Hammam continues to aim for the top

Sam Hammam proclaimed the £7.5 million John Hartson as a symbol of Wimbledon's burning ambition, with the Eldorado of the Champions League - "the place where the money is" - the improbable target of English football's most famous tenants.

As Hartson was becoming Wimbledon's most expensive player, signing a six-year contract, his new team-mates were invoking the Crazy Gang spirit, welcoming the new boy from West Ham by burning his £1,000 Armani suit at the Roehampton training ground.

Nor could anything douse Hammam's fire as he gave a typically bravura speech, claiming that Wimbledon were already a member of England's Big Four and that the easy tag of Premiership poor relations was long outmoded.

The fee for the 23-year-old Wales striker, which smashed the club's buying record by 350 per cent, merely matched Wimbledon's status, claimed Hammam, which embraced "paying considerably better wages than the average Premiership club".

Hammam, speaking on the eve of the first of the three-part series with Spurs, insisted: "These games against Tottenham are not a big thing to us. If you study how leading clubs have done in the Premiership over recent years, you'll discover we are the fourth best side after Manchester United, Liverpool and Arsenal. We consistently finish highly, so to be sixth in the league and in the League Cup semi-finals is just on par for us."

Even a challenge for a place in the revamped UEFA Cup is not enough for the Lebanese businessman. "The Champions League has relegated the Premier League and other UEFA competitions to second-rate competitions." He hopes the Dons will soon be in it. "In a couple of years we hope to achieve the aim of being in the top three. I think it's near impossible, I don't think we will succeed, but we are going to have a go."

Wimbledon's manager Joe Kinnear described the powerful and combative Hartson as "made for us", while West Ham's manager Harry Redknapp reflected that "every player has his price", noting that the deal represented more than a 100 per cent profit on the £3.2 million paid to Arsenal two years ago.

Redknapp, who now hopes to strengthen his team in "two or three positions", denied that Hartson's infamous training ground kick at Eyal Berkovic was a big factor in the sale. Hartson faces a FA misconduct charge on February 2nd.

Meanwhile, Wimbledon, having announced themselves as big buyers, may sell soon, with the striker Efan Ekoku interesting Southampton, Everton and several other clubs. The Nigerian would cost more than £3 million.