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Teams at bottom of Championship face realities of January

Discussion in 'The Championship' started by emiatss, Feb 1, 2012.

  1. emiatss

    emiatss Member

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    For teams struggling at the bottom of the Championship, the January transfer window sees them play the part of gazelles in the African desert, stalked by a pride of lions. Not as strong or as (financially) muscular as their hunters, the hunted do all they can to protect their young from the inevitable interest. Desperately trying to protect their prized players, the likes of Bristol City, Coventry, Doncaster and Watford try to offer new contracts, put statements of defiance in the media, anything to fight off the bigger clubs circling in, waiting to move in for the kill. As hard as they may try, seing transfer window has seen the prey successfully hunted. Economics pulls the strings of football these days, just look down the corridors of FIFA. Higher wages and promises of playing in the Premier League has proved too tempting for the likes of Nicky Maynard, Lukas Jutkiewicz, Billy Sharp and Marvin Sordell, the crown jewels of their respective clubs.

    In itself it is a sign of how the declining economy has struck football, that some of the most talk about transfers have been for players at the bottom of the second tier of English football. Now it is not about teams that have purchasing power, but those clubs who have financial predicaments or contract issues that rule over the roost over who the column inches are dedicated to in the back pages. This spells bad news for those clubs who are fighting to beat the drop to League 1 This is particularly true in the case of Bolton purchasing Sordell. A player undoubtedly with promise, but being tried and untested in the Premier League reflects a risk for a team in such trouble. Bolton are not lavish spenders, but it shows that players even plying their trade at the top of the second tier are simple out of reach of Bolton's budget. Strong interest in another Watford player provides further evidence of this, with the likes of Newcastle and Wigan trying to sign Adrian Mariappa. In the transfer boom of the early 2000's such transfer were rare.

    For the four clubs involved, it is the paradigm they are stuck in, but it is a double-edge sword as it is a process that allows them to survive on a limited budget. The process starts by taking players either frozen out (Sharp at Sheffield United), youngsters not good enough for the top tier (Jutkiewicz at Everton), take players from the lower leagues (Maynard at Crewe) or promote players from the academy (Sordell). From there, it is about one of them turns out to be the diamond in the rough, maximising their potential, and then selling them on at a profit to keep the club going. Once that process is done, repeat it again. The four aforementioned clubs have experience of this process in the past, think Ashley Young at Watford, Matt Mills at Doncaster , Ade Akinbiyi at Bristol City and Robbie Keane at Coventry.

    Nevertheless, it is accepted that these clubs exist as part of a food chain that is prevalent in professional football. Where they might lose players to Premier League clubs or teams at the top of the Championship, this very same article could be written on the poaching of top quality League 1 players by Championship teams, or of top quality League 2 players but League 1 teams. It is a game of the have and have-nots that has grown out of the flooding of the game with money. Clubs in all positions must hope they can still provide quality for teams of a larger stature and unearth the next Maynard, Jutkiewicz, Sharp or Sordell, otherwise the perilous trapdoor of relegation or worse awaits them in the foreseeable future.
     
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  2. BrightredRickster

    BrightredRickster Well-Known Member

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    Just a bloody shame that Bristol City didn't poach a goal scorer when we were 2 points clear with 6 to go, as in 2008
     
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  3. daib0

    daib0 Well-Known Member

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    very good article indeed ...
     
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