Transfer deadline isn’t all its cracked up to be.
You know the drill: anxious football fans sitting round glued to Sky Sports News, hoping for news from their club, while a camera crew and presenter are camped outside a stadium or training ground fending off gurning dildo-waving supporters. All in a day’s work.
Which is why Sky Sports’ Rob Dorsett and his seven colleagues were overjoyed to receive eight portions of complimentary sausage and chips from the ever-generous Albion kit man Pat Frost some years ago. Scrawled across the wrapped meat-and-potato treats were the words ‘boing boing’ – which Rob duly shared to a prime-time audience.
Pat, of course, would have seen it all during his time at the club, having printed a Lukaku 20 shirt for the Belgium international in summer 2013. Sadly, while Albion offered Chelsea a loan fee of £2m, Everton blew them away with a bid of £5m.
Transfer windows can be a miserable experience for Albion. But not always.
Summer 2013: This one was a right mess, as already mentioned. Diego Lugano was signed thanks to the recommendation of analyst Dave McDonough, who had his head turned by the Uruguayan's impressive numbers. Unfortunately, McDonough's spreadsheet didn’t appear to have a section for ‘pace’, with Lugano's sloth-like movement doing little to endear him to coaches or fans.
Meanwhile, Matej Vydra’s arrival was so unexpected that manager Steve Clarke approached me and another journalist at Cork Airport to ask whether it was true. It was the first he’d heard of it. Never a good sign.
And it was early into the same season, while the window was still active, that Albion travelled to Goodison Park for a goalless draw against Everton. Before the game a certain Toffees legend - probably best I don't name him - approached Tony Brown in the press lounge and, during the course of their chat, bemoaned a striker who Everton were seemingly lumbered with until the end of his contract. This particular player was wanted by Championship club Wigan, who were offering a loan deal. Nobody else wanted him. Lo and behold, just a few days later, Albion came to the rescue by offering just short of £6million for the aforementioned player: Victor Anichebe.
Summer 2012: There were no such issues a year or so earlier when Claudio Yacob signed for the club on a Bosman free transfer from Racing Club. Identified by the club’s ace talent-spotter Stuart White, Albion moved quickly and quietly to get the deal over the line. Such was the club’s determination to secure the deal – Arsenal were also linked with him at the time - that sporting and technical director Dan Ashworth essentially set up camp outside the Yacob home until he would agree to join.
Summer 2006 and 2009: A couple who got away from Albion’s grasp went onto bigger and better things. It’s well documented that Tony Mowbray was keen on Robert Lewandowski, only to be told the club weren’t able to afford the amount asked by Lech Poznan.
Earlier, in 2006, I was alerted to another big name on Albion's antenna. While speaking to Bryan Robson in his office, I noticed he had forgotten to remove the list of his transfer targets from a whiteboard behind his desk. The names included: David Thompson, Danny Shittu, several others I’ve since forgotten, and a name that would require further research: Da Silva (Dinamo). The Dinamo Zagreb striker was better known as Eduardo by the time he pitched up at Arsenal for £8m a year later. Again, too expensive for Albion at the time, but a great exclusive for our back page.
January 2007: Another nearly man was Hibernian's Scott Brown, who was very much on Mowbray’s radar in 2007. Such was Mowbray’s want to sign the midfielder, that a director approached us in the press box at Elland Road, asking myself and a colleague to write a piece expressing Albion’s huge interest, knowing it would put pressure on Jeremy Peace to act. Sadly, it wasn’t to be – Brown ended up going to Celtic.
January 2015: This particular transfer deadline was a showcase as to why it doesn’t always pay to leave it until the last minute. Martin Olsson got stuck in snow as he made his way to the West Midlands from Norwich on the actual deadline day. He may even still be there - I'm not sure anyone's checked.
But one who did make it to the Walsall-based training ground was Carlton Cole, who, by 10.30pm, had pretty much completed all of the formalities and was in the canteen awaiting West Ham’s final sign-off. The Hammers had all but signed Emmanuel Adebayor from Spurs, only for Tottenham owner Daniel Levy to block the move late in the day. The Cole deal was subsequently called off at the West Ham end. What followed was a meltdown of epic proportions as Cole took the call from Sam Allardyce and unleashed a tirade of profanities and ‘I’ll never play for you again’ volleys. Naturally, within a week, Cole was back in the Hammers side. Big Sam was clearly a forgiving type.
January 2013: We couldn’t leave without the classic transfer deadline day moment: Peter Odemwingie turning up a QPR. The story is already well-known, but essentially Odemwingie claims he was given permission by Dan Ashworth to speak to Rangers, while Albion and the London club continued their discussions deep into the deadline day evening. Junior Hoilett’s inclusion as a makeweight was complicating proceedings. As Odemwingie made his way to Loftus Road – on the basis he had been green-lighted to do so – it became apparent that Hoilett had no intention of moving to West Bromwich. The deal was off.
Sky Sports News, meanwhile, couldn’t believe their luck as the Odemwingine entourage pulled up outside the stadium, with the Nigerian of the mind that he was about to become a Rangers player, thus creating one of the most memorable transfer deadline moments. Jeremy Peace and Steve Clarke were not amused as they watched the news.
We all laugh about it now, of course.
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