8:00am Friday 20th June 2008
By Wendy Gee
EASTLEIGH'S long and bitter battle to sign towering defender Tom Jordan from Havant & Waterlooville is finally over.
Some nine months after Eastleigh's ex-Havant boss Ian Baird first declared his interest in the 26-year-old, the Blue Square South rivals have put their differences behind them and finally agreed two-year deal - for an undisclosed fee.
To say the Jordan saga stirred up a lot of ill feeling between the clubs would be an understatement. Baird's pursuit of the centre-back so soon after his bombshell departure from Westleigh Park last October met with a defiant not for sale' message from the Hawks who accused their south coast neighbours of offering "Mini money for a Rolls Royce."
Jordan himself cranked up the tension by resigning the Havant captaincy and publicly declaring he wanted to leave the Portsmouth outfit.
Havant, though, stubbornly stuck by their guns, rejecting a flurry of offers from Eastleigh and eventually leaving the under-contract Jordan to kick his heels in the stands.
Eastleigh subsequently withdrew their interest and signed Ashley Vickers from Weymouth instead.
But with defenders Karim El Salahi, Chris Collins, Warren Goodhind and Adam Everitt all leaving the Silverlake this summer and freeing up some cash, Baird went back for Jordan two weeks ago - and he has finally got his man.
Full story in today's Daily Echo
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