Dennis Wise might be all over the media at the moment defending his position in the Kevin Keegan debate, but Sam Wallace in the Independent has his views and, while he doesn't back the Mike Ashley regime, he also finds fault with Mr Keegan.

''When it came to picking sides, Mike Ashley v Kevin Keegan was a no-brainer,'' he begins. ''You would no sooner choose Ashley over Keegan than you would pick Bush over Obama; Mick Hucknall over Morrissey or Phil Brown's best suit over Jose Mourinho's best suit.''

Fair enough, you would think, given the way Ashley has run the club into the ground, but what of the £16.5 million Keegan says he is owed for ''stigma damages'' and the "income which he would otherwise reasonably have expected to receive up to his 65th birthday."?

''That was an astonishing amount of money based on a claim so flimsy that it was thrown out without hesitation by the tribunal. It smacked of a man who was out to get whatever he could. It was just plain greedy,'' says Wallace

''Apart from the money, what really jumped out from the page was the word "reasonably". Who other than Keegan thought it would be reasonable that he had that kind of earning potential left in him – regardless of whether he had spent those nine months at Newcastle or not?''

Meanwhile, in the Times, Patrick Barclay deals with greed of a different kind as England's World up game this weekend can be seen live only on pay-per-view on the internet.

''If I were to claim that a chance to see Wayne Rooney and Steven Gerrard attacking in tandem is worth £4.99 of almost any England supporter’s money, you might suspect me of advertising at the expense of principle,'' he says.

''It is certainly an argument that every minute played by the England team should always be freely available to anyone with a television set in England; the Germans, after all, have that privilege and it contributes to a rare sense of community when the mannschaft are on duty.''

He concludes, however, that it's worth a try. As long as it doesn't happen when the real action gets underway:

''I cannot see what is wrong with it as an experiment. Just as long as, when the real action starts, the old rules apply. There is a difference between preparatory matches, when the nuances of form are studied by aficionados, and the great international occasions, including tournaments, when the country is united and people gather in homes and pubs for the footballing equivalent of a street party.''