Trivial Pursuits

So we did manage to clinch one last-minute signing after all, namely that of Jay Bothroyd who was a great answer to a football trivia question until about three hours ago, namely, "Who is the only English player in the Italian league?" I can't say I know too much about him though I recall seeing him interviewed on Soccer AM where he talked about how his move to Italy came out-of-the-blue, and he came across as being humble enough.

As a stand-alone signing, this would appear to be a fairly low-risk chance to take a look at him for a few months and have an extra pair of legs in the squad if required (though it's hard to see him featuring in the first team unless both Bent and Bartlett get injured). However when combined with Jeffers' move to Rangers, it seems a little illogical to have swapped one gifted but temperamental (according to Blackburn fans) striker for another, though it is perhaps Bothroyd's 'target man' status which swayed Curbs given the lack of height up front outside of his first two choices.

It isn't clear if it was Rangers or Charlton who insisted that the Jeffers loan only be until January, but I'm quietly hoping it was us. Assuming he gets some first team football, it may be a chance for him to score hatfuls of goals (if Hartson and Sutton can, then surely even Jeffers can) and come back to us confident and ready to do what he should have done in the first place, knuckled down and fought for a first team berth. The rumours about Jeffers' lack of off-the-field professionalism regularly do the rounds and he certainly doesn't seem like a 'Charlton-type' player which makes it all the more surprising we ever signed him in the first place, suggesting as some thought at the time, that it was a rushed transfer. Certainly the more considered approach this summer which has now yielded ten players with less cash outlay than last summer suggests lessons may have been learned. Having said all of that, on the odd occasion Jeffers has turned out for us, he has looked to be able to offer something which makes it all the more frustrating.

So the transfer deadline passed with something of an anti-climax, and I guess we may never know who the two players were that Curbs had bids in for. Perhaps if nine points weren't in the bag, we would have pushed a bit harder and it's hard not to be laughing a little at Newcastle fans who, when interviewed on Five Live, said that £16m signing Owen 'completed' their team despite the fact that they have one point from four games and no goals. Still, if they had a brain they would've had better things to do than see him unveiled in the first place.