...Chelsea have bid for Torres and he has slapped in a transfer request, Liverpool are closing in on Suarez, we may be about to land Keane, West Brom have taken Vela on loan, BUPA and Accident Lawyers4U have assumed joint ownership of Dembones Ba, O'Hara is heading for Wolves...and a host of other deals will be registered at 10.58 on Monday night.
What other industry would operate like this?
Last minute.com?
ReplyDeleteThe capitalists will never allow it.
ReplyDeleteA month window is also a chance for a club in trouble to be clever, something which we were not.You get new players in early rather than on the last day, then you have a whole month to climb the table with new recruits whilst everyone else, especially your struggling small club rivals, are window shopping. But with dicks in charge what can we expect.
We had four premier league games in January in which we could have used new recruits had we shopped early. We took just 4 points from a possible 12 with the same players. A big missed opportunity.
Sometimes I think they want us relegated.
Except we have been more active than our rivals. We brought in Bridge, O'Neil and Ba before most made any move. So Stani, you are confirming that our owners are better than those of rival clubs!
ReplyDeleteBut last minute com don't wait for you to buy the holiday before they go out to find it. In fact their name is a brilliant marketing con, most of their deals are not last minute and most are not "deals". I've never bought anything off them because I've always found better value elsewhere.
ReplyDeleteNo HF, we dilly dallied. You understood my point but you still argue?
ReplyDeleteBridge was the only one of our signings who played a league game in January, and that was just two of the four possible games because of the time he was signed. Three signings could have played four games each but in the end, just one signing played two games. So we haven't made the most of it.
These were our league results in Jan:
Won 2-0 (Wolves)
Lost 0-5 (Newcastle)
Lost 0-3 (Arsenal)
Drew 2-2 (Everton)
Would there have been a chance of us doing better had we had Bridge, O'Neil, Ba and the potential signing of Keane (or whoever is next) in the above fixtures? Of course.
And are our owners better than that of our rivals? Certainly not. They have more money though.
No Stani, you are missing the point entirely. We didn't dawdle, everybody dawdled. In fact we were more active than others. At the end of December I called for fast decisive action (http://thegamesgonecrazy.blogspot.com/2010/12/january-sales-buy-early-or-else.html) but 10 days back I acknowledged that if you can't sell, you can't buy because of the squad caps. (http://thegamesgonecrazy.blogspot.com/2011/01/squad-caps-are-stifling-transfer-market.html) For the wheels to turn, there has to be a critical mass of clubs willing to play ball. Unfortunately most don't need to trade so there is an inertia in the market, just as in the present property market in the UK.
ReplyDeleteOnce again, you seek to lay blame inappropriately by failing to recognise the realities. I am sure we would have signed Keane at the beginning of January had Tottenham been willing to deal. But Birmingham wanted him and Spurs wanted a higher price. And Ba? Stoke wanted him until he failed the medical.
It is good business for the selling clubs to wait until the last minute to see if better offers come in, that is why deals are not done earlier. Unless of course you have money to blow like Aston Villa no offer better than what they paid for Bent was likely so they got him early.Business is just not that easy Stani.
ReplyDeleteInertia? There's never inertia in the football transfer market for the length of time we went without signing anyone. It's just G&S tactics. They wait, try to buy unsuitable bargains and fail to address key areas quickly enough like they did pre-season with our defence. They always try to do the minimum. But I lay blame inappropriately! The fact is they try to do as little as possible when it comes to spending. It's why they hired Grant and it's why they didnt sack him but tried to make him walk so they wouldnt have to pay him. It is also why they backed down from getting rid of him anyway when all the O'Neil stuff came out. It's why they are currently with a manager they dont even want!
ReplyDeleteI'm failing to recognise realities? Just because youre active in the property market and experienced some inertia there, you think 'ah yes, same must apply here'. Your analogy doesnt recognise the realities. You may not be investing in more property because it's not worthwhile, but you have a house and a 4 others at the moment. Our houses (players) are rubbish and about to get us relegated so waiting for the ideal moment is not an option.
The squad caps argument could be used used the other way as in clubs having surplus players that cannot make it into the squad so have to be sold.
As for Ba; no, we were linked with him before Stoke! But what happened? They got in and even done a medical before us! What were we doing then? Then we looked like prats trying to sign a injured player so had to put out in the press and exaggerate that he had a 3 day medical just to save face.
John,
ReplyDeleteI know business is not that easy mate, I'm not that naive. My argument is that a club in a position should have bought early even if it meant paying a few 100,000 more. It would have given us a big advantage. But we've strengthened at the same time everyone else is strengthening so that advantage is gone.
And in the case of loans, e.g Bridge, it is better for the loaning club to do so early to get the player off the wage bill. Did we do that early though? No, Bridge only played 2 prem games in Jan.
...and now the Keane loan of course John.
ReplyDelete