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Never Say Never
Transfer deadline day is upon us and rumours are starting to reach fever pitch over who will come in and who will leave St Andrews. The window closes for permanent transfers at 11pm with the emergency window open a week later for short term loans.
I think I say this every time, but I hate the hype around deadline day. Yes, I will admit that right now I have Sky Sports on one screen, Twitter on another and I have my phone nearby but I can’t help thinking that maybe there is a better way to do things.
The hype has clearly got to Sky, with execs making the decision to have their reporters away from the possibility of being embarrassed by fans today rather than surrounded by supporters outside training grounds. I think there is an irony that Sky have had to shy away from a beast that they themselves created; it was always inevitable that situations involving fans – particularly late in the day – were going to push the boundaries of taste ever further.
The BBC also seem to have fallen into the trap of trying to do anything to generate column inches on their rolling coverage, with a Football Manager addict being given space to talk about players who clubs should sign based on the game. As much as I’ve personally enjoyed that series of games I’m well aware that it is just a game; scouting may be in depth and worldwide but I think it’s impossible to know everything about players from just numbers. A believer in “Moneyball” I am not.
I’m not going to go into the ins and outs surrounding Blues – for the simple reason I’m just not sure what is going to happen. I have no doubt Rowett probably has a plan “A” should he have one set of funds, a plan “B” should certain players go out and maybe even a plan “C” should we receive huge money – such as for Dimmi Gray. I think if anything does happen it will be like a domino effect or a housing chain; one player moving somewhere will cause a host of moves to happen, and that will force Blues hand into who they will bring in and who they will ship out. This is the nature of the beast; as much as people want the board “to pull their fingers out” it doesn’t work like that – there will have been work done throughout the window but it comes down to snap decisions at the death as other clubs move.
I spent the last transfer deadline day on a training course with a FIFA accredited agent – and although I didn’t see any specifics it was an education in seeing how quickly things could move. One of his players was actually offered to Birmingham City but Lee Clark declined to think about it and as quickly as a deal could be on it was off again. This is why I say, never say never…
Tags: Gary Rowett, Transfers
61 Responses to “Never Say Never”
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So who was the player then
Do you honestly think I can say?
hi, dan ,i emailed you with a question regarding a comment you made on the often partisan site , stating that if anybody lived in the redditch or solihull area , that you would be commenting on football matters in our local papers ?, i asked can you say which one ?, so far no reply ?. thanks.
It was the Observer.
Dorrans to Burnley which is disappointing. Huth to Leicester rather than maybe Cardiff (freeing up Turner)
Ben Turner is injured ;)
They would of been to solid signing as Blues look to rebuild.
Blues reject £5million bid for Gray from Bourmouth.
if delli alli is worth 5million. gray should be worth 7-8. still see him leaving tonight. i hope im wrong
£7 million plus add ons will do it for blues but staffs mate kevan broadhurst said that gray told him that it was nonsense about him leaving…done deal in my eyes then and waiting for the inevitable .. Lets see who we get in!! Kro
Yes, I listened to that too. But then, Broadhurst always claims to be ‘downb wiv da youff.” Who knows though. Only thing that’s certain, is that by 11pm, Gray will either still be a Blues player, or he won’t. I won’t be holding my breath either way. It could be that we do our business in the loan market.
I detest to see the Sky pundits drooling over the fact that British clubs have spent over £500 million on their overpaid prima donnas when we have so many citizens dependant on food banks.
The £7 million blues want for gray would supply an overload of food banks and feed an awfull lot of people but you can’t go down that road because football is not the only sport or only buisness that as over paid people earning rediculous amounts of money …I know it’s difficult but you’ve got to keep it in context , we need the money for our football club and its not worth using poverty as an excuse to slag off other people who just happen to be more lucky and fortunate than others.. That’s the way of the world we live in, it’s not just football!! Kro
Sorry Dave, massively disagree there. My respect and love for those who are struggling at the bottom of the social order far outweighs my loyalty to Birmingham City and to trivialise the plight of the poor and the vanity and greed of the super rich is regrettable to say the least. I am sure that Daniel and many others who follow OP would agree that to take hundreds of thousands of pounds from the Gross Domestic Product on an annual basis is not good fortune but piss taking on an incredible scale. You demean me by stating that the highlighting of the social injustice playing out here is mere “slagging off”
Lloyds Bank (!) say Gray does not want to move to another championship team……………..so premier clubs who has £7m…………….?
