Deadline day
Deadline day was one of the quietest and saw 70% less money spent than last January. Of course many Premier League clubs have one eye on the new UEFA rules on financial sustainability.
Below the top tier West Ham were the busiest signing the obstreperous Ravel Morrison and strikers Nicky Maynard and Ricardo Vaz Te.
In our division Bournemouth were the surprising big spenders paying a reported £800,000 for Crawley striker Matt Tubbs. The Cherries also snapped up Donal McDermott from Huddersfield, who was on loan there last season. Meanwhile striker Michael Symes left Dean Court and was reunited with new Rochdale boss John Coleman.
Sheffield Wednesday signed perennial Addicks target John Bostock from Spurs on loan to the end of the season and meanwhile Sheffield United signed Will Hoskins on loan from Brighton. Hoskins has a good goalscoring record at this level. James Beattie has signed an extension until the end of the season and Danny Wilson has declared an interest in signing 42-year old central defender David Weir.
Huddersfield won the battle for young Falkirk centre-half Murray Wallace for an initial £300,000 but sent him back to Falkirk on loan. Charlton along with Ipswich and Brighton were also said to have bids accepted. Town also signed Kallum Higginbotham also from Falkirk for £100,000.
Ex-England international Alan Smith’s loan move to MK Dons was the most interesting but Newcastle will continue to pay nearly all of Smith’s £60,000 a week wages! MK also signed fellow Newcastle player, right back James Tavernier plus Celtic midfielder Paul Slane, both also on loan. They did lose the highly rated Adam Smith, who was recalled by Tottenham, who immediately dispatched him to Leeds.
Scunthorpe were busy signing three players including Jon ‘the beast’ Parkin on loan as well as John Mirfin, who only left the Iron for Watford in the summer.
Colchester signed veteran QPR midfielder Martin Rowlands and O’s fans would have been upset to see the excellent Stephen Dawson leave for Barnsley.
The only movement from The Valley was the loan moves of Ruben Bover Izquierdo and Tosan Popo to Spanish Segunda Division B, Group 4 side Deportivo San Roque de Lepe until the end of the season.
Charlton owner Tony Jimenez has close connections with the Andalusian side, and we played snd trained on their ground in pre-season. San Roque de Lepe are currently in 4th place and challenging for the play-offs. However Brian, the author of the Stickleback blog found out something a little untoward.
Young ‘keeper Conor Gough has gone on loan to Eastbourne Borough, who have just appointed Tommy Widdrington as their new boss.
Meanwhile it’s Rochdale next up at a freezing Valley tomorrow. They might be a bit more expansive than Bury, but we will need to start well and warm up the hands of The Valley faithful. I’ll be with a fellow Addick in Orlando. We may be dressed differently to those at the game we are thinking the same. Come on you reds.
