"I am not a number, I'm a free man," bellowed the Prisoner. Greedy sod, he should have been grateful, because Coventry City striker Paul Williams is remembered in the tomes of football folly by just a solitary letter. Yes, one blessed letter.

READ MORE...

 

 

 

 


 
 
AN END TO TRANSFER MARKET MADNESS?
TUESDAY 24th JUNE 2008

This may be my last ever Open Goal diary entry. Sometimes other things land on one's lap in life, and as I was scanning through the papers this morning, it dawned on me that my talents could be better utilised elsewhere, with potentially millions of pounds to be pocketed too.

In short, I am considering becoming an FTC, that's a 'Football Transfer Consultant'. For just a miniscule percentage of a proposed transfer fee, I'll offer bespoke, cutting edge advice to clubs on whether transfers are worthwhile. I will draw upon my reserves of hundreds of hours sat watching sub-standard footy on the BBC, Sky .. damn it, even EuroSport, and will respond across the club's requested medium (telephone, email, text message) giving the appropriate, "Yes, go for it, it's the next Wayne Rooney," or "No, steer clear, it's the next Wayne Routledge". A potential goldmine awaits.


My only worry is that I might not be alone in this market, since you could justifiably say that 99% of footy fans - not to mention Martians from the planet Zorb, and an assortment of aged Water Voles - would also be able to recognise the fact that 'player x' joining 'club y' had less chance of succeeding than the Swiss national team at Euro 2008.

I can't have been alone at staring in disbelief when the following transfers went through last summer:

- Steve Sidwell, Reading to Chelsea
- Josi Benayoun, West Ham United to Liverpool
- Darren Bent, Charlton Athletic to Tottenham Hotspur

Don't get me wrong, good players in their own right, and they'd certainly stand up in most Premier League teams, but you just knew that for whatever reason, the move wasn't going to work out. And sure enough, in this morning's red tops they're touted as being offski to the highest bidder.

Mind you, I won't pretend I'm an expect just yet. I'm frequently reminded down the Pig & Whistle of my comments regarding Jean-Alain Boumsong's arrival at Newcastle United from Rangers for £8million back in 2005. For years I claimed the words "that's a bargain" were directed at the pack of pork scratchings I'd just purchased for a knockdown 40p, but maybe it's time to come clean...

 

<<back to diary home




 
     
 
SUBSCRIBE TO THE OPEN GOAL DIARY & NEWSLETTER
If you wish to receive Diary updates and would like to find each shiny, new
Open Goal Newsletter waiting for you in your email inbox, then please take a
quick moment to enter your name and email address below.


Name



Email Address

You may have to wait a moment for your information to submit, please only click the 'submit' button once, thanks. This information will be used by us and us alone, no need to worry about endless torrents of spam heading your way as a result!