I agree but I think a premier league team will come in now that blues have set £7 million as the negotiating figure so it’s still early in the day and a lot can happen and I think it will but I hope ime wrong…for us to turn down £5 million is good news in terms of where we are financially so maybe there’s light at the end of the tunnel and on that one I hope ime right !! Kro
I just feel that Demarai will be worth more in the coming months and Blues would be foolish to cash in now. We have let too many players leave for next too nothing and its time we stopped that. Its sounds that D.Gray is happy to stay at Blues so surely it would everybody concerned if he stayed.
I find dead line day exciting just hope we get someone in to excite
Wolves fan .. I come in peace , was just looking as I saw that Gray could be leaving to another championship club which even as a wolves supporter I find hard to swallow . He s some talent , and looking at what that club have put you lot thro for last few years , you deserve better . Apart from Sako at the mol , he’s the best thing I’ve seen in the championship for ages . Good luck blues for the rest of the season as long as it’s not at our expense !!
He’s done well dingle but he’s made is name on one hat trick against reading who area poor team so ime not saying he’s not a quality player but I’ve seen a lot better in the championship in the time we’ve been here than gray but £7 million is about right IMO if you look at age, potential and prospects..think butland? Redmond ? Adeyemi?. Johnson ?. They’ve really set the football world on fire haven’t they … Grays value is realistic not under valued … Get real !! Kro
When I’ve seen him I thought he looked excellent , but local knowledge,is what it is … Sounds like you d be happier with the money than the player if it was spent on the team ?
Exactly, but the trouble is it won’t be and that’s the problem we have when if we get the money it will be to late to spend anyway if they did which they won’t so send it to Carson and let it be distributed amongst all our great BIH members for there personal wealth and cardoons appeal !! Kro
Cardoons appeal!!!! Sorry I meant carsons appeal but you know what i meant anyway! Kro
I check the BM and the main site about once every hour or so. That’s the height of my interest. As for SSN, I’m not that desperate.
Great to see Blues turning down bids for Gray, if the kid is happy to stay then I am happy with the player staying rather than cash coming in
I hope he does stay and he doesent want to go to another championship club which rules bournemouth out but if a premiership comes in and offers the money and pays him 10k a week to sit in the bench lets see what he does then … Stay and play or go and show what some fans think of primadonna footballers… I don’t think he’s that sort of of player .. I hope ime right ! Kro
To be honest Dave, I can’t see the attraction of Bournemouth. It’s not exactly the bright lights of The Smoke is it? To leave here, where he’s hero-worshipped, for Bournemouth, for me, would show a serious lack of ambition. Now, if it’s money we’re talking about, it’s a totally different matter.
It just bothers me that the contract he was offered is still unsigned.
I do not understand how a team Like Bournemouth with a crowd capacity of about 10,000 can be in the running for Gray???????
The Gray bid was rejected not because Birmingham are holding out foe 7-8mil but because he is not for sale as stated the last 5 bids so do one tin pot flash in the pan Bournemouth.
He’s already said and I’ve already said that demari gray will not go to another championship club… I thought I made that clear!! …Bournemouth will NOT sign him but if a premier club come in then that changes things …then we will see blues ambitions and Grays ambitions … Have I made myself clear?? Kro
I here Birmingham are trying to sign Ben Turner on lone and Have made a bid for Je Edwards from Yeovil fort to be about 75k he as 6 months left on is contact and wants to move and apparently Turner is due back from injury in 2 weeks.
Mark Duffy has gone on loan to Chesterfield. Rowett is slowly letting Clark signings he doesn’t want go.
Howe returning from Switzerland to make one final bid for gray to be about£6 million and are not letting this go…i hope we tell them to do one unless they offer £7 million.. I hope Bournemouth are embarrassed by the end of the day!! Kro
Fair play to the Blues board for resisting 5+ mill for Gray. When you consider that BIHL are still not trading on the HKSE and remain in a mess financially (depending on who to beleive) it makes you wonder sometimes.
isn’t that great we now are in casino money lol we might mock BOURNEMOUTH but we are not buying players potentially for 5 millions or more…??/
and our potential fans base should be much bigger than their, so i think from neutral prospective fair play to them for giving it a go with their bids…..and maybe potential premiership candidates……..and gave us one the biggest hammering seen at the stans….
