January is a miserable month; dark mornings are coupled by dark evenings and it feels like the Christmas festivities flew by faster than Kerry Katona swallows a KFC family-bucket. The only variation to the working day is checking the ever entertaining transfer rumour mill with internet traffic increasing tenfold each morning as we seek relief by repeatedly verifying who's in and out. With Blackburn apparently putting in bids for Ronaldinho, Beckham, Pele and Jesus, agents and media are working overtime generating whispers to fill their pockets and pages. This may be exciting for teams with a big budget and on cruise control through the remainder of the season, but as a stressed relegation threatened Wolves fan it really isn’t.
I'm sure the three M's are working their old gold socks off in the offices of Molineux and Compton but can we expect delivery? I think we dodged a bullet by missing out on Sidwell - he's no better than the central midfielders we currently have, and at this point we need improvement, not adding over-paid bodies. Hammill looks like a good buy from Barnsley and ticks all the Wolves-type boxes; young, hungry but should we push the sinking boat out with one champagne signing to announce our intentions and united belief that survival is reality? A few years ago Birmingham did it with Dugarry, a French World Cup winning striker who chipped in with a few goals but it was the hype and new found belief that unified the team, the board and the fans that was key to the Blouse’s survival rather than his actual over-paid talent.
So who could we get, and who’s available to tick such marquee requirements? Well Andy Gray is available, a decent striker in his day but he doesn’t tick the ‘young and hungry’ boxes, more the pervy and sexist but hey ho. In all seriousness, I think we’d love to see Robbie Keane return home – his Black Country home, not his Irish one. I saw his Wolves debut away to Norwich when he was just out of nursery and have loved him ever since. Could we afford his wages? Probably not, but if he came in and scored 8-12 goals and we stayed up surely he’s worth a few overdraft charges from the filo-fax waving fat cats at NatWest? Who else is about? Lescott, Wright-Phillips, Kranjcar, Adams, Muntari - but in truth I don’t think there will be any big name signings, but sometimes it could be nice to break the rules and really go for it – it seems West Ham Fulham and Birmingham will.
So it looks like our transfer movement will be minimal in the next few days, it’s a shame, as the table doesn’t lie and we need to rapidly improve or come May we could be regretting our quiet January dealings. I love Mick, I love the way he has gelled a young and proud team, but I think now is the time to break such a model. Will he do it? Does he have the funds to do it? Would anyone want to involve themselves in a relegation scrap?
Thankfully I don't have to answer these questions, McCarthy, Moxey and Morgan do, and they need answering now. The only question I have to answer is to my boss for why my internet usage is at an all time high during these dark January mornings... but out of darkness, cometh light / cometh news of Wolves signing Robbie Keane*
*please note I am little dreamy early in the morning.