January transfer window

Ok let’s get down to business – and the January transfer window to be more precise. I should make it clear right off the bat I’m not a big fan of it. Don’t get me wrong I understand the principle, and the intention particularly to minimise clubs buying their way out of trouble throughout the season, but in my humble opinion it doesn’t work. All it has done is condense the time deals can be completed, making it a seller’s market and agent’s dream, increasing prices in an already over-inflated market. That’s the situation and I suppose I just have to get over it.

One thing I can’t deny though is that sometimes it can be pretty interesting, and the last couple of weeks have been the busiest I can remember at Carrow Road transfer-wise for quite a while.

I’m sure the departure of Julien Brellier didn’t come as a surprise to too many people. When the Frenchman arrived at Carrow Road he was touted as a successor to Youssef Safri, but a combination of injuries and his own stupidity (the red card in that infamous game at Molineux is, to me at least, one of the very low points of the last year) meant he never really got going. I just hope the fans who forked out for the massive ‘Le Juge’ flag kept their receipt.

It wasn’t a shock to see David Strihavka on his way either. He really struggled to make an impact at City, and given that Watford had already turned him away following a trial perhaps giving him a four year deal wasn’t the best piece of business – although by my reckoning if you had ‘22 Strihavka’ on the back of your shirt you’d have forked out nearly £50 for it so maybe we got some of it back eh?

If the Strihavka signing wasn’t the best piece of business in recent memory then what price the sale of Chris Brown to Preston for £400,000 being one of the best? The former Sunderland man cost the club £275,000 last January and after only scoring once in a couple of dozen appearances was moved on for a tidy profit of £125,000. Not bad at all. (Maybe Preston know something we don’t and Brown will come back to haunt us on 2nd February, we’ll have to see).

The exit that has divided supporters more than any other is that of Joe Lewis to Peterborough United, also for £400,000 (plus sell-on clause). Some feel we let him go too early and that by giving him a chance and maybe a run in the first team we could have had a star in the making, which is not a view I’d subscribe to.