Guru's Goat: The January transfer window

Ok let's get down to business - and the January transfer window to be more precise. I should make it clear right off the bat I'm not a big fan of it. Don't get me wrong I understand the principle, and the intention particularly to minimise clubs buying their way out of trouble throughout the season, but in my humble opinion it doesn't work. All it has done is condense the time deals can be completed, making it a seller's market and agent's dream, increasing prices in an already over-inflated market. That's the situation and I suppose I just have to get over it.

One thing I can't deny though is that sometimes it can be pretty interesting, and the last couple of weeks have been the busiest I can remember at Carrow Road transfer-wise for quite a while.

I'm sure the departure of Julien Brellier didn't come as a surprise to too many people. When the Frenchman arrived at Carrow Road he was touted as a successor to Youssef Safri, but a combination of injuries and his own stupidity (the red card in that infamous game at Molineux is, to me at least, one of the very low points of the last year) meant he never really got going. I just hope the fans who forked out for the massive 'Le Juge' flag kept their receipt.

It wasn't a shock to see David Strihavka on his way either. He really struggled to make an impact at City, and given that Watford had already turned him away following a trial perhaps giving him a four year deal wasn't the best piece of business - although by my reckoning if you had '22 Strihavka' on the back of your shirt you'd have forked out nearly £50 for it so maybe we got some of it back eh?

If the Strihavka signing wasn't the best piece of business in recent memory then what price the sale of Chris Brown to Preston for £400,000 being one of the best? The former Sunderland man cost the club £275,000 last January and after only scoring once in a couple of dozen appearances was moved on for a tidy profit of £125,000. Not bad at all. (Maybe Preston know something we don't and Brown will come back to haunt us on 2nd February, we'll have to see).

The exit that has divided supporters more than any other is that of Joe Lewis to Peterborough United, also for £400,000 (plus sell-on clause). Some feel we let him go too early and that by giving him a chance and maybe a run in the first team we could have had a star in the making, which is not a view I'd subscribe to.

At 20 time is hardly against him, but with David Marshall and Matthew Gilks ahead of him in the pecking order first team opportunities at the club were always going to be limited. Add Steve Arnold and England Youth internationals Declan Rudd and Jed Steer to the mix and City are blessed with (potentially) a number of good quality goalkeepers which should see us through for years to come.

I bet there won't be many other clubs who can sell their third choice goalkeeper (who has never made a first team appearance remember) for just shy of half a million pounds, and if for that reason alone I think it's a good deal all round.

Let's not forget another goalkeeper who left the club recently, Paul Gallacher, who had his contract terminated on New Year's Eve. So that's five squad players out of the back door, but I'm a little concerned about who's coming in - or rather who isn't.

The permanent signing of Matty Pattison from Newcastle was expected, and gives us an extra option either on the left-hand side of midfield or through the middle. I've been pretty impressed with what I've seen of him so far.

We also expected Mo Camara's loan from Derby to be extended so no surprises there. I was very happy to see us bring in the excellent Ryan Bertrand from Chelsea, who could also give us another option down the left-hand side.

It's good to see Ched Evans back as well. Even at the start of the week it looked like he was going to stay at Eastlands, but fortunately Sven has let him come out to play.

It doesn't look like anything's going to happen with Valentin Iliev, which makes it even more important that a deal with Martin Taylor is resolved quickly. I'm still quietly confident that Taylor will sign on the dotted line, but I'm getting more and more nervous with each passing day that he doesn't sign. I've got a little nagging concern that we'll see him turning up at the Walker's Stadium or, heaven forbid, Portman Road. Again, only time will tell.

What I'm really nervous about is where our goals are going to come from. Fair enough we have scored in our last 11 games, but we haven't scored more than once since beating Plymouth 2-1 on 4th December and missed an absolute hat-full of chances against Bury last week alone.

The only striker I've seen us linked with is Newcastle's Shola Ameobi, who would be an excellent acquisition and a quality player at this level, but Sam Allardyce leaving St James' Park might have just ruined any chance we may have had to get him.

So it's Barnsley away this weekend. Whenever I think of Barnsley and Oakwell I go back to April 2002, and our 2-0 win. City were cheered on by 4,500 travelling supporters and it was the game that really opened the door for us to get into the play-offs. Happy days. We'd take now wouldn't we?

OTBC.

Are you a supporter of the transfer window? What do you think about the signings Glenn Roeder has made so far? Who will be next out of the door? Will Taylor sign? I'd love to know what you think, so leave your comments below...