If only all January transfers were as successful as Phillips’ move to Palace
WHENEVER I am tempted to go mad at this time of year because of the wretched January transfer window I think of Kevin Phillips.
Here we are again with football managers throughout the country acting as if every day is Black Friday and desperately trying to beat each other to a bargain before the end of the month.
We all know that clubs don’t part with in-form players during January and that it is hugely difficult to strengthen squads for that reason.
But we have to try, whether it is to boost a promotion bid or increase chances of avoiding relegation.
I have made four signings for Grimsby Town since the latest window opened because of injuries and the fact my squad has too many young and inexperienced players in it.
It has been needs must and I may not have finished doing business. But I hate the window system and believe it has had the opposite effect to the intention when it was introduced.
The poorer clubs were meant to benefit because it would prevent the rich ones buying success by coming in and luring their best players away at any time in the season up to the old March deadline.
But, with the loan market also closing on January 31, it is those clubs with limited resources and small squads who suffer most.
How do I know what injuries my players are going to pick up in the coming weeks? Lower-division clubs don’t tend to have experienced cover in every position like those in the Premier League and Championship.
I could lose an experienced professional and have to replace him with a kid. We have an academy at Grimsby, but young players can be destroyed by being employed too often in the first team before they are ready.
During my managerial career I have had spells with as many as six defenders injured or suspended at the same time. At the time of writing I have three strikers injured.
Why shouldn’t I be able to sign replacements in February or March, at least through the loan market?
The window system also means that players in large squads who are not in the first team are condemned to months of frustration if they do not attract a move in January.
Graham Coughlan performed a minor miracle when signing Jonson Clarke-Harris for Bristol Rovers this time last year because it is next to impossible to recruit a striker in mid-season who will get you a significant number of goals between then and May.
I did it once when I was at Crystal Palace. And that is why memories of Kevin Phillips console me amid the mayhem that now hits football every January.
Kevin had signed for me when I was at Blackpool and, although he was 39 at the time, I could think of no one better to get the goals Palace needed to boost efforts to reach the Premier League in 2013.
With the January window about to close, I persuaded Blackpool to let him sign for me on loan until the end of the season.
What a bit of business that proved. Kevin was the best striker I ever worked with as a manager and he ended up scoring a goal to get us into the play-offs before scoring the winner from the penalty spot after I sent him on as substitute in the final against Watford.
He was only training twice a week at that stage of his career, but I always knew that if I sent him on as a sub he would be 100 per cent ready to play well and hit the back of the net.
Kevin’s technique was unbelievable, as was his reading of the game and ability to get himself into scoring positions.
So I do have one positive memory of the January window. But there have been one or two disasters as well and I have learned to be very wary of signing players at this time of year.
The best that I can do at Grimsby is patch up my squad and look to strengthen further in the summer. Of the four players signed this month, two are only on contracts until the end of the season.
Everyone wants wingers or strikers and there simply are not enough good ones available. Those that are can cost a lot of money, with buying clubs often paying over the odds in desperation to improve league positions.
It is notoriously difficult to get value for money in January. The summer window is a lot longer and that is what I am now planning for.
Deals are often rushed through at this time of year with little time to go into a transfer target’s background and check his character.
Not many work out well and if I had my way we would go back to the days before windows when the only deadline was at the end of March.
I had my problems even then. The worst summer I ever had as a manager was in 2000 during my Bristol Rovers days when the club made me sell Jamie Cureton, Jason Roberts and Bobby Zamora. That took more than 50 goals out of my squad when you considered their previous contributions. The combined fees were around £2 million, but I didn’t agree with the board’s decision and didn’t last long in the job afterwards.
For all that, the transfer system back then was better. January has become a nightmare for managers and the sooner windows are abolished the better.