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Premiership throws £100m out the window
published: Thursday | January 31, 2008
with joel Crosskill
Premiership throws £100m out the window
Today, the month-long January transfer window closed shutters for the season, with English clubs spending a record £100m on approximately 50 transfer deals, eclipsing the £81m spent two years ago, and the £63m last year.
For teams that struggle in the first few months of the season, the January transfer window promises redemption through retail therapy. New blood means new hope as it gives managers the chance to strengthen squads, either depleted by injury or which are simply not good enough. But when did window shopping get so expensive?
John Williams, director of the Centre for the Sociology of Sport at the University of Leicester, told Reuters that the record levels of spending was generated by continually rising TV revenues.
"Consistently since 1992, pundits have speculated that the next TV deal must be lower and every year since 1992 the television deal has actually been higher," he said.
Paying retail
Chelsea's billionaire boss, Roman Abramovich, whipped out his cheque book to the tune of £15m for French striker Nicolas Anelka and spent £9m on defender Branislav Ivanovic. His move from Bolton to Stamford Bridge also made Anelka the most expensive player ever, with a total of £86m spent on his purchase by various clubs throughout his career.
Liverpool spent six million pounds on 23-year-old defender Martin Skrtel from Zenit, St Petersburg, making the Slovakian the most expensive defender in Liverpool history.
However, many transfers in January are unsuccessful and the prices negotiated are often unrealistic but, nevertheless, paid because of the short time scale within which deals can be made.
Instead, the average price tag of £2m now associated with new arrivals would not be so high if the transfer window were scrapped and trades could be made throughout the season. The call to close the transfer window has been gaining traction among some of the Premierships top managers, including Reading's Steve Coppell.
"I cannot see the logic in a transfer window," Coppell said. "It brings on a fire-sale mentality, causes unrest via the media and means clubs buy too many players."
Buyer's remorse
At least one million pounds has been spent on 30 other transfers so far, with some of the Premier League's struggling clubs spending heavily in an attempt to avoid relegation.
Derby, destined to drop to the Championship after winning just one of their 23 league games to date, have brought in seven new players. Paying £1.1m for Robbie Savage and £2m on 25-year-old Argentine striker Emanuel Villa, not in the hope of rescuing the Rams' season, but perhaps just to save face as they remain on record-setting pace to become the Premiership's worst ever team.
However, for the moment one thing looks assured, as long as Premiership teams continue to draft players through January's window, it's the greedy agents and clubs' bank draught that benefits most.
Full time!
Contact Joel at: jcrosskill@sportsmax.tv
published: Thursday | January 31, 2008
with joel Crosskill
Premiership throws £100m out the window
Today, the month-long January transfer window closed shutters for the season, with English clubs spending a record £100m on approximately 50 transfer deals, eclipsing the £81m spent two years ago, and the £63m last year.
For teams that struggle in the first few months of the season, the January transfer window promises redemption through retail therapy. New blood means new hope as it gives managers the chance to strengthen squads, either depleted by injury or which are simply not good enough. But when did window shopping get so expensive?
John Williams, director of the Centre for the Sociology of Sport at the University of Leicester, told Reuters that the record levels of spending was generated by continually rising TV revenues.
"Consistently since 1992, pundits have speculated that the next TV deal must be lower and every year since 1992 the television deal has actually been higher," he said.
Paying retail
Chelsea's billionaire boss, Roman Abramovich, whipped out his cheque book to the tune of £15m for French striker Nicolas Anelka and spent £9m on defender Branislav Ivanovic. His move from Bolton to Stamford Bridge also made Anelka the most expensive player ever, with a total of £86m spent on his purchase by various clubs throughout his career.
Liverpool spent six million pounds on 23-year-old defender Martin Skrtel from Zenit, St Petersburg, making the Slovakian the most expensive defender in Liverpool history.
However, many transfers in January are unsuccessful and the prices negotiated are often unrealistic but, nevertheless, paid because of the short time scale within which deals can be made.
Instead, the average price tag of £2m now associated with new arrivals would not be so high if the transfer window were scrapped and trades could be made throughout the season. The call to close the transfer window has been gaining traction among some of the Premierships top managers, including Reading's Steve Coppell.
"I cannot see the logic in a transfer window," Coppell said. "It brings on a fire-sale mentality, causes unrest via the media and means clubs buy too many players."
Buyer's remorse
At least one million pounds has been spent on 30 other transfers so far, with some of the Premier League's struggling clubs spending heavily in an attempt to avoid relegation.
Derby, destined to drop to the Championship after winning just one of their 23 league games to date, have brought in seven new players. Paying £1.1m for Robbie Savage and £2m on 25-year-old Argentine striker Emanuel Villa, not in the hope of rescuing the Rams' season, but perhaps just to save face as they remain on record-setting pace to become the Premiership's worst ever team.
However, for the moment one thing looks assured, as long as Premiership teams continue to draft players through January's window, it's the greedy agents and clubs' bank draught that benefits most.
Full time!
Contact Joel at: jcrosskill@sportsmax.tv