AGB Footy

ONE TOKE OVER THE LYON

Channel Nine are on drugs. Seven Sunrise is bad, but the Today Show is badder, and may be getting badderer....

The powerbrokers at Nine have told us yet again that Gary is filling in on Today for Steve Liebmann only for this week.

He won't be back next week, and hasn't been booked for a semi-regular Today gig.

That whisper had been around a while and has been scotched by Nine several times, but grew new legs yesterday when the Lyon name disappeared off the list of probable presenters on the reborn 3AK when it pops up next year as a sports-talk station.

Gary Lyon as a current affairs host? I guess "credibility" is not an issue. At least Gary isn't fooling himself....

Meanwhile, back on the TV set, Lyon has certainly had a baptism of fire. We're told he came off set on Monday after dealing with Saddam Hussein and announced to anyone in earshot: "If they catch Bin Laden tomorrow, I'm outta here."

On second thoughts, Richard Wilkins hosts. Credibility is definitely not an issue.

SAINT NICK NAMED

Santa O'Helper

MORE OR MESS?

Or both?

Melbourne Footy Club is a basket case, no dispute out of me. They're 2.2 million dollars down the gurgler and they're managed no better than an exceptionally poorly administered chook raffle. [Trans: High risk deceased poultry investment opportunity]

Never the less, I'm picking up some fudgement here.

The headline...

Demons face massive new tax bill

The leader....

The Melbourne Football Club's failure to pay tax over a period of at least three years has left the Demons facing a liability of close to $1 million and an interest bill of an estimated further $200,000.

The disclosure....

The club's new financial officer, Rob Ewart, is understood to have discovered the tax bill in July at the bottom of a drawer during his first few weeks at the club.

The closer....

While the unpaid tax did not affect the club's bottom line in 2003, the interest bill contributed to the Demons' $2.2 million loss.

In November Rob Ewart said he'd incorporated every liability into this years loss announcement. Given he discovered the tax bill in July, do the Demons have, or do they not have, a "massive new tax bill"?

Or is the point of this story really the "bottom draw" jibe, and the rest just padding?

UPDATE: More at Chippendale.