Window of opportunity
Posted on 23rd January 2009 at 19:03
Well this month's transfer window has been the craziest I've ever known in my time as a sports writer and I've been racking my brains to figure out why.
One look at the Premier League table provides the answer...this season may have seen a dip in the quality levels, but it's the most competitive campaign in recent memory - at both ends of the table - and there are managers reaching for the panic button left, right and centre.
There's a three-way fight for the title between Liverpool, Man Utd and Chelsea - but for once I'd say the spotlight is shining more brightly down below.
Unbelievably the bottom five teams are locked on 21 points and scrapping for their top-flight lives, while even 10th-placed Fulham are looking over their shoulders as they're only five points from safety.
Rockbottom Albion have been the loan arrangers, landing young Gunner Jay Simpson and netting a Fortune, Stoke have spent big on the likes of Beattie and Etherington, but Hull have outdone all of them, splashing £5m on Jimmy Bullard and handing him a near-5-year contract on £45k a week!
Strikers seem to be the most popular captures, with Heskey, Mido, King, Bellamy and Defoe all moving on to pastures new.
And I seriously think we could see one, maybe two established top-tier teams drop down to the Fizzy Pop league this season.
Middlesbrough and Newcastle are my tips for the drop as Kinnear barely has a pot to piss in - and Boro are just garbage, both home and away.
Whatever happens I reckon it's going to go right to the wire, as staying in the Premier League is so lucrative these days Premier League chairmen are greenlighting all sorts of spending in a world unaffected by the credit crunch.
One look at the Premier League table provides the answer...this season may have seen a dip in the quality levels, but it's the most competitive campaign in recent memory - at both ends of the table - and there are managers reaching for the panic button left, right and centre.
There's a three-way fight for the title between Liverpool, Man Utd and Chelsea - but for once I'd say the spotlight is shining more brightly down below.
Unbelievably the bottom five teams are locked on 21 points and scrapping for their top-flight lives, while even 10th-placed Fulham are looking over their shoulders as they're only five points from safety.
Rockbottom Albion have been the loan arrangers, landing young Gunner Jay Simpson and netting a Fortune, Stoke have spent big on the likes of Beattie and Etherington, but Hull have outdone all of them, splashing £5m on Jimmy Bullard and handing him a near-5-year contract on £45k a week!
Strikers seem to be the most popular captures, with Heskey, Mido, King, Bellamy and Defoe all moving on to pastures new.
And I seriously think we could see one, maybe two established top-tier teams drop down to the Fizzy Pop league this season.
Middlesbrough and Newcastle are my tips for the drop as Kinnear barely has a pot to piss in - and Boro are just garbage, both home and away.
Whatever happens I reckon it's going to go right to the wire, as staying in the Premier League is so lucrative these days Premier League chairmen are greenlighting all sorts of spending in a world unaffected by the credit crunch.
1 Comment
Toon star
Posted on 2009-01-23 22:53:46
No way we're going down mate. Its gonna be the Boro, Stoke and any one of the others. Bullard might make Hull safe though now
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