Update on this fella. The elderly guy, although lovely, is not aware enough of The Generals comings and goings unfortunately and recently this became obvious by a couple of things (he couldn't tell the difference between Darwin and The General, and The General turned up with a big cut; probably a scratch from a fight near his eye, and the lovely old man didn't even notice) with this in mind I started seeing if I could find someone a little more suited to caring for him.
I have a young lady on my friends list who my Mum used to child mind as a little girl who's now training to be a nurse. She was looking for a cat, and saw The General on my FB page - she immediately took a liking to him but didn't think I'd ever move him from his territory. Neither did I until we got into discussions; not only is she nightly readying up on feline psych to learn the best approach with a stray, she's also agreed to pimp out her shed and attach a run to it for him while he adjusts.
We're £45 short of the target for the run, because the run we first looked at and got a price for didn't have a safety door so we felt it might be a bit risky.
I've attached a picture of the garden that will be The Generals new home once she's kept him confined in his pimped up pad for a month or so while he recovers from the op. I'm not really looking forward to telling the old chap that's helped but hopefully he'll understand this is a brilliant opportunity for The General to be in a less built up area and potentially get in less fights.
EDIT: The paved area is where the run will go with the amended price. She's also agreed to put a hole in the side of her shed for a cat flap!