Wait until next year

Silly season is apparently in full swing in the Premier League following the passing of the transfer deadline.

After buying Robinho for a cool £32.5 million from under the noses of Chelsea, Manchester City’s new owners, the Abu Dhabi group, plan to buy up several more big names – including making a £135 million bid for Cristiano Ronaldo in the January transfer window. After the events of yesterday, anything could happen, but the chances of Ronaldo, Torres, Fábregas, Henry and Villa all heading to Eastlands seem a little unlikely. My worry is that clubs (such as Leeds) have come unstuck from big spending, and City already appear to have been caught out once with Thaksin’s shenanigans. Too many clubs fall foul of following an impossible dream. Considering the healthy attendances City have, and with a talented manager in place, it is a shame they are heading down such a risky route when they could have built up steadily over time. But perhaps Thaksin’s departure left them with no choice but to be the Abu Dhabi group’s plaything?

Meanwhile, Kevin Keegan may have left Newcastle, or at least that’s what reports (and Keegan’s no-showing training) suggested. But then Newcastle released a statement saying he had not been dismissed and they hoped stayed with the club. You’d think, however, that he was on his way. The conflict may have, at least in part, come from Keegan having to work with a director of football, Dennis Wise, who is in charge of all transfers. This was never going to be a satisfactory working arrangement for any manager, particularly one as passionate as Keegan. Without control over players coming in or out a football manager is impotent. I’m struggling to think of such an arrangement that has worked – director of football seems such a wooly term, and conspiracy theorists would state they are only brought in to get a the current manager out.

So, a strange day in football, and more developments to follow by the looks of things.