BLACK AND BLUE NUMAN
AFTER their trophyless finish to the season, Rangers fans are feeling pretty bruised by now. They'll empathise, then, with new signing Arthur Numan, who was expected to fly into Glasgow last night sporting a black eye given to him by an unhappy fan.
Numan's farewell to PSV Eindhoven was a 5-0 thrashing by Ajax in Sunday's Dutch Cup final and the attacker apparently lay in wait for him outside the ground. Manchester United-bound Jaap Stam escaped unscathed.
If Numan hasn't sorted his house out, he could do worse than look over the one in the leafy suburb of Milngavie that was recently occupied by Marco Negri and his lovely fiancee Monica. Negri, the leading scorer in Scotland last season, had the place emptied hours after learning that he would not figure in the Scottish Cup final and says he will never set foot in Glasgow again.

TAKING THE RISE
SAVAGE increases in season ticket prices have become a familiar part of the rituals of close-season, and this one is no exception. No sooner have we enjoyed Leeds United's brazen attempt to mask increases of between eight and 22 per cent by promoting their new ‘away season ticket', than we can enjoy Tottenham's energetic defence of their 8-12 per cent rises. Apparently prices for White Hart Lane are still lower than for Upton Park or Stamford Bridge a bit like the football, then.
A fresh angle has been taken by Leicester City's acting group chief executive Barrie Pierpoint (sadly, no relation to the famous hangman), who went into print in a local paper criticising the likes of West Ham for their 40 per cent hikes and snootily declaring all that this achieves is to price long-serving and true fans out of the stadium. The effect is somewhat ruined, however, by his admission that Foxes season tickets are to rise by around 11 per cent. The last time we checked, Barrie, inflation was running at around 3.5 per cent. There's an old saying about people in glass houses…

THOMPSON WANDERING TO VILLA?
LATEST from the transfer grapevine is that Bolton are resigned to losing winger Alan Thompson and will probably allow Per Frandsen to go too if the price is right. Wanderers manager Colin Todd is currently in Scandinavia checking out possible replacements for both, with Aston Villa interested in a double deal. Leeds and Middlesbrough are also keen on Thompson.
Middlesbrough's fans have become used to big-name signings from Bryan Robson and there's another on the way this week but it won't be Everton's Duncan Ferguson, or either of Juventus duo Moreno Torricelli and Antonio Conte, as predicted elsewhere. Watch this space for details…
Finally, Rob Lee better not spend the summer doing any DIY on his Newcastle home when he's finally dumped from the England squad. After his anemic performance at Wembley, and mindful of the fact that he could move on for free next season under Bosman, Kenny Dalglish is expected to flog the midfielder to a London club. Lee expects it to be West Ham, but his old stamping ground of Charlton might be more realistic…

BULGARIAN WHINES
AS YOU might have noticed, there's been a lot of fuss about Paul Gascoigne's nocturnal habits recently, with the Daily Mirror even suggesting Gazza should be dropped from Glenn Hoddle's squad. If that did happen and if FIFA bent their rules just a little then the Middlesbrough midfielder's natural destination would be Bulgaria, where they specialise in turmoil.
In the last week alone veteran striker Hristo Stoichkov has squabbled with a journalist in full view of TV cameras, defender Petar Hubchev has refused to turn up to a team training camp because he says he's too tired and coach Hristo Bonev has dropped midfielder Ilia Gruev for taking steroids only 10 days after insisting, "I will struggle tooth-and-nail for this lad. He is innocent and I will prove it. Ilia Gruev will play in the World Cup finals.
And lest we forget, midfield playmaker Krassimir Balakov is likely to face charges after slapping and head-butting a journalist in the run-up to Stuttgart's Cup-Winners' Cup final defeat by Chelsea. After all that, the odd 2am kebab doesn't sound too bad, does it?

PORTUGUESE FAN KILLED
FROM the it's only a game after all department comes news of a 21-year-old fan who died on Sunday attempting to watch his team's relegation decider. The supporter fell through the roof of a gym overlooking the stadium in which Farense beat Rio Ave 1-0 to stay in the Portuguese First Division.