Well, today is the day that the window clangs shut. As I sit here this morning watching Dharmesh Sheth work himself into a frenzy over potential deals that have still to be concluded, I can only think about what a circus football has become. Apparently all the sports editors for newspapers up and down the country will be glued to Sky Sports News to find out who is going where…

I hate deadline day myself. It’s a day fuelled by people posting nonsensical rumours on the internet, (some) journos leaking mythical deals on the internet, and the slavering at the lips by messageboard geeks at the thought of signing some unknown Argentine player with an alice band being hawked around by some unscrupulous agent; all fuelled by the constant drone on the television of the countdown to the end of the window.

I had thought this season with the onset of the 25 man Premier League squad, along with UEFA guidelines on profit/turnover/players wages coming up on the horizon would temper people a bit – but no, it’s silly season again. Indeed, it appears this morning that Chelsea, Liverpool and Spurs are trying their hardest to get the transfer merry go round started properly with huge bids for various players, all of which so far (barring Suarez) have been rejected.

In the past, there have been accusations levelled at the former board of Birmingham City of trying to sign players that they had no hope of signing, and making bids that were almost good enough but not quite. Of course, people believe only their club are useless at transfers, but on hearing this morning that Tottenham have had bids rejected for Aguero, Llorente, Rossi and Negredo I can’t help but have a rueful smile. One thing I hope this helps to prove is that it’s not as easy as making a massive bid for a player; teams don’t want to lose their prize assets and often it takes a massively overpriced bid to actually complete a signing.

It appears that this window is going to be the saga of Fernando Torres; in the past there has been thirty days of speculation about players like Cristiano Ronaldo and Cesc Fabregas moving on (without actually happening); As I write there are fourteen hours for Chelsea to complete the capture of Torres and I actually think that one might happen. However, £50million for a player who is currently very out of form, to go into a team that already has two top strikers in Drogba and Anelka doesn’t make sense to me – it’s almost like teams are spending money for the sake of it.

As a Birmingham City fan, today is more likely to be about holding onto our players rather than buying them. Yes, there is a deal to be wrapped up for Obafemi Martins on loan from Rubin Kazan, but talk has not gone away of us potentially selling Cameron Jerome or Nikola Zigic. I’m a believer that neither will go; however if someone makes a silly money bid it could always happen. I guess it’s easy to understand that I’m looking forwards to midnight tonight, hopeful that the squad we currently have in place (with the addition of Martins) will still be the same.

Tags: Football, Transfer Window, Transfers