Larry Ryan
WHEN they eventually make it a national holiday – the year after Becks gets the knighthood probably – the English will surely call it Harry’s Day.
He mightn’t have wheeled a single deal yesterday, but as far as Sky Sports News was concerned, Deadline Day is, and always will be, all about Harry Redknapp.
To his credit, he did his level best to keep out of it this time, ducking and diving all day as the intrepid Gary Cotterill tried to pin him down on his intentions. But with just seven minutes left on the clock, Jim White had the eleventh hour drama he lives for; Harry was in for Charlie Adam.
Yesterday morning Cotterill had thrown himself in front of Harry’s car at Tottenham’s training ground to roar the names of every Spanish striker he could think of in the window. “I would tell you, honestly” Harry twitched, shaking his head but triggering every body language alarm in the book.
“I’ll be out of here and home by 2 o’clock.” Eight hours later, Cotterill was shivering in the North London evening, wondering if Harry’s office might indeed hold the light that never goes out.
In fairness, he stuck to his post, cornering Harry again on the way out around nine. “Nah, nuffing,” swore Harry. You knew something was on.
In the end, Harry ran out of time, despite White telling us the excited Adam had given the thumbs up and told the Sky man he “was sorted”. You suspect the fun, for Harry, was in the chase. What would he have done with another one-paced passer?
We had to be content then, with the two big deals they had been talking about all day.
The first pictures of Fernando Torres holding a Chelsea shirt tentatively in front of him appeared at 11.51 Monday night, accompanied by some soothing words for Liverpool fans about “joining a top-level club”.
Hours earlier Sky had got the shot they wanted when Torres’ old shirt was set ablaze outside Anfield. All day, they had been eyeing up the demoralised youths huddled at Melwood for potential. We’ll never know what incentives changed hands off-screen – clearly not enough to organise an effigy – but eventually three likely lads took the bait and set alight the number nine. Forget crossing the t’s – Nando was gone.
If it was any consolation to Reds’ fans, their own new number nine easily won the day’s Player Most Likely To Have Arrived From Newcastle award, striding from pillar to post to helicopter in a t-shirt as temperatures hovered at freezing.
While Chelsea continued on their circuitous route to self-sufficiency by sending for David Luiz, the league’s top three clubs kept themselves to themselves on the big day with Arsenal fans the most concerned about their manager’s inactivity.
Tony Cascarino goaded them with a tantalising glimpse of what might have been.
“If he had strengthened, Arsenal could have been even stronger.”
In fairness, the whole day had started slowly, with Big Ed Chamberlain already betraying some desperation when the day’s first “Breaking News” insisted there was no news at all from Villa Park, where Ashley Young’s future remained blissfully uncomplicated by interest from anyone.
Another silk purse fell off the production line when “news just in from Newcastle” confirmed Alan Pardew’s news conference would be delayed. There was a stopover at Goodison to console David Moyes. “Have you been unlucky in the transfer market?” a brave man ventured to a glare of thunder. Down south Chris Slater was panicking at Chelsea’s training ground, eventually resorting to “the manager Carlo Ancelotti arrived in the last hour.” Man Reports For Work.
A breathless Rob Dorsett tried to take the bare look off things by telling us Cameron Jerome wanted to stay at Birmingham City “partly because he thinks his future is at Birmingham City.” And partly, we assume, because he has the blessed good fortune to be amply paid for a job he seems patently ill-equipped to perform.
Everywhere you looked “Not that I’m aware of” had taken over from “Sky Sports understands” as the phrase du jour, as gaffers looked to shift the blame upstairs in case it turned out the star man had cleared out his locker by the morning.
It was midday with nothing stirring anywhere – we’re not counting James Beattie’s medical at Blackpool – and it needed a catalyst. Perhaps it was a call to the gaffer that did the trick. Perhaps Rupert scoured the familiar halls of hell for a trusted ally he knew could deliver the necessary pep-talk.
Whatever it was, agent Hayden Evans was given the floor to bemoan the lack of movement. For Hayden, old-fashioned notions of loyalty and family values didn’t add up to anything near 10 per cent of a hefty signing-on fee.
“You question sometimes, frankly, if there is a lack of ambition there. There’s outside factors such as family that now come into play. I don’t think they quite get the idea that it’s a short lived career and if ambition dictates you should move to the other end of the country and everyone should go with you.”
It was a Red Bull to a footballer’s double vodka. Deadline Day came alive.
Simon Thomas had taken over from Ed and the talk was now of a record-breaking day in British football, with Lenihan and Cowen seemingly bussed in to head up Liverpool’s negotiating team.
Soon Carroll was being chaperoned in the direction of Anfield by his keeper Kevin Nolan, set to split Hernan Crespo and David Villa in the record signing listings and presumably being handed into the care of Steven Gerrard. Although Liverpool’s attempts to take an entirely Brewster approach to the Torres millions were foiled when Harry gazumped their advances for Adam.
There were reports that Stephen Ireland had failed a medical on Tyneside, but that loan deal went through later anyway, perhaps once Newcastle realised Sol Campbell had sailed through the very same exam.
Andy Reid, too, had cause for a singsong, as he arrived at Blackpool to a ringing endorsement from Ian Holloway – “I think he’d be perfect for us, a little dinky doo footballer.”
In years to come you wonder if Harry’s Day could eventually become all about Holloway. Of more potential signings, he told us; “Everyone wants to grab a bag of carrots and they might be a bag of carrots, if you know what I mean.” Nobody did, but it made as much sense as any of it.
Source: http://feeds.examiner.ie/~r/iesportsblog/~3/UT-4_4kPQ6c/post.aspx
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