Liverpool have come up against a brick wall in their bid to prise Aston Villa midfielder Gareth Barry away from the Midlands, and the whole sorry mess has now been made into a soap opera by noted Merseyside writer Phil Redmond.
Redmond, who also wrote Grange Hill, Brookside and Hollyoaks, is a staunch Reds supporter, and is as bemused by the ditherings of the Liverpool board as the next fan. The shenanigans over Barry's proposed transfer are like something out of one of Redmond's scripts, and he's decided to put pen to paper.
Villa want £18million for Barry; Liverpool are trying to get him cheap. Throw in a couple of dysfunctional families, a local ganglord, drugs, booze, teenage sex and a plague of unemployment, and Bob's your uncle; the next big Channel 4 drama is at hand.
Redmond has named the new show Pennypinchers, a real sliding tackle on the Chief Executives at Anfield. The show, bought by C4, has been scheduled for a September screening, unless Barry signs for Liverpool by then, which is extremely unlikely.
