Welcome to a new regular column from an old favourite. The Original Grumpy Old Man (OGOM). This week OGOM makes the best of a bad job otherwise known as the January transfer window.
So the stats are in, lowest PL spend ever on transfer window day, lowest spend over the month of January since the transfer window system came into being. If that isn’t enough the moans and groans about the system are in full swing, Niall Quinn from a Chairman’s perspective, Tony Pulis, Harry Redknapp, Sam Allardyce, all the old school managers in a universal whinge. Well sod em, for whatever the problems with the system are they pale into insignificance compared to the free for all that they would take us back to. Of course it is a pure co-incidence that those managers that have a reputation for “wheeling and dealing” want the old system back.
In terms of January 2010 the place to start is the dog that didn’t bark; instead it whined on the last day, we are talking Manchester City. When the boys of Eastlands decided (rightly in my view) to dispense with the services of Mark Hughes and bring in one of Europe’s best coaches you could only assume (given the short notice to January 1st) it was with the intention Mancini would help bring in bucket loads of young talent. Instead they brought in an aging defensive midfielder (abet one with a fantastic record in winning things) called Patrick Vieira and a young exciting winger with potential called Adam Johnson. The rape and pillage of the football world, setting out the base-camp for a hundred years of domination this wasn’t. So what happened? Did Mancini discover that Craig Bellamy, Joleon Lescott and Wayne Bridge (that name means something to me but I just can’t place it) are secretly world class? Or has the bank of Dubai suddenly got an injection of sense? Well neither, for some as yet unfathomable reason Manchester City have made a decision to try and qualify for the CL with the £250m pounds worth of talent Hughes signed (actually that’s £220m with Robinho off on a 4 month holiday). Weird or what!
Two seasons ago the above happening at Stamford Bridge would have caused a little ripple, now nothing. Chelsea decide to fight the 18 month transfer ban FIFA were intent on imposing and didn’t spend a penny in the period that of opportunity that appeal gave them, marvellous. At least you can concoct a rational for this, you can hear Abramovich saying “look I may be a billionaire but I’m not made of money”! Factor in Arsenal/Arsene’s reluctance to buy and Liverpool’s inability to spend anymore and all your left with at the higher end of the table is Manchester United spending £10m on a raw kid who they don’t want till July and Spurs carrying on the tradition of signing old players or players Redknapp has signed before.
Other than Roberto Martinez deciding that Steve Bruce didn’t leave enough quality at Wigan, and thus signing 5 players to compensate and Steve Bruce deciding also the £35m he spent in the summer did no good and thus bringing in a ship-full of loans, it’s been relatively quiet. The two financial crises clubs of the PL, Portsmouth and Hull City, seem to have got off lightly in the sales department, which might look a good thing in the short-term but just leaves them getting relegated with most of their high earners still on the books. Wolves have been unlucky, if they wanted someone they invariably didn’t arrive, even a Crystal Palace youngster decided not getting paid in South London was better than the Black Country.
Further down the divisions we have witnessed Newcastle United use their position at top of the CCC to attract a load of CCC standard players, a most interesting strategy. As usual Nottingham Forest bought nobody and West Bromwich Albion purchased technical quality on the quiet. As we all know from the extensive publicity generated in South Wales Cardiff City have purchased a lottery ticket (well how else would you spend advance season ticket monies) whilst all Swansea City’s attempts at player purchase seem to have been designed just to wind others up. Middlesbrough haven’t just dipped into the transfer market, they have fully rebranded as the Scotland B team (which suggests they are settling for a long stint in the lower leagues) and Preston North End are evolving into a half way house for Ferguson senior’s maybe players. Still better than spending the January transfer window doing nothing then sacking your manager of 13 games on the last day.
In L1 all the attention was around the relief at Elland Road that certain people were not sold, and that is right, without Snodgrass, Howson or Becchio promotion would be screwed. The only spenders in the division were Norwich City (who added to an already impressive squad) and Southampton who if they make the play-offs may manage to do what Leeds United failed to do in 2007-08. In L2 the wallet stayed firmly shut at Notts County and Rochdale kept the losses down to just a couple of players. Darlington seem to have accepted their fate and have been shopping in the “free agent for a while” section of the market, which as we all know is the cop-out part of the transfer window system, want a transfer in February, no problem, simply get your contract cancelled and move on.
During the course of this transfer window we have seen quite an attempt at explaining how complex the details, particularly around players contracts can be. This, to say the least, depresses me. I see no reason why clubs don’t simply say to players “your basic is £XXX a week, your win/points bonus is £xxx, your promotion/title reward is £xxx, if you need a house, if you need someone to sort out the kids schools, if your dog needs fast-tracking through quarantine, you need 18 return tickets to Montevideo a year or your nose blowing, get Mr 10% next to you to sort it, take it or leave it”.
Short of allowing complete anarchy, in which fees and wages will escalate even further up, the system we have is the one we keep for a while. Some will point to the decline in deals and wonder if the system has reached the end of its usefulness, I think they are missing the point, the reason for the limited activity is simple, the top 35 clubs are already top heavy with professionals on good money not playing much, no-one is volunteering to give up lucrative contracts and clubs have finally got a dose of reality. Luckily for us all the madness starts again in June.
