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Try as anyone might, the numbers simply don’t add up in the current loan market

20th September 2007 By Latest News Leave a Comment

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There is, of course, every possibility that the manager might have some little loan signing tucked up his sleeve.

If he has, then on the back of this morning's performance at Colney, you would have to say that he is keeping it very, very well hidden.

?I can't make people give us players,? said City chief Peter Grant at Colney this morning – a statement that didn't exactly suggest that the vacant No5 shirt was about to be filled in the next 24-hours.

The Canary boss is all-too aware of the tight-rope he walks at centre-half. Today's decision by the Football Association's regulatory commission to reject Norwich's appeal against Dion Dublin's red card ensures he's out for the next three games.

And while Grant may be able to turn back to Jason Shackell after his timely return from injury, the City boss will be keeping his fingers firmly crossed that his skipper's ankle stands up to the rigours that now await.

That's why from day one he has been searching for extra defensive cover; why from the moment that Youssef Safri packed his bags he's been looking to add someone else to that midfield; someone who can ?get the ball down and play? – particularly now that neither Mark Fotheringham nor Jimmy Smith are available.

Both quests, however, keep taking Grant back into the loan system. A loan system that has changed beyond all recognition within even the last two years as the economies of the Premiership filter down into the Championship.

?I just can't make them give us players,? he added, as if to hammer home the point.

?Some of the clubs that I've went to have got six centre-backs and they're saying: 'Well, we're not too sure. Wait – and whatever.

?And now you've got other chairman saying: 'Well if you can't shop at Harrods, don't come to Harrods…'? said Grant, with Middlesbrough's Steve Gibson in the frame for that one.

?And other clubs are getting very much like that now. That unless you pay us ?500,000 plus the wages, they'll not be going on loan. I know some clubs are asking ?300,000 for loans to Christmas. It's just a waste of time.

?And it's probably going to cost you have of that again in wages – until Christmas. It's a lot, lot of money for a short period of time like that. Personally, I don't think it's worth it.?

This week's trip to Charlton proved instructive in many aspects – not just how much havoc Danny Mills can wreak on your best-laid plans.

?Half the Charlton team the other night they're on over ?15,000 a week – that's the difference. So give me that a week and I'll go and get you a better side. And I'll get you better players,? said Grant, well aware that there is still a big expectation on him to deliver on wages that are half, if not a third of the Charlton level.

?There's the difference right away – but the expectations of the supporters isn't any different. Our supporters still expect us to be in the Premier League. They expect us to be challenging for the Premier League – that's what I want to be doing.

?And I know the players that would make us better, but in the cold light of day, players cost an arm and a leg in the Championship now.?

Tellingly, he also returned to the get-out clauses that saw both Robert Earnshaw and Dickson Etuhu flee the nest for the Premiership this summer for what, he believed, was ?6 million below the current market rate.

?If I was being realistic and I looked at the ones that moved this summer – I look at Earnie and I look at Dickson. In the market place, in the summer time, I would say we probably lost about ?6 million,? said Grant, a figure likely to make one or two eyes water. Particularly when he started to draw comparisons with other, bigger money moves.

?Earnie's a top goalscorer – got 20 goals; played half a season. No disresepct to Chopra – 22 goals or something – and he goes for ?5.5 million, ?6 million. And Earnie goes for ?3.5 million. So there's ?2.5 million.

?Dickson Etuhu goes for ?1.5 million. In the modern day game, he would have went for five.?

And yet, in the same breath, he conceded that without such get-out clauses neither player would have ever walked through the door. Just as Gabriel Heinze would not have joined Manchester United without his own ?6.5 million exit figure.

Money, money, money. Who's got it; who hasn't.

?All the teams that came out of the Premiership – Sheffield United, Charlton, Watford – they're all going for the same players as me. But as soon as they come in…? Cue Luke Varney's name and his ?17,000 a week contract.

It is, said Grant, the hardest time anyone in the Championship has known in terms of trying to dig Premiership players out of their top flight clubs.

?There's players in the Premiership who have hardly kicked a ball in the first team – ?10,000… ?15,000… ?18,000 a week. Hardly kicked a ball and trying to get them out is very, very difficult now,? said Grant.

?And as I said before, years ago they'd be helping you out; paying 90 per cent of it. Now they're asking for the full money. So what can you do?

?They're the ones with the best players; the players that you know can make you better.?

Which is all fair enough. But, somehow, somewhere along the line, that circle has to be squared.

Either you produce your own and – a la Varney – get nine months out of them before they, too, join the Premiership-style gravy train or else you find yourself someone like Kevin McCabe at Sheffield United who, having bored of his business life, sells out for ?850 million and starts to splash the cash in James Beattie's direction.

The implication there is obvious. City have done one bit of that; the Turners just haven't quite done the other. And that's one huge burden of expectation for Mr and Mrs Central Trust to bear.


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