Transfer window time. Don`t you just hate it? As other clubs get excited about signing this player or that, I sit there biting my nails until midnight on the last day of the window, waiting for Ceefax to refresh and tell me Halford/Izzet/Iwelumo etc. has joined Charlton/Coventry/Caledonian Thistle!
It seems Greg Halford has one leg out the window already. Even George has been telling the press he thinks it`s unlikely he`ll be a U`s player for much longer. Paper-talk is as much part of the transfer window as Abramovich`s wallet. Most of the rumours are just that, especially in the red-tops. However, even The Times (hardly famed for their scurrilous rumour-mongering) have carried stories about bids from Premiership teams for our rampaging right-back.
Then again, John Gregory seemed resigned to losing New Year`s Day scorer Ray Jones – who has just signed a new contract. More on QPR later.
Rumours about the other players are causing me concern too. Everyone from Jamie Cureton to Mr. Col U (Karl Duguid) is being linked to transfer gossip and it`s doing my nerves no good at all. The phrase “victims of our own success” seems to keep coming back to me.
If you sit 6th in the Championship with a budget so slim it makes Keira Knightly look like Andy Fordham, you`re going to get noticed. Only so much of it can be luck, rub of the green or the “compact little stadium”. Some of it has to be player`s skill and manager`s nous.
Not so new
The New Year means the U`s as not so new anymore.
Our league position is no longer so surprising and having played everyone in the division at least once already, they`re no longer going to be caught on the hop by our 100mph, all-action style of play.
The size of our squad could yet come home to roost. We`ve been fabulously lucky with injuries and the lads` discipline on the pitch has seen us fare well with suspensions too – for now.
At QPR on New Year`s Day the team looked what they were though: a team that had played four games in ten days. They were tired and after their exertions in 2006, who can be surprised? God-like as George is even he can`t accommodate wholesale changes to the team to account for that.
So, much as I enjoy all the rumour, counter-rumour and gossip linking us to that player or that team for that player – I`ll be happy to have the same as we`ve got now once the window`s shut.
Unambitious perhaps but we`ve not done too badly so far, have we? 26th best team in the country don`t you know?
Some additions to the squad would be nice but I`d be happy if the only additions we all get is a copy of the rather excellent Koopa/Special Duties CD. If you`ve not already got one, do so.
Not only is it for a good cause but it`s actually very good – perfect for getting the blood pumping before a chilly winter`s day on the terraces. Doogie`s comedy dancing in the free film on the disc could see him snapped up for a contract elsewhere though? perhaps the next series of Strictly Come Dancing? After all, we`re getting quite famous now!
Up those super U`s!
See more from CO2 in the U’s Matchday Magazine priced at just £3.
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