Lies, damned lies and transfer rumours

This week's post is being formed against a backdrop of conspiracy, rumour and damned lies: that’s right, it could only be the final day of the summer transfer window.

Like I’m sure was the case for many of you today, my efforts on my return to the office from the bank holiday weekend stretched only to logging on to BBC’s live transfer deadline day feed, and clicking the refresh icon. Oh, and I popped out for lunch briefly too.

With the final deals of the day being announced as I type, it looks like being yet another uneventful deadline day, with Sunderland so far the main headline grabbers with their £13m purchase of Ghana’s world cup star Asamoah Gyan. Yet there was plenty to keep us avid transfer followers occupied.

If all the texts and emails into the BBC are to be believed, it must have been a hell of a busy day at motorway service stations today. Half the Premiership was rumoured to be tucking in to overpriced lunches as they negotiated transfers with their agents and prospective new employers.

Elsewhere, Ryan Babel was seemingly touring England in a helicopter. But where was the chopper heading? Someone said West Ham; someone else was sure it was Spurs; and unconfirmed reports suggested he was merely filming scenes for a remake of Airwolf. As it stands, Babel is still a Liverpool player, so the latter may actually be the most likely of explanations.

Players were spotted at rivals’ training grounds; international stars had been seen boarding flights to London; and anonymous texters were recounting fourth hand rumours that had originated from their mate’s Dad’s dog. Quite frankly, you couldn’t make it up. Except some people quite obviously were. A lot of them in fact.

That only a fraction of the supposed “done deals” have actually come off shouldn’t really come as a surprise. It makes little sense for clubs to try and cram all their transfer dealings into one day, when they’ve had the whole summer to refine their squads after making informed judgements on players they have tracked the season before. Yet many clubs do opt for that last minute trip to football’s bargain bucket - hoping to pick up a diamond in the rough, but instead having to make do with a Marcus Bent. On loan.

To be honest, I’m a little unsure on the actual point to the transfer window. Is it supposed to encourage clubs to give home grown players more of a chance when injuries and suspensions hit their main players? Is it supposed to level the playing field; making sure the bigger teams are just as hampered by injury crises as those with less spending power? I don’t think we can conclusively say that either has been achieved since it came in to force.

Perhaps it has been brought in simply to stimulate employment in the sports reporter industry? Sky Sports News certainly has an army of suited reporters setting up temporary homes outside Premier League training grounds at the end of August every year. Without deadline day, these pour souls would be on the media scrapheap - battling with graduates for jobs presenting early morning quiz shows.

On a personal note, I’m pleased that my club has managed to get to the end of the transfer deadline with its prized assets still on the books. This hasn’t always been the case, and for many clubs at the lower end of the English football pyramid, deadline day is something to dread rather than enjoy. It’s the day when the local heroes that they have nurtured since their teens get their heads turned by bigger clubs, and set off for the bright lights of the top flight.

It works the other way too: it can also be a day when the club’s board desperately try to sell off the family silver in an attempt to keep the club afloat. The latter is particularly painful to watch, and having witnessed my own team do just that in previous years, I feel for any fans who had to go through that experience today.

Lastly, and in no way connected to transfer deadline day, I just wanted to mention the excellent Non-League Day initiative; which is encouraging fans of clubs in the Premier League and Championship to get behind their local non-league team this weekend as the international break means there will be no football in the top two divisions. More information is available at: http://www.nonleagueday.co.uk/