Well well well, that was a dull transfer deadline day wasn’t it? When the main story of the day is that Richard Dunne’s transfer to Aston Villa is delayed, you know that action has been minimal. Even moneybags Notts County failed to capture the imagination on the last day despite being linked with any overpaid player with two legs. Still, Sol Campbell will just have to make friends with his new Nissan owning colleagues instead.
The problem this year was that the big four more-or-less told everyone that they wouldn’t be spending any money…then did exactly what they said. No twists or turns anywhere. How boring for the rest of us. The other main problem is that Tottenham are currently doing well in the league. For a club who have no perception of in-betweens (they are either about to win the league or get relegated), this was an indicator that no real big-money season-saving signings needed to be made. Kranjcar is a bargain for a Modric stand-in, but surely there was room for one more striker to sit on the bench alongside Crouchy’s long legs? Disappointing from Manchester City too, although they’ve probably annoyed too many clubs with declaring an interest in their players for anyone to do business with them now. Either that, or they genuinely think they have a stong enough squad to compete. The latter may not be too far from the truth. No goals conceded in all competitions so far this year, Adebayor scoring in each league game along with Tevez starting to get fit suggests that they might be a force to be reckoned with.
Most of the ins and outs occurred at Portsmouth and Sunderland, albeit for different reasons. Portsmouth, desperate to get some money in, sold anyone that wasn’t nailed down or who doesn’t have a history of extravagant hairstyles, and brought in players with considerably less talent and even less pay packets. Sunderland on the other hand, have spent money to improve on their 16th place finish from last year. Increasing strength in all positions and with a better manager in charge, a top ten place is not beyond them.
Several clubs seem to have weakened over the course of the summer. Signs of tightening purse strings perhaps, but Wigan and Aston Villa will be unlikely to match last season’s efforts. It would be possible to say similar things about Everton and the mighty Manchester United, but their machines in charge always manage to find enough Irn-Bru and chewing gum in the tank to perform above and beyond their squads’ abilities.
Lower down the leagues, Rickie Lambert must be questioning his decision making abilities - moving from Bristol Rovers who lie 7th, (admittedly after only 5 games), to Southampton who are on -7 points. Alan Pardew has a lot to prove after his spell at Charlton, but the way he’s started his tenure at Southampton suggests that he hasn’t learnt from his mistakes there. It will be interesting to see how long the new owners put up with his excuses of not having a balanced squad, scouting issues and new managers being appointed. One interesting note to make is how the three relegated clubs from the Premier League have managed to keep some key players. Newcastle have managed to keep Kevin Nolan, Alan Smith and Jonas Gutierrez as well as Steven Taylor all of whom should prove above most at Championship level. Middlesbrough have kept David Wheater, Adam Johnson and Gary O’Neil, and West Brom have only really lost Paul Robinson and Jonathan Greening. This may be a reason as to why these three teams currently lie in the top four in the Championship.
Similarly in League One, Leeds have taken the gamble of losing Jermaine Beckford for nothing in the summer, hoping that he can fire them to promotion to the Championship this year. A gamble that certainly seems to be worth taking given their opening to the season.
Despite the lack of last day drama this time around, the transfer window closing again almost signifies the real start to the season. Squads are finalised now, so time for the rumour-mill to stop chugging. Until January at least.
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