Method in the Madness

And so concludes the summer transfer window of 2011. Once again this final day of madness did not disappoint in terms of drama, surprises and excitement. As per usual the final hour left football fans all over the country chewing their nails as they waited anxiously to see whether their club would resist selling their star players, or give in to the temptation of recruiting with last minute offers. As the clocked ticked towards the 11pm deadline there were still many futures to be resolved. Would want-aways Carlos Tevez and Luka Modric be granted permission to leave their clubs? Would Arsenal sign some much needed reinforcement to strengthen their fragile squad? And would Newcastle United sign anyone at all? The answers eventually unravelled amongst the usual dramatic twists and turns of the evening. Carlos Tevez will reluctantly stay in Manchester although will be joined by his wife and children. Daniel Levy will be highly praised for sticking to his word and rejecting an offer from Chelsea for Modric, again. Arsene Wenger finally appeared to listen to his repetitive critics and invest in experience, eventually signing five players on the final day of the transfer window. Whereas, Alan Pardew was left frustrated as he was unable to bring a strike to St. James' Park. In addition to these clubs there were other deals being sealed throughout the rest of the league. Peter Crouch ended his miserable stay at Spurs and headed north to Stoke City for £10million. Owen Hargreave's controversially swapped the red of United for the blue of Manchester City in a desperate attempt to rescue his injury plagued career. Although a lot of the deadline days completed in the Premier League seemed somewhat strange and that they were caused by panic, I believe there was method behind these signs of madness. Furthermore, it did not reflect previous deadline days of ridiculous amounts of money being spent on unproven talent. With no Brazilians confused at what club they had signed for and no Geordie's becoming multi-millionaires and over-rated over night, this summers transfer window seemed to instead reflect the economical state of the game and add a huge dose of reality to everyone involved in it. In the last transfer window Roman Abramovic smashed the British transfer record by spending £50million on Fernando Torres. This summer not even the richest club in the league attempted to equal that figure. At £38million, Sergio Aguero was the most expensive asset to the Barclay's Premier League. Although this figure is still too much to spend on one human being no matter how great his talent is, it now appears that the current global economic climate is finally effecting football. UEFA's financial fair play regulations that are soon to be installed are also preventing wealthy foreign club owners from turning our nations league into a reality version of a Football Fantasy League that can be found in any tabloid newspaper. Club's like Chelsea and Manchester City may be bathing in the glow of their recent success but if their owners became bored and departed to fulfill a new 'hobbie' then the overnight success would turn into overnight disaster as their star players imported from overseas would scurry off in search of new pay packages. However, my opinion on money and football is not an assumption that all clubs are this corrupt. Loyalty and passion still remain in the game and can be found at the highest level. A prime example of this is the consistent dedication shown by Everton manager David Moyes which is admirable, or Wigan Athletic's dramatic survival last season helped highlight how chairman, Dave Whelan, turned his clubs history into a fairytale. If the question of whether foreign investors are good for the fame or not is asked then look back to Wigan fans' jubilant faces on May 22nd and you are reminded that they are simply not needed.