The Anonymous Article Competition: The January Transfer Window Debate

Welcome to the first in what I hope to be a long-running series designed to bring through some quality articles that can be judged on content and substance alone.

The community spirit on Bleacher Report is fantastic and the reason why I love being here, but sometimes the articles we write can be mostly judged from a possibly biased group of our own "fans."

I hope that the Anonymous Article Competition will give Bleacher writers the chance to produce work that will be judged solely on what's written and not because they happen to be fellow supporters or community members.

Once the competition is complete and all votes are cast, then the respective authors will be able to publish their articles if they wish. It is obviously a work-in-progress and if it becomes a success, it will be tweaked to perfection as the series continues.

Hopefully, I shouldn't have to tell people that cheating is not accepted on any level and to quote the obvious cliche: "the only person you're cheating is yourself."

The basic rules to the competition are pretty simple:

• No more than 500 Words on a chosen subject
• No Cheating of any form, which includes telling others you wrote the article

So without further delay it is time to get down to the serious business of reading some quality articles from two of Bleacher's notable contributors. This Edition will cover the contentious issue of the January transfer window.

Article No. 1

What a ridiculous idea this is, whatever bright spark it was that came up with it. Either leave transfers occur all year round or just during the summer months, not halfway through a season.

Typical of the powers that be that they allow such a destabilising event to carry on during what is often the most important month of a long and draining season.

When the window was introduced, the whole point of it was to create a level playing field among the big and small teams. The likes of Manchester United, Real Madrid and AC Milan could only buy players in allocated times and not at any time they choose.

But has it worked? No, the same thing is still in evidence.

AC Milan pick up an injury to key personnel in November so just buy an extra player or two in January. The same happens at a club like West Bromwich Albion in the English Premier League and they don’t have the resources to do so.

Of course Real Madrid signed players outside the transfer window, although they could only play them from Jan. 1, so what’s the point?

The big fish are still benefiting.

Then you have the owners of clubs who are not doing so well in the first half of the season, so they sack their manager in December so the new man can work some kind of miracle by bringing in players in the January transfer window. Often this effect is only temporary, and the club lumbers on for the rest of the season.

Added to that, you have the dreaded rumour mill.

If there are allocated times for transfers, then there should be allocated times for the mass media to come up with their stories of who’s moving where.

I suggest this should only be allowed in the summer months, when there is no football to speak of and the media can fill their spaces with the usual dross.

Hold your hands up if you are sick of hearing that Ronaldo has had secret meetings with Real Madrid, Cesc Fabregas is off to Barcelona, and Kaka loves Jesus too much to sell his soul to the highest bidder.

With the internet, club channels and twenty four hour news dedicated to football it is bound to have a negative effect on players who are declaring their loyalty to a team only to see the media linking them with every Tom, Dick and Harry of a club.

Then of course you have fans getting on their backs if they believe the media rumours and the players want away. How does that help anyone?

Either have the window open all year round or slam it shut. It is not entertaining, and it is not beneficial to the football community at large.

Personally I think the squad you begin with should be the squad you end with.

Article No. 2 

This year, just before the closing of the summer window, Manchester City was bought out by the Abu Dhabi group, thus instantly making them the richest club in world football.

Like lightning, the new owners threw cash at some of the planet’s biggest names, but it was too late.

Most of the players, settled in their Champions League clubs, had no intention of moving, and their clubs didn’t have the time to shove them out of the door before the summer transfer window closed.

Since they’d wasted so much time offering the gross domestic product of a small African nation on players they had no chance of capturing, City had failed to utilise their newfound wealth on realistic targets.

Between September and December, the instability at the club left them struggling in away fixtures, and by the time January came around, they’d learned from their mistakes.

The club then signed quality and proven “next step” players. Craig Bellamy and Shay Given came in. Sure, there was another attempt at a super-player in the shape of the doomed Kaka move, but this is my point.

Had there not been a transfer window system in place, Manchester City could’ve been working on targets from other clubs from September onwards.

The most valuable players from some of Europe’s elite clubs would’ve been tempted to leave, clubs would’ve been tempted to force them out, and fees higher than anything we’ve ever seen would’ve been flying around all season long.

In other words, Manchester City would have turned European football upside down. The transfer market would have been destabilized, possibly beyond repair and to the point of implosion, as they out-bid everyone on Earth.

And for me, that’s the point of the system: to check the spiralling transfer madness as much as is legally possible, and stop the richest clubs from buying goals when they need them.

Clubs are forced to make do with what they have. If their squads encounter injury woes, they look to their reserve and youth systems for cover. If they have new stars rising through the ranks, they can hold on to them (and the results they help to get) until the next window opens, and a bigger club steals them away.

Clubs have to be more careful with signings. If they fail to capture a player in the summer, or find they’ve bought a dud, January comes around to give a brief chance to tweak a team, or to send young players on loan to lower league teams in need of players.

Above all else, it gives a period of excitement for the fans. Moments like Robbie Fowler’s return to Liverpool. Intrigue about whether Arshavin will sign for Arsenal.

A chance for a team on the slide to fix the damage, or a team on the up to boost their chances, for a short period, before they have to make do with what they have again.

It all adds to the mystique, and the glorious hopes of football.