The January Transfer Window Is Daft

Selling clubs, assuming that buying clubs are desperate, will ask for crazy money.

Buying clubs, not wanting to appear desperate, won’t want to pay crazy money.

And fans are desperate, for example:

“comment by avfc_4_ever!!!

posted Just Now

martin o’neil we all love you but for f@$sake buy some one!!!!”

With just over half an hour to go, the Premier League is not going to get much more than this is it:

“PREMIER LEAGUE TRANSFER TRACKER:
In: Bolton (Rasiak), Derby (Carroll, Stubbs), Everton (Gardner), Fulham (Kallio, Litmanen, Stalteri), Man City (Mancini), Sunderland (Reid), Wigan (Hagen), Tottenham (Gilberto)
Out: Arsenal (Gibbs, Randall), Bolton (Wilhelmsson, Michalik), Chelsea (Grant), Derby (Bywater, Nyatanga), Everton (Stubbs, Anderson de Silva), Fulham (Cook, Davis), Man City (Dabo, Miller), Middlesbrough (M Bates), Newcastle (Rozenhal), Reading (Henry, Pearce, Cox), Sunderland (Halford), Tottenham (Stalteri, Gardner)”

Why does football need something that so distorts the working of the market?

The system was “brought into compulsory effect by FIFA during the 2002-03 season”.

Oh yes, FIFA.

(Article first published on BBC 606)