Oops, post rescinded.... too much info.
Just accept that Burgess is holding the nuts on this one.
Hello, latecomer to this thread.
Burgess' article was bang on the money. Tommy Smith won 't deny it, because Herald has super solid evidence of its veracity.
What interests me is that the Herald waited this long to run the story... the evidence of what Smith said was actually in circulation BEFORE the Mexico away game. I guess by waiting this long it makes it harder for anyone to trace the breadcrumbs back. (And NOBODY would have talked to him in Mexico if he had run it back then, I guess - and you guys would have been similarly grumpy).
A line from Smith on how he feels about his stand post-WC qualifiers would have made the story a ripper... But it stacks up nevertheless, even without quotes etc, simply because Burgess is holding the nuts on this one, and he knows it.
It's good the Herald saw no need to speak in code given the strength of the evidence - and that they didn't blow away their source.