Bournemouth is a sleepy little town best known for retirement, for the life of me I cant see a young kid wanting to go there. Gray should hold out for a premiership club even then he would most likely be on the bench, no, better for him to say here a couple more years.
Problem is his agent looking for big bucks for himself, its about time they were regulated some right crooks among that lot(hope your not leaning in the direction Dan).
At the end of the day if he will not sign a new deal then the club have to protect themselves get a fee rather that risk losing him for nothing at the contract ending.
Hello,
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Roger Johnson has had his contract cancelled at Wolves. Hmm.. I wonder. lol
Roger’s lucrative contract expires at the end of the season. Would be amazed if he rejoined Blues.
I thought that as well Staffs, he can’t have vecome that bad a player overnight? His attitude at Wolves stank though, would he really want to come back here on less than £5K per week (and would we want him back anyway!) And RichardG – his contract has been CANCELLED with immediate effect, so he needs a job poor lad!
Last thing we need is abig ego upsetting the balance of the dressing room…Johnson no thanks
Although we could do better, we could do a lot worse too. At least he has experience.
He put a lot of great performances in for us back in the day, but Roger burnt his boats when he forgot to try and beat Fulham in 2011. No thanks.
Roger Johnson has had his contract terminated by Wolves . Is there anyone think he may be worth a punt to cover for Morrison ??
My biggest fear for Grey should he be snapped up before the deadline would not be for Blues loss but more for the loss of a good future England prospect. Butland was on the fringe of the England team but now he has become an unknown.
Great News….Demari stays with Blues! With no paperwork lodged with the FA before the deadline at 11pm, Blues have tweeted that they have stood firm & he is staying at Blues! Bit of a disappointment we haven’t been able to sign anyone but I’m sure it won’t be without effort from GR & his staff. Not to mention that we all know that anyone coming in simply has to improve the team! Here’s hoping we can strengthen the defence when the loan window reopens next week!
Quite right atko. 4 months ago, I’d have assumed that we’d sell Demarai fot £2m 5 minutes before the transfer deadline and we’d be lucky to have 10% of that to spend in the summer. Right now, a decent centre half on loan would be good – hope the 5 we sent out on loan in the window would mean we can wangle that.
Refusing to sell Gray got me wondering… when was the last time we flatly refused to sell a player, especially when the fee ran into millions? Must be quite a while.
We rejected £6m for Butland. Doh!
Hardly a refusal, just a stay of execution. This time has been a steadfast No!
Wait until the summer ;)
Maybe we were holding out for £7m. either way it makes a mockery of Pannu’s assertion that we are in dire financial straits and even though the club have recently “lost” £3 million we nevertheless could afford to turn down £5 million. Or maybe it was just that Carson has been playing up this week and they wouldn’t let him use the telephone??
Sol – the club haven’t lost anything, that was BIH – different company – and as I said, it was already accounted for…
Thanks for clarification Dan, my logic still applies as prior to any knowledge of the misappropriation, Pannu stated that we had an unexpected tax liability which would bankrupt the club. If the club were on the edge of bankruptcy, then we would have snapped Bournemouth’s hands off!
Although, in fairness, even if we’d taken that instead of the “eye-popping” £3.5m, we’d have probably lost the extra £2.5m down the back of a settee.
Question, Could it be Gray was not sold on orders from HK(good side), as part of the plan to sell Blues, by starving the parent company of funds , there will come a time when money as to be injected, CY as none and only option (legal) to sell his shares, his opposition will buy them and sell Blues to the highest bidder, Blues to be sold in close season, if CY appeal fails,
There are a lot of clubs in a far better financial position than us who would have found it hard to knock back 5 mill+ for an 18 yr old with a handful of championship games behind him. If BIHL have an eye on selling the club maybe selling its main asset could be detrimental,who knows?
Nowt to do with HK…
And again, if Carson’s appeal fails he has another to go through, as I have reported ad nauseum here.
Maybe there thinking is that £7 million can now be added to the selling price if and when they do decide to sell? …silly I know but it could just be what these morons are hoping for when they decide a selling price!! Kro
… and maybe they’ve just simply supported the manager, in that, he wanted to keep Gray as a playing asset to the team and not simply a financial one.