Advertisement

The transfer window: Bringing out the worst in people since 2002

The summer transfer window is something most fans look forward to with great joy and expectation. For those who finished in the Champions League places it’s an open invitation to jostle for the best players in Europe while Europa League football should allow you to attract those unearthed gems, waiting for their chance on the big stage. If your club underperformed or escaped relegation by the skin of its teeth then the summer would be used to oust those no longer needed and replaced with fresh blood, desperate to prove their worth in a more prestigious league. It all sounds fun, right?

Yet as the big clock counting down the days, hours, minutes and seconds to when the transfer window slams shut it creates a change in people. Those who were once calm and full of optimism are now furious. They’ve given up on expecting the best and have decided to turn their anger towards their own club’s board, particularly the chairman, and have found likeminded fans and formed a protest group. “Why are you ruining my great club just to line your own pockets?!”

It wasn’t that long ago I remember a time when newspapers were the only source for information regarding players your club were trying to sign. You’d wake up in the morning and while you were eating your cornflakes, you’d be scrolling through the gossip column on Ceefax (page 338) to see what was happening. It was a simpler time as people waited patiently for moves to materialise, knowing little apart from a rumour and then a news story if it turned out to be true (Ceefax page 302).

Now the modern version of this essentially relates to Twitter. A rumour, story or fact is often first mentioned on there before anywhere else. Even newspapers are getting in on the act as football fans demand instant news and are no longer happy to wait until picking up a copy on their way to work in the morning. It isn’t about who you know as once a bid is submitted, everyone knows within the next 2-3 hours. Confidentiality doesn’t exit, bragging rights do.

I feel it’s worth pointing out that there are some exclusives which are reserved to national newspapers. They undoubtedly have the better sources and contacts within the game, but with the digital age upon us it’s about getting that news out to the masses as quickly as possible. If a club accepts an offer for a player at 4PM, there’s no way it doesn’t leak before the following morning. You are forced into sacrificing an exclusive in your print version to get it online and maximum the traffic to your employer’s website.

You would think more news would be of great benefit to the ordinary fan but it’s actually become a curse. While we need to feed our lust for every snippet of information, we’re expecting every transfer to be immediate and any delay is met with hordes of snarling fans screaming: “This is why we don’t progress! You’re ruining my football club!”

It’s a lose-lose battle for most who care to share information, too. If the move falls through or it doesn’t happen then you can expect to have your tweet saying it was done to be retweeted until you’re forced to delete it. You’ll be called a fraud amongst other things as the mob mentality amongst fans accepts no errors. If you’re right but the deal takes longer to go through then you obviously knew nothing as it wasn’t as close as you claimed.

We don’t respect the channels of information handed to us, instead we demand more and with perfect results. It’s often easy to forget how complicated deals can be or whether the selling club gets a better offer, or the player in question wants to move abroad instead.

There are a lot of charlatans out there - usually with businessmen stock photos as avatars - who abuse the consumers need for information, true or false, and revel in getting hundreds of retweets. But most reliable, established names aren’t going to hoodwink you for the sake of ‘#numbers’ - their reputation and integrity is more important.

The final few days of the transfer window is a dangerous place on social media. Fans whip themselves up into a frenzy about not signing a certain player or adequately covering a specific position in the squad, almost to the point where you’re concerned about their health. I mean, it can’t be good on your heart to be so upset on social media day after day as no news filters through.

You can have the best full back in the world but as soon as you’re linked with a more famous name to replace him, you’re pulling your hair out as a deal fails to materialise. We are never content with what we’ve got. It’s like children that have every toy imaginable but they go to a park and see someone with an action figure and immediately demand you buy them one. “But you already have the new collection of those. This is an old one.” “I don’t want the new one, I want the old one!” The desire to have something we don’t already possess reigns supreme.

And that analogy works with adults, too. 4K or UHD TVs have been on the market for a year or two now, at prices the average person can afford, but how many channels can we watch in that new format? One, perhaps two if you’re lucky? So there’s no need to have one yet our subconscious feels we are missing out if we don’t. The same goes for mobile phones - we buy for the sake of buying and demand our clubs do the same. Well, unless they get it wrong then they’re unprofessional and shouldn’t be running our football team.

So I wish you the best of luck in surviving the ‘Walking Dead’ period of football. Once the dust has settled on this transfer window and teams get back to playing again, the effects will soon wear off and those who you thought were beyond help will start talking instead of frothing at the mouth. Take care, try not to get infected and remember that it’ll all be over soon.

Well, until January.