The transfer window will close today and bring an end to another month of activity in the professional football player market. However, is the focus on the what happens too much?
Is this what football is all about?
By Anton Horan – @AntonH79
A great number of personnel will have swapped jerseys by the time the window is slammed shut later tonight with a number of clubs plundering the market to find that little nugget who can make the difference to their season. Queen’s Park Rangers manager Harry Redknapp is a veteran of such plundering and is likely to initiate further activity by the end of the day.
However, is this ‘window of opportunity’ worthy of the Hollywood-style coverage afforded to it by the likes of Sky Sports? Do we need a big clock counting down the hours, minutes and seconds of the window? Do we need a golden barometer telling us how much has been spent in England this January? Do we need journalists digging out their phones and texting their contacts on live television to see if they can confirm or deny a rumoured deal?
The truth; well I suppose it doesn’t do any harm but, when you boil it down, they are just transfers aren’t they? With all due respect to Sky, who continually provide phenomenal, across the board sports coverage, I don’t really need to see the inside of the car (devoid of occupants) that carried the enigmatic Mario Balotelli from the airport to a hospital in Milan following his move from Manchester City. I don’t need the reporter to tell me that said Balotelli has some water in the back seat. Footballer in water shocker; wonders will never cease!
Despite it being fairly harmless coverage it does suggest that football is becoming more and more about the commercial side of things rather than about the football. It’s about trying to find out more and more about these professionals and their personal lives (even down to what they like to drink in the back seat of a car!). Following the players down the corridors of a hospital to try to sneak a peek at them during their medical; trying to be the first to know if the player has succeeded in passing said medical. It really is a media scrum of sensational proportions; at least the likes of Sky would have you believe this.
At the end of the day, the most important thing is the transfer itself; though I do appreciate Sky have to do something to spice up the occasion. I suppose that’s what we get for subscribing to round the clock sports coverage on our TV’s.
How much of your day is spent watching the rumour mills circle as the transfer deadline approaches? Tweet us @talkingbaws or comment below. Watch out for Rob Boulton’s blog tomorrow.
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/ 04/09/2013Hi, thanks for sharing