Extraordinary goings-on at Bescot in the past few days. The summary is that Ian Brightwell has left to join Stoke, Gus Uhlenbeek has joined Walsall on loan from Sheffield United as his replacement for the rest of the season. And, most mysteriously of all, Darren Byfield was all set for a on-off move to Rotherham only to get stuck on the M1 and miss the 5pm transfer deadline. The Yorkshire club are currently appealing to the Football league.
All this is small beer compared to the carnage at Bescot expected this summer, when half the squad’s contracts expire. Better install those revolving doors to the Bonsor suite at once!
Finally a note on the ridiculous media coverage of the ITV Digital affair. To say that a number of clubs are going to the wall as a result of this collapse is complete rubbish. Sheffield Wednesday for example are reported to be 16 million in debt. So even without the TV money, their company is not solvent. Similar stories at Forest, Wimbledon and many others. Football has got itself into this mess - and over the next few weeks we’ll witness a radical restructuring of the game, testimony to many years of clubs not being run as a proper business, and the greed of agents and players. Thankfully the men behind the scenes at Walsall have considerable commercial acumen - expect many articles in the broadsheets in the next few days rightfully praising Mr Bonser et al, light years ahead of their peers in how to manage a lower league club.