January has to be the craziest month
Last updated 11:30, Tuesday, 05 February 2008
JANUARY has now come to an end.
The craziest month of the football calendar, as teams pay over-the-top prices for mediocre players through desperation to stay in their prospective leagues.
If you are a selling club, then you must love the January window. There is no way on earth Rochdale would have got £300,000 for Glenn Murray during the long summer months.
No disrespect to Glenn, but the former Carlisle United striker has never been prolific.
Rochdale chairman Chris Dunphy said that the deal was too good to refuse. “When an offer like this comes along then it has to be taken,” he boasted.
And there is no doubt in my mind, Dunphy will have been laughing all the way to the bank with that sort of cash.
As I write my column Bolton have just allowed Christian Wilhelmsson to leave the club on loan. And with Anelka moving to Chelsea, surely Gary Megson has someone lined up, if not then Bolton could be in real trouble.
The biggest surprise during the window, I think, was King Kev asking Newcastle owner Mike Ashley for £100m and ending up with Dennis Wise for company.
It looks like Keegan had no say in Wise’s appointment in a position of a lot of power too. If that relationship is to work then surely Keegan should have had a say in who he was working with.
And where does it leave Alan Shearer?
Theo Walcott has definitely ruled out a loan move away from Arsenal. The lad who all of England’s future hopes were pinned on has failed to shine at Arsenal yet. Arsene Wenger said he is not progressing as fast as he should be, but the lad is still a teenager. Give him time.
“Every day I play at Arsenal, I train with some of the best players in the world,” said Walcott.
“My game is obviously going to benefit most from being around these people. With respect to other clubs, that is not going to happen anywhere else.”
You have to agree with that. There are not many clubs in England that have the quality of players that Arsenal have. Wenger also has the knack of bringing the best out of players no-one had given a chance. Henry and Adebayor to name just two.
