Song Contest entry sound like Enrico Caruso, and as a result they rested a number of senior players, including skipper Chris Adams.

The weather didn't help, but the nature of the game meant that it was nowhere near a sell-out.

Yet when my 13-year-old son Sam and two of his friends arrived at the gate, they were told the only tickets available were the top-priced £25 ones — on which Sussex then graciously crossed out the £25 and let them in for £15.

Yet two weeks before, when they lost to Hampshire and were still effectively in the competition, I took Sam and got charged £8, yet he spent the majority of both matches standing in the same area.

The 20-over game has revolutionised cricket, and introduced the game to a new generation of supporters.

But perhaps Sussex should recall the fable of killing the goose that laid the golden egg.