Premiership: Alan Sugar 'miser' comment 'was valid opinion'

A newspaper which called Sir Alan Sugar miserly in his stewardship of Tottenham Hotspur FC was an honestly expressed view based on fact, the High Court has heard.

Victoria Sharp, counsel for the Daily Mail which is fighting Sir Alan's libel action over a December 1999 story, said that journalist Jeff Powell was entitled to comment on the state of affairs at the club.

Mr Powell said 53-year-old Sir Alan had put Spurs on a sound financial footing but that he considered the his response to the team winning the Worthington Cup the previous season was "miserly".

Mrs Sharp told Mr Justice Eady and the jury in London: "It's very important to fly the flag of freedom of speech. You should be free to express your opinions about football - and so should Mr Powell.

"The facts speak for themselves and the facts support the comment that was in the article."

Mr Powell, who with Associated Newspapers pleads a defence of fair comment, said that the piece - headed 'Why miserly Sugar must come out of his counting house and give George (Graham) the money' - was about a "matter of great public controversy" at the time.

Mr Powell, a former chairman of the Football Writers' Association, said that he had been a friend of Graham, who joined Spurs as manager in 1998, for 30 years and talked to him regularly.

He said that the piece was written "after due consideration" as a statement in the paper about the continuing downturn in Tottenham's fortunes after a promising start to the 1999/2000 season.

The hearing was adjourned until tomorrow.