AS THE halfway point of the season is greeted with New Year resolutions, it might not be every player’s wish when they are shown the door by their club. It is always an interesting and exciting time in the transfer window. Well, for the fans at least.
The festive period has been very hectic, with many fixtures in such a short spell, and it has certainly taken its toll on me. It hasn’t exactly been the most enjoyable time, apart from coming away from games with a win at the end of it.
I have had to be very strict and have been careful with what I have eaten and how I have conducted myself. Being professional is paramount and, thankfully, I have got through all the games, staying fit and playing a key part in them. But what about the lads who haven’t been involved?
OK, they may well have enjoyed their time off away from the matchday squad but, from previous experiences of this, I know that every player would sooner give up their mince pies and mulled wine to be involved in a match. It is tough for the players who are surplus to requirements and are counting down the days for the transfer window to open.
It is hard to maintain fitness and stay motivated, waiting for the opportunity to come or praying that a club will make a bid for you after 1 January. After all, it can take a whole month for a move to happen. That’s if it ever does …
I have seen players who have been dropped from the squad and have to train with the youth team. It is really hard. But for players wanting out, they just have to knuckle down and get on with it. A club could be in for you at any point and you have to be prepared for when they do.
There are also the fringe players who have been making the occasional cameo role or getting minutes here and there in the first team but are lacking in match fitness. These players need to get a month’s loan under their belts, where games will help them regain confidence and the fitness that they have lost from being out of the team.
These players, from my experience, have always come back flying from their loan moves, especially strikers who have bagged a few goals. They have come back into the team full of confidence and have hit the ground running.
Managers are quite clever in the way that they do this. By sending a player out on loan, it can free up the budget so that the boss can bring in a player from a different position who they may be in desperate need of. Once his loan has expired, he returns to his parent club – and the striker who was sent out on loan comes back. This is how the business side of the game works.
Now that the January transfer window is open, it releases a mixture of emotions … anxiety, fear, excitement, elation. Players in non-league are in a completely different position to those at the top of the football pyramid, those who will relish the opportunity of a move, in which they will see a multimillion pound transfer fee and perhaps receive a 20 per cent cut and a comfortable signing-on fee.
This may result in the player relocating to the other side of the country but, when you’re being paid £80k a week, it makes it much easier. On the other hand, for players in non-league, it can be very unsettling and can affect not only a player’s career but also everything else, including relationships.
I have gone through this before, when I moved during the January window. Each of the aforementioned emotions were amplified. It was very unsettling and, when my club allowed me to go, I had to literally pack my car with all my clothes and necessities and head to the club who I was about to sign for. And then live in an hotel until I had sorted out my accommodation.
I had to then arrange for my family to head down to live with me, once they had successfully negotiated moving house and getting a job for my missus. For players who have been transfer-listed or been made available for loan, they have the uncertainty of not knowing where their future lies. It’s difficult especially if you are settled and have a family who are.
There’s nothing better than playing football. Most players always discuss how playing makes them happy and if they aren’t playing, they want to leave, to just get out and play games elsewhere. However, if it means a player has to leave their club and move to the only club that is interested in them, which is at the other end of the country, this can become problematic.
A former team-mate was out of the side for a long period. He was very patient and was counting the days until the loan window opened; he was really excited when a good club came in for him and took him on loan for the rest of the season. He had prepared right and was ready to take the opportunity he was given. Once the paperwork had been completed, he moved his family to this club, which was a few hundred miles away.
Yet after making his debut, he was called back from his new club because a player in his position had been injured and he was needed. After returning for one game, he then got injured and was in the treatment room for the rest of the season.
Call it bad luck but my old mate was distraught. Not only had he waited so long and worked so hard but he had relocated his young family to another part of the country only to be called back a week later.
I also remember a story about a player agreeing to sign for another club. He came into the changing-room to say farewell to all the players and staff before his proposed move. He then went back to where he was living and packed his car to the rim with his possessions and drove three hours to the new club.
After waiting for his agent to get hold of the manager and secretary of the club he was at, he later found out that the deal had fallen through. The club that he had agreed to sign for had pulled out at the last minute and, on his way out of the car park, he saw another player – the player who was signing – enter the car park and head into the stadium.
It was very degrading and disheartening to deal with. To make it worse, he had to return to his club and face all of his team-mates, totally embarrassed that the move had fallen through. This actually killed the lad’s confidence completely and he didn’t feature in the team for the remainder of the season.
The transfer window isn’t as glamorous and exciting as it looks when, sitting on your sofa, you watch Sky Sports News!
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