All Change

Am I the only one thinking that Bradley Wright-Philips is something of a trophy signing? A declaration of intent by Slater and Jimenez rather than necessarily being a necessity to strengthen the team. We don't seem to have that many problems scoring goals, but letting them in is a different matter entirely. It is difficult to tell how much input Powell had on the decision to bring him to the Valley, as even if they were the first words out of his mouth when he walked through the door, the deal was signed sealed and delivered extraordinarily quickly.

Sodje to be sold, or more likely to go on loan is now in the public domain, and I suspect Abbott may not be too long after him, but what of other signings? The necessity to get players through the door by midnight tomorrow night whilst desirable is not the be all and end all, given that the loan window opens up on February 8th. Stories abound regarding a new left back, and a new target man style striker from Belgium, but very quiet on the possibility of a new centre back and midfield dynamo. Left back had to be dealt with as Fry's loan expires after next Saturday's game away to Yeovil, but do we really need yet another front man?

Dyer moving from Wet Spam to be Powell's number two doesn't fill me with a huge amount of enthusiasm, as I would have preferred somebody with a bit of experience to go alongside our new manager, but as has been said before, Curbishley and Gritt didn't have any experience either, and look where the experience of Dowie and Pardew in particular got us. I would still have preferred somebody with a track record though.