Cod Almighty | Diary
Diary - Tuesday 26 January 2010
26 January 2010
Mardy Diary writes: The problem with this transfer window, I find, is that it doesn't really help teams lower down the leagues as it's supposed to. It doesn't really offer much at all - in a sense that it doesn't really act as much of a transfer window. Take the Bennett deal as an example - he went on loan to Peterborough while the windows was closed with an agreement to a permanent signing once the window re-opened. The loan wasn't a trial period, a try-before-buy, it was a way for the player to be 'signed' outside of the transfer window. So effectively, there is no window - so why don't we just do away with it? What actually happens in the lower leagues is that squads become bloated with loan signings here, there and everywhere. A temporary fix, a patch up, a stop-gap. We're in a constant state of flux, a constant mindset of making do for now. Was it really not working before? Were teams in the bottom divisions really struggling before they brought it in? The whole thing seems more of a mess than it was before it came in.
It also, for me as a fan, puts the whole month on hold - especially when we keep changing manager. And it must be the same for a lot of teams given that the average 'life-span' of a manager is about one season. So we wait for the end of January to see if it will bring the answer to our problems. Sometimes it does, but usually temporarily when it does. But then fans and clubs and players and everyone are clinging on, waiting to see what happens before making a decision. So we wait - wait while one club makes a decision on whether they want to keep a player or let us have him back. Wait to see if another club will release a player, because they're waiting for another club to release a player who are waiting for another club to release a player etc etc. Waiting on players who, rightly, don't want to make a decision to join a club just yet because they know things will pick up in the last few days and a better offer may come along. So we wait, and everything happens at the last minute. They may as well make the transfer window one day long - or one hour long. Get your faxes ready, the transfer minute is open... NOW! Click, click, bzzzz, fax, fax. Congratulations you've signed an experienced midfield anchor man.
And so rather than getting on with my life, I keep looking at News Now every five minutes to see if there's news of a new signing. Especially as the SNOS have done one of their 'we might sign someone, we might not' type stories - the bastards. Shove that up yer broken server ya buggers.
Oh - thanks for all your emails about statues for living/dead players, we'll run through them during the week. Here's a quick and to the point one from Diary regular Felix Oliver-Tasker to kick things off: "No Contest. Pat Glover and Matt Tees". And congrats to the Internet Mariners who "managed a creditable draw with their Rotherham counterparts on Saturday morning, coming back from two down at the break to finish two a piece", according to Craig Nuttall. "Take every positive", adds Craig. I can't even remember the last time Town came back from two goals down - and I'm not sure I even want to know. Seeya.