Omar Giddy Aunt

After a day of frantic activity, the transfer window has closed for a few months and we can get back to the boring business of winning football matches. I must admit I wish it was transfer deadline day every day.

To sum up, as expected we saw Jason Euell depart for a disappointing (but understandable) fee of £300,000. Slightly surprisingly perhaps we saw Stefan Andersen carted off to Leeds on a season-long loan, and my suspicions are we may not see him in a Charlton shirt again with Curbs and now Dowie unconvinced by both his ability and attitude. Meanwhile Simon Walton's loan deal has been extended at Ipswich, a sensible move to allow him to gain more experience.

The key news of course was the Omar Pouso loan (with an option to buy). Once again I think as fans we are entitled to cynically question how much we really know about the player, but the structure of the deal lowers our risk. The bargaining power that the rich English clubs have over their poorer South American neighbours is again emphasised by this lopsided deal.

The team now has an extremely international feel to it with just two of our ten signings being of British origin (Walton and Carson). Either way, the squad now has some genuine depth to it (injuries permitting) and with most of the Curbs detritus now cleared out, Dowie can not really have any excuses if he fails to deliver in the medium-term. In my view, merely avoiding a relegation battle would merit a successful season and allow him to build the confidence to push the team forward upon solid foundations.

Elsewhere, the transfer activity was equally frenetic. Oddest deal of the day clearly occurred at Upton Park where two of the world's finest players will line up alongside Marlon Harewood and Roy Carroll on Saturday week. To say this deal smells fishy would be a giant understatement; someone somewhere is being ripped off - I've a soft spot for the Hammers, so let's hope it doesn't turn out to be them.

Bargain of the day would probably be Steed Malbranque who in typical fashion blackmailed Fulham into releasing him against their wishes. The most boring transfer saga of all time ended predictably with Gallas and Cole swapping clubs and Arsenal in my view getting by far the better outcome...a world class defender and £5m in exchange for an arrogant pr*ck. Manchester United meanwhile chose to be the wallflower at the transfer party, and given their early form who could blame them?

Busiest manager was Roy Keane who managed to snap up six players, though I still wouldn't back them to finish in the top half. Canniest deal of the day might turn out to be Swindon's acquisition of former England captain Paul Ince - it's nice to see players of his ilk willing to play out their careers in the lower leagues just like their ancestors did.

Finally were there any last minute deals involving Kevin Lisbie? Even after ten seasons averaging just six starts per season, he remains a highly-paid squad player. I briefly examined the squads of our 19 Premiership rivals to see if there were any comparable outfield players who have remained at the club for as long, yet made as little an impact. The simple answer is there aren't any. How has he managed it?