They are almost certainly hearsay...Someone said it and he heard it and repeated it in the paper.
The Journo will need to make friends in order to get stories, unfortunately that is how it works in most cases. Stockheusen has been thanked/recognised by those within the club publicly and there is a somewhat symbiotic relationship.
People read post, club keep us interested in whom we may go for...I suspect Stockheusen has some kind of list to who we could be interested in at the right price etc. Some will come off some wont, but he does appear to have an idea of targets.