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Suspicions over ‘quiet’ window are confirmed
IN FOOTBALL, as in Government and in society, this is a time of austerity and a lean January transfer window has confirmed the hunches of football finance experts that clubs are tightening their belts, writes Adam Shergold.
At the highest level of the game, this thrift is undoubtedly due to the impending UEFA financial fair play rules, which demand that clubs only spend what they earn.
But wherever you look, particularly in the Football League, loan moves and free transfers dominate.
Twelve months ago, clubs spent £225m during January, with big money moves involving Fernando Torres (£50m), Andy Carroll (£35) and Luis Suarez (£23m) seen as a last chance splurge before the new regulations came into force.
Fast forward to now and the biggest transfers have been barely a fifth of those eye-watering highs.
Newcastle United are believed to have paid the best part of £10m for Papiss Demba Cisse, while Chelsea paid £7m to Bolton for Gary Cahill and £6.7m for Belgian whizzkid Kevin De Bruyne.
None of these come anywhere near last year’s highs and when we calculate that a paltry £35m had been spent in the first 30 days of the month and there was an absence of big money speculation on deadline day, club attitudes to spending have clearly changed.
Alan Switzer, director of the sports business group at Deloitte, said: “Financial fair play has definitely had an impact.
“The 2011/2012 season does now count towards the UEFA rules and that will be part of the consideration which clubs will be giving to any transfer.
“The likes of Chelsea and Manchester City have already been on record as saying they will take it into account in terms of their spending on transfers and wages.”
Switzer added that last year was probably an anomaly and the market was showing signs of levelling out after three consecutive years of £100m-plus spending in January.
These records, and last summer - when £710m was spent - look set to become a distant memory in the new era of financial fair play.
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