Transfers, arrests and invisible nocturnal animals.
Evening all, and as the transfer window shuts quietly so as not to disturb the neighbours, I think that Bolton can be quietly pleased with the business that they have done in the past few months.
For the bargain profit/loss balance of exactly zero, St Owen Coyle has brought in a former hero, the second best Bosman of the year, a highly regarded Spaniard, a pensioner who can still score glorious free kicks and a scouser who terrorised Zat Knight and Gary Cahill without any mention of hubcaps.
And then to cap it all off, he brought in a player for free that may have cost him money earlier on in the summer. Who said the Scots were tight?
Rodrigo Moreno Machado may not be a player to get the press purring, but he is in the next generation of Spanish players who are all highly fancied to do things over the next few years and when Madrid sold him to Benfica in the summer they were canny enough to put a buy back clause in the contract.
It`s a funny old transfer though. Benfica aren`t the best team in the world, history notwithstanding, and if they reckoned him enough they would keep him there. The last time I heard of a player coming into a club and then immediately going out was Clive Allen in 1981. I`m not knocking the loan deal, far from it, and it gives the club the necessary numbers up front to send Danny Ward on loan to anyone but Coventry. Rodrigo will be a back up, but with Kidneys still some way off full fitness you would expect him to be on the bench soon, and possibly starting at Tuff Dour.
He has also been given the no. 19 shirt, previously worn by The Badger. And if that is the case, then just where the hell is The Badger? I know he`s nocturnal but he hasn`t been seen since that game where Gallas attempted to maim Little Davies in January. (Hello to all our Arsenal friends. Only a week to go before we start going on about not liking it up you?). That Rodrigo has been given his shirt number would look like The Badger is about to be culled. And another remnant of the previous regime passes on.
Jussi. Jussi, Jussi, Jussi. Haven`t you just set us all a quandary? Should we recall Splinters? Should we leave him where he is? Should we sell him?
We answered the last question last week but even if Wigan put a bid of any value now it should be turned down out of hand, and not just because I don`t like them, but simply because while we can cope without Jussi for three games, if he suffers one of his long term injuries again, we are going to need an experienced keeper to get through the season, which is part of the reason why a recall clause was put in the loan deal in the first place.
When called upon on Sunday Bogdan did well and if he ever wanted the experience of playing in front of 60,000 people, he is going to get that a week on Saturday. He will also get the experience of playing in a cauldron due to the Carling Cup draw, but he probably would have played there anyway. However, you can`t gain that experience of those kind of games sitting on the bench and, whether we win, lose or draw at The Emirates, you can guarantee he is going to be a busy boy. Jussi will be back, enigma that he is, snarling at his defence and generally not smiling, but when he does we will have two back up keepers with experience of playing in the big games, and that is not a bad thing. In the long run, giving Roger Johnson a slap may be the best thing that could have happened.
In other news, Tom Cleverley has decided to go to Wigan after all, 27 days after our friends at VitalWigan jumped the gun . We at The Towers are not in the least worried about this “coup” as he will just end up being another player that Splinters has to save. Cleverley is good and my best man Dave The Red said that he would have preferred him to come to us as “Wigan may be a lot of things but I can`t name them right now.” However, I`m happy with central midfield and with Holden playing well it would have been hard to see where he would fit.
And, as you will know, Little Jackie Wilshere has got himself into a bit of trouble with Plod over a “fracas” in Kensington High Street at about 2:15am on Sunday. Now, we aren`t saying that he wouldn`t have got into this trouble if he had been sent back to Bolton, as the probability would be that he would have ended up at Jlloyd`s party. But as my mate Dave The Gooner said “Six manfs wiv Kevin Davies and lak wot ees turned into”. Which just goes to prove the blinkered opinion that all Arsenal fans have about Bolton.
It was five months.
You know it`s true.
We`ll be back tomorrow, still as funny as a wet weekend in Wolverhampton.
P.S. Man of the Match on Sunday was voted as SuperKev with 50%. Jussi and His Left Hand came second with 16% and Our Yank came third with 15%.