White's Christmas

It's the last day of the sales and the Jim White show is on SKY. Reporters are stationed at all the grounds, surrounded by teenagers on mobiles, waiting for a glimpse of any footballer, catching a word from any manager, as they regurgitate the non-action all day.

As if there was proof needed for the tedious nature of deadline day we had this pearler at The Brittania: 'And wait for this Stoke City fans..... (screams unknown reporter)... Stoke City have made a move to bring Adam Johnson on loan... (cue large chorus of incomprehensible Stoke chanting).'

They had won... they were making the news. As if by magic, the dream died with one check with a proper Manchester City source an hour later.


It is unclear whether or not the crowd amassed behind the reporter ever knew or cared who Stoke signed by the end of the day.
 

It's deadline day- the day the window 'slams shut' - the big clock shows how long is left before Big Ben signals the end.

The reality is, that on this day, the majority of managers are looking to fool their chairmen into thinking they know what they are doing. After all they have had months to build their squads, to purchase the players their scouting networks have identified as better than what they already have.

They scramble around like someone arriving early at a car boot sale, just hoping to find something to appease the fans clamour for 'new faces', to spend the Sky money like other clubs are doing who are not as 'big' as their club.

The media generate this fanatacism, putting pressure on managers and chairman everywhere. The good managers will only be looking to offload players to their under achieving peers, unwanted flops or injury prone individuals, who will go from club to club,  probably appearing in the next window (there goes Stoke City again).

Pundits will give their 'expert' views on how damaging it will be for the selling club to lose a 'star' player, obviously not having seen him play for a while apart from edited highlights on MOTD or on youtube.com, and how the purchase of an international player for a bargain £5million will transform the fortunes of a club who were already competing for a Champions League place.

They obviously know the facts, the intricate details of the business of each club and each transaction, so are able to articulate profusely and influence the feelings of the supporters of these clubs.

 

As if to make the point,  Phil Neville was appeared on BBC TV Football Focus and was very critical of so called informed supporters who do nothing but whine and moan. 

Indeed, the body language looked to at one point to insinuate that the presenter Dan Walker knew nothing about the inside workings of Everton Football Club, of the talented youngsters coming through, of the new incomings at the club and that he himself would not have signed a contract extension if the future was as dire as certain people make out. Heaven forbid a 'trained' journalist would take as fact the internet whispers of fans groups. 

When Newcastle United paraded the signing of Michael Owen to a full stand at St James' Park who celebrated as if it was the FA Cup it looked like the hype could get no worse. In fairness, The Magpies believed they were getting England's future record goalscorer and a world superstar.  It never worked out to much mockery. 

Now similar scenes mark the arrival of Peter Crouch. 

The loyal Spurs fans crowded around the tremendous Alan Partridge as he screamed and begged Harry Redknapp for news. "What about Kaka?!!!" What indeed.

There was still time to ask Harry about the dramatic scenes of the last transfer window - remembering a time when Daniel Levy didn't manage to convince a Blackpool midfielder to arrive at White Hart Lane. Oh the memories of that late hour romance. 

And then it all went quiet. If you stayed up you may have got word that Blackburn had pushed the Yakubu deal through. 

So there it is. Can't wait for January 2012 can you Jim?