Specifically referring to Diarra, who is off to the Africa Cup in January, Jol said: Is this Jol being low key on purpose? He certainly did all right last January with Pog and said Diarra (although he was actually signed in February).
All managers are like this in the January window, and rightly so. It is encouraging that he says he'll "come up with something".
To put this in business terms, Jol is lowering the expectations of fans. You can bet he'll be wheeling and dealing in January, but given the relative success this club has seen since Roy, the big Dutchman feels he needs to placate fans who will be expecting big things when the window opens. In a sense, the fact that he needs to say anything, reflects how much this club has changed since Coleman was in charge. Back then the best that fans could hope for was that we could get anyone of note to join the team.
Some of Coleman's best signings were in the January transfer window - McBride, Dempsey, and Davies for three. The other thing about the January window is that it's a great time for buying scandanavian players, since the season in Norway (and, I think, other Scandanavian leagues) runs from January to November, not August to May. For us it's mid-season where managers don't want to lose players, for them it's between seasons where teams are more willing to regroup and rebuild. We signed Hangeland in the January window. Let's hope we can repeat the trick and get the next Hangeland in the next few weeks.
Yes, Captain, the MLS has the winter off as well, which facilitated the signings of McBride and Dempsey. It will be interesting to see what, if any, talent drifts across the Atlantic this year. I don't follow the MLS at all, so there's no way to speculate.
Do you remember that bloke on 606 who always used to bang on about Fulham signing Freddie Adu? God that was dull. And thank the Lord we didn't.
Strangely he is rumoured to be in London this weekend and has been talking about coming back to Europe (after another difficult period in his life - this time with Philadelphia). Here is a report from a local Philly paper today - http://www.philly.com/philly/blogs/thegoalkeeper/Freddy-Adu-wants-to-shed-wonderkid-reputation-return-to-Europe.html And, no I am not the guy from 606 !
I never recommended Freddie Adu, that's for sure. Didn't recommend Eddie Johnson, either. The one American I have raved about was Stuart Holden, who was great for Bolton two and three years ago before all the injuries hit. I don't think he's kicked a ball in the last year. On the flip side, the first Englishman ever to play in the NBA just joined the team from my home town (Portland, Oregon), Joel Freeland. So hats off to you gravity-challenged English! Welcome to pro basketball.
