The hidden cost of a January transfer splurge
PA PhotosChris Hughton has a limited transfer budget and must be shrewdNorwich City's loyal support will have looked forward to the New Year sales with genuine optimism.
The Canaries suffered a Premier League dip over the festive period but the underlying current is a positive one after a club record unbeaten run of results before Christmas extricated them from the group of rivals in greatest peril.
A hard-fought if insipid 0-0 draw against a similarly hesitant Newcastle at the weekend ended a run of four league defeats and maintained that healthy cushion to the current bottom three. Off the pitch, the club's ascent to the big league and the transformative effect on the balance sheet was underlined with another record earlier this campaign - record profits and a corporate trend which continues to bend upwards after the scrimping and saving lean years in the Football League.
With a new broadcast deal on the horizon for the clubs who survive the cull over these coming months, astute management in the boardroom allied to the same within Chris Hughton's domain could put the Canaries on the path to long term sustainability.
Yet such considered financial reasoning is a complete anathema to the intense, 24/7 world of the January transfer window. A strange landscape where mobile phone bills rocket and small aircraft companies enjoy a spike as club A tries to recruit club B's asset in the final hours and minutes of the frenetic deadline day madness. The temptation is there for Norwich's hierarchy to become embroiled in the race.
Hughton will know a top class quality addition or two could be the difference between a routine passage to safety and the gut-wrenching dramas of a relegation scrap. But in a diminishing talent pool, the select band of commodities available in January, and their representatives, hold the aces. Any player Norwich have identified this month will attract multiple suitors; the inflationary pressure on transfer fees and salaries magnified by an artificial countdown that heightens the sense of desperation. The stakes are exorbitantly high.
City's moneymen must also factor in another part of the equation which the punter in the Barclay End is unlikely to either comprehend or care too much about; the potential to upset the delicate equilibrium of a dressing room. Norwich's rise from League One was founded on good management, great support, a sprinkling of quality players and vast reserves of team spirit. City's maturing squad fought like a band of brothers to claw their way into the Premier League and then stay there last season when they were routinely told by all and sundry they were not good enough to survive.
Hughton and his predecessor have added to that core in every transfer window over the past few seasons, but the feeling of togetherness remains one of City's greatest assets. Now deposit one or two far bigger earners into that mix and watch the ripples. Simple human nature suggests in any workplace there is always the potential for an inevitable undercurrent when you have wide pay disparities between colleagues essentially performing the same tasks. That is not a slight on Norwich's stars or football in general. But why should the beautiful game be immune?
Norwich's players are well remunerated compared to you or I. In Premier League terms, you can be sure they gravitate towards the lower end of the rampant pay scales. Listen to the sums QPR is reportedly willing to lavish on their January targets and you know Norwich inhabit a different financial stratosphere - and this is from a club propping up the rest of the division.
Hughton and City's board are committed to reinforcing the Norwich squad this month. But there will be no headlong descent to the abyss, no participation in rash, frantic player auctions, no private planes on tarmac ready to whisk possible recruits to Norfolk. That particular route is not paved with gold clubs like the Canaries.
To comment, you must be a registered user. Please Sign In or Register